Buying/Grading Process

“You can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear”

The grade is the overall assessment of the car given to it by the Japanese car auction house’s own assessors. The purpose of the grade is to give us a quick idea of the general condition of the car or vehicle. However, it is not enough to base our final buying decision on: There will be a range of different quality levels within each grade, so a car that is classified as a grade 4 may be almost a grade 4.5 in quality terms, or it may be only just above a grade 3.5. As a buyer,we use the grading to narrow down the vehicles we may want to buy on. Once you have narrowed down the field, this is when the car map and our translation of the auction sheet will help us to make the final decision about whether to go ahead or not.

There are usually two grades: The overall grade based on the exterior and mechanical condition (usually a number), and the interior grade, based on the interior condition (usually a letter – A, B or C). Although different auctions may have slightly different methods of determining each grade, in general they are broadly similar. Let’s look in more detail at the grading below.

Overall Grade

• Grade 7, 8, 9 or S is given to a new car that is being sold in an auction, with only delivery mileage.
• Grade 6 Similar to the cars above but with a little more than delivery mileage.
• Grade 5 to a car with exceptionally low mileage and in mint condition.
• Grade 4.5 is in excellent condition, but can also have mileage of up to 100K.
• Grade 4 is a good, solid car. Mileage is not an issue (could be low or high).
• Grade 3.5 is similar to a grade 4 but may need more paint and panel work. Alternatively, it may have high mileage.
• Grade 3 often has either serious paint and panel, or it has had a panel replacement somewhere. Grade 3 cars can also be basically grade 3.5s in terms of condition, but with very high mileage.
• Grade 2 is reserved for vehicles in the worst condition. This does not mean that they are write offs, simply that they have experienced deterioration such that they are now in a very poor state. A grade 2 vehicle will often have corrosion, perhaps corrosion holes and other serious issues. If you are looking for “classic” and other older cars or older trucks and buses, you will find a number of them are grade 2.
• Grade 1 Can be one of the following:
  1). After market turbo / engine (some sort of serious modification to the original vehicle)
  2). Transmission changed from auto to manual.
• Grade 0, A, R, RA are repair history cars. The auctions definition of “repair history” is a car that has had an inside panel repaired in some way. This can range from extremely minor to major. Grade ??? are ungraded write off cars which may not move at all. Auctions provide no information about these cars on the auction sheets. If the cars are drivable, then there should be no additional transportation costs. However, if the motor does not start or if the car cannot move under its own power for some other reason there may be problems in getting it from the auction to the port, and then from the yard onto the ship. If the engine does not start and is not steerable, transportation and port costs can skyrocket.

Exterior and Interior Grading

Some auctions have a letter, A, B or C to denote the exterior and interior grade separately. These letters can be seen near the overall grading number. A is excellent, B average and C below average.
We will normally not note the exterior grade, as the exterior condition of the car can be ascertained by looking at the car map (see below). For the interior grade, we will normally note this in the translation of the auction sheet if you bid on a car.

Car Map

This is in the bottom right corner of the auction sheet. On the map, the number after the letter denotes the severity of the damage. 1 = light, 2 = moderate, 3 = significant , 4 = major

• A Scratch
• U Dent
• B Dent with scratch
• W Wave, or repaired area
• S Rust (orange discoloration on the surface)
• C Corrosion (rust has progressed so that now the original metal is now flaking away)
• P Paint marked
• H Paint faded
• XX Replaced panel / item
• X Item that needs replacing
• G Stone chip on glass
• Y Crack
• E Dimple

In general non-Japanese people tend to find that this grading is stricter than they were expecting. Japanese used car auction inspector grades different issues. This will help inform future buying decisions

Hatchback Haven Limited prides itself on “Best quality at the best price” and guarantee the quality of the vehicles backed up with Auction grade sheets.

Don’t get caught out with low grade vehicles ask for the dealer for the “Japanese Auction Sheet” and verify what you atre paying for is what is advertised.

Visit www.hatchbackhaven.co.nz today and ask us about the car you are interested in.