Don't buy a car with a * by the km's on the auction sheet. Really the only thing you can do. Iv'e never heard of anyone getting burnt however. If you get it inspected it should be fairly obvious whether it has 30k like it claims or 100+.
Don't buy a car with a * by the km's on the auction sheet. Really the only thing you can do. Iv'e never heard of anyone getting burnt however. If you get it inspected it should be fairly obvious whether it has 30k like it claims or 100+.
Yes. Good to use caution with these cars. But there can also be legitimate cases of the odometer reading not being accurate such as when standard odometers are replaced with aftermarket units (common on Nissan sports cars with the standard units being replaced by aftermarket NISMO units) or when faulty electronic meters are replaced rather than repaired (common with JZZ and UZZ series Toyota Soarers).
http://www.ts-export.com/faq.php#72
It would be a shame to miss out on some of these.
Its a bit like some of the R or low grade cars copping this grade only because they have been modified. (there are sometimes a lot of valuable bits on these cars). Again they can sometimes be a good buying opportunity.
Hi diefenbaker. Good point. I'd suggest doing a bit of research. Get access to one of the auction aggregation systems and look at what the models you are interested in are selling for at auctions in Japan. Also look at the Yahoo! Japan auction listings for the purposes of research.Originally Posted by diefenbaker
Then check what is available locally. If there isn't much difference in price after you've paid for the importing costs I'd suggest buying locally. You can physically inspect the car, take it for a test drive, and if the seller is agreeable have it go into a workshop for a compression test, dyno, underbody inspection on the hoist etc. And you're also covered with the normal consumer protections of your province or state.
Sometimes sellers will be willing to cop a lot of depreciation to get out of a car which can make it competitive - sometimes even cheaper - than importing it yourself.
Strange advice coming from a Japanese based exporter, but commercial importers can (legally) import much cheaper than you can on a one-off purchase.
And then there's risk. If a commercial importer brings in 100 cars some will be better than they expected and some might be worse. But it doesn't matter since the risk is spread. As a private importer doing a single vehicle you have no upside to hedge against should the car you import have a hidden problem.
I hope this helps.
John
On the convictions there was nothing we could find on a web search. The results pages were full of Japanese dealers saying that they don't tamper with odometers. Could be a project for a Japanese law student to investigate the court records and dig out the numbers on cases brought and conviction rates.
Sorry I haven't been able to dig out more information.
As for "exporters" having a Shaken licence, I've never heard of this since cars being exported don't need current Shaken and need to be de-registered. Its possible that some domestic dealers who offer cars through sites such as Tradecarview and Goo-net could have a Shaken licence and so have done Shaken on a car that they are offering for domestic sale but instead get an overseas buyer and export.
Again, sorry I haven't got more info on this. The best people on this are the odometer inspection companies who would know the incidence of odometer tampering - since they're testing for it every day - and may even get to find out the back stories of some of the cars that have been fiddled.
Just a little real world info here folks, most of the rolling back is done by the exporters on request of the customers (car dealers) before the cars are exported. Sometimes exporters do this on their own and market the cars with the new and improved odometer, but it just depends on the destination.
There are countries in the world that I would never buy a used car from..
On cars with digital odometers its as easy as taking out the odometer hooking up the little machine and make it any amount you want. Alot of the highend/newer cars are a bit more difficult but when big money is at play a lot of people will find a work around unfortunately.
Very interesting ..... that is one reason not buy from exporters' own collection, but directly from auctions.
Bulldog Bros, what are those countries?
Buying from auctions doesnt protect you totally either, what protects you is buying from a reputable exporter who is concerned with the customers best wishes.
As for the countries..thats a can of worms I dont want to open my friend!
Wow.....your response time is 5 min.....
Thats how I operate mak!
well, since i started importing back in 2001 into Canada i made it a practice to make sure each and every vehicle was inspected by someone i trusted in Japan. The individual i used was bluntly honest and i respected that of our business arrangement.
no matter how nice the vehicle was, if the mileage was questionable (roll back) i would pass.
10 years later and i still have no issues with rejecting those types of vehicles.
whether the cluster was changed due to malfunction gauges or any other reason it was not worth the risk to my reputation.
sadly, every country has its "crooks" Canada is no different. i respected Japan auto auctions due to the revealing of the changed odometers issues.
i have never heard of anyone being charged in Japan for odometer swapping issues.
Last edited by Crushers; 07-17-2011 at 04:36 AM.
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