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What's a horby importer?? :S

Beer Baron is on the money, as always...

Sorry, mate

Typing mistake, Hobby importer for myself in the early days.It becomes www.jakmotorworks.com.au since last July.

Alex

  • 3 weeks later...
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Hey mate a guy on Antilag.com says he will be selling his soon. its black though but only has quality on it. http://antilag.com/f...ead.php?t=25584

Yeah I think his name is Huy. I spoke to him a few weeks ago.

Might have to just get a black one :(

Last time I tried to import a 34 GTR, I got a previously stolen car from Japan (VIN number scrubbed off from the chassis) & putting onto the auction. My agent's partner in Japan "failed" to pick this up, we only found out b/c I asked a friend to get the number checked out and found out there was 1 number missing. Lucky to get my money back, but lost $900 on agent fee and a few thousands through exchange back and forth.

He later tried to import another car, but I was too scared to go through that again, for that, I got sent a bill for nearly $6000 for his "damages". He's lucky I didn't get a lawyer to sue him or mention his name on these forums.

Just my bad luck,

Never again

God bless him

Last time I tried to import a 34 GTR, I got a previously stolen car from Japan (VIN number scrubbed off from the chassis) & putting onto the auction. My agent's partner in Japan "failed" to pick this up, we only found out b/c I asked a friend to get the number checked out and found out there was 1 number missing. Lucky to get my money back, but lost $900 on agent fee and a few thousands through exchange back and forth.

He later tried to import another car, but I was too scared to go through that again, for that, I got sent a bill for nearly $6000 for his "damages". He's lucky I didn't get a lawyer to sue him or mention his name on these forums.

Just my bad luck,

Never again

God bless him

That's a nightmare and a half!

It pays to have a broker and agent who are meticulous to the extreme.

Last time I tried to import a 34 GTR, I got a previously stolen car from Japan (VIN number scrubbed off from the chassis) & putting onto the auction. My agent's partner in Japan "failed" to pick this up, we only found out b/c I asked a friend to get the number checked out and found out there was 1 number missing. Lucky to get my money back, but lost $900 on agent fee and a few thousands through exchange back and forth.

He later tried to import another car, but I was too scared to go through that again, for that, I got sent a bill for nearly $6000 for his "damages". He's lucky I didn't get a lawyer to sue him or mention his name on these forums.

Just my bad luck,

Never again

God bless him

Wow...i was starting to feel comfortable about importing and then I hear a story like that lol

Last time I tried to import a 34 GTR, I got a previously stolen car from Japan (VIN number scrubbed off from the chassis) & putting onto the auction. My agent's partner in Japan "failed" to pick this up, we only found out b/c I asked a friend to get the number checked out and found out there was 1 number missing. Lucky to get my money back, but lost $900 on agent fee and a few thousands through exchange back and forth.

He later tried to import another car, but I was too scared to go through that again, for that, I got sent a bill for nearly $6000 for his "damages". He's lucky I didn't get a lawyer to sue him or mention his name on these forums.

Just my bad luck,

Never again

God bless him

I don't have a problem mentioning his name on the forums - it was me.

This was over three years ago now, I'm curious as to why you would bother to bring it up now, but anyway, just to prove there are two sides to every story...

Andy was very specific with his requirements for a car, and the one that we ended up purchasing out of Kyushu at the time was a Grade 5A VS2 with something like 30,000km on the clock. Despite its excellent grading, my agent still insisted it come to Kobe to be physically checked over by him before going on a boat.

By the time it had arrived, Andy had already paid the invoice for it and had noticed the anomalies in the chassis number (we had also spotted it, but couldn't verify what the problem was till my agent was in front of the car). When we checked it out we found it had been stolen and recovered at some stage, and the chassis number had been removed.

Having done some ringing around, we found a number of workshops who had dealt with this issue before, many of whom simply assigned a new chassis number and were still happily able to comply it in Australia. One later even offered to buy the car off us (at a $10K loss). I was not prepared to take that risk, and either was my agent, so we sent it back through auction, and took a very hard hit on it.

Andy, still keen to find another GT-R at this stage, and kept looking but requested that his money be returned to Australia. I gave him the option of leaving it there (given that he was still looking for a car) but could happily understand why he may not feel comfortable leaving so much money in someone else's account, although also warned that movements in the exchange rate may cost him money. This it did, but about $400 in total (not thousands), not bad considering it was $46K that was moved back and forth.

My agent in Japan, still stinging from the burn on the first car, was keen to find Andy a car, and took on the job of finding it personally, catching bullet trains from Osaka to Tokyo to check the cars himself, speaking to Andy directly from Japan to make sure he was happy with the car he finally found him. Having given my agent the go-ahead over the phone, my agent bought him a second very-low-km high grade VS2 at auction, and with me having locked in the 4.5ish million yen to send his money to Japan, Andy then decided instead to stop looking for a car AFTER my agent had purchased a second GT-R in Japan! Not only this, he asked me for his $770 broker's fee back! (note: not the $990 suggested)

The losses that were incurred in Japan as a result (copy and paste from the invoice I got from Japan):

1/ Physical loss of car purchase price to sale price at auction : 450,000

2/ Physical loss of GST (5%) : 22,500

3/ All transportation charges : 155,000

4/ Auction purchase fees and selling fees : 87,000

5/ bullet train expenses : 81,000

6/ Hotel fees : 36,000

7/ Storage fees : 48,000

Total : 879,500 Japanese Yen

This was at a time when it was 95yen to the dollar, so I had to wear nearly $9000 worth of expenses, which I asked Andy to chip in for, seeing it had been his decision to pull out after the car had been purchased. I never heard from him again, and I spent the next 6 months paying virtually all the spare money I earned to Japan to cover the loss.

