Parking Fees

As you know, Japan has a very small land area and we have 127.7 million people packed into it. JPC has its main office in Tokyo, the political and economic centre of the country. If you consider that within 70Km from central Tokyo is the metropolitan area, the day time population is around 35 millions. The figure is definitely larger than any other city in the world. It is weird to think that a 1/4 of the country’s population gathers into one area everyday, isn’t it?

Therefore, most cost is to do with the land as it is the world’s most expensive: we pay a very high rent for houses, offices and car parks. Having our main office in the middle of Tokyo, JPC pays an incredible amount for the car parks. Around the area, the average rent is JPY30,000 per lot per month and renting a few and getting some discounts per car is still not cheap. Having stock here does not improve our business, so we do not need many parking spaces but it is still necessary to have some to park our Japanese customers’ cars before selling them at auction or to temporarily keep cars we won before handing them over.

Recently, a number of hourly charged car parks called “Coin Parking” have popped up, especially around business areas near train stations. The “Coin Parking” is a way for small land owners to utilize their unused land as temporary car parks. They vary in size, from some with a capacity for a few cars to others for more than 30. In some areas, there are more than 10 of them within 100m. As for their charges, most say JPY100 per 1/3 hour, JPY500 between 8pm and 12am and back to JPY100 per 1/3 hour after 12am. If it is too far from the train station, they charge JPY1,600 per day.

Actually, when we have too many cars, we sometimes have to use a coin parking site nearby that charges JPY1,600 per day. At first, we thought JPY1,600 per day was not too bad until we had to pay JPY16,000 for 2 days without knowing that they started charging JPY100 per 1/3 hour once it exceeds 24 hours (so, JPY1,600+JPY200×60 minutesJPY20 minutes×24 hours = JPY16,000). Checking the sign, yes, it did mention that excess charge in small writing below the big writing of “JPY1,600 per day”. How were we supposed to notice it? Anyway, we fell into their trap. Now that we all learned about the excess, we get cars out before the time limit and put them in again but if you do not know, you will surely be trapped: it does not seem fair.

However, there seems a change in this charging system lately. For example, the next door car park dropped their charge from JPY100 per 1/3 hour to JPY100 per 1/2 hour. This is also the result of recent high oil prices and many people giving up using their cars. I have not seen the car park full these days. The prices must be the result of the competition. According to some newspapers, car park management companies are reporting that their operating rates are getting lower and they are losing profits. It seems high oil prices are causing unforeseen problems everywhere. But, I personally wish the fee at the next door car park goes below JPY1,600 per day. Do you have any parking issues in your country?

★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
Kato building 4F, 1-1-2 Furuishiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955

Vehicle Theft

You are just about to get into the car to get to work and go to the parking lot. But voila! Your car is not there! What are you going to do? Today, I am going to write about vehicle theft.

In Japan, until 10 years ago, people believed that we could get water & security for nothing. However this is a thing in the past. Security is getting poor here because of Japan’s diminishing international competitiveness, ailing economy, expanding income disparities, rise of new gang groups after Anti-Organized Crime Law has failed, etc. Numbers of vehicle theft reported has been increasing at the same time mainly among expensive cars. I heard that sometimes the cars are disassembled and sent overseas as parts.

Here are the top 5 names of vehicles stolen in 2006.

1. Toyota Land Cruiser
2. Toyota Mark Ⅱ
3. Toyota Harrier
4. Toyota RAV4
5. Toyota Hiace

The top winner (?), Land Cruiser has been the most favoured car for thieves for 4 years. According to the police report, 1 in 100 stolen cars are Land Cruisers. Yes, they are popular. As I wrote in a previous issue, Land Cruisers are the king of SUVs and are loved worldwide. So if shipped overseas, they are so popular that they can be sold for high prices. But car manufacturers are not dumb. They started putting more time in inventing strategies of how to resolve the problem. They load a theft proof system called “Immobilizer” to luxury cars. This changed the above ranking like this in 2007.

1. Toyota Hiace
2. Toyota Harrier
3. Suzuki Wagon R
4. Toyota Mark Ⅱ
5. Toyota Land Cruiser

Now, Hiace is the top! Hiaces are just as popular as Land Cruisers overseas. They are widely used not only for private use but as buses and commercial vans, etc. Being hardy, we, at JPC, have been exporting a lot of them overseas. (Of course we have not exported any stolen vehicles at all. Or we are not taking any order to do this even for you. Please do not send us any request for this sort of service…) Hiaces without Immobilisers must be easy targets. With more Hiaces getting stolen, mini-vans without Immobilisers are also becoming a target.

“Immobiliser” is the electric key matching system to prevent vehicle theft which uses the key with a set pin number and you cannot start the engine without the special key. Even if someone makes a spare key and succeeds in breaking inside, they cannot start the engine, which eventually stops the intended theft. Although this is an excellent system, once the cars are exported, you cannot ask to have spare keys made. To have spare keys, you will need to go to a dealer and set a new pin number for the car and the new key using a computer there. In most cases, the new vehicle only comes with 1 key and most drivers chose not to have a spare key as it is a separate cost. For Japanese drivers, because keys with “Immobiliser” are too expensive, they think if they lose it then they can always go to the dealer to get a new key made; so they do not worry about the spare too much. So if you are to import a car with “Immobiliser” and want a spare key, please ask us before shipping. It will be too late once the car is on the ocean.

Oops! Sorry, I wandered in my topic. There seems no exception in vehicle theft. From our view, as people in the car business, we thought small vehicles should be safer from theft but it is not the case lately. Now Suzuki Wagon R is in 3rd place, which might be a reflection of recent high oil prices; thieves are targeting economical cars and the numbers of the thefts reported are rapidly increasing. This is a new trend.

