RetireJapan

We purchased a pretty decent car a few years ago, but have barely used it. We are planning to sell the car, but we have no idea how to go about it.

Any advice on how to sell a car? Of course, we want the most fair offers for the vehicle... we just don't want to get scammed.

Just for info: the car is a 2018 Mazda Axela (Mazda 3), 6-speed manual, AWD turbo diesel. There is so much torque down low... thank god for the AWD haha. Kinda bummed we are selling it as it is a lot of fun to drive, but it just sitting in the carport with a car cover is just a waste.

Any advice is appreciated, if only to get us started.

Thanks!

We’ve had great success selling cars in the bonkers auction style that dealers will do here in Japan.

Post your car and details on the first car sales website you see on Google and your phone will in seconds start ringing like crazy. Take 10 of their calls and give them a date and time to come over.

Then all 5-10 guys will come to your house at the same time, they all inspect the car on the spot then write their bids on the back of their business cards.

You turn the cards over and voila! Highest bid buys the car for that price. The spread is usually pretty wide. Fun and exciting process.

Good luck, enjoy and prepare for your phone to explode like a supermodel on tinder the moment you post.

Wow, that sounds wild!

If any of the bids don't meet what you want, can you reject all of them? Or are you obliged to take the highest bidder, even though you think it's a bit of a lowball?

Would you have any sites you could recommend?

Nice comment about supermodel/tinder haha

Hi, let us know how it works! Interesting!
I doubt you will sell for a good price, manual + diesel is not a good combo here.

cocacola wrote: ↑Fri Feb 02, 2024 8:12 am Wow, that sounds wild!

If any of the bids don't meet what you want, can you reject all of them? Or are you obliged to take the highest bidder, even though you think it's a bit of a lowball?

Would you have any sites you could recommend?

Nice comment about supermodel/tinder haha

I’m sure you could reject all the bids but personally I don’t want 10 pi$$ed off used-car-salesmen outside my house, so always graciously accept.

In reality you just shake hands on a price that day - the paperwork, delivery arrangements and money exchange will be done days later so you could always pull out the following day claiming you had a traffic accident or whatever. That must happen to Honest-Sato now and then.

Without doubt the numbers selling in this way have - for me at least - are been always ALOT better than straight official dealer quotes. Ultimately you want to sell your car and you get 10 aggressive traders competing on the spot to buy your vehicle - hopefully one is ready for a small margin or has a wealthy buyer in mind already.

Website: no recommendation, it doesn’t matter - whichever one you pick your phone won’t stop ringing for hours.

There is probably some info about this process on the internet so would have a search with Google translate and make sure you have a native Nihon-go speaker with you for the auction. U gotta have a local wingman for this game!

I sold mine on Yahoo auctions.

Facebook (in English) is another option for selling to locals.

If you sign up for GetCars Japan that will give you access to the professional auction sites and you'll be able to figure out what dealers are paying to each other.