The 0 to 5 grade system mentioned above describes the overall shape of the automobile. The overall condition of the interior and exterior of the car have been also graded by the letters A, B, C, D, E, where E is the worst condition, and A is the best. We recommend you to buy condition A or B, and in some cases C is fine too.
If it’s C for the interior, it might be OK to buy, but if the exterior is graded C, the car might have a few scratches on the body. Usually we don’t recommend D and E classes.
Therefore, the auction grade system itself, being multi-faceted, can tell you a bunch about a motor car. Anyways, we are here to guide you in getting the best possible car of your choice.
There are authorized independent car inspections like JEVIC (Japan Export Vehicle Inspection Co., LTD) and others, checking the cars and making sure that the decision about each car’s grade is un-biased.
Also, in every auction list there is the car diagram, showing how many scratches and dents the car has. They also have the general description for every car, so they will hand write for you (in Japanese) what they couldn’t express in the auction grade or the car diagram sections of the auction list. This information will be translated by us for your convenience.
Another good thing is, often they tell us how many owners the car has had before bidding. Usually it’s only about one owner. The service history is showed on many auction lists too.
Although at first glance you get a feeling that they don’t give you much information about the car you are buying, but upon closer look you can understand that you’ve been supplied with enough information, it just takes some time to decode it, and it’s not difficult. The auction grade, the general description and the car diagram will tell you quite a bit about your purchase.
Another protective layer is our expertise in dealing with Japanese auction houses. We have 18 years of experience in the business, 8 of which we are doing business in New Zealand. We know rather well, from which auction houses to buy. And it’s not only about avoiding auction houses with bad reputation. We purposefully reject some good auction houses as they are located far North where the weather is too snowy and wet, which regards the car condition. We mainly buy our cars from the mainland, where the weather is not that extreme. There are many auctions over there.
When buying your car from a Japanese auction with our help, you see it presented as it is, in its original condition. When other NZ car dealers import their cars, the cars get painted and tidied up to make it seem better. May be the car arrived in decent condition from Japan, or the traders might have done something to cause it to appear decent. You never know it unless you buy your car directly from an auction in Japan, you can see the actual condition of the car, all the scratches on the body, and the condition of the interior, etc. Thus you are making a conscious and well informed decision. We rely on Japanese honest nature, and they provide correct and true description of almost every car they sell.
Here are a few suggestions on how to approach a car auction list:
1) Pay attention to the car grade. Ideally should be 4 or 4.5 for a used car.
2) Look at the car diagram. How many scratches or dents does the car have?
3) Then read the car description - which we get translated to you. In the right top corner they provide good information about the car, and at the bottom left corner the setbacks are described. And we are interested to buy a good car for you.
4) Thus, we are helping you to make a conscious and well-informed choice, having the same knowledge as a car dealer.