Almost a year ago, on a Sunday night about 8pm, I parked my mini-van on the side of the road not in the company car park, thinking I would not be long; when I went there 1 hour later, I could not see the car! Feeling like swearing, I walked to the place where the car was with my mind completely blank. The car had gone! It was not there! It disappeared! But when I calmed down and had a look, I saw some writing with white chalk on the ground. At first I thought it was a message from the thief but no, it was a message from a tow company…

Understanding what had happened, I walked about 20 minutes to the nearest police station, lost 1 point, paid a JPY30,000 fine & the cost of the towing and got my car back. Maybe I was lucky it was not stolen, but I do not want any more parking fines.
So, people, be careful where you park your car! (Yes, this includes myself…)


★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
Kato building 4F, 1-1-2 Furuishiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955

Lexus

As you know, Lexus is the top quality model that Toyota is betting the company’s fate on. The other day, we got an order from a customer in Japan and won a 2007 model of the “LS460 VersionU I-Package” for around JPY7,000,000 (JPY9,650,000 if you buy them new). We, at JPC, had dealt with some IS & GS Grades, a grade lower than this type but it was the first time to try this grade. Taken it for a test drive to check the condition, I noticed all the bits & pieces were top quality. No wonder! They are made to compete against models such as Mercedes Benz S Class and BMW 7 Series. Especially when I was a back seat passenger, listening to the music coming out of the genuine Mark Levinson’s speakers, it felt like sitting in a reclining chair in an acoustic room. As for the engine, everything from the quietness, torque stabilisation to vibrational absorption gives perfect comfort. As for acceleration, it can reach around 100Km instantly in D-mode and it flies along showing the 385 horse power with its V8 Engine despite its huge body of 2060Kg just in the vehicle weight. Seems perfect, but I cannot help thinking something is missing in a car this expensive… What is it?

Well, it is not fun, I mean, fun to drive around. You do not feel the “joy of speeding through everything” as with a BMW. You do not feel the “car’s adjustability to the individual driver” as with a Mercedes Benz S Class. It seems the maker cannot decide in concept whether they want its Lexus to be sport-mode or stability. People who choose BMW or Mercedes Benz have the reason for their choice. Maybe people who choose Lexus do not worry much about its feeling of drive.

Also, although the interior is made incredibly luxurious and you feel the comfort, it does not seem anything special compared to BMWs and Mercedes Benz. Simply speaking, it looks like Toyota took the most popular bits & pieces out of its range of vehicles and put them together; I feel that it needs more to be one of the world first-class cars.

In fact, according to news from some economic papers, the Lexus are struggling to make sales. Lexus dealers were aiming to get more than half numbers of their customers from people who were using BMWs and Mercedes Benz but only 20% of the new customers changed to the Lexus from imported cars. Being successful in the USA with the new style of sales, which is no door-to-door sale but just let the customers come to them, they wanted to bring it to Japan to expand their share in the market. I guess, Japanese like different sales styles to the Americans.
When we won this auction, before taking it to the customer, we wanted to take it to the dealer for its guarantee transfer but they did not accept it if we do it on our customer’s behalf, insisting the customer has to do it himself. I am talking about a case when he has to drive to the nearest Lexus dealer, 100Km one way, leave his car at the dealer’s, go home by train, go back there the next day by train to get the car and drive the 100Km again back home. I could not believe that it is what Toyota says when their usual stance is customer oriented and they do not let this car’s guarantee transfer without this customer’s ridiculously troublesome task, so I rang the Customer Service Centre at Toyota’s main office. I got a man who introduced himself as the Centre Chief. Although he was polite, the answer was the same as the one I had got from the dealer. I then asked him what their stance is when it is going to give the customer great inconvenience, he just kept explaining the rules in selling the Lexus. Unfortunately I could not get a good answer. To be honest, I was not happy with their explanation, but I could clearly see that they are themselves under pressure in selling the Lexus. With the introduction of RX SUV and Hybrid private car models, I wonder how the Lexus is going to sell in the future.





★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
Kato building 4F, 1-1-2 Furuishiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955

Summer Holiday

So the rainy season is over and summer is here now in Japan. Children’s summer holidays started which is going to last until the end of August. At JPC, it is our annual holiday time too. It will be for a week, this year from 11th to 16th of August for 8 days including the weekend. As I mentioned in our mail magazine issue #25, some places like USS Tokyo are still going to have auctions but please note that we cannot take your orders during this time. However, even if they do have auctions, they are usually “open, but not doing business”, as there will not be many cars listed.

I am going to the mountain called “the Northern Alps in Japan” with my family for a 2 night 3 day trip by car. It is approximately a 1000Km round trip from Tokyo. Even after the oil price went up, if it is JPY 50 up per litre, it will only be JPY 5000 more expensive than usual. For highways, we use the ETC(Electronic Collection System) to get a discount. When you have this system on your car, you do not have to stop at the toll booths and automatically get charged to your credit card later. The government is trying to promote the use of the system at the moment by giving a 40% special discount if you go through the booths between 12:00am and 4am. It is about 20 minutes drive from my place to the nearest toll booth, so if we leave home at 3:30 in the morning to get on the highway before 4:00, we will be OK. Using your brain, you can still make it more economical to use a car than paying train tickets for a family of 4. (I know it is not eco-friendly…)

There is another attraction: you can stop at service areas which are situated every 50Km. They have rest areas, shops, restaurants and gas stations and you can buy some local products of the area and have meals. At some service areas, farmers bring their fruit & vegetables to sell them directly. I found them a lot cheaper and fresher than buying them in Tokyo. There are also some service areas which have public baths and accommodation. Quite often, I stop at a service area in Kanagawa Prefecture to have a bath on the way from my parents’ in Osaka. This is to use this 40% night time discount, I have to adjust time so that I can drive through the toll booth after 12:00am as well as to ease fatigue. If I have a bath there, when I get home, I can go straight to bed without a bath. It is efficient, too. I plan my holiday very carefully because I do not have many. When we go out for a long trip like this one, I want to make it as economical but as fulfilling as possible.

I will tell you about our holiday when I come back. Please hang in there!


★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
Kato building 4F, 1-1-2 Furuishiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955

Special auctions for registered members

Special auctions for registered members

Hi everyone. Today I am going to write a bit about a professional way of buying cars through the special auctions for registered members.

JPC’s main service is to buy cars at auction in Japan and export them overseas. At normal auctions, we buy cars listed by sellers such as car dealers and backbuyers. However, there are some special auctions in which the main sellers are rental car companies who want to sell ex-rental cars used by corporate clients at the end of their contracts. (Not all the lease contracts have expired.)

