USS Japan Car Auction

While waiting my 500 arrive, I was too free and begin to search some information about USS Japan Auto Auction, I wanna know more detail of this auction to be held and hopefully with you guys.

USS, is abbreviation of the name, "Used Car System Solution". It is a company that Conducting Auction (Auto Auction) of all the used cars in Japan. They conduct the auction by using communication technology such as satellite and Auction Screen. USS have deployed 16 Auction sites throughout Japan however the largest auction site is held in Tokyo on every Thursday where the cars for bid always exceeding 20 thousand units! Report shows there are more than 70% of used cars were traded through this Auction.

There are 16 sites of USS Auto Auction in Japan


Unlike other countries where any body can participating in Auction to bid their car. In Japan, only selected dealers or USS official member can participate in USS Auto Auction, passable level for a membership is very strict therefore UNLESS you are trusted socially and with good experience in the field of car business, or else it will be very difficult to pass the license investigation to become a USS member.

If you participate in USS Auto Auction, any Japanese used car you are looking for will be surely found out but how to find that car since the USS auction site is huge like a hyper market? Very easy, inside the bidding hall consist of few hundred desk, each desk have a monitor which allow you to find what model of the car you want, from there you able to get some basic info such as the unit code, picture, model, color, transmission, displacement, year, condition and mileage of the car.

The bidding hall is wide and neat


Each desk consists of a monitor


All vehicles are evaluated its condition by the grading system into Grades. They give indications of the condition.

• S Brand new or rarely used.
• 5 Vehicle is like new. All original body parts. No repairs needed on vehicle. Usually only given to vehicles less than 3 years old.
• 4.5 Vehicle is in excellent condition. No slight scratches or dents.
• 4 Vehicle in good condition, few scratches/dents due to normal wear as you would get with any normal vehicle.
• 3.5 Vehicle has a few scratches or dents visible. This grade is usually given to a vehicle in average condition.
• 3 Various scratches or dents, some paint blemishes.
• 2 Better than rough condition, modified cars, sometimes cannot pass regular test (depending on country of import)
• 1 Rough condition
• R A vehicle which has been in an accident where some parts have been repaired or replaced.
• RA Vehicle has been in MINOR accident. It has been repaired to an acceptable standard.
• RA2 Accident-repaired (not a good repair)
• RA3 Accident-repaired, but in good condition now.
• RA3.5 Accident-repaired, but in excellent condition now
• *** Accident damaged vehicle however has not been repaired. Vehicle may have engine problems.

By the way, USS Technician will inspect all the cars, no matter the car is being modified or some part is missing, they will write an Inspection report, also known as "Auction sheet". If you feel that you are not confidence on those Auction sheet, you can have a look of the real car which place on a wide few storey parking lot. 0_0 Unit code from the monitor can show you where the car is placed. Anyway it is difficult, try to imagine in rainy day or under hot sun, to search 1 car among thousand unit of cars...... After found the car you looking for, you can open the door or bonnet to inspect since all the show car there is unlock(key is ready at there and all bonnet is open), this is to easy for any car agent to view the car by himself.

This is so call "Auction Sheet"


All this wrote by USS Technician


0_0 is not easy to find a car....


OK, finish inspection and decide to get this car? Yup, is the time to bid! All the bidding process is run by the communication TV screen. When the car is place on huge TV screen for bid, car agent just use the button prepared to bid, easy and fast. Normally each car just take 20 second to bid.
After success bid, the car will be check again, japan car agent will take some photo and send this back to car dealer of other country via email. At the same time, a reservation of shipment will be made to send this car to the car dealer.

Success bid cars are ready for shipping



Hope this post can make you guys have more pictures about how's the Auction is held on Japan. Maybe many of us think that work as a car agent in USS auction is easy, but for them is difficult since the Auction site is their battlefield!