Many people are. In fact we here at neon are buying used parts all the time, not just for customers but for our own cars too!
It’s one of the reasons I personally decided to come live in Japan. I’ve long had a passion for Japanese tuner cars, and for putting these cars together.
I’m going to give you all the info you ought to know when looking to buy used parts from Japan, why it might be a good idea, and what you’ll need to be careful of.
First of all though let’s talk about…
JDM parts are available everywhere in the world right?
Well, yes and no. I’m going to give it to you straight, and in the easiest way possible to understand.
Japanese parts are designed and made in Japan. Unless these parts are specifically made to be exported and sold overseas (they usually aren’t) then these parts are simply manufactured for use within Japan, and sold to Japanese consumers.
In Japan we have many stores where you can stroll around and buy brand new coilovers, bucket seats, strut braces or wheels, right there next to the oil and maintenance section.
We also have many specialist tuning workshops that will make specialty pieces for various model cars. (Think J’s Racing for Civic’s, RE Amemiya or Fujita for RX-7’s, R31 House for R31 Skyline’s, etc.. The list is huge. I don’t even need to mention the likes of TRD, Nismo, or Mugen, right?) What im trying to say is there are many many, many aftermarket JDM parts and a whole lotta reasons to buy used parts from Japan.
There has been a culture for customizability since before the 90s and many companies are still here and flourishing.
The reason you find any JDM parts in foreign countries is for one of two reasons:
The parts you see available in your own country are a small fraction of what’s on offer in Japan. If you knew how many wheels were in the Work Wheels lineup you might be shocked!
The truth is that the people with the cool parts you’ve never seen before fall into the first category. They purchased an item they were specifically looking for from a vendor in Japan, and usually through an agent like Neon Drive Club. Neon Drive Club is not a shop and so we don’t have invisible markups on items, we buy directly from wholesalers and we put a transparent 15% commission on all things we obtain and ship for you, which usually works out much cheaper than our competition.
So anyway, if such a large quantity of parts has been sold in Japan for decades you’d expect there to be a buttload of super cool second hand parts floating around.. Well there are. But they are quickly disappearing, and quickly becoming more and more expensive.
For the exact same reason that used car prices in Japan have skyrocketed, the parts prices have too. Foreigners have been sitting at home scouring Japanese websites like Yahoo Auctions looking to snatch up a good deal. As the number of parts decreases, they get rarer, and the prices of these parts rise until they become collector’s items and are virtually unobtainable. Think Ganador aero mirrors or Blitz BRW03 wheels. For the average person these are plain out of reach.
Buying anything from Japan might seem daunting, and there are a few reasons for it..
As is the case when buying anything online you aren’t able to Inspect your item before you buy, and you have to pay shipping costs. But buying from another country adds another level of complexity
-You might need to interpret ads written in Japanese.
-You might want to ask a Japanese manufacturer questions, such as about size or fitment.
-Many workshops don’t offer international shipping.
-Some items are prohibited from international shipping, and these can be incorrectly listed on second hand websites like Yahoo Auctions. (more on this later)
-If Items aren’t packaged correctly they could get damaged in transit.
-If your item is lost or damaged in transit, warranty or shipping claims might be hard to pursue if you don’t speak Japanese.
The above mentioned points might seem like a worry, But these get eliminated completely if you leave the buying and shipping to us. Neon Drive Club exists to remove the barrier between you and Japanese vendors so that you can leave the interpretation of ads, warranty process, packaging, prices, and other complications to us.
We give you the opportunity to purchase items brand new and from second hand trading posts like Yahoo Auctions, Mercari, Surugaya, etc.
We read Japanese ads to understand what a foreign person could not, we often save people from purchasing from ads with misleading information that are designed to trick buyers into buying a single wheel instead of four, some ECU data without the ECU, a low priced item with extreme high price shipping costs and more..
We can enquire with sellers on your behalf if you need more information.
We offer warranty and insurance support.
We will give you a custom shipping quote up front based on a size and weight estimation of the item you require, not an overpriced figure to ensure we make money.
We can disassemble parts to make your package smaller.
We can discard unwanted parts.
We can separate or combine items.
We can remove tires to reduce your shipping fees.
We will appropriately package your item at a perfect balance between size and protection to ensure your shipping prices are as low as they can be while protecting your package. Used goodies won online will be packaged by the seller at home and usually arrive to us sitting inside a spacious box or wrapped in plastic wrap. They typically don’t come with original manufacturer packaging, and we always repack for safe international shipping.
But most importantly we send what you purchase.
