Japanese Auctions

[muzzyd]

Anyone advise me on these? I have been checking them out and the cars seem to go quite cheap, but the you have to pay import taxes and dealers fee, also have to register and mot it yourself. Is this a good idea?

I noticed barbarian cars offer an import service where they send you details on auctions and you bid for the cars.

[mrfitz]

Hey Muzzyd,

I have just imported one myself, gets here on Tuesday.... only a month late. I think it's definately the way to go. For a little research, it really isn't too taxing.
To make it even easier, you have people like me here who have made the mistakes already so you don't have to!:)

After the price of the car, you usually will need to pay the auction handling charge, the auction fee and the commission to the company bidding on the car for you. Then there will be an inland freight charge aswell as a customs clearance charge. You may have to pay a charge for bidding (not all auctions) and even a success fee if you win. If the car is still registered in Japan at the time of the auction, then you'll need to pay a de-registration fee.
You may need to also pay for car tax for a month.... say if the auction was at the end of the month and the cancellation of registration wasn't carried out till the start of the next.
You can be given the option of a pre shipment inspection but I didn't bother with this as you should pretty much know the condition of what you are buying.

Then comes the shipping fee.... Basically, FOB means you pay this end and C&F is paid in Japan and includes your shipping costs and a basic insurance which has about a million get out clauses:confused:

When your car finally gets here, you should have been forwarded all the relevant documents from your auctioneer and have appointed yourself a customs clearance agent. You can do this bit yourself but I opted to pay someone.. not very expensive at all and saves a bit of hassle. They will need all your original documents along with a completed customs declaration form.... Reminds me to do mine!
Then you pay them their fee, the handling company's fee, a few other minor ones and import tax at 10% on top of everything so far. Next is good old vat at the usual 17 1/2%.... again on top of everything including the import tax.

Eventually you have your car. It's really not as bad as it sounds.:o

All that's left is to MOT it, or SVA and MOT if it's less than 10 years old, (obviously you need to look at the usual things.... foglight, speedo reading in KPH, fuel filler restrictor, alarm frequency, radio expander, de limiting etc) register it with all the loverly forms, buy your number plates, tax and insure and fill her up with fuel!!

Hopefully I haven't missed anything, but I'm a bit tired so apologies if I have. Let me know if you want to know any more. Prices etc. Hope this has been of some help.

Mark.

[muzzyd]

Thas sounds really daunting. Currently I am exploring all the options and noticed that bidding prices appear really low on some vehicles at auctions (obviously they increase substantially sometimes).

I checked out barbarian cars and they seem to do an ok deal. Still considering going the dealer route when I see a suitable car advertised though.

Any ideas on how much extra over and above the bidding price of the car you have to pay? How much do you think you saved compared to going to a dealer?

Thanks.

[bnaellis]

Hi Muzzy,

The price I think you on about is the starting price. That normally means nothing to how much the car actually sells for but is to entice more bidders on the vehicle than it normally would. If a car had a starting price of 500,000 yen compared to 750,000 basically it would invoke more interest for potential buyers. I see cars with a starting price at 100,000 yen but sell for over a million yen, so it's not really a accurate guide to how cheap a car will sell for. The main thing you want is a good graded car, and someone to check it over after too while it's still in Japan. The auction sheet is only a rough guide and is not always accurate. You can see cars in an auction as grade 4 and it's not sold and re-enters another auction the next week but is graded a 3.5. I purchased a really nice car around a month or so ago, but when I had the car checked out they found that 3rd gear syncro had gone, this was not on the auction sheet!! so car was taken back to the auction. This car entered as a grade 4 also, but renentered as I think it was a grade 3 the next week.

rgds

Brian

[muzzyd]

Thanks for the reply Brian, I have a mate who has just bought an RX7 from Barbarian, thats why I am interested. It looks nice and has some nice mods, not sure if its the way to go as he will not be able to check it until it comes into the country, think he is getting it registered, taxed and mot'd etc by them. Only bonus may be it costs a little less but the possibility of more hassle exists.
Think I will wait to try it out and see if it is ok.
Dont know if you have noticed the cars that are graded R and RA, are these still ok cars to bid for?

[samfc3s]

I THINK if the car is grade R means that the car has been some kind of repairs done to it and a RA i think it means reapir has been done to the car but is a A grade job if you know wot i mean..so assumingly RA is better than R if you gona decide which one you gonna get....


sam

[muzzyd]

Thanks sam, hopefully it is ok when he gets it, he is very nervous about it arriving and being ok, especially after I found dealers on the net that seem reputable and genuine in providing a good service and quality car.