I likewise, kept quiet about the whole matter, at a time when I really didn't want to do so. I sucked it up and learnt my lesson.

I'm disappointed that you've chosen to bring this up so long after the fact, Andy, but I'm not going to have you posting a skewed version of events without replying to it.

My last post on this.

Totally hopeless...

1. The stolen car that your agent "handpicked" was not 5A, a run down yr 2000, I still have the auction sheet and invoice you sent me (it never left Japan), was later on the market for sale by another import agent (fooling another Australian with the dud chassis)

2. You did insist holding the money in Japan, but you over-insisted, despite weeks of me pleading for my money back. I had to promise not to take the $770 (not $990) fee you charged for the "service", just so you could return my money and even promised i'd continue to look for another GTR, just so I could get MY $48,000 back I thought i'd lose. I never trusted you after purchasing the stolen car you promised to hand pick, yet you failed to see the white paint over the chassis number on engine bay.

How many ppl in here would leave $48,237.30 in someone's account and not be able to get it back for weeks, weeks!!!...wouldnt u be worried if you were in the same boat? I have never met you, don't know where you live...

and to "chip" in $4500 for getting nothing?

I was a genuine buyer, you auctioned a car, I sent directly $48,000 to your account as requested on time, but you failed on your end with a stolen car (that I discovered).

If it entered Australia unnoticed, I would never be able to get it complied & registered.

You can not penalise me for this. Surely.

*facepalm*

My last post on this.

Totally hopeless...

1. The stolen car that your agent "handpicked" was not 5A, a run down yr 2000, I still have the auction sheet and invoice you sent me (it never left Japan), was later on the market for sale by another import agent (fooling another Australian with the dud chassis)

1. You're right it wasn't a grade 5A, it was a grade 4.5A with 30,750km on it. I've attached the auction sheet so anyone else in here well-versed in Japanese can see what my agent had to work with. As you will see, there was certainly no indication that the car had been stolen and re-registered, aside from the cryptic numbers where the chassis number would normally be.

post-12772-0-92969100-1301323142_thumb.jpg

The car was advertised on a dealer's website in Sydney - he was the one who said he had complied such cars before, and he was the one who offered my agent $10K below what it owed. In the end, my agent elected to send it back through auction. The car sat on the website long after it had been sold.

2. You did insist holding the money in Japan, but you over-insisted, despite weeks of me pleading for my money back. I had to promise not to take the $770 (not $990) fee you charged for the "service", just so you could return my money and even promised i'd continue to look for another GTR, just so I could get MY $48,000 back I thought i'd lose. I never trusted you after purchasing the stolen car you promised to hand pick, yet you failed to see the white paint over the chassis number on engine bay.

The only reason I insisted on keeping the money there was because I knew you were going to get slammed on the exchange rate! I put a limit order in with the exchange company to limit the losses to what they were - less than 1% of the money you sent over initially. When the exchange rate jumped and the limit order was filled, it came back to you the next day!

How did we fail to see the white paint over the chassis number?! It was my agent who took the photo of it to show you what happened in the first place!! When he realised what had happened, he chose to put it back through auction, taking a huge loss on it. I don't see how he was trying to deceive you in any way at all.

As for looking for another car, you didn't have to PROMISE anything! You said you were prepared to do that, so we kept looking! In fact, you were still sending cars through that you wanted my agent to bid on AFTER your money had been refunded to Australia, and he bought another vehicle in good faith that you were still looking! It wasn't until AFTER the invoice arrived for the second GT-R (about 5 mins after, to be precise) that you said you were no looking.

How many ppl in here would leave $48,237.30 in someone's account and not be able to get it back for weeks, weeks!!!...wouldnt u be worried if you were in the same boat? I have never met you, don't know where you live...

Like I said, I can completely understand why you wouldn't want that amount of money sitting overseas, which is why my agent sent it back!

and to "chip" in $4500 for getting nothing?

No...to chip in for telling my agent to buy a car, then pulling out of the deal after he'd bought the car for you, leaving him with losses totalling a whole lot more than that.

I was a genuine buyer, you auctioned a car, I sent directly $48,000 to your account as requested on time, but you failed on your end with a stolen car (that I discovered).

If it entered Australia unnoticed, I would never be able to get it complied & registered.

You can not penalise me for this. Surely.

How did YOU discover it was stolen?! My agent had been working the auction over 10 years at the time and even he hadn't seen that scenario before. What he said was that he would wait until the car arrived in Kobe to sort out why it didn't have the chassis number on the auction sheet. I fail to see how this was either the agent's fault or mine, but nevertheless we copped it on the chin and rectified it.

