USS TOKYO
Location: 9-20 Daikokucho, Tsurumi Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230-0053
Phone: +81-45-508-7000
Year of foundation: 1994
Number of simultaneously traded cars: 12
The number of cars put up for auction: 12,000-13,000 cars
Auction day: Every Thursday
Despite its current importance, USS Tokyo was only opened after 14 years of the USS group's existence in November 1994 in the city of Noda. The auction got its name conditionally territorially, in fact, the site is located outside the geographical boundaries of Tokyo. Over the ten years from 1994 to 2004, the auction has become a generally recognized leader among the rest of the group, as well as among other auction houses.
Sensing the strong potential for growth and the general trend of increasing sales in the secondary market, the company has long been looking for a new location for its main resource to replace the cramped former territory. And finally, in October 2004, the auction site was moved to the Kimagase area near the former in Noda. In 2005, in the immediate vicinity of the main site, a new USS-R Tokyo auction was opened, where models were exhibited morally obsolete, with high mileage, broken and rebuilt after an accident.
However, as an independent unit, R-Tokyo did not last long and two years later, in 2007, USS Tokyo and USS-R Tokyo were merged into one auction. Mergers continued in 2011, this time between USS Tokyo and USS Ryutsu (opened 2005). As a rule, the reason for mergers and the closure of individual auctions is always the same - unpopularity among dealers-sellers, an insignificant number of cars exhibited and, as a result, the futility of further development.
The USS Tokyo auction is held every Thursday, starts at 9 am and may run into the night. Bidding takes place in two large, identical-sized auction halls with 2,576 workstations, equipped with monitors and auction buttons. The entire volume of cars put up for auction is divided into sections, the auction is held section by section. Wrecked and restored cars occupy the area of the former USS Ryuutsu. 10 cars are participating in the auction at the same time. The building has a prudent dining room, café , massage parlor and place for prayer. There is a bus service between the nearby railway station and the auction. In general, the auction is quite remote from the center of Tokyo, by car on a high-speed highway during peak hours, the travel time takes up to 2.5 hours, so it is much easier to get by train, which is what many car dealers do. 2008 was a peak in terms of sales at the combined site, the number of the lots put up for auction on a weekly basis reached 15,000 units.
USS Tokyo introduced a 10-lane pre-bid inspection system for the first time in the auto auction industry. Nowadays simultaneously 12 cars are being auctioned so it is 12 line system. The total area of the auction complex is 529,000 square meters, of which 130,000 square meters. reserved for exposed lots. Apparently for this reason, the organizers can afford the absence of modern multi-story parking, which is actually not very convenient - for additional inspection of the positions of interest, the dealer has to wind kilometers in the literal sense of the word, in order to get to each car, plus inspect cars in bad weather it is not always pleasant and effective.