FAQ
1. Why import direct?
You can obtain the exact car that you want at wholesale price, avoiding the larger retail markups. Even with the brokerage
fee, you will save typically $3,000 on a $15,000 car. We buy directly to your specifications, and have detailed quality information on the cars that are presented for auction in Japan from the vehicle auction sheets. |
2. Why Japan?
Choice, Quality and Price
Choice: The volume of used cars in Japan is huge, with average weekly sales over 100,000 cars. Quality: The country’s highly organized car auction system provides important information to enable consumers to assess the quality of each car Price: Used cars in Japan are relatively cheap because of the high cost of meeting their ‘WOF’ requirements, giving owners an incentive to replace after only a few years’ ownership. Further, the cost of shipping from Japan is low, with fortnightly shipments to New Zealand. |
3. What about the quality of the vehicles?
By buying direct from the auctions themselves
rather than from retail Japanese agents, the exact grade and condition of the vehicles can be determined. The auctions use a grading system to specify the quality and condition of their cars - broadly ranging from grades 0 through to 5, with 0 being the worst and 5 being the best. There are some near new vehicles that are given higher gradings than 5, depending on their mileage, condition etc. Our recommendation is that we only normally buy grades 4 and above to ensure high quality. The auction sheets specify and illustrate whether or not the car has any minor damage of any description, e.g minor scratches, dents etc. We only bid on cars that satisfy our clients, satisfy our criteria for quality and that have genuine mileage. You are provided with a copy of the original auction sheet to keep with your car documentation after purchase is confirmed. |
6. How much cheaper can it work out?
Comparing like with like, for a car of the same
grade and quality typical savings are normally in the order of $3000 - $4000, sometimes even higher. Be aware, when comparing to retail prices, that not all the cars on the local yards were of high grade when they left Japan. Many are grade 3.5’s, and in some cases even lower. By purchasing through us you will know exactly what grade your car was in Japan and you will have a copy of the auction sheet for your vehicle as soon as the purchase is confirmed. |
7. How does the buying process work?
There are three stages to the process. When
you have chosen a suitable car, we lodge a bid and wait for the result to come through. If successful, the initial payment covers the price of the car, all the Japanese costs and our brokerage fee.The second payment, covering the import costs (freight, GST, Customs and Port charges etc) is made about a week before the ship arrives in port.The final payment covers the cost of the NZ Compliance check, is payable to the Compliance company when you collect the car. |
8. How specific can I be when ordering a car? Can I specify a favourite colour or colours?
Anything is possible! So long as the car was manufactured with it -you can have it! For example: sunroofs, alloy wheels etc. Colour preferences can also be specified, but the primary buying criteria should always be quality and condition. In this regard, if you are happy to specify more than one colour choice, this will widen the search and enable a more expeditious purchase, as sometimes we have
to wait for a car of better quality when searching for only one colour. Sometimes you may decide to pay less for a high grade car without alloy wheels fitted, but then purchase your own to taste here when the car has arrived. |
9. How do the new emissions regulations affect the car buying process?
The new New Zealand regulations have now been implemented. We buy only in accordance with these new regulations. The major impact has been on diesel vehicles, with petrol vehicles having fared quite well. Broadly, the effects of the new regulations are as follows:
For Petrol Vehicles: Minimum standard is now Japan 05/Euro 4 emissions standards. Broadly speaking this means mainly Year 2005 and onwards for Japanese vehicles, with the majority of European vehicles only meeting this standard from approximately 2007 onwards. There are some exceptions, (eg, some Euro vehicles from 2005 and onwards are fine) and every vehicle is individually checked to ensure compliance with the standards required, and only imported if meeting the standards For Diesel Vehicles: The same standard of Japan 05 /Euro 4 emissions regulations have a far greater impact on diesel engines and essentially most vehicles prior to 2005 no longer comply. We check the eligibility of every vehicle under the new regulations prior to commencing any search. From now on all diesel vehicles will be the latest models only. |