Either way you were not "penalised" for the purchase of this vehicle at all - your $770 broker's fee went back to Japan as part (and a very small part) payment for the losses accrued on the SECOND GT-R that you had my agent purchase after your money had been returned to Australia.

Ok well even after what happened Iron Chef still has a good rep from what I have heard. I know where andz is coming from though. Having faith in someone with a large sum of your money and then for whatever reason, the deal backfires and you crap your pants.

Iron Chef wore the costs afterwards and took it on the chin. I don't know the full situation but by the sounds of it I.C tried to redeem himself. If he was dodgy he would try run and hide with the money etc.

Sorry to hear what happened for both of you.

that's a bummer. seems like everyone tried to do the right thing, but lesson learnt for the buyer, broker and customer. DO not buy a car that you have not seen in person. had the buyer gone to the auction in person he would have seen the chassis number was removed and kept walking. by buying a car remotely he got screwed. in fact same goes with no chassis number on the sheet. it's an indication straight away that something may be wrong. it's not really your fault iron chef, you trusted him, but he was not doing his job as an agent. he should have been there in person. otherwise what do you need him for? with auction access online you can bid on auctions with a terminal in your bedroom in Australia. I have had the access for years and years but simply don't do it as without someone to physically inspect the car for me it's like playing roulette. auction sheets just don't give a complete enough picture. things like this removed chassis number take 5 seconds to spot in person but are hard to spot from the agents bedroom in kobe just as hard as they are from your bedroom in adelaide or mine in sydney. this is why we have agents, they are our men on the ground there to ensure the cars match the sheets and that nothing is wrong.

farking hard luck story though, and I can see the buyer pulling out of the second car would have caused some friction. I can understand why he did it, but it perhaps would have been better if he spoke up as soon as his money was returned that he no longer wanted to import a car.

How many ppl in here would leave $48,237.30 in someone's account and not be able to get it back for weeks, weeks!!!...wouldnt u be worried if you were in the same boat? I have never met you, don't know where you live...

Well Andy, you've asked a reasonable question and you deserve an appropriate answer.

I too, have neither met Iron Chef; nor do I know where he lives.

I had done my checks and balances on him throughout this forum; and ended up depositing at his request, the 10s of 1000s into Global's account on trust.

I left the monies there for weeks and weeks after the order was placed in October. The VS2 was not registered in my name till 4 months later.

My initial requests were that the car had a full history, logs, no rust and reflected the condition of a car with low kms.

The answers came back positive - even to the extent that my car has had 2x dash clusters. One had 34,xxxkm and the nismo one with 9,xxxkm.

Communication was kept up to the extent that I acceded to the request of the car coming across on a later ship to avoid Christmas wharf storage costs and keep the price down.

The eventual price was under the initial estimated price, partly due to the favourable exchange rate. But Iron Chef made me the beneficiary of that, rather than his agent.

I was patient.

I'm happy.

I would buy through this man again! :yes:

that's a bummer. seems like everyone tried to do the right thing, but lesson learnt for the buyer, broker and customer. DO not buy a car that you have not seen in person. had the buyer gone to the auction in person he would have seen the chassis number was removed and kept walking. by buying a car remotely he got screwed. in fact same goes with no chassis number on the sheet. it's an indication straight away that something may be wrong. it's not really your fault iron chef, you trusted him, but he was not doing his job as an agent. he should have been there in person. otherwise what do you need him for? with auction access online you can bid on auctions with a terminal in your bedroom in Australia. I have had the access for years and years but simply don't do it as without someone to physically inspect the car for me it's like playing roulette. auction sheets just don't give a complete enough picture. things like this removed chassis number take 5 seconds to spot in person but are hard to spot from the agents bedroom in kobe just as hard as they are from your bedroom in adelaide or mine in sydney. this is why we have agents, they are our men on the ground there to ensure the cars match the sheets and that nothing is wrong.

farking hard luck story though, and I can see the buyer pulling out of the second car would have caused some friction. I can understand why he did it, but it perhaps would have been better if he spoke up as soon as his money was returned that he no longer wanted to import a car.

Just to clarify, my agent paid a 3rd party inspector to go and check it, and it was this clown who managed to miss it (whether he even checked it over or not is a matter of conjecture), but between this other bloke's description and the high grading given by the auction house, there was no reason to suspect anything was wrong with it. My agent still paid the money to bring the car to Kobe rather than ship it out direct, so he could check it over himself, bloody lucky he did (although like I said, cars such as these can and have been registered before anyway). My agent tried to file a claim with the auction house over the misleading auction sheet, but you only get 7 days after the auction to lodge it, and it took longer than a week for them to transport the car up to Kobe. The auction house did contact us later to say the inspector who wrote the auction sheet in question "had been assigned other duties" over it - cold comfort for us at the time.

Like I said, this all happened over three years ago, I've long since been able to find buyers who are "on the ground" at the Kyushu auctions. We chalked the losses on the first one up to experience and moved on, it was the losses on the second GT-R we weren't prepared to accept.

Thanks Terry for your contribution :thumbsup:

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