Comprehensive 26-Minute Tutorial on Navigating Japanese Car Auctions
5:30 min - Auctions, 9:57 min - Price, 11:15 - Calculator, 14:36 min - Placing Bid, 15:40 - Electronic Office, 16:25 - Searching Auctions, 20:14 - Sales Statistics, 20:28 - Bidding, 25:08 - Deposit
˚Updated: Service fee $1000 to $8000
Key Distinctions: Japanese Car Auctions vs. Local Listings
- FREQUENCY: Locally, listings for cars can remain active for several months. In contrast, at Japanese auctions, cars are typically listed only 1-3 days before the auction commences. This rapid turnover in Japanese auctions contrasts sharply with the more extended exposure of local listings. When the auction commences, each car typically takes only about 20 seconds to be sold.
- VOLUME: For example on Trade Me, around 30,000 cars are listed at any given time. In contrast, at Japanese car auctions, the volume is significantly higher, with between 30,000 to 70,000 cars being auctioned daily! This stark difference in the volume of cars available highlights the massive scale and rapid turnover of the Japanese car auctions market compared to the more static nature of Trade Me listings.
- YOUR ATTENTION: Locally you can take a week or two to make a decision about a car purchase. In contrast, at Japanese Auctions, it's necessary to check the listings daily and decisions must be made on the same day, reflecting a much faster-paced process.
EXAMPLE
On Trade Me, you might find around 10 Audi A6 models displayed for a duration of one month. In contrast, at Japanese auctions, there might initially be no Audi A6 models available, but over the span of a month, as many as 80 of them could be auctioned.
CONCLUSION
For Japanese auctions, it's crucial to check them daily, even twice a day, due to the constant addition of cars every hour. If a desired car isn't available right away, check again a bit later. When you find a suitable car, be prepared to make a decision that same day due to the fast pace of auctions. Place your bid in our system early for prompt translations and advice.
Maximizing Success Through Practice Bidding
ACTION REQUIRED!
NEXT STEP - IS TO START PLACING PRACTICE BIDS.
While it may appear straightforward, this approach is indeed effective.
PRACTICE BIDDING:
- Helps you to understand how auctions work.
- Helps us to understand what car exactly you are looking for.
Once you've placed your practice bid, we can provide you with the following updates:
- Current Market Price
- How much your savings will be
- If the car is importable
- Find you similar cars
HOW TO PLACE A PRACTICE BID:
- When on the auctions page
- In the top right corner find Bid request and enter your bid amount
- In the Text section - ask any questions you have
- Click on Enter bid or request info button
- Click second time I agree with terms
- You can click on the "Thank you. Your bid was successfully submitted", and view all your Practice Bids there.
- Wait for our reply: translation and advice.
BEST PRACTICES:
Even if you notice that the average price exceeds your bid amount, it is still advisable to continue placing practice bids. This will enable us to evaluate and provide advice on prices. Sometimes final auction results may be lower than anticipated.
We can provide guidance and suggestions on which bidding approach to employ to successfully acquire a vehicle within your specified budget .
Ultimately, it all boils down to the practice bidding process.
Because it's through your practice bidding that we can precisely assist you in identifying a suitable car.
Simply Put
Practice BID & WIN
We do the rest
Do you have any questions?
STEPS TO IMPORT A CAR
How to IMPORT A CAR FROM JAPAN
QUICK OVERVIEW VIDEO
Start with PRACTICE BIDDING.
Your job is to place many bids, then start getting updates about a car from us.We do all the checks and inform you. Then you decide to make your practice bid live or not.
After you've placed a PRACTICE BID: - We will check the car and advice if it's importable
- Translate auction list for you
- Advice you about the car
- Advice you on the realistic biding amount
- Suggest other cars to bid on
- If everything checks out and you want to buy, make a deposit, and confirm you bid
- We will make your bid LIVE only then
- If anything, you can cancel you bid 1 hour prior to the auction
AFTER THE AUCTION:
- We will update you with the auction results. If we did not win, prepare your bids for tomorrow. - When we succeed and win a car - make a payment, sit back and relax, we do all importing for you, freight, customs clearance and compliance.
- When the car is ready, simply register it under your name at nearest VTNZ station and enjoy driving it.
In reality, all that you need to do - is to place practice bids, make a deposit when you ready to buy, and we do the rest.
Tips for succesful bidding
ACTUAL PRICE OF THE CAR
WILL DEPEND ON:
- TIME OF THE DAY. Evening auctions tend to sell for less. We still bid during the day.
- DAY OF THE WEEK. On Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays cars tend to sell for less. We still bid during the week.
- NUMBER OF CARS GETTING AUCTIONED PER DAY. The more cars are going for auction on a given day, the less they sell for. If there are 2 cars for the day - might sell for a higher price. If 15 same cars getting auctioned on the day, and we use a Numbers Game technique - we can win one for a good price.
Usually it will take 1-3 weeks of active bidding before we win a car.
