Depending on the skill of repairer, sometimes experienced dealers or platforms may not be able to detect flooded vehicle via visible inspection too.

Assuming that the paintwork etc all is flawless, the problem will come when electrical connections began corroding creating all sorts of electrical gremlins.

Recon = Reconditioned cars and can only legally be imported from JP / UK under commercial AP.

Just think of recon as used cars and inspect / view the car as such with the exception of a slightly better interest rate on HP loan and the ability to “re-use” an existing number plate compared to used cars.

Unfortunately the industry as a whole as consumers sees it, is pretty accurate. Sourcing a local dealer with integrity is a rare gem and as such they do charge a premium.


My POV and tips.

1. Japanese sellers / Auction houses in JP typically provide accurate information and transparent with their data (Outliers exist but rare) and cars are usually well maintained compared with the counterpart UK.

2. Scrut purchased reports majority extracts from Auction reports and there are individual Japan dealers whom sell cars to MY recon dealers which report don’t appear on Scrut or can be questionable reports if it isn’t generated from Auction houses in JP.

3. Take all mileage on recon cars with a grain of salt, instead focus more on the condition of the car. There are “paint thickness test tools” which are inexpensive and can check if its all still in its original paint condition, and bring the car to your local mechanic to check the undercarriage and engine (Compression test too for a piece of mind). Generally recon dealers would be happy to oblige provided they might ask you for a booking fee to show you are a genuine buyer.

4. All booking fees to be boldly written “Fully refundable” and company stamped under any circumstances.

Once you have scale down to the car you want, look out on the AP (Custom forms) if it is the right model, Y.O.M and spec the dealer is declaring as this might affect you when you are going to sell your car down the road.


It is quite a tedious and meticulous process to hunt for a good condition recon car at a fair value. In the recent years “import your own car from AP dealers” has gained traction and you could consider that too if you are patient enough as the whole process can take from 1 - 3 months and be wary of “fees be it hidden or direct". My advise is buy new if you could for a piece of mind, direct owner’s used car second then recon if you are adamant onto a certain spec where bargains do exist. Effort and patience is definitely required however Toyota/Lexus are quite reliable under normal circumstances anyway so great choice there. Happy hunting!

Appreciate this write up.
Thanks
Met a friend just now.
He recommends direct order/import your own through a dealer. It is worth it. i will look into this method.

U mean make booking/order to the recond shop, so that shop find the car for u from abroad?
Any idea for the price difference, it is acceptable different?

The shop will bid in the auction for you.
They will charge between 3 to 8% service and arrange everything.
Good savings it seems.

I mean lets say for the same model car that was already here vs just bidding overseas, which one is cheaper? I foresee one that already here is cheaper and can negotiate better with recond shop

I don't think our friend is going for which is the cheapest. If I am a buyer what I really want is, nobody doing hanky panky with it before it is transferred to me. Its a real pity Toyota didn't bring in one of the Prada J150 models that I liked very much. Was thinking about getting a recond sometime back but at the end I just ditched the plan. The more one investigates, the more one finds out about the nonsense that's going on behind the scenes. If I had it my way, I think I would have drawn out the SOP myself on how the vehicle is to be stored until it's transfered to my name to avoid any chances of tampering.

For cars that are in the showroom, there is holding costs. That's where the cost of cars are factored in as well.
For direct import, there is no holding cost for the sellers.

Noted, that's the theory, hopefully it turn out in actual. Eyeing G30 BMW 530i, saw Kashton Motorsport in TikTok. They put prices kinda lowest vs others, but check google reviews, many shared it is fake mileage. Expected cz that how Recond, used car do sales.

Yes you are right in this case, for direct bid you are basically paying the recon dealer just to process the import, the fee range from 3-8% depending if you are buying cash or paying loan.

If pay cash then you need to settle the payment when the car is still at JP, you fork out the money to bid the car and bring it in, and when it reaches malaysia kastam you pay for the tax and processing, recon dealer is only managing the process, that would be the cheapest cause recon dealer do not fork out any money for the whole process.

If you are taking a loan, then recon dealer will charge you an interest for the forefront payment they made to auction house and processing the kastam, which is why it cost higher if you take loan.

The most expensive are actually ready stock in the recon showroom, it has calculated all the interest and a little bit higher margin with processing cost.

I think jr song use direct import from a dealer from klang to get his bm and unfortunately quite disappointing.. i heard about this direct import but srsly no experience. Another dealer fmaous is jerry sharing . But to my info is need scrut then again still can be disappointing like jr

Any details, seem from video he totally not ok with the recond quality he got from his purchase.

U can check his u tube . And just a simple goolge search can know which dealer he uses