The system is basically the same as normal auctions. Cars are brought in, bidders inspect them on the auction day, after checking their conditions, decide the bidding prices, write down the bid on a piece of paper and put it in the box provided. The auction place set the time limit, open the box and whoever submitted the highest bid wins the auction. (Usually the whole procedure is done by computer.) The difference from the normal auction is that in normal ones the price keeps going up every time someone places a new bid whereas in this one whoever submitted the highest bid can buy the car for their price on the spot. (This has to be higher than the price the seller sets beforehand though.) So, in a normal auction, if you are lucky you can buy a car cheaper than your original budget but in this special auction, it is whether you can buy it with the price you write on the paper or not: you cannot buy it at another price.

Although this sounds a bit unfair at the special auctions, because you do not have to keep bidding as the price goes up, if you do not have any competition, there is a good chance of buying cars cheap. Also, having a rental company as the seller, a high percentage of deals get completed without being cancelled.

Also, in most cases, clients sign up for an annual maintenance contract when they hire a car from a rental company, so their cars are well maintained. On the other hand, because the cars are not owned personally, so quite a few cars are not in a good condition externally and internally after being driven roughly and only for business purposes. I recommend you check the entry forms carefully and check the condition using a paid service if necessary. We, at JPC use these special auctions quite often. One of our customers in Africa checks details of listed cars every time and buys commercial cars such as Corolla van at reasonable prices. Sometimes they even have Mercedes Benz vehicles. Please log in from “My Page” of our website and check the listed cars.


★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
Kato building 4F, 1-1-2 Furuishiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955

High oil price & Japanese reaction

The other day I read in a Japanese newspaper that more people are saying “Good-bye” to their cars because of the recent rise in oil price. I thought this might interest you, so I am going to write about it.

According to one of the major newspaper companies’ surveys on consumers aged between 20s and 60s, it shows its findings as follows: 53% of car owners reduced their car usage from last year, more people stopped going out of town to do shopping or for an outing, 20% were saying they would stop using cars if the price reached JPY200/litre. The top answer for activities people do less or totally stopped doing was “short distance drive for leisure” (37%), then “Going to out-of-town shopping centre” (34%) and “Driving for eat-outs” (27%). This has a strong link to the sluggish sales in big shopping centres and restaurants. 14% of the people gave up their domestic travelling this summer. On the other hand, 37% said that they are spending more time at home on holiday. Some people would rather hibernate in their nests! 38% said that they will stop using cars and 14% are going to farewell theirs once the oil price hits JPY250/litre. The numbers who want to purchase a car has dropped from 49% to 40% of all the respondents within 6 months.

As this type of survey show, a high oil price is keeping more people away from cars and used car dealers in Japan are struggling with sales.

At JPC, we sell cars in Japan as well as exporting them overseas but from late June this year the number of enquiries regarding purchase has been reducing, whereas more people want to sell their cars. This is also affecting car auctions too. May to July is usually the best time of the year when a large number of used cars make sale but this year there is not enough numbers of buyers. Some cars end up with no bids. Apart from some compact cars, it is mostly a buyers’ market. Some sellers have to accept incredibly low prices and more cars are being sold cheaper than usual. If oil prices go back to normal in a few months time and the demand bounces back, you might regret not having bought a car now.

It does not look like this sort of thing affects auction places directly but it has, greatly. Even at USS Tokyo, the biggest car auction place in the country, they are facing difficulties of getting enough cars on the list. You know, the business model at auction is like this: firstly someone who wants to sell his/her car list it up for auction paying the fee, then buyers place bids and whoever wins the auction pay his fee and the seller has to pay the success fee to the auction place. So for each car sale, they get 3 fees. However if less people list their cars, the auction places’ profit unfailingly drops. So USS Tokyo expanded their business from this June to two-wheeled vehicles and heavy construction machines. Also, they usually have a week off in the middle of August every year but this year they are going to have a special auction on Tuesday of their holiday week (their auction is usually on Thursdays). Making around JPY300,000,000 from each auction, they suddenly decided to have an extra auction to make up for the loss in their profit.

However, a dealer I met at USS Tokyo auction the other day said he was not going because no one goes there when it is the “Obon” season. He reckon no one wants to sell their cars especially during the festive season of the year, so there will not be many cars; even if they have some good ones listed, there will not be much merit. It seems to me that they were only thinking about themselves not us the affiliated retailers.

Please note that we are having our summer break between 11 and 16 of August. Thanks!


★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
Kato building 4F, 1-1-2 Furuishiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955

Difference in Tyre Prices

Hello.

Today I am going to write on tyres, in the same line as our issue #20. Because of high oil prices, the cost of tyres is approximately 20% higher than last year. Most of us tend to choose cheaper ones when we need to change them but what makes them different in price even when they seem the same in size?

Firstly, I will tell you the tyre types. There are three types of them:

1. Standard type; made on a value-for-money basis
2. High quality type; made for premium cars for quietness and ride quality
3. port type; made for operability and high performance

Naturally, there are some differences in the three types of tyres’ performance and with the manufacturers’ price strategies, they have different price ranges. I am sure we all understand this bit but why are they different in price even in the same type? The reasons should be as follows:


A - Difference in price is because of the name of the tyre manufacturer:
Of course tyres of a popular manufacturer are more expensive and tyres of a not-so-popular manufacturer are cheaper. This is from brand power. Most popular brand of Japanese manufacturers is Bridgestone, then Dunlop and Yokohama, and of overseas is Michelin (France), then Goodyear (USA) and Pirelli (Italy). Bridgestone, Michelin & Goodyear account for 60% of the total tyre sales in the world. So with their brand power, tyres from these three manufacturers are more expensive than other brand tyres of the same size.

B - Difference in price is because of the tyre models:
Tyre manufacturers are constantly improving the quality of their tyres from everyday research. The quality of the rubber and structure of tyres are getting better all the time and they change the models every 1 or 2 years. Like just before the model change, dealers sometimes have a clearance sale even if they make a loss.

C - Difference in price is because of the difference in the structure:
On the surface of tyres, it will be the grooves and the quality of the material and inside it will be the main structure, that can cause the price difference. Among the main structure, it will be on the side of a tyre where its size is embossed. Depending of the strength, it makes a great difference in the ride quality and stability when you use the brakes suddenly. Especially with larger tyres in inches, which have a smaller portion of rubber, you can feel a big difference if you try different types. Also, manufacturers change the design of the grooves and their depths to improve the drainage and the quietness. For example, REGNO from Bridgestone are very expensive but by scientifically getting rid of the noise which humans find unpleasant and by improving gas mileage, they are after the best performance and you will know it if you try them on your car. They are the standard tyres for company cars CEOs ride in.

