dodgyimports

They all say it wasn't bought at auction... it's the new line that comes after: - One owner, LOW KMs, No accidents - Owner was a little old Japanese lady, never drove the car - Little old lady lost the logbooks - whoops! - Japan is a small country, they don't drive far - Japanese have rough hands so all that wear on the wheel/shift is normal - Japanese don't like to put servicing stickers on their cars because they look ugly - Oh and it wasn't bought at auction Talk to any well reputed broker (J-Spec, Iron Chef, Prestige Motorsport) about how hard it is to buy vehicles in Japan through the local dealer networks. The chances an imported car was not bought at auction either directly by the importer or by their chosen Japanese exporter are extremely slim - buying at auction is too cheap and convenient. If they can't supply the auction sheet AND de-registration certificate, see if you can get hold of them yourself or find another seller that can.

There's an easy way to find out. Got VIN?

Is the dealer providing any Japanese documentation (eg. auction sheet, de-registration cert) to verify the low mileage?

Is this 'apparently' according to the guy selling the unicorn that is a grade 4.5A S13 with only 40,000 kms?

12/96 is the build date. The compliance date is May 2014 according to RAWS. Did you contact Japanese History Check about getting the auction sheet?

Also - the chassis number in that VIN looks like it's incomplete - there should be six digits after RPS13-

Do you have a compliance date? Month/Year should be stamped on the compliance plate.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/public-defender-apurva-mishra-is-on-a-clocking-crusade/story-fnlrw4is-1226872970210 https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=607281989387563&id=557835010998928

I'll bet Sports Auto Group are still laughing with great relief about how well they minimized the damage on this story. With only two of ten checked identified as being wound back, it gives people the impression they sell legit cars 8/10 times... Hell, they even offer "Japanese De registration papers" advertised with all their cars these days. Once again they've managed to pull the wool over the eyes of all involved.

Post up the auction sheet! The above export certificate is an excellent example of a "refresh", which seems to be the technique some are using to get around JOC's de-reg checks. It was very interesting to hear that JOC's random checks on SAG's stock for A Current Affair only found 2 of 10 discrepancies, leads one to wonder how many of the 8 remaining might have been "refreshed".

So, the car was travelling 12,733kms per year on average for the first 3 years of it's life. According to RAWS that car was imported in April 2013 (http://raws.infrastructure.gov.au/rawswebpublic/RAWPubVehSearch.asp), implying it spent at least another two years in Japan after March 2011. The dealer is asking you to believe that in those two years, the car suddenly only travelled 3,800kms. Did you try asking the dealer for the auction papers?

That export certificate says the car had travelled 38,200 in March of 2011. What's on the odo now?

How likely? Is the Pope Catholic?

Certainly, the local dealerships would like you to believe that it's the "dodgy exporters" when they point the finger of blame. Look again at the above example, it wasn't the exporter who has advertised the car in question with super-low mileage. Nevermind the fact that at the time the dealers get the cars complied, these examples are almost always inside the 3-month window whereby almost anyone can look up the auction records. As if the dealership, having operated in the industry for years wouldn't know where to look.

Auction sheet + (de-registration OR export certificate) = you get the full story.