It's way too easy to get excited and buy a vehicle sight-unseen from one of the Japanese auction houses.
Okay, almost sight-unseen. Here is what you're typically presented with when carousing the vehicle auctions in Japan.
It seems like a lot of info to digest, but when it comes down to it, this doesn't tell you much about the vehicle.
From left to right, you immediately get to see:
1. Front and rear images of the vehicle. These are typically low resolution and make it nearly impossible to tell exactly how good of condition a vehicle is in. If the vehicle is filthy and rusted, sure, you can make out that detail. But beyond that, who knows if there are dents or damage otherwise. And it's really tricky for an RV because you're counting on it being watertight, with all the seals and caulk lines being nice.
2. Auction sheet. It's a world unto itself. You can glean a lot from it even if you don't read Japanese. Ideally your broker will translate it for you. There are also many guides to interpreting them if you just search around a bit.
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| Our Fargo's auction sheet |
3. Lot #. Clicking it takes you to a more detailed page for that car.
4. Auction date. When is it up for auction, or was it just recently auctioned?
5. Year/name. This is as it sounds. Though the short form descriptions almost require a decoder ring sometimes.
6. Transmission type and displacement and maybe some other options?
7. Mileage and condition. Condition is based on what the auction house decides. There's way more to it than that. I recommend using your auction broker's interpretation of things as a guide. But typically, if it's 3 or higher (up to 5) then it's worth looking at. 4 and 5 are super good. That's not to say there won't be some major issue, but ideally the car is in reasonable condition.
A quick sidebar: My RV is condition 3.5. This is pretty good, but not the best. A 4 would have been great. But in my limited experience a 4 is going to command some $$$. Plus, they just aren't that common. So holding out for one can take a while. While I don't have the RV in my hands yet, it seems like the interior and exterior are actually really good. Maybe rivaling a 4?
We'll see, of course. The powertrain is possibly causing it to drop down to a 3.5. There is allegedly some rust and some oilyness to the engine. And note there is also a power steering issue that I've yet to understand the true meaning of.
I did take a long look at some ranked 3. But those (especially after getting interior shots) definitely made it clear as to the lower ranking. Maybe the outside was okay but the interior was just very...suspect.
It's ultimately much harder to gauge the true condition on an RV from your computer, compared to a regular auto. There is much more to look at than just the engine and exterior.
8. Pricing. What the starting bid is, and what it sold for. Sometimes it starts at 0 dollars. It's usually irrelevant unless you're talking fancier collector cars or really popular ones. If the starting bid on an RV is $500 there's little chance of it staying down that low. The sold price is kind of weird. It doesn't seem to update quickly, and in addition it sounds like the USS auction houses don't post the sell price regardless.
9. Average price. This is also a bit confusing. It depends on trim and options and condition. So you need to dig through your broker's historic selling prices and try to hash out what the average price really means. It might that value because only one sold. Or two sold, but they were very different prices and then averaged to something in the middle. But that doens't mean you'll necessarily get a vehicle for that price. Again, maybe more fitting for in-demand collector cars, etc.
I will say that the average price did help inform my max bid for my RV. I saw a handful of past prices for the Isuzu Fargo camper and it gave me hope of landing one for much less than the usual going price of an RV.
Okay, so there's enough information to get excited about your potential new RV, but not enough to make a well-informed decision!
So what to do?
Fortunately there is the option of both an inspection and additional photos!
For my RV, I opted for both.
In past cases, I had asked for photos of the interior first. However, because this RV was ranked as a 3.5, I was a bit more hopeful. And the exterior photos looked pretty good, honestly. I had a good feeling about it!
Therefore, I decided to ask for a mechanical inspection first. Any auction broker worth its salt offers mechanical inspections before purchase. You will have to pay for it most likely, but the cost is less than $100 and can save you a world of hurt. Imagine waiting for a month for your RV to arrive and finding out that coolant is leaking into the crank case!
The inspection went quickly and yielded the following info:
battery dead, engine starts one shot, slight vibration at idle, revs fine, no smoke or vibrations, no sludge, coolant ok, non-turbo, oil cap area slightly oily, engine slightly oily but not dripping, engine area surface rust and slight corrosion, tires have 50% slight cracks, spare old but ok, camping section ceiling liner loose in places but does not appear to leak, toilet, no shower, kitchen area double stove, fridge, floor ok, diff area/suspension corrosion and flaking but no holes, boots ok, some paint peeling on exterior, windshield chips small, bedroom area above cabin ok, drivers seat creased and wear but ok, passenger seat ok, dashboard 6 screw holes, ceiling liner dirty, interior ok, ac ok, clutch ok, gears ok, 4wd ok, check lamps ok, lights ok, wipers ok
I really don't want to dissect this whole thing. It's pretty comprehensive honestly. And you're sort of taking the inspectors word for it also. Basically, reading between the lines a bit. when they say something is dirty, or loose, that's definitely on the eye of the beholder. I think that the inspectors are pretty stringent in that regard. It's not covered in filth. It's just not "pristine".
"Engine starts one shot" is a good one though. That means they were able to jump it easily. I am sad about the non-turbo aspect but if I wanted a turbo I'd probably have to wait another year or so for the era of when Japanese diesels had made a bulk of the transition to turbos. Patience would have definitely been a virtue in that case!
The inspector also looked for leaks (per my request) within the camper area. I was nervous about water damage.
Note that they didn't mention power steering. I guess they don't have a good opportunity to drive around a bunch. It's more of an idling inspection. So, that mystery remains to be solved!
So, the inspection panned out better than I expected.
Now what?
Well, I needed further convincing. I was apprehensive about this whole auction/import process. It's just way too uncertain for my personality, haha!
So I asked for some photos. My broker already knew what I was looking for, and kindly ordered (for a few $$) 6 photos of the interior.
The interior was definitely one of the better ones I had seen. And recall that the interior grade was only a "C". So it could have been pretty hit or miss I think. I really appreciated that the cushions looked so good. Here is hoping they don't carry any funky smells ;)
A quick side bar: I made a bit of a rookie mistake not asking for a photo under the vehicle to look for rust. Granted, the mechanic inspection took care of that, but it's nice to see it for yourself.
Right, so normally I would have mulled over the photos and the inspection further. But because the photos came in very close to auction close, and because I further complicated things by not seeing that they had come in until even closer to auction close, my broker took the liberty to put the previously agreed bid in. Their experience with these vehicles and the quality of the interior basically led them to make a bit of an executive decision.
I was a bit freaked out by that. But I think that if they hadn't done that, I wouldn't be writing this blog right now :)
So their decisiveness, despite a lack of my own got me over the decision hump to bid on the camper.
I can't recall the exact sequence of events, but I do remember falling asleep having seen the bidding end. The website is unfortunately a bit delayed to show results, and doesn't let you know what the bid was, or if you won, etc.
With a huge amount of excitement wriggly around in my body, I had a really hard time getting to sleep.
Morning eventually came and I woke to a very specific email that I both dreaded and enjoyed seeing. Dreaded because it was a really big crazy bizarre purchase, and enjoyed because I was still really excited about possibly owning a tiny camper.
I'll paraphrase, but the subject basically said: "Congratulations on your new RV!"