What are tyre prices like in your country? We, at JPC, are getting many enquiries on used tyres from overseas. Although we do not deal with them at the moment, we are thinking about exporting them if there is enough demand and we can build a system in the future. So if you are interested in buying used tyres, please give us a buzz.


★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
Kato building 4F, 1-1-2 Furuishiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955

Inspectors’ Course

Hi there. It is very hot in Japan although the rainy season is not yet over. It is already hot like midsummer and on the TV news we have some old people as well as boys who were playing baseball who fainted and were carried to hospital because of the heat. In this incredibly hot weather, I had to go to an all-day course this morning to renew my inspector’s licence. The inspector’s licence is a certified qualification established by the Japan Auto Appraisal Institute (JAAI), an extra-departmental body of the Land, Infrastructure and Transportation Ministry that is responsible for the role of precise used car valuation, for the protection of the customers and keeping good order in the used car market. It is valid for 3 years and needs to be renewed every 3 years. This is the third year with my current licence.

The course was held in a building in the Yoyogi Park in Tokyo. Being originally built as the quarters for the foreign athletes when the Tokyo Olympics were held in 1964, it has been renovated to become the institute promoting international relationship and sport. The building is magnificent but, boy!; it is too far! It took more than 15 minutes on foot from the nearest train station. I just made it, sweating like a pig. It was like exercising in a sauna!

The lecture was mainly on the judgement standard of the cars with repair history. To decide the value of a used car, whether it was involved in an accident or not can change the value of the car greatly; so they lectured us in detail how to spot repaired parts with different examples.

In the lecture, the thing which stuck out in my mind was the fact that looking for the repair history on the latest model cars you have to use different approachs from standard frame-structured ones because the newer ones are a single-shell construction called “monocoque body”. A car with a monocoque body is an egg shaped and some models do not have a radiator core support nor inside panels. This is considered an excellent shape because, although without a frame, it can disperse the shock in a rear-end collision; keeping stiffness, a monocoque body car is light weight and because you can make the floor lower than usual cars you can have more room inside as a result. Although monocoque body cars can demonstrate their true abilities in collision, they do have some disadvantages, too. A minor dent on the bumper can be worse if you check inside: there is bigger damage that you cannot imagine just looking from outside, such as a huge bend in the side-bumper might be hidden underneath. This is because a monocoque car has a structure in which the whole body absorbs the shock of accident, the damage cannot be localised to the outside. Also, once a monocoque body car is involved in an accident, it loses its stiffness and strength dramatically; you have to be more careful buying these cars than buying standard frame-structured cars.

We do see a lot of repaired cars everyday but when we attend a course like this, we feel refreshed and think that we should use this knowledge from tomorrow.

Deciding the value of used cars, up to around 10 years ago was the valuation from the inspectors. This was the standard way to value cars in the market. However, lately, the market price at auction has become the trade price between the dealers; and some dealers decide their purchase from car owners after checking the auction price. So, most dealers now do not use the valuation done by the inspectors. The only case I can think of is when a maker/dealer buys a customer’s old car as a trade-in when he/she buys a new one: they use the valuation given by an inspector to show the customer. When the price is decided this way, the dealer then had to take their portion before giving the price to the customer, so it is usually lower than auction price; but because it is done by an inspector from JAAI, customers will trust them and this makes the trade easier.

We, at JPC, do not use JAAI’s standards but considering that at auction the standards are based on the JAAI’s rules, these rules are not irrelevant and we should know about them as basic knowledge in our industry.


★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
Kato building 4F, 1-1-2 Furuishiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955

Car Loan(2)

(Continued from last issue) When the salesperson offered a test drive, Mr A got into the Mercedes Benz C200 Advantgarde without hesitation.

Having driven Japanese cars before, it would have been the first imported car for him if he decided to buy it. This current C200 is a model with the Mercedes’ logo on top of the grille and looks sporty. Although the test drive course was only 3Km long, along a National Route and around the dealer’s shop, he just loved its body control. The body remained free of impact while on an irregular surface and on each corner. The car’s steering and road handling was excellent and it was incredibly comfortable to drive in. With the smooth performance at high speed and the quietness inside the car, Mr A could not help but falling in love with it.

After the drive, a pretty female office lady brought him a cup of coffee and a nice piece of cake and he felt rich. The salesperson, without being asked, brought the quote saying the car will come with free floor mats; and Mr A did not think twice about signing on the purchase agreement. The total cost was JPY5,300,000 including all the accessories. Not having enough money then, Mr A also signed a loan agreement to pay the total amount at 1.9% interest rate. He thought 1.9% rate was not a big load. The car was to be delivered a month later.

After he got the car, Mr A was enjoying a weekend drive with his wife. Then half a year later, he received a written appointment to move to his company’s New York office. Working overseas was what he had wanted to do for a while, he was very happy about it but what should he do about the brand-new car? After purchasing it he only took it for long distance drives on the weekend, so it had only done less than 10,000Km. Having only paid the loan for 6 months, the principal was still JPY4,600,000. However he could not export a right-hand drive car to the US, so he asked us to sell it on his behalf, expecting a reasonably high price.

When we sell a car which still has something owing on a loan, we first contact the loan company and get the exact amount left owing on it. We were told the amount Mr A still owed was about JPY4,800,000. But estimating the price from the latest auction data, it could have only been sold for around JPY3,500,000. So if we simply calculate it, to pay the loan back, it is going to be JPY1,300,000 short. In a case like this, we ask the customer to pay JPY1,300,000 to us and if we can sell it for JPY3,500,000, we pay to the loan company the total of JPY4,800,000. When we told Mr A about this, he was obviously upset that his car had lost value of JPY1,300,000 within only 6 months. Eventually Mr A made up his mind, gave us JPY1,300,000, we sold it for the expected price and paid off the loan without any trouble.

