Importing

If you don’t already, you’re going to actually need a car to start with. The odds of finding an unmolested Silvia on home soil are probably worse at the TAB than the odds of Winston Peters knocking out Floyd Mayweather. But looking to the motherland, Japan, you can find a few gems and often save yourself a bit of coin in the process. But, for many people, the distance will be of concern. How can you inspect the car to make sure it is as advertised, especially as there must be as many dodgy dealers in Japan as there are here in New Zealand?

That’s where an import agent comes into the mix. We called Ash Dann from Carwebs to get the lowdown on how it all works. “We have inspectors and buyers at 95 per cent of auction houses in Japan, we only steer clear of a few — like Sapporo — due to rust issues with the salted roads,” he told us. “If you register on the Carwebs site, you can view over 60,000 cars at auction every day to find the one that suits. It’s as simple as picking out something you like, specifying your maximum bid amount, and letting us know any special requests. From there, we will send an inspector to check the car before bidding. If the inspector and you are both happy, then we bid on the car, and, if it’s won for less, then that is all you pay. Half the cars that go through auctions and don’t sell end up as fixed-price-offer vehicles — usually 100-plus kilometre cars are available at all times.

“Carwebs has been importing cars from Japan since 1991, is an MTA dealer, and offers a full money-back guarantee that the car will arrive in the condition described. The team does its best to point out any possible issues and advise of any potential problems, but things like battery replacement and worn tyres would be at additional cost, if needed to pass a warrant of fitness.” Carwebs // 09 577 3540 // carwebs.co.nz