Finally the end of a year no one predicted! See the following pics for auction breaks and office breaks (even when the office is closed we will be bidding on vehicles)
A quite often, but good question often asked by new customers: “How do you find left hand drive vehicles in the auctions?”
Answer: Hello ……
LEFT HAND DRIVE car? Unfortunately, you need to look at the inside photos of cars to see whether the car is left hand drive, or right hand drive. 1. 99.9% of Japanese brand cars sold are RHD.
2. Foreign cars (American, German) have certain models that are nearly always right hand drive, or left hand drive. The more expensive a model the more likely it is to be left hand drive.
3. By rolling your mouse over the I image (inside image) you can quickly judge whether a car is left hand drive or right hand drive, for example:
This blog specifically for the NZ market. What cars from the Japanese used car auctions have ESC (electronic stability control)? It depends on the model of car, as well as the model within the model! Luckily when it comes to the Mistubishi Delica D5, ALL variants have ESC.
For Mistubishi, they call it “ASC” or active stability control, rather than ESC.
If you are fluent in Japanese you can read the link here
When searching for the Delica D5 in the daily Japanese auctions, search for “Mitsubishi”, then on the left side of “Delica” click on the number, then choose Delica D5.
Each summer in Japan the country celebrates the Obon summer break. Although Obon is a Buddhist ceremony celebrating the spirits of the dead, the living use the time, a clumped together group of national holidays, to take a break during the hottest time on the Japanese calendar. We follow the used car auctions leads and give our staff a break. The following auction holiday schedule will be followed. Note we are open for bidding when the auctions are open, though the other staff will be on a break.
The Toyota Prius has had ESC (Electronic Stability Control) in models since August 2003. The first time this was included was in the model change to the NHW20 chassis, while only in the G model, not the S.
This also has the triple digit emissions code, so it is still importable into New Zealand with the strict triple digit AND ESC restrictions. In Toyota language they call it “Vector Stability Control”.
So when searching for a Prius with the electronic stability controls system, you need to search for models that came out after the model change in September 2003, or the “20” series or the chassis NHW20. Finally you need to focus on the model type, as not all the models had stability control. You need to focus on the “G” series. Here is a photo of the stats from a 2004 Toyota catalog:
A car with no need for reverse. Never to go back. With the future in it’s eyes. No regrets of the past, with the future in its eyes. Whatever the cliche, this car found in a classic auction this week had those thoughts written all over it. It is an old car, so the idea obviously never caught on. Look closely at the steering wheel(s)!
The traditional Japanese Golden Week holiday is upon us. Usually there are traffic jams for miles on the main highways between prefectures and cities. This year the public has been told to “stay home”, and they are obeying!
So here is the schedule for the auctions and office opening and closing dates:
The office will be closed from Wednesday, April 29th until Wednesday, May 6th. It will be open and operational again from Thursday, May 7th.
The auctions: the bidding team will be bidding on cars at the auctions as normal until Saturday, May 2nd. Back to normal schedule from Thursday May 7th.
Back in the days when people could gather together and compare their cars and trucks.
Just a quick video of the “kei truck” gathering in Japan (pre-corona days).
From the beginning of April, owners of vehicles, whether they be private or public, get sent a bill: the annual car tax. This is a time when both the individual or the company re-evaluates whether the car they own is worth keeping for another year, as the tax is not always cheap. Companies that have a large number of vehicles may decide to “trade in” vehicles, so as to escape this annual tax. For this reason, in March and April each year, the numbers of vehicles appearing in the auctions, increase.
Increases of the same models of vehicles in the auctions means more vehicles available to choose from as well as a decrease in the average price per vehicle. That is, it is a GOOD TIME TO BUY. Add onto this the mini-recession that the corona virus has brought upon Japan, there is even more motivation for unneeded vehicles to be traded in to save money. 2020 March / April may be a very cheap time to buy.