I’m correcting your comment that Autoport is just an “agent”, who takes no risk or responsibility and just runs a currency converter!
We’re a full service RMVT offering cars online direct from the source. Also, no attempt to advertise here - just advise what is included as standard for Autoport, since that was in question. I’m sure you know the answers to your questions given your position, but happy to answer for the community. All those questions and more are answered on our site.
We offer cars for sale from our network of authorised suppliers in Japan and the UK and we have companies setup in both those countries for quality control and admin efficiency. We have a physical office in Auckland for clients to visit and collect cars from - clients only deal with us. Cars are complied, serviced, registered, prepared and valeted by us.
Being online means we can be mitigate any issues at the inception of any deal with several inspections prior to shipping. It also means we avoid depreciation and the cost of funding an inventory – both usually add to the cost for the customer.
Clearly there’s no option to test drive, but that’s why there’s a robust process and a money back guarantee. While some see a test drive as important, some can’t be bothered and see it as a way for the salesperson to get some one-on-one time with the perspective customer to see what makes them tick and get closer to selling the car.
We are challenging the traditional dealer model by being online.
Clients pay no more than the agreed price at the inception of the deal, and secure the car with a 10% deposit. As for negotiation, Toyota and Honda stopped that years ago and from next year I hear that will be the case for Mercedes Benz. Do you know when it will be the case for BMW? And while our service isn’t for everyone, there seems to be a growing number who are quite interested.
Hope that helps.