If you use a Yahoo Auctions proxy service like Buyee to buy parts you’ll find that used items can be incorrectly listed on yahoo auctions and this can cause you to buy items which are in fact prohibited from sending overseas. For example if somebody lists a steering wheel to suit a Toyota Hiace on yahoo auctions under the category “Cars>Parts>Interior>For Toyota” instead of the Category “Cars>Parts>Steering Wheels”, then you will be allowed to bid on that item if you are using a yahoo auctions proxy service like Buyee, but when it comes time to ship that bad boy, and if it has an airbag detonator inside, you’ll be heartbroken to know that your item will not be shipped AND you’ll be charged for the steering wheel and a disposal fee (detonators aren’t allowed to be shipped).
We receive emails daily from people who have bid on things using a proxy service like Buyee to win a set of coilovers, steering wheels, or other items that these companies refuse to send, only to be told they will have to pay a disposal fee. We get cries for help to finish the job and send them on overseas. Unfortunately we cannot. Unless we purchase the item for you then we cannot forward items overseas.
Proxy services can work great when you want to buy something not fragile and easy to pack like clothing, toys and models, manga, etc. But when you’re purchasing expensive, and often times fragile and heavy car parts you had best leave it to the experts.
Shipping fees might be the biggest deal breaker for many people, and that’s totally understandable. Paying for shipping feels like you are throwing money into the wind.
But unfortunately shipping is a cost you will have to pay for everything. Even the Japanese goods you purchase from your local parts store, electronics store, or even tools store would have been exported and shipped from Japan and that shipping cost is hidden inside the cost you will pay.
This is why a 326power Manriki universal wing w/ logo costs;
$392 USD in Japan (45,000JPY)
$573 USD in Australia and New Zealand (845NZD)
$525 USD In the USA.
The above prices are the officially listed prices at the 326power japan, NZ, and USD websites at the time of writing this article, and without local delivery prices.
It’s cheaper in Japan because it’s made in japan and there was no international shipping charge.
If you were to purchase this wing from another supplier (like MyJapanDirect in the USA, or OtakuGarage in Australia) It would be even more expensive as that supplier will mark up the price to make money, which is effectively their commission for providing this japan made item to you, and that’s normal and that’s how business works.
The customers that pursue our services must understand that shipping fees are a price you have to pay if you want these JDM goodies.
If you Contact Us to request a quote for your desired item delivered to your country, we can give you a price breakdown ahead of time so you know how much it will cost to deliver your item directly to your door!
If you can find what you’re looking for cheaper locally then it’s a no brainer to buy it locally, but very often it’s cheaper to buy from Japan, through us.
But the availability of JDM parts is staggering. New wheels, aero parts, performance parts, seats, whatever, are still being produced by your favorite Japanese tuning brands. If you want to custom order a set of wheels from Work Wheels.. you can.
You can in Japan, that is. Bright pink centers, matt black lips, gold pierce bolts, -30 offset, whatever you want.
What if you’re looking for a particular size of Ray’s TE37 Saga S-Plus in a particular color and size and you just can’t find it locally? These wheels are in many cases made to order, if your local supplier didn’t order the size and color you’re looking for, then you will need to request that they be made, and then your supplier will put the request through to Ray’s Engineering and you will have to wait a couple months for your wheels.
It’s the same deal with us here at Neon. We communicate directly with hundreds of Japanese companies including Ray’s Engineering to offer a diverse range of parts to our customers overseas.
We offer you access as if you were living in Japan, and like a Japanese speaking best friend, we interpret and place orders on your behalf.
There are three types of people looking for car parts.
If you are like person 1 then you should find the product code of the item you’re looking for, maybe find a link to the exact item you want and then Contact Us with the link and say ‘how much for this delivered to *country*?’
If you are like person 2 then you should use our Search Terms Resource to find an appropriate list of Japanese words you can search for. In our example the person chasing coilovers for their S2000 should be able to use ‘S2000 車高調’ in a Google search or Yahoo Auctions search.
If you are like person 3 then you should open up Yahoo Auctions and in the search bar simply enter the chassis code for your car and see what pops up. For example if you own a R32 Skyline you should enter ‘R32’ into the search box. If you get results that aren’t related to the car you can refine your search by adding the word ‘スカイライン’, which says Skyline in Japanese.
You can find the correct translations for makes, models, brands, and even parts over at our Search Terms Resource. If you further want to refine your search to only show second hand items, because some sellers spam repetitive listings, you can search the left side of the screen for a box that says ‘中古’ and tick it.
For a list of websites you can use to search for goodies check out This Page.
If you’ve decided you want to buy used parts from japan, or buy brand new parts from Japan, send us a message over on our Contact page and we can send you a no fuss quote that will breakdown what it would cost to have that item delivered straight to your doorstep.
If you have any questions be sure to check out our FAQs page, and if you can’t find what you’re looking for just contact us!
Lots of Love <3
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