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Russia is a big place, 17 million square kilometres big. It covers 11.5% of the planet and is still growing with ice melting in the north and Crimea and eastern Ukraine in the south. To travel across in your own car you'll need to first get it to Russia and then get it back. That's expensive - roughly US$2.5 - 3k one way to get a vehicle from Australia or NZ and I would guess slightly cheaper to bring one over from the West coast of the USA.
When we did the trip we didn't own a car to begin with as I had been driving company vehicles for the last few years. The best solution for us was to buy a car in Japan and get it shipped over to Vladivostok.
Buying a Car in Japan
This sounds simple but is actually quite difficult to do as in most countries you cannot register a car there without being a resident. This is most certainly the case in Japan where not only do you need to have at least temporary residency, but you also must have an assigned parking place to park your vehicle.
There are also the importation/registration fees to consider. If you are a Russian resident and you decide to simply import the vehicle you will pay 25% of the value of the vehicle. If you are not a Russian resident you cannot get Russian plates.
You now have a dilemma, you cannot keep or get Japanese plates and you cannot get Russian ones (without residency in either country). You cannot drive a car in Russia without a legitimate number plate. We solved this problem by getting offshore registration in a Pacific island nation. More on this in future posts.
When we did the trip we didn't own a car to begin with as I had been driving company vehicles for the last few years. The best solution for us was to buy a car in Japan and get it shipped over to Vladivostok.
Buying a Car in Japan
This sounds simple but is actually quite difficult to do as in most countries you cannot register a car there without being a resident. This is most certainly the case in Japan where not only do you need to have at least temporary residency, but you also must have an assigned parking place to park your vehicle.
There are also the importation/registration fees to consider. If you are a Russian resident and you decide to simply import the vehicle you will pay 25% of the value of the vehicle. If you are not a Russian resident you cannot get Russian plates.
You now have a dilemma, you cannot keep or get Japanese plates and you cannot get Russian ones (without residency in either country). You cannot drive a car in Russia without a legitimate number plate. We solved this problem by getting offshore registration in a Pacific island nation. More on this in future posts.
Finding a Purchasing Agent
We spent months searching online for the best way to buy a car from one of the many Japanese auction houses without physically being in Japan. There are lots of dodgy sites out their so I would highly recommend doing as much research as possible on any company you decide to buy a car with. In the past I have used Goo-Net-Exchange to buy an Isuzu Vehicross. Their service was good, I received what I ordered and the vehicle was well described with no nasty surprises. However Goo-Net is not an auction site, they sell inventory that they hold themselves. As a result you can end up paying quite a bit more than you would at auction.
I also know that TradeCarView is a reputable place to buy a car but again this is not an auction buying site, you purchase from their (and others - sort of like Amazon for Japanese cars) static inventory, so you pay more. Another thing to consider is that most of the really good stuff never hits these inventory sites as it is snapped up at the auctions.
I also know that TradeCarView is a reputable place to buy a car but again this is not an auction buying site, you purchase from their (and others - sort of like Amazon for Japanese cars) static inventory, so you pay more. Another thing to consider is that most of the really good stuff never hits these inventory sites as it is snapped up at the auctions.
In order to get access to the Japanese auction houses where the cars and the prices are better we neede an actual auction dealer - someone who is licensed to bid at Japanese car auctions (anybody can't just walk in and bid on a car) and provides a bespoke bidding service. After searching through google we went with Auto Trader Imports which is run by a New Zealander who lives in Japan.
I highly recommend AutoTraderImports as their service was simply top notch all the way through when we bought our car (a 2003 Mercedes S500). Communication was always prompt and professional and most importantly they provide access to an online portal where you can trawl the listings of most of the top auction houses in Japan yourself.
Beware that there are plenty of other sites out there which do not provide a portal which means you are reliant on the company to send you links to cars they think you might like or worse still they will simply buy something for you if it fits a set of parameters you agree with them in advance.
Buying a Car at auction with Auto Trader Imports
To purchase a vehicle through AutoTraderImports you first pay a deposit via Paypal of 10% of your maximum possible bid value in multiples of US$10k. We did not want to spend more than US$10k so we paid a deposit of US$1k.
Once you've paid the deposit you can bid on any vehicles listed on JapAutoAuctions This page has major inventory updates daily except on weekends where updates are sporadic or not at all. JapAutoAuctions is an auction listings page and is the platform used by AutoTraderImports to allow their customers to view auction listings.
When you find an interesting vehicle you send the URL to the AutoTraderImports team who translate the auction card and send you back the translation very quickly. Speed is of the essence here as cars are often listed just 24-48 hours before their auction date. This also means it is worthwhile checking the auction pages every day so you don't miss any vehicles that fit your search criteria.
As stated above my personal experience with Auto Trader Imports was excellent. Graeme and the team actually went above and beyond what I had paid them to do (buy a car or me at auction) and provided invaluable assistance in storing my vehicle for a few weeks then sorting out transport of the vehicle to the ferry terminal at Sakaiminato as well as customs documentation which would have been a nightmare for me otherwise as I do not speak any Japanese.
Next Post - Understanding Japanese Auction Ratings
