When bidding on cars it is good to know where the auction is.  Knowing where the auction is you can factor-in inland transport costs.  Also by looking at the map you can imagine the impact of snow on the area (snow means potential for rust) and perhaps avoid bidding on those vehicles.  The further north you go, the more snow there is, the greater the chance for rust issues.

Taken from the TAA Web site … sort of borrowed their photo thank you very much and posted on there the english names of the auctions

TAA and CAA auction sites in Japan

Let’s do some grouping:

Closest to the Tokyo ports and Yokohama ports for export:

TAA Kanto, TAA Yokohama, CAA Tokyo

Closest to the Nagoya ports for export

CAA Chubu, TAA Chubu, CAA Gifu

Closest to the Osaka or Kobe ports for export:

TAA Kinki, TAA Hyogo

Furtherest auctions away and transportation costs must be considered before bidding:

North:  TAA Hokkaido, TAA Tohoku, CAA Tohoku

South:  TAA Minami Kyushu, TAA Kyushu

Although the far off auctions have an increased transportation cost, often the cars sell slightly less than their big city cousins.  So rather than just ignoring those auctions, drop the bid price is perhaps the wisest answer.  For rust risk however, best just to ignore the far north auctions.