Frequently Asked Questions

Register in our online car auction system and then you can see over 50 auctions houses running 6 days per week. We can give you a good idea on market prices and work out if it suits your budget situation.

If the above works, we would then request a deposit and we will start working for you — translating the Japanese auction inspection reports attached to each car, physically attending the auction to inspect vehicles and take photos for you, and finally bidding on the car up to whatever amount you tell us.

Most people in Japan do not drive during the week and the car is for special outings on the weekend. During inspections, we check things like how old the tyres are (date stamped), brake disk wear, tampering marks around the instrument cluster, and the overall condition and wear for the age and kms travelled.

The auction houses in Japan have a central database that they access to check if a car has been through the auction system before and the kms travelled. The Japanese Ministry of Transport records the kms for each registration renewal which is 2 years for most cars.

Yes, it generally is cheaper than buying dealer stock cars. It is also fair because the market determines the price. Keeping a car in stock is more expensive and uses more capital. You can check Japanese local dealer websites like GooNet or Carsensor to get an idea.

Do your research online, search our company name, the owner's name (Brendan Gee), and check out our "online footprint". You could check our Facebook page, YouTube Videos, and see how long we have been around for.

You could also verify our company registration with the Japanese National Tax Agency at houjin-bangou.nta.go.jp. Our Corporate Number is: 6120003007859

Yes, we can inspect at most auctions in Japan. There are two ways we do inspections:

1. Personal inspections — our staff physically attend the auctions and inspect the vehicles.
2. Contract inspections — a 3rd party conducts the inspections on our behalf.

Our personal inspections are very in depth but our main goal is to verify the original auction house inspection report that we have seen in advance and tell you about things that are not mentioned in the auction house report.

Some of the things we would check that the auction house inspectors would not check are; coating/paint thickness, checking oils or coolant, testing convertible roofs, suspension systems, tyre condition, brakes. In addition, you will receive good quality photos of all parts of the vehicle.

The type of contractor inspections vary depending on the auction house. Sometimes we can get photos and sometimes we can only get a phone inspection. Usually with these types of inspections we try to focus on very specific questions and areas.

Our own Smile JV staff conduct personal inspections each week at USS Yokohama, USS Tokyo, USS Nagoya and USS-HAA Kobe. At auctions we don't attend in person, we use trusted contractors.

Occasionally we inspect other auction houses by special request — for example, if you have a strong bid on a car that you really want and we discuss it in advance.

Our busiest inspection days are Thursday at USS Tokyo and Friday at USS Nagoya. We are up and moving before the crack of dawn on these days are we request that you have bids placed very early - before 7 am. We cannot guarantee to fulfil an inspection request after this time, however, we always do our best to try if we can fit it in.

Our main goal is to verify the original auction house inspection report and tell you about things that are not mentioned. Some things we check that the auction house inspectors would not: coating/paint thickness, checking oils or coolant, testing convertible roofs, suspension systems, tyre condition, brakes. In addition, you will receive good quality photos of all parts of the vehicle.

The auction houses check body condition, interior condition, rust, leaking fluids/oils. They do not do coating thickness checks, remove oil caps or radiator caps to check fluids, test convertible roofs, suspension systems, tyre condition and brakes.

Our online auction database is a proxy bidding system — you place a bid in our system and then we bid live in the Japanese auction system. The live bid takes around 30 seconds to 2 minutes so there is no time for us to communicate with you and adjust bid amounts. We request clients tell us their maximum bid amount and then we will bid up to that amount.

You pay only the winning bid amount, not the maximum bid you give us!

Around 95% of auctions have a reserve price, which is known only to the seller. Some auctions have no reserve and the seller sets the start price to their minimum — these tend to be lower-priced cars.

Once you have made a deposit your account is upgraded and you are able to place bids, request translations of the auction report and request inspections.

To give you a feel for the market, we provide Initial Trial Access to our auction system. This allows visitors to browse a wide selection of non-USS auction houses to research market prices and availability.

However, Full Bidding Access is reserved for our registered clients who have placed a deposit. This is for three practical reasons:

1. Exclusive Inventories: Major auction houses like USS (Japan's largest auction group) require dedicated account setups and incur licensing costs. We provide this premium access only once a client is ready to move forward.
2. The "Speed of Bid" Requirement: As many cars are listed and sold within 24 hours, it is logistically impossible to bid on a car if your deposit hasn't cleared. We don't want you to fall in love with a car on a "Premium" list only to lose it because your account wasn't activated in time.
3. Personalized Monitoring: Full access unlocks our professional services, where we manually track "Sold Prices," monitor your bookmarks for re-listings, and provide the physical labor required to verify the car's condition before you bid.