Now think about the depreciated amount of JPY1,300,000. Of course a car loses its value once it runs 10,000Km but you would think that if it was in an excellent condition and was only used for 6 months, JPY1,300,000 is too much to lose, don’t you? Fair enough, but the main part of this depreciation is what the dealer made when he sold the car. I heard from a customer who used to be a salesperson for a Mercedes Benz dealer that if they sell a C200 model, their profit is about JPY1,000,000. (For your reference, it will be JPY1,500,000 when they sell an E model.) So, remember the loan Mr A agreed only had a ridiculously low interest rate of 1.9%? Banks business loan rate (Short-term prime lending rate) is 1.875% in Japan, so if you add all the other costs, the loan will incur a loss. Then how can they offer such a low interest rate? This is the dealer’s strategy: luring customers with a low interest rate, they make money from the profit on selling the cars. For a dealer, if they can make around JPY1,000,000 per car, even when they make a loss on the loan, it still worthwhile.

So, if you buy a car from a dealer, you might feel safer buying from a well-known brand dealership but you do have to pay the price. You are buying a white elephant. Especially when you use a loan, although the loan amount will not get less quickly, your car looses the value by the dealer’s profit when you drive out the door. In this case, Mr A had a bad buy but whoever bought his car at auction was lucky and clever. The buyer only had to pay for the actual value of the car.

After all, there is definite merit in buying cars at auction. Please register yourself on our website, check the quality of it and think about buying a car from us!



★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
Kato building 4F, 1-1-2 Furuishiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955

Car Loan

Today, I am going to talk about car loans for private users.

The other say, I asked a salesperson of a loan company JPC is affiliated with about the percentage of people who have loans. According to him, it is approximately around 20% for the purchase of new cars and 20 – 30% of used car buyers. Looking at car prices, the lower the value of the car the more people are likely to use a loan. Recently car sale numbers have been dropping dramatically, so dealers desperately want to make a profit from these loans.

At JPC, among all the private customers, about 20% use car loans. The reason for the figure being a bit lower than average is that we deal with relatively expensive ranges of cars. The interest rate is 4.9% fixed and the maximum borrowing period is 6 years. This is not a special loan, it is the same as at any other dealers. However, although this is the same product, the interest rates seem different. How come?

To show you the trick, we provide the interest rate the affiliated loan company gives us straight to the customers. Some dealers might sell this with a 5.9% rate of interest. The difference is if they consider loans as a way of making profit. Because being customer oriented is our policy at JPC, we are not after any profit from the loan so that customers can buy cars cheaper at auction. We are happy if you can get cars cheap with a low interest loan.

Most used car dealers are not like that, though. Loans can be a great source of income. For example, if they set the interest rate at 5.9%, the 1% difference would be their profit. Simply calculated, if someone buys a JPY2,000,000 car and signs with a 5 year loan borrowing 100%, JPY2,000,000×1%×5 years=JPY100,000 is going to be in their pocket. (In reality, this figure would be a bit lower because the interest rate gets lower as the time goes.) Especially when buyers purchase their cars, there seems a pattern that they usually love them at first sight and without thinking much just sign up to a loan; which can be a high interest one.

How about the dealers (such as most imported car dealers) who provide loans with lower interest rates? When you walk pass those dealers, you will see a sign saying “Limited offer! Loan at 1.9%!”. This seems very attractive and eye-catching. Have you ever wondered if it is true? The following story is real and from Mr A, one of our Japanese customers.

When he went for a walk, Mr A saw a Mercedes Benz C200 displayed in the show space of a dealer with the sign about a loan with 1.9% interest rate. He liked the car, so went inside the shop. A well-dressed salesman came to talk to him and confirmed the interest rate. He even said that Mr A can sign up on the spot! When someone shows you such a low interest loan, even when you are just browsing, you will be tempted to buy it on impulse. (Mr A was slowly falling into the salesperson’s hands.) Mr A made sure if there was anything else which was going to cost him, the salesperson said there is no deposit or no hidden cost. Then he asked for a discount but was turned down because they are providing a low interest loan. When Mr A could not make up his mind, the salesperson sweet-talked him about a test drive of another C200 in the shop. Without hesitation, Mr A got into the car. To be continued…


★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
Kato building 4F, 1-1-2 Furuishiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955

Tyres

Today is the day they have an auction at the nearest auction place from our office. My staff went down to have a look and found a Mazda RX8. It is 3 years since its first registration, has only done 30,000Km and was in an excellent condition apart from one thing: although the tyres have enough grooves left, all 4 of them have big cracks and need replacement. Tyres on late model cars like this should not have cracks bad enough that you need to replace them. This must be from the previous owner’s maintenance. Now I would like to talk about tyres.

We at JPC deal with used cars and customers frequently ask us when the best time to change tyres would be. The other day, when I talked to a salesperson from a tyre manufacturer about the duration of tyres, he said up to 5 years with light housewives’ duties such as doing daily chores. Another person at a tyre specialist shop gave them 3 years. Which is right? Confusing, isn’t it?

Not widely known, is that tyres on a new car have different compounds to the replacement tyres on the market even if they are from the same maker. Car makers put priority in duration, so new car tyres tend to harden a lot quicker. Usually for a new car, 3 years after the purchase, tyres start to get stiff, the stiffness gradually increase as you drive it more and they will pass the time limit for normal function. You will not need to replace them straight away yet although it should be judged by checking their actual performance.

We do sometimes see cars like the one at today’s auction, whose tyres have enough grooves but it has numbers of cracks on the surface. Normally this is the result of rubber degradation from external reasons such as ultra-violet rays, Ozone and oil. The one I lately have noticed is from using special wax to protect & polish tyres. You know, when we change tyres because of the ugly cracks on them, we sometimes see the other side of them perfectly smooth. This unfortunately indicates that too much wax on the surface caused the cracks. Some people use wax on tyres after each car wash, but as you know, tyres are made from rubber, a natural plant material. In contrast, wax is made from oil (petroleum). Putting oil on a plant cannot be good. There are different types of wax available and if you want to use some for the tyres, I recommend non-oil ones. The sad thing is that they are much more expensive than oil based types. If you are going to use an oil base wax, you might as well not bother waxing. Looking at the RX8 which was in a perfect condition, exterior & interior; I can say the owner used oil based wax to protect the tyres.

Then do we have to change the tyres once they have cracks? If the cracks are on the side wall of the tyres from age, you do not need to change them immediately, but you have to be careful they might burst if you drive it on a highway or bump them against a curb. Supporting the total weight of the car, tyres are an important part which you put your and all the passengers’ lives in. You should really change them before it is too late.

We can put brand-new tyres before exporting a car if you want us to. So please do not hesitate to ask us!

