Pro-Buyer Protocol

Destination

0/15

12 irreversible checks still open — these are the ones that cannot be undone later.

BEFORE YOU BID

Chassis number matches across every document you have been shownIRREVERSIBLEThe auction sheet, the photos and the listing must all carry the same chassis number. A mismatch is the single cheapest fraud to detect and the single most expensive one to discover at the port, where the car cannot be cleared under a number that does not match its export certificate.

Auction grade is consistent with what the sheet actually saysThe overall grade is a summary; the map and the inspector notes are the evidence. A grade 4 with corrosion marked along a sill is not the same car as a grade 4 with a scuffed bumper, and only one of those is a repair you can price.

Battery state of health is plausible for the age and mileage (EV/hybrid)A high state of health on a high-mileage older car is either a replaced pack — which is good news you should be able to see documented — or a reading you cannot trust. The pack is the most expensive single component; it is not a post-purchase discovery.

Mileage increases across every record in the historyIRREVERSIBLEOdometer readings that go backwards across auction, inspection and service records are the clearest signal there is. Japanese auction houses record mileage at each appearance, so the history exists to be checked.

BEFORE YOU PAY

Export certificate exists and has not expiredIRREVERSIBLEA Japanese export certificate has a validity window. An expired one has to be re-issued, which means the car sits — and storage at the port is charged daily. The deal room blocks a phase advance on this for the same reason.

Funds are going to the party named on the invoiceIRREVERSIBLEA payment redirected to a "new account" at the last moment is the most common way money is lost in this trade, and it is unrecoverable once sent. Confirm the account through a channel you established earlier, never one supplied in the same message as the request.

You have the LANDED figure, not the hammer priceHammer, auction fees, transport to port, export clearance, freight, marine insurance, duty, VAT/GST and local clearance are all separate. A budget built on the hammer price is short by a predictable and often large margin.

BEFORE IT SHIPS

Underside and engine-bay photographs taken at the yardIRREVERSIBLECorrosion and prior structural repair are visible from underneath and nowhere else. Once the car is in a container this is the last moment it can be photographed for months, and the first moment you would want the evidence is when it arrives looking different from the sheet.

Load is planned against the ROAD limit, not the container plateIRREVERSIBLEThe CSC plate says what the box can structurally carry. Japanese road law says what a truck may legally move, gross, less the container's own tare. A load that satisfies the plate and fails the road limit is fine at sea and cannot leave the yard.

Marine cover is in force from the moment the car leaves the yardIRREVERSIBLECover that starts at the port leaves the inland leg uninsured, and cover that starts at sailing leaves the car uninsured while it sits in the terminal.

ISF 10+2 filed before the vessel sailsIRREVERSIBLEUS Customs requires the Importer Security Filing no later than 24 hours before loading. Filing late is a per-shipment penalty, and it is assessed even when the shipment is otherwise perfect.

BEFORE IT LANDS

Bill of Lading in handIRREVERSIBLERead from the same table the deal room enforces, so this list and the phase gates cannot drift apart. A document missing at arrival means demurrage, which accrues daily.

Customs invoice in handIRREVERSIBLERead from the same table the deal room enforces, so this list and the phase gates cannot drift apart. A document missing at arrival means demurrage, which accrues daily.

Japanese export certificate (deregistration) in handIRREVERSIBLERead from the same table the deal room enforces, so this list and the phase gates cannot drift apart. A document missing at arrival means demurrage, which accrues daily.

Pre-shipment inspection report in handIRREVERSIBLERead from the same table the deal room enforces, so this list and the phase gates cannot drift apart. A document missing at arrival means demurrage, which accrues daily.