Use the trial access to research the market. Once you're ready to start your real search, place your refundable deposit to unlock the full 100+ auction houses across Japan and secure your bidding power.

No, it is not possible for you to see other people's bids. It is not like eBay or Yahoo where bids increase gradually over a number of days.

Only licensed dealers who are members of the Japanese auction house are able to bid (on your behalf)... and that is what we do.

This rarely happens, however, if someone has exactly the same winning bid in our system, then it will go to the person who first placed the bid. In all other cases, the highest bidder wins.

1. The Negotiation Process

Immediately after the auction, a Negotiation Start Price is listed. This is the minimum amount the seller will consider to start a deal (often lower than their actual reserve).

• The Process: You submit an offer price, which cannot be lower than the negotiation start price. The seller can accept, or counter-offer with a higher price.
• The Final Price: If the seller's final demand is higher than your limit, the negotiation ends. The car is then often listed with a new "last-final" price (effectively the reserve).
• Time Limit: Negotiations are fast-paced and usually only possible for a few hours after the auction ends. Once the window closes, the data is removed from the auction system unless we capture it by manually monitoring the entire process.

2. "Buy Now" (Fixed Price)

Some cars are moved immediately to a Buy Now status following the auction. This is a fixed, non-negotiable price set by the seller and is usually only available on the auction day — it is a "first-come, first-served" scenario. If we don't move quickly, another buyer will take it.

Pro Tip: In almost all cases, we don't know the seller's actual reserve price unless the car is actively "on the block" (selling) or we are in a live negotiation.

In both of the above situations there is a JPY 10,000 additional fee for a successful negotiation purchase.

No. You cannot cancel after winning an auction bid.

For cars from auction, we charge you the winning bid price plus a buying fee. Please contact us to chat about buying fees as it depends on what service level you would like, and the quantity of cars you buy.

For export cars, we do not charge you taxes or add auction costs onto the winning bid price … it's the raw bid price plus a buying fee.

In addition, we charge you inland transport which has different rates for different auction houses, ocean freight and insurance.

Importers need to take care of costs on the importing side, which usually includes the customs clearance, any freight forwarding and handling and taxes and duties.

Before bidding, we require a deposit of 15% of your maximum bid, taken in units of ¥150,000 (minimum ¥150,000). For higher priced cars over ¥5,000,000 the deposit is agreed with you individually.

For cars purchased directly from dealers, the deposit is 15% of the purchase price (minimum ¥150,000), and it is required before we begin any work — we will not make offers or discuss prices with a dealer until a deposit is in place.

The deposit is refundable before an auction win. If we have done work for you, we will charge for this — for example, 2,000 yen per bid and 8,500 yen per inspection. For dealer sourcing, preliminary inquiry fees for unsuccessful inquiries are also deducted. Any transaction fees for sending and receiving funds will be deducted if applicable.

We do not charge any taxes (consumption tax, recycle fees) for cars that are exported. These taxes are payable for sales within Japan or if a car is not exported.

Your deposit is secure. If you choose not to proceed with a purchase, we provide a full refund, less any costs for specific work already performed.

There is no warranty on cars purchased from auction or sourced directly from dealers.

RO-RO — the car is driven onto the ship and parked on a vehicle deck. This is our standard method for most destinations and usually the cheapest for a single car.

Container — the car is loaded into a container. Suits higher-value cars, cars that cannot be driven, and shipments of more than one car.

Prepaid is our normal arrangement. We arrange and pay the freight from Japan, and your invoice covers the car, the shipping and the insurance — this is what most customers mean by a CIF price. Where a customer has arranged their own cover instead, the same prepaid shipping without our insurance is C&F.

Freight collect means you arrange and pay the ocean freight at your end, and we invoice only the Japan-side costs. See below for where this is possible.

These terms are about who pays the freight and when. They do not determine who carries the risk of loss or damage, which is set out in our Terms and Conditions.

More than the ocean freight. Our calculator covers the ocean freight itself, the Japan-side freight forwarding costs we pay to get your car through the port and onto the vessel, the courier cost for your documents, and a small allowance for port storage in case your car sits longer than the free period.

This matters when comparing exporters. Some fold the Japan-side costs into their buying fee, and some leave the document courier out of the shipping figure entirely — either way their number looks lower than ours. Compare the total landed price, not the shipping line on its own.

