Id strongly suggest Scam after contacting them regarding a truck which was 1/3 the correct price , they said they need to do a inspection on it $300 USD please , so either they are broker middle man or judging by there address they are car wreckers. also got txt messags from this company weith very familiar looking website asking if I wanted to buy cars from them they had both email and whats app contact details . heres there review
Importing a car from Traffic CO LTD to New Zealand
I live in Christchurch New Zealand. Around 3 years ago we imported a Suzuki Swift from Japan for the eldest daughter. The experience was great and the car arrived as described. Our younger daughter 5turned 18 earlier this year and she asked if she could also import her own car direct from Japan. She has worked a part time job whilst at university and had saved every penny for her dream car. In hindsight we should have used the same car exporter as we had used for the oldest daughter but found a car she liked at different company. The exporter was called TRAFFIC CO LTD which trades under japancarinfo.com. This company was displaying that it was a member of - JUMVEA (Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association) and also Japancartrade.
We first made contact with TRAFFIC CO., LTD through the japanesecartrade.com website and then inquired direct about a few cars before settling on a 2012 Mazda Demio with 19,000km.DE3FS-523345. A pro Forma was sent to us and we paid in full for CIF. (car purchase price and shipping to Christchurch) We paid on the 5th June after many inquiries asking when the car will be shipped we were finally told on the 16th of June that they cannot give us that car because the motor is bad. We asked for a full refund but were getting constantly stalled. When I asked for a full refund I received the following reply.
" This is a company based on trust , we never compromise on quality. We will offer you a replacement car" We were offered a few other cars with 2-3 times as many KM's as the original. We refused and asked for a refund and were told
"Sir we are doing business for more than 30 years,we are a member of Govt recognise institute"
Finally we were offered a car that we agreed upon. We were told it was excellent condition. The next issue is when we agreed to this car as replacement we were told we had to pay more. This is the start of the budget blow out. Anyways we did agree after many arguments and under time pressure to pay more money to Traffic Co LTD. We had many issues when settling the balance of the payment but we can take blame for that as we did not add the company name to the T/T payment (we had to pay alot more money for tracing etc - this was primarily our mistake but if we didnt have to pay additional money this would not have occured)
Finally the car arrived but we were told by the shipping line that the car could not be released because Traffic Co LTD had not paid the freight. I contacted Traffic CO and this was fixed quickly.
On Wednesday last week it was time to pick the car up from the compliance business in CHCH. WOW was I shocked . The car had significant damage to the front bumper and the rear bumper was covered in black overspray and had 2 different colours on it. I dont know colour shading charts but it was a long way out , light grey vs dark grey. The mechanic at the car compliance place said the front headlight had also been changed as 1 was quite new and the other was extremely old. I questioned the damage to the front panel and also the repair on the rear bumper. They checked their arrival sheets and it had notes of the damage upon arrival. They said to go back to the car exporter to ask for follow up.
I sent detailed photos to Traffic CO LTD and they came back and said this is not a car that they would export and all the damage and the repainted bumper was not there before they ship. They said the car they sent was high quality and they would never send cars in that condition. I asked if they had viewed the car before dispatch or was the sale through a third party. I got no reply. I asked if I could prove that the car was sent from Japan in this condition would they give resolution. I received a reply to say they would go to management and ask. I thought I would do some research on the chassis number and found car sales that had this car for sale in Japan priot to me purchasing it. The damage that we received in Christchurch was all listed on the grade sheet and proof we had been misled. I also zoomed in on the photos sent to me of the car by Traffic CO .(no close ups) What I thought was sun strike was actually a totally different colour on the back bumper and after heavy magnification of the front bumper you could see the damage on the front bumper (there were no close ups of the damage sent when we were offered the car)
I went back to Traffic CO LTD and attached the copy of the grade sheet I found and also the photos they sent (zoomed in) of the damage to prove that they were misleading me. I thought they would accept their mistake and offer a resolution. Unfortunately they are now just refusing to reply. I hoped mediation would work but they are refusing. Im currently pursuing some of the associations they are aligned with and will go all the way to president of Jumvea to highlight the injustice. Never deal with Traffic CO LTD you will be dissapointed if you do
Date of experience: September 25, 2021
