Third surprise was an different car, this time 'Grade RA' ... with 141,000km (88,000miles) on it - this fetched 1,615,000jpy (£11,000gbp)! Thats a fair bit for a Grade RA. If importing into the UK your looking at over £1000 additional fee's for agent and shipping, plus 10% import tax and then 20% vat on top of that ... roughly £15,500 and thats just landed in the docks! You then have to pick it up, convert it for the UK, MOT and register it .... so over £16,000 by the time you've finished! Phew!
It just goes to show, take the grades with a pinch of salt and always get the car fully inspected before committing. Or buy through a reputable trader such as TorqueGT as i did. Either way you can see why the red TME is fetching the price it is doing over here in the UK. The Grade 4b (formerly 3c) car would be hitting £20,000 and thats before the trader over here add's his chunk of profit on, and after following numerous cars from the Japanese auction houses to the UK forecourts i can tell you now it isnt always a small chunk either.