We stop at your ceiling. If it sells for less, you pay less. If it goes past, we walk away and find the next one.
Specification, as the auction house lists it
MAKE AND MODEL
Lexus Ls
CHASSIS CODE
USF40
BUILD YEAR
2013
ODOMETER
184,000 km
AUCTION GRADE
3.5
ENGINE
4,600 cc
TRANSMISSION
AT
COLOUR
white
AUCTION HOUSE
TAA Chubu
LOT NUMBER
10012
Before we bid, a person confirms import eligibility against this exact vehicle and its build date, not against the model name.
BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE
Why wait for one from Japan?
This is a 184,000 km Ls carrying an auction grade, bought at your ceiling. The question is what you know about it — and whether waiting for the right one beats taking the first local listing.
BETTER VALUE
A full landed figure before you commit
Shipping, customs, GST, compliance and our fee — itemised from the same rate card as the calculator, against the ceiling you set.
KNOW THE CONDITION
An independent inspector graded it before it ran
An auction grade, an interior grade, and a sheet our team reads with you before bidding. Local private sales come with none of that.
MORE CHOICE
More of the same model running this week
If this one is wrong on kilometres, colour, build month or price, another one runs tomorrow.
WE DON’T HAVE TO SETTLE
Your ceiling is the end of the conversation
Bidding past it, or a sheet we do not like once we read it, and we stop. There is no pressure to buy this particular car.
Yes, importing takes longer. The reason to wait is to get the right car, with more information, rather than simply the first car available locally.
Condition: what is published, and what we check
Japanese auction houses grade every car before it runs. Some of that grading is published in the feed. The rest sits on the sheet, and one of our team reads it with you before anyone bids.
PUBLISHED GRADE
3.5of a possible 5
Grade 3.5 is the auction house inspector's overall read on the car: the higher the number, the less it needs on arrival. Grade 4 and above is the floor we apply to anything we put in front of you.
INTERIOR GRADE
Graded separately on a letter scale. What sits behind the letter is on the sheet, and we can go through it with you.
OVERALL GRADEThe auction house inspector's overall condition gradeIN THE FEED
INTERIOR GRADESeparate letter grade for the cabinIN THE FEED
ODOMETERKilometres as listed by the auction house
Comparable results across auction houses
Closest matches are ranked by grade and kilometres for this lot. The wider market figure is the broader grade-band median across houses — context for a ceiling, not a promise of what this lot will do.
LOADING COMPARABLE RESULTS…
If we win it, here is how it reaches you
Indicative timeline from auction day. Shipping schedules shift, so treat the last two stages as approximate.
01
AUCTION DAY
The lot runs
We bid to your ceiling and stop. You know the result within the hour.
PAYMENT 1: CAR AND AUCTION FEES
02
+1 WEEK
Export paperwork
De-registration, export certificate, transport to the port.
NOTHING DUE
03
+3 WEEKS
On the vessel
Roughly 18 days at sea. You get the vessel name and the ETA.
PAYMENT 2: SHIPPING AND CUSTOMS
04
+7 WEEKS
Customs and quarantine
Duty and GST paid, quarantine inspection, released to the workshop.
NOTHING DUE
05
+10 WEEKS
Complied and plated
LOT 10012 · TAA CHUBU
Set a ceiling, and this car lands at a number you approve first.
Nothing is committed until you approve the ceiling in writing. We bid on your behalf, stop there, and if we lose the lot you pay nothing.
PANEL MAPMarks and their positions, panel by panelON THE SHEET
REPAIR MARKSWhether panels were replaced or repaired, and whereON THE SHEET
INSPECTOR NOTESHandwritten in Japanese, including anything unusualON THE SHEET
BUILD DATERead off the compliance plate, not the advertWE CONFIRM IT
EQUIPMENT LISTFactory options as fitted, checked against the variantWE CONFIRM IT
Have someone read the sheet with you.
A person on our team goes through the panel map, the repair marks and the odometer record, and tells you what they would and would not bid on. Free, and before you commit to anything.
