So how do we go about getting our vehicles? The same way every other place get them; the auction house. There are several places to go if you're looking to get a vehicle through auction, but there are some thing to take into consideration when it comes to buying at an auction: location, cost, fees, transportation etc. Also, one should note that you will never really know what you're getting when it comes to buying at an auction house. In some cases you can walk up to the car and walk around it and have a good idea. In other cases, like a used car auction, you don't generally get that option to view the car you want. Depending on what type of aution it is, you will see the car drive up on a platform. The auctioneer starts speaking gibberish and people will making ever-so-slight gestures to indicate a raise in bid. There are also online auctions that only post a picture of the car and gives you a summary of its history. You click the bid button and watch the number steadily rise until someone's pockets give out. In the case of buying a car on an online auction, you don't really have a chance to give it a good inspection before you drop your cash, so you'd have to have a good amount a faith, a good eye and a great amount of luck; there's no telling what you've bought until you've already paid of it.
Most of the time, the cars may have slight cosmetic damage; minor scratches, stained or torn seats, no radio or even a knock in the engine. Either way, it's yours now! When it comes to finding cars to sell, we keep an eye out for the type of cars our customers inquire about on a day to day basis. It gives us a general idea as to what's really wanted or needed in our area. We're located in the suburbs, so most of the time people are looking to get family sized vehicles; something with a decent amount of space in them. Sedans, minivans, SUVs, cross-overs as well as Kei-cars( small engine Japanese cars ) are the major choices in our town. We rarely have the option to choose a sports car due to the low demand for them. The customers we encounter from the military base are normally (if not always) are from the States. They're used to driving big cars on big roads. So, when they arrive to Japan and realize how small the roads actually are, they opt out for a smaller Kei-car. The roads here are pretty intimidating if you're not a confident driver. So we make sure to have the smallest cars that offers the most space inside them.
We often do get customers that prefer a normal sized minivan that takes up most of the road. We try to have something available for everyone! When a purchase is made from the auction house, normally the car is delivered within 72 hours; sometimes less. We have a particular auction house we choose over the others due to the cars being in better shape than the rest; even though it's further away. Nothing is better than knowing your getting your money's worth-- even if you have to go out of your way to get there!
East Hiroshima Auction Site
There's easily over 1500 cars here that's being auctioned off at any given time. You can bring a vehicle here to be auctioned or purchase one. If you're lucky and have the cash available, you can find some pretty good cars here. Most of the "up to date" cars could easily reach 30k. The older but more rare cars could reach 50-60k. But there's never a shortage of cars here; truck loads are brought in on a daily basis.