Just posting my experience getting a car from the auctions, in case it helps anyone else.
To start, I live within 23ku Tokyo. I already had a kei car when I started looking for another vehicle.
Getcars.jp is highly recommended on Reddit, and after experiencing them for myself I can only agree. Email them and they'll get you set up with a domestic account. They require a refundable ５万 deposit, which is used towards your auction total upon successful bid. The UI is pretty self-explanatory, but they have picture guides to help how to use their system.
I created an account and started browsing my target vehicle several months in advance. This helped me see trends, low's and hi's, see which vehicles keep coming back to circulation (maybe other more experienced folks see a problem I don't, etc), before I was actually ready to make the purchase.
I have been getting my personal documents ready, as I wasn't sure how fast I would need to move. Mainly juminhyo and inkan and inkan certificate, and all my current car docs. I had a friend lined up to buy my car as soon as I won an auction. I used one A4 sized plastic hard case and used different folders for different categories (self, current car, parking, new car, etc).
I らくさつ'd early December 2025, from the Tochigi auction house. The next day I sold the car, and called the truck shop I researched/contacted beforehand and told them I have won the auction and will be using their address for delivery. Called my insurance girl and started the process of outboarding my current car and onboarding the next. A couple days later I went with the friend to deregister the car from my name.
That same week I also went to my parking property management to get an approval form, then went to the police station to start the parking permission process. I did this without any of the car docs yet – the auction sheet has all the info you need. Return to the police station about a week later to pick up the approved parking form for the new car.
Getcars.jp will send the documents for the car as soon as your payment clears. There were some errors on the invoice but they're really responsive, and they were quick to get it fixed. Received all car docs about a week after らくさつ.
My winning bid was 35万、and with all the auction fees, shipping, and the ５万 deposit credit, total was about 46万. FYI delivery from Tochigi to Saitama (shop) was ¥47,000.
2 weeks later my truck shop still hasn't received any delivery or contact, so emailed Getcars. Tochigi just had an earthquake and some damage at that time, so things were moving slower. My shop finally received delivery December 20-something. Almost 3 weeks after auction.
After New Years and about 15万 later to get it checked, replace what needs replacing, rust-coating, and pre-inspection certified, it was finally ready to come home.
The day before I go to pick it up, I went to my city hall to pick up temporary plates – Saitama to Tokyo transport ministry.
The next day I traveled to Saitama, slapped on the temp plates and drove straight to the ministry. By this point I have all docs ready – my inkan and inkan certificate, juminhyo, parking permission, all docs Getcars has sent, pre-inspection certificate. I think that's it. I spent the next half day ping-ponging between different departments (tip: there's a point you need to fill out a form – if your reading and writing is weak, just pay the scribe ¥3,000 ish to write it out for you).
I could have actually paid the shop to do this entire process, but I wanted to try to do it myself, and I saved probably about ５万 too. Finally, I got shaken'd up, swapped the temp plates for the final official plates, got it secured in place by ojisan, and drove home. Returned the temp plates to the city hall and was finally done.
The vehicle:
Nissan Atlas commercial truck. Doublecab trucks are generally made to haul 6 men to work sites, so when they show up on auction it's normal to see that the interior is dirty, stinks of cigarettes and sweat, has tears/burns/stains, etc.
I believe I was extremely lucky as my truck happened to come from Orix – given the interior's almost immaculate condition, maybe it was a rental? Super clean. No smells or stains.
Mechanical:
The odometer is off (probably due to replacement). This was written in the auction sheet. Combined mileage is about 160k kms. My kei car I replaced was 176k kms. Still, was the odometer replaced because it broke or due to an accident?
Tie rods needed immediate replacement. 4WD actuator had to be replaced.
Other than that, it's actually very mechanically sound. Steering isn't loose. Shifter and clutch is surprisingly tight for an almost 20 year old vehicle. Only bad rust is the bottom edge of the front end of the truck bed (hard to get to without removing the bed).
I once again attribute this great condition to formerly belonging to a rental agency.
All in all, including registration fees at the ministry, jibaiseki insurance, fixing up, etc, this has cost me a total of about ¥800,000.
Hope this helps someone! I may have skimmed over some parts or left some details out.
by Fair_Dingo_8431