How do Exporters drive de-registered and uninsured cars?

[jdmvip]

Many Exporters claim to drive the vehicles they buy from auction. I'm assuming these are larger companies who have the equivalent of a "Dealer" or "Repairer" license plate here in Vancouver, BC Canada. Is that how it works or is there something else to it?

[Derek]

The vehicle may be driven with a dealer plate. It has a red stripe across the plate to identify it.

If you go down to the port though, you will see lots of cars with no plates on them being driven down the road.

I would say that it's mostly the medium sized exporters and small ones that drive the vehicles. I have met some larger exporters who don't drive or check over the vehicle once in their possession. To give them credit, they do a pre-purchase inspection prior to bidding.

[Sastrad]

Hey Derek,
Sorry to correct you here. You may not know this but the license plates with a stripe across it is a rental plate from city hall. Our 2 dealer plates, as with all dealer plates I've seen, have a red border around them. Our dealer plates are not common, as they are a huge piece of work to get. We had to go through may steps to get them, and had to have a certain amount of volumn to get 2 plates. For some dealers, its better to get the rental plates, as they are cheaper if a dealer doesn't need to move many vehicles.

[Tsuchiyama]

Most buyers at auction will use car carriers to transport the vehicles. The Japanese car carriers are great. Very easy to use and flat loader "Hanamidai" types are available for motorsport, lowered or body kit vehicles. For local jobs we use our own carrier. For medium and long distance jobs we put the job out and look for the best rate. There are very good rates on the trunk routes with multi-car carriers... much cheaper and less hassles than with plates.

[Elite Auto Export Japan]

Dealer plates, Steven is correct, a huge hassle to obtain.

While the dealer plates are attaced to the car, the car is insured with the company, I know ours are. The car should not be "driven around" the place, they are suposed to only be used to get the car from A to B, usually straight to port, short hops etc. Usually, for longer trips we would put the car on a transporter.