Shipping lines price the ocean freight in US dollars, so our calculator converts it at our bank's daily rate and the figure moves a little day to day. Worth knowing if you are buying from outside the dollar zone.

We invoice whatever the calculator produces on the day we buy your car, and in normal circumstances that is what you pay.

If something outside our control changes what it costs to move your car — most often a change of shipping method, or storage and rebooking after a delay — we may adjust the shipping portion of the invoice. We tell the account holder, and where practical we discuss the options first. If you buy through an import agent, your agent is the account holder.

Usually not. Freight forwarders in Japan normally allow 30 days free storage for a standard car and charge a daily rate after that. We build an allowance for that into our shipping price, so in normal circumstances you will not see a separate storage charge.

Two things change it. The free period depends on the car actually shipping with that forwarder — if a car is withdrawn from the yard and sent another way, storage is charged from the day it arrived rather than from day 31. And higher-value or oversized vehicles are not always given the free period at all. Where either applies to your car we will tell you before it becomes a cost.

Sometimes. Freight collect depends on your destination — some shipping lines accept it and some require the freight prepaid from Japan. It is most straightforward to Australia and New Zealand. Tell us where the car is going and we will let you know.

Where we can do it, we usually still make the vessel booking — that is not something a customer can do from overseas — but you pay the ocean freight component at your end, and you have the contractual relationship with the shipping line, so any currency swings, rate changes and schedule changes are dealt with at your end. We invoice the Japan-side freight forwarding and courier costs as a fixed amount — ask us and we will confirm the current figure for your destination.

The free storage period above still applies. If the car waits past the 30 free days — for example while the freight payment is arranged — the extra storage may be invoiced later at the forwarder's daily rate.

Container costs come in three parts, usually in three currencies: Japan-side costs in yen (forwarding, packing, export customs), ocean freight in US dollars, and destination costs in your own currency. We can give a good indication of the first two, but container rates move and we generally cannot fix a price far in advance. The destination side is yours to arrange with your own freight agent.

One thing to check when comparing prices: terminal handling is billed by the shipping line at both ends, and we include it. Some exporters leave the destination end out to show a lower rate — you simply meet it later.

Normally by DHL. We have tried the cheaper courier and postal options over the years and found DHL the most reliable worldwide, so it is what we use for documents and small items, and the cost is already in our shipping price. Larger or heavier parcels sometimes go by another service, and where a shipment is unusually large we will tell you if there is an extra cost.

We send the export certificate, the owner's books and manuals, and any spare keys that came with the car. They are small things, but difficult and expensive to replace once the car has left Japan. Anything else found in the vehicle is treated separately — please ask us rather than assuming it will be shipped.

Yes — as standard, and it is confirmed on your invoice. We apply marine cargo insurance to the vehicles we export — All Risks under Institute Cargo Clauses A, including a 90-day before-loading clause. It appears as a line item on your invoice, so if you are ever unsure whether a car is covered, check there.

That clause is the part most people overlook. Your car is paid for on auction day but it can be a month before it sails, and insurers will not write cover without a booked vessel — so a buyer arranging their own insurance from overseas usually cannot cover those first weeks at all. The before-loading clause covers your car while it waits in Japan.

Full details are on our Shipping Insurance page.

Fixed / One Price is the term used in our auction system for cars available from a network of inter-Japan dealer stock — a wholesale network that is not available to the general public. These cars are listed through an intermediary clearing house, which negotiates with the listing dealer on our behalf — direct communication with the dealer is not possible.

There is a JPY 10,000 additional fee for purchasing Fixed / One Price cars, and inland transport is often higher than a normal auction.

We usually cannot inspect fixed/one price dealer cars. These are not at an auction and are spread across the country — it is not possible for us to communicate with the seller outside of the intermediary clearing house.

For all purchases, it is possible to have the car transported back to our yard afterwards for an inspection and service (additional fees required).

Yes, from time to time we do. This is different from the Fixed / One Price dealer cars in our auction system: there is no clearing house involved — we contact and negotiate with the dealer directly.

Because this is a more involved process, it has its own procedure and its own fees. A deposit is required before we start any dealer sourcing work, and preliminary inquiry fees apply — these are credited back in full if the purchase succeeds.

If you have found a car on a Japanese dealer site that interests you, contact us and we will let you know how we can help.

It is possible for cars to be listed on multiple platforms at the same time — for example, as a fixed price listing and also in a regular auction.