Ho to see the auction sheet

All vehicles are evaluated by the grading system into Grades.
They give indications of the condition.

S
Brand new or rarely used.

5
Vehicle is like new. All original body parts. No repairs needed on vehicle. Usually only given to vehicles less than 3 years old.

4.5
Vehicle is in excellent condition. No slight scratches or dents.

4
Vehicle in good condition, few scratches/dents due to normal wear as you would get with any normal vehicle.

3.5
Vehicle has a few scratches or dents visible. This grade is usually given to a vehicle in average condition.

3
Various scratches or dents, some paint blemishes.

2
Better than rough condition, modifed cars, sometimes cannnot pass regular test
(depending on country of import)

1
Rough condition

R
A vehicle which has been in an accident where some parts have been repaired or replaced.

RA
Vehicle has been in MINOR accident. It has been repaired to an acceptable standard.

RA2
Accident-repaired (not a good repair)

RA3
Accident-repaired, but in good condition now.

RA3.5
Accident-repaired, but in excellent condition now

***
Accident damaged vehicle however has not been repaired. Vehicle may have engine problems.


Auction inspectors see a car in minutes, and they check thousands of cars a day. So the above grades are just indications.
There are some descriptions at the lower left. I think these are the most important things to check on the auction sheet.
Sometimes they mention very serious problems like “Engine doesn’t work.”

How reliable the auction sheets are.

I don’t trust the auction sheets at all, because when I was a member of I-auc(I-auc is an auction agent), I couldn't directly go to auction houses,
all I could do was check the auction sheets on the website and make limited orders a day before the auction day.
I only got the cars that car shop guys, who checked the cars at auction yards, had given up on because they found they weren't in good condition.

I think there are 3 types of car shop guy who don't go to auction yards to make their own inspections there.

Type1: Can’t go there.
People who are members of only AS-net of I-auc.
(People who can’t become individual auction members.)

Type2: Repairing cost < Time consuming cost
The guys who have their own repair yards and know the cost of repair is cheaper than their time consuming cost to check the car's condition at auction yards.
These type of guys have large-scale car shops and they don't have time to go to auction yards because they bid on many cars in a day.

Type3:Auction agents.
They don’t need to be concerned about the car's condition because they are just agents.
They throw the weight of responsibility on their customers.

auction sheet

Before I go to auction houses, I always check the auction sheets on the website of AS-net.
AS-net is the agent of most auctions.
I also can bid on the website (AS-net), but I don’t use it to bid.
I get access to the AS-net to check the cars in advance.
For example, I go to USS Kyushu every Sat.
I can see the auction sheet of Sat cars from Thursday on AS net.
I decide which car to check on Sat until Friday night,
and I print out the sheets and bring them to USS Kyushu to jot down the detail of condition on them.
Then I decide whether to bid or not. If I want to bid, I decide on a price impassively.
I often see vehicles which, contrary to how they are represented in their online auction reports, are infact, in very bad condition.
The vice versa.
I never believe the auction sheet.
It’s predicable that auction sheets are just indicator.

Japanese Yahoo! Auction or Japanese auto auction

Some importers ask me to buy cars from Japanese Yahoo Auctions,
but I'm not supposed to admit it.
Some years ago, most of the sellers on Yahoo auction were just members of the public.
Sometimes we could get a car at a cheap price and the conditions were OK,
but recently, most of the sellers are car shop guys.
They sometimes use Yahoo auction because they don't want to sell the cars at their shop for some reason.
If they sell the cars by hiding some problems at their shops, the customers may go back to repair them,
but on yahoo auction, there are "No claim" rules.
I know some car shop guys are taking advantage of these rules.
Of course not all of them, but I don't use Yahoo auction to get cars just in case.

Japanese used car shop or Japanese used auction?

Sometimes, importers ask me which is the cheaper way to buy used cars, from Japanese used car shops or Japanese used car auctions.
This is a little bit of a difficult question.

When the buyers are just the public, of course it’s cheaper to buy from auctions.
They should ask auction agents to bring them to auction houses, and check the cars, ask to bid,then check the successful bidding price.
This is the best way,
but if the buyers are car shop guys like me, sometimes it’s cheaper to buy cars from used car shops than used car auctions.
The reason is the following:

If a seller wants to reduce his inventory, he usually goes to an auction and sells the cars.
Then the buyer pays the successful bidding price to the seller.
Both seller and buyer have to pay the auction fee.
If the seller can find the buyer directly, they can save the auction fee.
Recently, the car shop guys share the information about their inventories on SNS (Social Networking Service) like mixi,
but this isn't the usual way yet as there is not so much information.
Probably it's a waste of time to find a favorable business between buyers and sellers.
It's better to go to used car auctions for car shops too to save time.

I-auc and AS-net.

Years ago,the auction agent I-auc and AS-net began operation.
They lowered the threshold of the used car business.
It's easier to become a member of I-auc and AS-net than USS and CAA etc.
Many entrepreneurs started in the used car business.

In fact, I see many auction agents in Japan.
(To be exact, they are agents of an agent.)

But there are some problems.

First, members can't go to the auction.
Members have to bid on the website after they check the auction sheets.
The auction sheets are just a rough indication.
It's impossible to know the car condition from only the auction sheets.
So the I-auc or AS-net members always get the cars that USS or CAA members don't bid on.

Secondly, I-auc or AS-net members have to place a limited order before the auction day.
For example,
USS Kyushu opens on Sat.
USS members bid on Sat by pushing buttons,
but I-auc and AS-net members have to place a limited order by Friday.
The sellers have a kind of technique to find out the prices.
I-auc and AS-net members always have to pay the limited prices.

The varieties of Japanese auto auctions

There are many car auction companies like USS, HAA, JU　etc. in Japan.
To become an auction member, we have to have worked in car shops and achieved something.
This means we have to sell cars before we can become auction members.
It's like a chicken-and-egg problem.

The admission money is about $1,000 for each one.
For example, if I want to go to USS, HAA, JU and TAA.
I have to pay $4,000 to become a member.

For these reasons, it had been difficult to enter into the car business in Japan,
but I-auc and AS-net broke through this.
I-auc and AS-net are agents for Japanese auctions.
When you become a member of either one you can bid on cars through their websites.

These days, I-auc and AS-net have been producing many small car shops in Japan.
Many small car shops say "We are members of USS, HAA, LAA,...", but to be exact, sometimes it's not true.
They can just buy cars from auctions like USS, HAA.. through the I-auc or AS-net.
I think I-auc and AS-net provide a good service, but there are many problems too.

About Japanese auto auctions

I'm often asked about Japanese auto auction by buyers.
Most of them seem very curious about auto auctions,
but some of them misunderstand the system.
I'm thinking about writing about the auto auction, so that importers know about it precisely.
Now, 80% of used cars go through auctions before they are displayed at car shops or after customers do a trade-in.There are about 150 auction houses, including small places in Japan.
Only car shop people who have auction licences can go into the auction houses.
Even though I saw many members of the public in the auction houses, the car shop guys are in the majority and I also see many foreigners who exporter like me.

I changed my website adress.

I changed my website adress from www.hikaruauto.com
to japan-used-car-auction.com
My company name is Hikaruauto, so I prefer www.hikaruauto.com,
but www.japan-used-car-auction.com is better for SEO
because most of my customers type "japan", "used car" to find an exporter,
including the keywords in the domain, which is good for SEO.