Tag - used-cars

 
 

USED CARS

Used cars are sold at high prices at a dealership in Nagoya as a surge in export demand has reduced supply on the domestic market.
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional voices: Chubu
Sep 2, 2024
Japanese businesses grapple with exchange rate swings
For the used car sector, the weaker yen has resulted in buyers being forced to pay higher prices due to increased export demand.
Wecars President and CEO Shinjiro Tanaka (center) at a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday
BUSINESS / Companies
May 1, 2024
New firm formed to take over Bigmotor's operations
Wecars took over around 250 outlets and some 4,200 employees from Bigmotor, and its board of directors does not include former members of Bigmotor's board.
A Bigmotor outlet in Tama, Tokyo, in September
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 6, 2024
Itochu announces turnaround support for Bigmotor
Itochu is considering investing ¥20 billion in a new company to take over Bigmotor's key assets.
The severed trunk of a roadside tree in front of a Bigmotor dealership in the city of Saitama, in July. Police authorities have received 51 reports of damage apparently caused by the company's practices of felling and killing with herbicides trees on the streets in front of its stores.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 31, 2024
First Bigmotor employee arrested over alleged removal of roadside trees
Toshiyuki Kamohara, 51, is believed to have instructed staff at the company's Kawasaki outlet to cut down trees near the store.
Sompo Holdings' Kengo Sakurada is planning to step down as the company's CEO at the end of March.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 23, 2024
Sompo Holdings' CEO to resign over handling of Bigmotor wrongdoing
The Financial Services Agency has ended its on-site inspections of Sompo Holdings and Sompo Japan and is expected to issue business improvement orders.
Subsidies in China turned the country into an electric vehicle giant but produced weed-infested graveyards of abandoned EVs.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 25, 2023
No one wants used EVs, making new ones a tougher sell too
In the $1.2 trillion secondhand market, prices for battery-powered cars are falling faster than for their combustion-engine cousins.
Bigmotor's registration as an insurance agent will be revoked later this month.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 14, 2023
FSA to revoke Bigmotor's registration as insurance agent
The planned penalty follows an investigation into widespread acts at Bigmotor of deliberately damaging customers' vehicles to pad insurance claims.
A used KIA electric car is seen for sale outside the showroom of a used car dealer in Manchester, Britain
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 23, 2023
The battery test race to work out what used EVs are really worth
There used to be no way to measure battery health. But that is changing as firms rush to scale up EV battery tests — some of which take just minutes.
The transport ministry holds a hearing session for Bigmotor on Friday in Nagoya. Bigmotor officials did not show up.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 20, 2023
Transport ministry moves to punish Bigmotor outlets over fraud
Violations by the used car chain have included overcharging customers for inspection and maintenance fees.
Whistleblower reports on Bigmotor's fraudulent activities prompted Sompo Japan and two other major nonlife insurers to suspend customer referrals to Bigmotor in June last year, but Sompo Japan soon resumed the referrals.
BUSINESS
Oct 11, 2023
Panel raps Sompo Japan's resumption of business with Bigmotor
The report said the resumption of business was caused by concerns among Sompo Japan execs about possibly losing deals with Bigmotor to rivals.
Secondhand Toyota cars on sale in Moscow in July 2016
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 3, 2023
Japan puts the brakes on lucrative used-car trade with Russia
While wiping out Russia's biggest source of used cars, sanctions have driven down prices for secondhand cars in Japan.
Financial Services Agency officials enter Bigmotor's Tama outlet in western Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 19, 2023
Watchdog starts on-site probe of Bigmotor and Sompo Japan
The investigation aims to dig deeper into the insurance fraud scandal by the leading used-car dealer. The probe is likely to take several months.
Aichi Prefectural Police investigators raid a car dealership in Komaki in August last year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 28, 2023
Car thefts on the rise in Japan as vehicle prices remain high
Cases of car theft increased last year for the first time in almost a decade, with Aichi the most affected prefecture, and are still rising rapidly.
Transport ministry officials leave a Bigmotor dealership in Nagoya on Friday after conducting on-site inspections.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 31, 2023
Bigmotor suspected of fabricating insurance contracts
The news came on top of an investigation report that showed employees padded maintenance fee claims to insurance firms by deliberately damaging cars.
Transport ministry officials enter a Bigmotor dealership in Sapporo on Friday for an on-site inspection.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 28, 2023
Transport ministry conducts on-site probe of Bigmotor amid scandal
The surprise inspection, which covered dealerships in 24 prefectures, came after the ministry interviewed Bigmotor executives including newly appointed President Shinji Izumi on Wednesday.
Bigmotor President Hiroyuki Kaneshige (center) apologizes for improper conduct by the company's employees at a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 25, 2023
Bigmotor chief to resign in wake of repair fraud scandal
Employees were found to have intentionally damaged the vehicles of some customers in order to charge excessive repair fees and make fraudulent insurance claims.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 19, 2023
Bigmotor releases report on insurance fraud
According to the report, 61 workers, or nearly 60% of 104 surveyed employees, said they had been ordered by their supervisors to pad car repair charges to receive bigger insurance payouts.

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