★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
Kato building 4F, 1-1-2 Furuishiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955

Shaken - Japan’s automobile safety inspections

Hi there. Today, it is about Shaken, Japan’s automobile safety inspections.

At JPC, we have a few company cars and one of them, my favourite Step Wagon is going to need its 3rd Shaken soon. Shaken is the main safety inspection for vehicles in Japan and all motor vehicles (motor bikes and cars) are required to pass the inspection periodically, which is 3 years after the purchase if you buy them brand new, or every 2 years for older ones. By passing the Shaken, you are allowed to drive them on public roads until the next one is due. They check whether the cars are safe to be driven around and if the cars smog emission is within the standard, etc.

We sell cars as a business and we look after our vehicles very well every day. Although we did not think the Wagon needed to be checked, because we do not have a chance to do proper maintenance & check, we took it to a mechanic to carry out the Shaken.

They found nothing wrong with the wagon as we expected but I found the engine oil was a bit dirty, so I changed it along the way. They say “It is good to have a shelter against every storm”, don’t they?

When the inspection was finished, I got the certificate to take it to the nearest Land Transport office. We go there every time we need to export cars for deregistration and we dropped the certificate off when we had to go there last time. The procedure is simple but every Shaken cost around JPY100,000 which is a great headache for most people.

Then I wondered what sort of the system other countries have. I thought this only happens in Japan but No, there are similar ones in Europe and the USA. I guess they are one of the world’s top car-oriented countries too, aren’t they? The traffic conditions and safety measures might be different but there is not much difference between the inspection systems. In Germany and Korea, it is the same as Japan, 3 years after the purchase if they are new then every 2 years; in the UK, 3 years first then yearly after that, in France 4 years first then 2 years later and every 3 years once they are older than 10 years.

Now I have a very simple question: having similar safety inspection systems, why do people want to import cars from Japan? I asked one of our customers in Europe. He said that used cars over there are not in as good a condition as the ones you can find in Japan. This could be because we have such a small land area and do not take cars for long distance drive. We, used car dealers consider the average yearly millage as 10,000Km but when you look at cars at auction, a lot of them are under 10,000Km. When they only use cars on the weekend, their cars can have only done 3,000Km – 5,000Km. (But when I was talking to a dealer in Korea, he said 10,000Km a year was too low. Thinking of the country’s smaller size, it might be a reflection of their national character.)

Getting back onto the track, another reason for the high quality of used cars in Japan could be because of the existence of the maker-dealers. According to a survey done by a professional survey company, 60-70% of the cars listed at auction in Japan are from maker-dealers (“dealers” hereafter). The car dealers who sold new cars to customer s trading in their old cars take them straight to auction. 2 in 3 people buy cars through a dealer in Japan so to speak. Japanese trust brands like “Toyota”, “Nissan” and “Honda”. People buy cars from them feeling safer even if it is a bit more expensive, then let them do the maintenance as well by following the dealers’ advice. Of course, these cars are well-maintained. We sometimes find some unnecessary services when we check their records. I can safely say that, it is because cars are regularly maintained by the dealers, it leads to the quality assurance in the used car market nationwide.

We are helping customers all over the world to import high quality used cars from Japan. I guarantee your satisfaction even for the first time customers who have never done this before. We look forward to your enquiries.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
Kato building 4F, 1-1-2 Furuishiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955

G8 Summit

In Japan, it is still in the rainy season and the weather has been miserable everyday: how is it in your country? This year’s G8 (Eight leading industrialised nations) Summit started yesterday in Toyako, Hokkaido and leaders from Japan, USA, UK, Canada, Italy, France, Germany and Russia got together, discussing worldwide issues.

Toyako is one of the famous summer resorts in Japan and especially from the rainy season to mid-summer, this is the best time to visit there. I have not been there yet but I always wished maybe one day my boss would give me a chance to go there as a business trip when I was working as a ‘Salary-man”. Although most of you do not have a nice image of Japan’s rainy season nor summer because it is wet & humid, when you are in Hokkaido, you can spend the season comfortably with low humidity and enjoy the magnificent natural surroundings. Last year, there was news on TV saying a lot of tourists from overseas such as Russia, Australia and New Zealand visited Hokkaido while the Japanese Yen was weak. Hokkaido is the second most popular honeymoon destination after Tokyo Disneyland for people from Hong Kong & Taiwan. I do not need to say more about Hokkaido here. It might have already become very famous all over the world.

By the way, this Summit was not something I was personally interested in at first. But because they are having it here in Japan, I check the news every now & then. Especially among all the issues, they are talking a lot about the rising oil and food prices, aid for Africa and environmental problems; but I am really interested to know what they are going to do about the high oil prices and all the other resulting price changes. I started to worry about our future if the oil price does not go down when the food prices are rising after continual rises of fuel price month after month; I would like to see some action towards stabilising the oil price.

I also think that environment issues are important. Compared to the last G8 Summit in Japan, which was held in Okinawa, these environmental issues seem more important and widespread. We have abnormal weather patterns in Japan too. We have had some natural disasters somewhere in the country every year. It is still fresh in our minds that so many lives were claimed in the Hurricane in the USA and the huge Cyclone in Bangladesh and Burma, isn’t it? Because the issues of the oil price and environment are closely connected to JPC’s business, I would like to seriously work on it and do our best to run a sustainable business and way of life.

I know I have talked about some serious issues today. Let’s find a better future together.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
Kato building 4F, 1-1-2 Furuishiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955

Toyota Land Cruiser Cygnus

Today, I am going to talk about Toyota Land Cruiser 100 Cygnus that we won at auction the other day.

First of all, the Land Cruiser rooted in Toyota Jeep BJs which were developed as a 4WD wanted by the National Police Reserve (now Japan’s Self-defence force) in 1951. In June, 1954, the name of the vehicle was changed to “Land Cruiser” 20 Series. The name has the longest history in Japan as a model which is still in production. They are older than Toyota Corolla or High Ace.

The durability of the vehicle is highly regarded. The model changed from 20 Series (1955 – 1959) to 40 Series (1960 – 1984), 55 Series (1967 – 1980), 60 Series (1980 – 1989), 70 Series (1990 – 2004), 80 Series (1991 – 1996), 100 Series (1988 – 2007) then to 200 Series (2007 and later) and every time they changed the model, the vehicle got better. Land Cruisers are considered as the standard cars in the world for rough road driving. To be said “if there is a conflict, there is a Land Cruiser”, they are often used by TV crews gathering news worldwide. Yes, they are the “King of 4WD”.