APPLY FOLLOWING
BIDDING TECHNIQUES:
- NUMBERS GAME. Bid on many cars per day - we will stop bidding after won one. Many place 5-10 bids per day, and win one car for a good price.
- SAME DAY BIDDING. Some cars appear at auction on the day. These cars are unnoticed by other bidders and sell for less. Check auctions during the day, and email us newly added auctions. If we act fast - we win for good price.
- SECURE THE CAR BIDDING TECHNIQUE. Like a car a lot - place a higher bid. We always bid gradually in small amounts, and have a chance to win for less than your high bid. But if bidding gets busy - we secure a car with your higher bid. Good technique for cars with low mileage, 4.5 or 5 grade cars with many features like sky-roof or performance package.
Use all of the above bidding techniques to secure a car for a good price.
ABOUT AVERAGE PRICE
There are two places where you can find for how much car might sell at the auction.
AVERAGE PRICE in the top right corner.
And in SALES STATISTICS - see the icon.
In reality, we have won many cars way lower than Average Price.
Best Approach - place many bids - we will shortlist best cars to bid on, and communicate with you to finalise on what bids to make live.
After you've placed a bid
1. Auction List Translation will be both emailed and updated in your Electronic Office.
2. We also give our opinion about a car and advice on bidding amount.
3. We finalise together and if everything checks out - make your bid Live.
- All communication happen be emails and phone calls.
- Your bids does not become live right away, we will approve each bid manually, after communication with you.
- This approach ensures safe bidding, and let you explore auction system.
AUCTIONS BROWSING MANUAL
Auctions Browsing
Use search filters to find a car you like. Select:
Car Make & Model.
Year & Mileage.
Auction grade & Auto or MT.
Click Search.
To Open Auction List - click on the Lot Number, like 5023.
PRACTICE BIDDING MANUAL
In the top right corner of the auction find a Bid Request Form.
- Choose JPY
- Enter JPY amount you are willing to bid on the car.
- Add any message with your bid. Here you can ask anything about car condition, price, auction time, etc.
- Click on "Translate Auction List"
We will get it translated for you.
- We will receive your bid in seconds and follow up on it.
- You can click on it to see all your prctice bids.
- Click "Enter a bid or request information" and then click "I agree with terms."
Don't worry - it does not mean you are buying a car. We have to approve your bid first. Bids get accepted if:
- We have a deposit
- Translation is good
- Your bid amount is right
- We check car meets NZ Standards
We will review your bid.
Update you with translation. Check/advice on bidding amount.
If we approve your bid, we will go into actual bidding.
Because we are bidding for the car in Japan - they display START PRICE, SOLD PRICE AND AVERAGE PRICE in Japanese Yen.
Finding the total cost to import in NZD is very simple.
Enter JPY amount into our IMPORTING CALCULATOR first. Enter yen amount in C3 cell. All costs associated with importing will be displayed.
Then when you are happy with the total price - place bids in JPY.
Navigation and Search Manual
Use search filters to find a car you like.
Shortlist it by choosing Make and Model, Year and Mileage, Engine size and Auto or Manual
You can see auctions date and time too.
Make sure to choose Auction Grade 4 or 4.5, sometimes 3.5 is ok too.
Grades R or RA are for cars with some damage and therefore not recommended.
Search through the list of cars. You can see:
- Lot Number
- Auction Date & Time
- Car year and chassis number
- Engine Size and Automatic FA or Manual
- Car mileage and Auction Grade
- Start price & Sold price if auction is over
- Average Selling price in JPY
When you find a car you like, click on the LOT NUMBER to see more info about the car.
What Auction grade to choose.
Consider cars with Auction Grade 3.5, 4 and 4.5.
We do not recommend cars below those grades.
In some cases, grade 3 is ok if you don't mind.
2. How to check Sales Statistics.
When on the Auction List which displays the car:
- Click on Sales Statistics button
Check for how much similar cars have been selling before. Prices are in Japanese yen, so open Importing Calculator and enter JPY amount to see Total Cost to import.
Also, in Sales Statistics, you can look at the crossing point of Auction grade and the mileage. This will give you a closer estimation of the possible price.
3. Use our Importing Calculator to see how much the car will cost you in NZ dollars.
Enter the average price in JPY there, and you will see the total price in NZ dollars which includes all the importing costs, on-road is included as well.
Keep in mind the AVERAGE PRICE is indicative only. We can bid 100,000 to 200,000 JPY less than Average Price and still buy the car!
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How to use Auction System - Second Video Guide
- How to search for a car
- How to check Sales Statistics
- How to use Importing Calculator
- How to use Check the Vehicle
- How to use car Catalogue etc..
Best way or learning something new is by doing it
To understand how the auction system works, we encourage you to place Practice Bids.
When you do test bidding, we don’t buy a car straight away. First, we update you with auction list translation, email you our opinion about a car and advice bidding amount.
To buy a car, make a $1000 deposit. So we can approve your Practice Bids to make them Live Bids.
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CONTACTS
Inquiry and bidding:
9AM - 11AM - 098898095 - Ricky
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OUR SERVICES
• Choosing car
• Auction Access
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