Japanese Auction Bidding Statistics:

I did some quick analysis on the stats for the bids we placed on cars so far this month, based on cars we were interested in, and then whether or not that translated into an actual bid being placed. The auctions give cars a grade out of 5, and all these cars were grade 3.5 or 4, which is realistically the highest grade you are going to see a USA legal car at. By all signs present before our inspection, these cars were supposed to be high quality. Our results are below:

From July 1st to July 20th –

Cars we were interested in: 20

Cars we placed actual bids on: 1

That’s right – we bid on only 5% of the cars we were interested in and had inspected. A small subset of those results are shown below:

7/1 – 1991 Toyota Celsior – BID PLACED, OUTBID BY 35,000 YEN

7/8 - 1991 Nissan President – NO BID, Dash lamp illuminated (check engine), engine cutting out during idle.

7/12 – 1990 Toyota Celsior – NO BID, Very poor condition inside and out. Stained interior. Did not turn over on first or second try.

7/15 – 1991 Toyota Soarer – NO BID, Evidence of Odometer swap. Advertised mileage (12,000) not genuine.

7/19 – 1991 Nissan Gloria – NO BID, Rusty.

7/20 – 1991 Toyota Celsior – NO BID, Underbody rust painted over. Engine noise.