The model we won this time was a specially ordered one, called an “LX470” overseas in the expensive Lexus brand. They are sold in North America, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa and Oceania and are one of the best-selling cars in the USA.

The order was from a customer in the Caribbean. It was like: the one manufactured in 2003 or later, in a good condition, millage under 40,000Km, black and up to \4,200,000. When we thought that there are not many at auction and the budget is quite limited, we told him that it might take between 1-2 months but it only took us a week after he made a deposit, there was one listed with a sunroof, other maker’s muffler and a 6 level vehicle height adjustment. We placed a bid and won the auction within the budget. We felt extremely lucky. When we told this to the customer, he was very happy and asked us to paint it black. The Land Cruiser was originally black & gray but he wanted the gray bit painted in the same black as the rest of the body. This involved 11 different panels: the bottom half of all the 5 doors, both left & right sidesteps, front & rear bumpers and left& right fender arcs. We thought it looked OK as it was and felt it might be a waste of money but when we asked the painter, he said it should not be any problem and should look fine. So we asked them to do it for us.

5 days after that, it came back, looking fantastic. This Land Cruiser has plastic parts on the steps where your feet touch and the rear bumper to stop damage from opening & closing the rear gate. It requires a special skill not to paint these bits. This looked better than we expected. You appreciate their great professional skills. I heard that they had to remove the bumpers and steps and paint the whole panel, so it takes a long time to finish the job. I now understand why this customer was persistent about this procedure. The usual black & gray one look fine but when it is all painted in black, it does look like the “King of 4WD”, a great change.

Yes, I personally thought I would like one like this. Because of the recent rises in oil prices, the price at auction is getting lower. Maybe now is your chance if you were not sure before because of the high price of the vehicle! Please send us inquiries.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
Kato building 4F, 1-1-2 Furuishiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955

Auction result for SUZUKI JIMNY

Hi there. This is JPC’s Newsletter #16.

What do you think happened to the Suzuki Jimny I told you about in the issue #15?

We took it to auction. 1 week before the actual auction, we asked our transport company to take it to the USS Tokyo, the biggest car auction place in Japan. Here are the details on the slip.

Hey, they are professionals, aren’t they? Because they ask us sellers to list up all the history, I wrote “R Repair” on the slip. The inspector mainly checked there, picked all them right as “Rear panel repaired”, “Rear floor repaired” and “Left rear inside panel clamp repaired”.

Details of the sites:
・Rear panel: Inside of the rear bumper, the first part got bent as a result of the accident
・Rear floor: The floor you put luggage, was also pushed in
・Left rear inside panel clamp: Inside the rear tyre, which was also pushed in, so we used the machine to flatten the part

We were auction #2, thanks to the early delivery. We discussed with the seller that he would want to sell it over JPY900,000, so we set JPY900,000 as the expected sale price and went there first thing in the morning.

The result? Unfortunately, we did not make the sale. The highest bid was JPY885,000. With that small difference, we did not make a sale.

This means, although someone bid JPY885,000, it did not reach our expected price (which was unknown to the bidders), they could not sell it for us. We told this to the seller and decided to try again the next week with a lower price. At auction, they charge JPY10,000 whether you made a sale or not, so if you set the price too high and do not make a sale, it is going to cost you heaps just in the fees. We calmly put the price of JPY880,000 based on the last highest bid.

So the result? This time, we made a sale for JPY880,000. Well, the buyers are professional too. They only bid at a similar price as that of the week before. Of course we wanted it sold with a higher price when it was almost perfectly fixed, but it was the price that we wanted to sell it for anyway, so never mind. We then informed the seller, taking the cost of the panel repair and our fees, we paid him about JPY450,000. The seller was happy because he ended up with JPY150,000 more than selling it through large car purchasing companies.

Lately, because of sudden rises in oil prices, some people sell big uneconomical cars and buy smaller ones, and some even get rid of their cars all together; we, at JPC are selling more cars than buying them. We listen to what our customers want, try finding the best solution for them and provide the best possible service to all our customers.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
Kato building 4F, 1-1-2 Furuishiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955

Selling accident cars at auction

Hello. This is JPC’s Newsletter #15.

Again I am going to continue to tell you about cars which are damaged in an accident. This time, it is about cars which have then been repaired and were taken to an auction.

In the issue before the last one, I told you about damaged cars sold on a “as is where is” basis. Do you remember that? I explained to you that there is a market where sometimes fixers or panel beaters buy damaged cars at auction and sell them after a repair either at their places or at auction. How about if we, JPC does this?

Look at the photos at right side. They are of Suzuki Jimny, a SUV-type compact car with a 0.66L engine. They are very popular among youths as well as old people. This one, called “Wild Wind”, is a special model designed similar to a full-scale 4WD; it has water-proof fabric seats, heating system for the front seats and full-flat rear seats to give generous luggage space. This is the car for outdoor lovers.

The first Japanese owner of the car bought it new but had a slip while driving 6 months later, he had a 360 degree counter-clockwise skid, then hit the road side strips and an electric pole and made big dents in the rear hatch-back and in the left side of the body. Unfortunately, the car was not insured, so he had to either pay for the repair cost or sell it as it was.

He first contacted the dealer he had bought the car from and was told that it would cost 1,200,000 if they ask a panel beater to fix it. He was very upset because you can buy a whole new car for that price, he then asked a large dealer who buy damaged cars. He was told that they would buy his car as it was for JPY300,000. Not being happy with either of the offers, he finally contacted us.

We put a few different things into consideration: the market price for the same cars in a similar condition, the current condition, cost of the repair, etc. and decided the best choice for the customer: sell it at auction after a repair as an “R” car. We deal with so many cars, we have a good network of people: panel beaters, painters, glass dealers and mechanics. These people are all professional and skilled in their areas. We can give our customers a reasonable price for the repair.
This time, I asked one of the panel beaters for help. Within the budget of JPY220,000 for labour and JPY50,000 for the parts (JPY270,000 in total) for a complete repair, he fixed it perfectly after 2 weeks. This is the photo after the repair.

