New Zealand market is well known as one of the toughest market on the vehicle condition.
Main reason for that is their “Entry certification”
The main point is “Rust” and “Structural damage”.
First lets talk about the auction sheet.
As you know, the auction sheet tells you the basic information and condition of the vehicle. For now, I’ll skip the basic information and stick to the condition report.
On the bottom, you can see the diagram that shows the condition of the exterior.
On the other side, there is a inspector’s comment in Japanese.
(Due to copyright, the entire auction sheet is not shown.)
What the letters mean:
A: Scratches (very thin scratches or scratches less than 1 cm will not be indicated)
U: Dents (some auctions will show ‘E’ for dimple sized dents)
B: Scratches with dents
P: Body paint issue such as fade or paint peel (Including minor issues that could be easily polished)
W: Trace of boy panel repair, basically repainted and/ or marks of panel beating
S: Rust
C: Corrosion
XX: Replaced
What the numbers mean:
1: Very minor
2: Minor
3: Obvious
For example:
A1: Very minor scratches
AU2 or B2: Minor scratches with dents
Now, let’s get back to the reason why we actually check the vehicle condition. The reason is “To check whether it is good for NZ or not”. As firstly mentioned, NZ requires very high standards at the compliance. The problem is that the auction grading and inspector’s comment is “Not enough” from what we need to check the NZ requirements. Both auction sheet said “Underneath rust” Which is still ok, and which is not good? The auction sheet almost tells you the vehicle condition, but we don’t know how bad it actually is.
Rust Inspection 
Rust Inspection 
NZ Sales Daniel checking for rust.
At the auctions, we can’t do the test drive nor put it up on the hoist, what we can do at the site is limited. However, we are always trying our best to ensure customer satisfactory. Join our auction system, and check it out for yourself!! Thank you for taking the time to read, and hope this tells you a bit about our New Zealand team.