About Auto Auction

What’s Auto Auction (AA) ?

AA is an exclusive market of used cars for professional traders

Different from consumer-to-consumer auctions, Auto Auction (AA) is an exclusive market of Japanese used cars for professional traders. Due to strict examinations and qualifications required for trading applicants, public users cannot join the system of AA. Moreover, AAs are operated by socially trusted companies such as USS (listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange), JAA (listed on the second section) and HAA (listed on the second section of the Osaka Stock Exchange.)

AA covers almost all used cars in Japan

Sites of AA extend all across the country. More than 200,000 used cars are placed on the auction sites every week. In fact, about 70 % of used cars in Japan have been traded through AA.

AA realizes low-price used cars

At the sites of AA, professional traders bid on a car, using market prices in the past few months as a reference, which enables us to purchase a car at a proper and low price. As a result, we, SETM, can offer Japanese used cars at lower prices than the retail market in Japan.

AA screens out “Lemon (defective used cars)”

In the context of the used-car market, a defective car is expressed by the word “Lemon”. At the sites of AA, all vehicles are inspected one by one before auctions by professional inspectors in accordance with various kinds of strict check items. Dedicated inspectors, who inspect vehicles on a daily basis, examine them with far stricter scrutiny than dealers and traders to purchase them. Detailed items including “odometer (tampering),” “history of accidents”, small scratches, dents, traces of sheet metal processing and so on are checked and described in a entry sheet before auction. The inspectors stand neutral between sellers and buyers, which realizes a fair system of inspection. For this reason, AA is a more free-error choice to buy high-quality used cars than to buy from general car dealers. You would agree that they always try to sell you a car with sweet words.