Because we could not get a second-hand part for the spare tyre cover at the rear, we had to use a new one. If we had found a second-hand part, we could have cut the cost more. Actually, we did find a near-new part in different colour, but a “Wild Wind” has to have its body and the spare tyre cover in the same colour. We thought that having the body & spare tyre cover in a different colour might lower the value of the car, so we ordered a new one in blue. What do you think? Can you believe that it was involved in such a big accident? I think they did a great job.

Of course, there are some who did not provide good service among all those professionals we used and we had to delete their names off our list. So the ones we still use are the ones who we can guarantee your satisfaction in their area of expertise. The panel beater is one of them.

So, it was ready to be taken to auction. How much do you think we sold it for? I will tell you in the next issue.

To be continued…


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
Kato building 4F, 1-1-2 Furuishiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955

Burning Mercedes!

Today I was going to continue to talk about damaged cars but I changed my mind. I am going to tell you about the Mercedes Benz E320 wagon burning nearby yesterday.

It was just when I finished my lunch. One of the employees rushed back into the office from his lunch, saying “I saw a Mercedes Benz burning just there!” Looking out of the window, I saw the car in flames only about 50m away from where I was. I went outside to go & have a look. I could clearly see flame coming out of its bonnet. We could hear some loud explosions of the parts inside the engine. The fire engine and the police were still to come, and there were so many spectators around wondering what was going on. Never having seen such a dramatic thing before, I was busy videoing the scene with my compact digital camera. A few minutes later, a fire engine arrived and started hosing the car down. It happened to be the driver who was standing next to me. A policeman was questioning him about the cause of the fire. According to the driver, when he drove about 1Km after having the engine oil changed, he saw white smoke coming out of the engine compartment all of sudden. He was thinking about heading back but saw more smoke coming out, so he decided to park the car on the roadside; as soon as he opened the bonnet to have a look, it burst into fire.

His car was Mercedes Benz E320 station wagon a year 2005 model. To change oil for this model, because there is no lid or indicator for the oil tank, you need special tools to break the gasket and replace it with a new one. I do not know what they used to do this but they might have done it without tools by breaking the gasket but then finished the job without replacing it. You know, from what he said, I cannot imagine a fire like this could happen because if it was just a small amount of oil, it should just dry out.

It took more than 1 hour to put out the fire and a car with the value of JPY 3,000,000 was burnt to ash. Although I do not know whether this car was insured or what he is going to do to the maintenance shop where he had the oil changed, it is really wasteful when you can lose an expensive car in this sort of situation so quickly. This time oil changing caused the disaster but sometimes not changing oil can lead to a disaster, too. I will talk about this some other time properly but I realise that it is important to ask someone professional to do car maintenance. Yes, we are all professional at JPC. You can rely on us! Have a look at the photo of the burning Mercedes on my blog!


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
Kato building 4F, 1-1-2 Furuishiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955

Selling & Buying Accident Cars in Japanese used car auction(3)

Hi, there. This is JPC’s Newsletters #13.

Again, I am going to continue to talk about cars which are involved in an accident (but this time about repaired cars, not about damaged cars sold on a “as is where is” basis) and how to buy them at auction.

First of all, the benefit of buying damaged cars is the cost, of course. Even when they are repaired perfectly, you can buy damaged cars about 10% cheaper than other second-hand cars. Sometimes the price of damaged expensive cars like the latest Mercedes Benz, BMW, Audi and Lexus, can be dropped by more than 10%. This is because they are recent models and there is not much demand in the market. People who buy these expensive cars are rich and middle-aged or older. They are the people who do not have a positive opinion of damaged cars and value the quality and conditions of the cars as much as the price. Not many of them jump at damaged models just because they are cheaper. Damaged late model expensive cars are not popular and it is not easy to sell them on; so you can get a big discount because of the difference in the supply & demand. However, I can only say this for right-hand drive models. The price of left-hand models does not seem to be reduced as much even when they are damaged in an accident. This could be because there are quite a few overseas buyers who do not mind them once they are fixed, which stops the price going down.

On the other hand, some Japanese cars do not seem to lose value dramatically like those expensive latest imports even after they are involved in an accident if they are sport cars such as Skyline, Silvia, Supra and RX-7. Different from cars whose target is rich middle-aged, these cars are made for young people. They tend to connect the quality with the price, but sometimes put priority on the price. Young people have a limited budget and the cheaper cars attract more people. Also, these cars are designed for speed performance, more than half of them on the market or at auction are involved in an accident. Therefore, damaged cars are the norm and especially when cars are old, it usually means that they have been in one or two accidents.

How about safety? Is it really safe to buy such a car? Sometimes customers with a low budget ask us to buy cars that were damaged in an accident but have been fixed properly. We say to them honestly: we cannot 100% guarantee if they were fixed properly at this stage because it is something you have to find out after you buy them. It needs time. This might sound harsh but is a reality.

Cars are made of many parts. When they are damaged, we try fixing them by pulling, pushing, banging, patting, etc. to make them look similar to the original condition. Unlike human bones which can be broken but get fixed naturally, cars never fully get back to the original state. So even if they look fine for now, no one can tell if they are going to be fine after a couple of years.

However, the repair skills are improving every day and depending on the damaged site, you can minimise the future risk. For example, repairs in the rear parts of cars do not affect directly driving performance, so you can feel relatively at ease when you buy one; but if cars have repairs on the front, you take more risk in buying one because it might directly affect its performance. Especially when 3 front parts (bonnet and both side fenders) in the front have been replaced, it means the car had a head-on crash and this can be the biggest impact you could think of, when you have an accident. Things like this reflect in the bidding prices. Cars with damage in the front are sold cheaper than the ones with damage in the rear. Check these auction slips of Civic Type Rs.

Although we cannot simply compare them because of the 1 year difference in the manufacture dates, the left one with 3 repair histories and the right one with a repair history at the back get this much difference in their selling prices. Actually, when a car has 3 parts repaired in the front, inspectors might doubt the seller’s driving skills and tend to look for more faults, making the car look worse.

From my experience, I cannot always generalize this, but I say that you can buy a damaged car if they only have repairs in the rear or 1 repair in the fender panel if it is in the front and you have no problem in the steering from visual observation; it might be worthwhile to take it into consideration, depending on the price.

I have more things to talk about on damaged cars. To be continued…


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
Kato building 4F, 1-1-2 Furuishiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955