[bnaellis]

R anything is damaged repaired vehicle. Best have an auction sheet to see how extensice the damage was and how good the repair work is. You can get good enough cars is Japan without going for an r graded vehicle.

rgds

[Anx]

Can we get some links on these please?

heres one i found

http://www.bonsaicars.com/

[20B_boy]

Yes, you might save yourself a few quid by buying direct from auction but as Brian has pointed out even a good graded car can be less than perfect.

If you have no one to check the vehicle before and after auction you are taking a big risk. These cars are delicate and dont like neglect. I personally would not buy a damaged/repaired - again as Bri said prices are good enough that you can afford not to. We hear of plenty of people getting annoyed and feeling 'let down' by FD's that they have picked up cheap and that have failed. At least if you a pay the premium to a REPUTABLE importer who knows there stuff you a) will hopefully end up with a decent car and b) will have some come back if it turns out to be less than expected or not as described...

There are lots of people bringing these cars into the UK. I've had an FD for about 3 years now I think and the quality of the cars you see now is nothing like it was then IMO. Some cars we get through FDUK are pretty sad to be honest. This is largely due to units being bought in on the cheap direct from auction in Japan and flogged with little care or recourse to the poor UK punter, (again IMO!).

If you want a decent car get one from a reputable source from japan or buy one here in the UK that you can get checked out by a professional rotary guy. A dog of an FD will cost you a fortune and make your life unpleasant!

Rich

PS sorry for the rant but we all want to keep the cheap crap out of the UK dont we? It just devalues the mark and supports the unreliable-badge :-(

[J4P RX]

Yes we want all of them to be fantastic! :)

Only trouble is Im having a real nightmare finding a car over here I want, and to some extent Id even say im getting a bit fed up looking. Its just so difficult to find a nice FD at the moment, or so it seems.

Lee

[20B_boy]

Dont give up Lee, you'll find one sooner or later.

I presume you arent willing to wait for one from Japan? Or just dont fancy buying on some one elses opinion?

R.

[Anx]

Anyone know a good Japanese exporter please ? one they've had dealings with before ?

[J4P RX]

I dont mind waiting if someone calls me up tonight and has found one I like.

The main trouble I have is I was using my FD as my only car. At the moment, I cant really get anywhere. Work, shopping, going out anywhere are all becoming difficult with no transport so I really need one ASAP.

I know someone will just say buy a Fiesta or something while im waiting, but I dont think it will be that easy to do. By the time I managed to get anything insured I may as well wait for another FD which I can just swap my policy onto.

If I was buying my first FD Id probably have bought one by now. Now I have owned one, I know a great deal more about them so I notice things and want things I wouldnt have minded before. Im also a little fussy about things I want, like I dont want a car without circular rear lights. Obviously thats not a good enough reason alone not to buy one, but it has a big influence on me.

Lee

[20B_boy]

Just budget £350 for a set of round rear lights and buy one!

Yeah, I know what you mean - having owned two now I'd quite like to go out and look at some now - just to see what a load of crap there is about! I think buying another would take a fair while as I too noe have specific requirements which would discount about 95% of the cars in the country!

Keep looking mate...

R.

PS how about a sccoter? :-) Wouldnt bother with a cheap run around. I got a w#nked out 1991 205 GTI and I've had more things snap/break/stop working etc than even the '67 VW and '65 Midget that I've got tucked (for tucked read 'rotting')away! Fiesta's disintegrate after about 10 years from experience with my mums cars...

[J4P RX]

Yeah trouble is its not just rear lights!

I need a 1992/3 car too which limits things. Then I need a nice set of alloys, and some sort of aftermarket bumper as I dont like the standard ones. Dont like that standard rear spolier much either to be honest.

Some sort of vented bonnet would be required too. Would prefer sleek headlights... Want a front mount to fill in whatever aftermarket bumper I have.

Its hard enough at the moment to just find a 92/93 car that isnt well overpriced and going to need a rebuild in the couple of months as it is, nevermind one with a few nice extras!

As for a scooter, hmm, maybe, but by the time I have to go and do CBT's and all sorts im bound to lose interest :D

Lee

[Anx]

Can somone tell me what actually happens when the car docks here? how do you pay the import tax and vat?

can you just jump in it and drive it home and sort the m.o.t. and stuff after? hows it all work please ?

Also if anyone got an action site they've used could they give me the url plz ?

Thanks Anx

[muzzyd]

Anx, as far as I know you cannot drive the car away from the docks for reasons of MOT/SVA/Road tax registration, etc try these links for info
http://www.dvla.gov.uk/vehicles/exptimpt.htm
http://www.transportcafe.co.uk/singlevas.htm

Hope the above help a little!
Think some of the Mods on the board could answer the question of how it is paid for if you do it yourself.

[Anx]

Thanks mate that helped a lot :)

[Welsh Dan]

You can drive it with no mot, to a prebooked mot, or a garage where it is going to have any rectification work for the mot done, provided the car is insured on the chassis number.