Category: ‘Car Auctions’

How do Japanese Auctions Grade cars?

Posted by Bob On Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

What is an Auction grade ?

Have you experienced purchased a car through web and was not exactly what you expected.

If you are buying cars from auctions or from a dealer you need to know how the auction grading system works.

Frankly speaking repaired cars sell for a lot cheaper than non repaired cars. If cars is listed as someones stock, it is always a good idea to ask the dealer to show you the original auction Inspection Sheet.

If they refuse, you know what that they are up to something.

Auction Grading is graded out of 6.

Here is the explanation of the auction grading.

Especially you need to know about R,0, RA repaired grades. The car might have had an accident  and might had repairs that you do not know about.

Grading Information

  • S Superior to Grade 6 or higher
  • 6 or higher is as good as new. Exterior and interior are in immaculate condition. Some cars in these grades have never been driven.
  • 5 – The car doesn’t need repair. The car has been repaired slightly, and the repair is in very good condition. No body parts have been changed.
  • 4.5 – The car has been repaired slightly, and the repair is in good condition. It becomes a grade-5 car with slight repair. There are a few slight scratches or dents.
  • 4 – The car is in good overall condition, but there are a few scratches or dents.
  • 3.5 – The car has some conspicuous scratches or dents. The cars head-light support panel or back panel may have been repaired.
  • 3 – The car has many conspicuous scratches or dents. The car has some paint blemishes.
  • 2 – The car is in very bad condition
  • 1 – The car which may have one of the following
    1. An aftermarket turbo
    2. An automatic transmission converted to manual transmission
    3. Flood damage
  • RA The car has had accident damage which can be ranked MINOR, and has been repaired.
  • R A car which has had accident damage, and been repaired. The auction definition “A car which has had accident damage” is a car where some parts or panels have been repaired or replaced or need to be repaired or replaced (or has some visible marks from frame damage) :
    1. Lower Tie Bar or Frame
    2. Windshield Piller (A Piller
    3. Center Piller (B Piller)
    4. Rear Piller (C Piller)
    5. Strut Housing
    6. Roof Panel
    7. Trunk flooring Panel
    8. Floor Pan
  • *** /0 – The car has had accident damage, and has NOT been repaired. Or a car with  major engine trouble.

Next week, I will explain you the different panels of the body and how to find accident cars.


Efficient Service

Posted by Bob On Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

Efficient Service

Internet has spread to all over the country and has had a strong impact on the car industry as well.

Dealing with used cars, there is always a “Right Timing” to sell your car and if you miss the “Timing”, those cars always stay in a long period of time.

In stead of waiting for your car to arrive at your yard after shipping and take photos & upload your car onto your website hoping to sell shortly. It might be too late.

B-spex provides photos of your car shortly after we receive and send them to you. Then you can use those photos to sell. It might sell before you receive your car. In fact, this does happen to many of our dealers.

After car service is also very important. If any parts are needed, quotation of parts will be sent by email after receiving the full chassis number the model code.

We even care on the small thing like, shift knob, main master key, remote control of stereo, any small things inside of your, we take those and send by air Currier, just to prevent from stealing or any fraud.


Who brings cars to auctions?

Posted by Bob On Friday, March 26th, 2010

Have you ever thought who the heck brings cars to auctions? Does some rich person owns all the cars?? Do the auction houses owns all the cars??

There are more than 50 auction houses throughout Japan and we are member of every single one. These are all dealer only auctions which means they are not open to the public.

If a person wishes to sell a car,  he can take it any car dealer who are member of an auction houses or trade it in for a new car, like a Toyota or Nissan or something.

So auctions are supported by many car dealers. We use Auctions as a filter to purchase or sell cars. No information given to buyers about the owners before purchase and vice versa.


Free Quotation on Parts inquiry (NEW & USED)

Posted by Bob On Thursday, March 25th, 2010

It is cheaper to buy parts direct from Japan from the maker.

You can save a lot of money!!

ie Nissan RB20DET MINES ECU for US$150 (parts cost only)

We receive a lot of parts inquiries from all over the world. We can order any parts from the Maker apart from models which we do not have in Japan.

All we need is the full chassis number and the full model code which are wrieen on your silver caution plate. (see photos) Or if you do know the parts number, it will be very handy for us however the chassis number is still required.

To avoild any mistake, we do send you a parts diagram to make sure it is the right parts you are looking for. (some optional parts are not able to obtain diagrams such as some body kits)

We always try our best to satisfy all our customers.

Here are some comments which we received recently from our customers.

“Thank you so much for your information. I am very satisfied to do some deals with you, everything is going pretty easy, clear and quickly. It really makes me happy. I will wait for your next e-mail with shipping details. I would like to ask you how it looks with a front grille that I ordered, please? I communicated with Bob in this case, should I contact him directly? Thank you very much for your response.”

(a customer from Slovakia)

“Just a note to advise our part arrived safe and sound and our car is now fixed.Just wanted to say a big thankyou to you and Bob for your assistance. We are happy little vegemites here in Oz.”

(a customer from Australia)


B-spex auction inspection

Posted by Bob On Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

One thing we are vary much proud of doing this business is that we put a lot of effort on a quality of all cars we purchase.  In other words, we do not buy a ” crap”.

Our inspection service always making sure that mechanically and body conditions meet customers requirements.   We also have a strong team of inspection staff  to keep our level as high as possible  to take the worry out of buying your next car.

Here is an example of a inspection report.

engine and transmission ok. air con. power window ok. power steering wheel ok. roof lining ok. drivers seat side scratch. rear ok. floor matt ok. spare tire ok. small rust on muffler. tires are 5 mm front and rear. some oil mark on the engine. rear bumper dent. rear bumper broken on the right corner. rear hatch dent and crack. This is not grade 4 car.

Upon this translation, customers are able to cancel bid at any time before the auction.


Buying cars from Japan during March is cheaper!

Posted by Richard On Friday, March 19th, 2010

Here’s Why

In Japan cars that are owned on April 1st need to have the years tax paid on them. Car dealers with a lot of stock would need to pay around 300 dollars in tax on each car that they have on their forecourts on that date.

In order to cut that cost they will put cars through the auction and will often accept lower than usual offers. So we see at auction more supply and less local demand as most local car dealers will wait until April to buy their stock.

This can be a great chance to pick up some bargains!