The Best (& Worse) JDM Cars On Marketplace March 2024 - EP.65

Welcome back to Rayhand Drive Guys, the podcast for guys who like Rayhand drives.

I'm Bobby, this is Aaron.

Yeah, yo.

And we're back in its episode 62.

And that, that, too, we're getting up there.

Almost retirement age.

Tell me about it.

Oh, yeah.

And we are going to have our second guest on today.

And we're really starting to kind of get the flow in like the whole having a guest onthing.

It kind of gives a third perspective, you know, 62 episodes deep.

It was time.

So, yeah, this time we got on Trevor King from Kaiso exports.

And he is a super awesome guy when we went to Japan and spent some time in Osaka withhim, over at stacked exports, actually.

And he has really just been a really stand up guy.

And then I got the GTT off from him.

Yeah.

And he made the process super easy, really proved to be super trustworthy.

And so we figured if we were going to have an exporter on the podcast, why not have Trevoron because we know he's going to give like a straight up view of kind of what's goingon.

Yeah, 100%.

It's like, that dude is probably one of the most honest like stand up guys that, you know,I've met in Japan that's in that industry, right?

There's a lot of salesmen out there for sure that are trying to do numbers and hustle thecars.

But Trevor, you can really tell that he's into like really doing a good job at the serviceof it, right?

Yeah.

Like he'll find you the perfect car you're looking for for your budget.

He'll go above and beyond cleaning it up.

Yeah, you can tell every time he gets a new one in and he posts it and he's,you know, wanting it to be clean and pristine for that buyer.

So yeah, we definitely, definitely recommend Trevor.

But yeah, let's get into it.

Trevor King from K-Zo exports, episode 62.

Run it.

All right, we're here with Trevor King.

What's up Trevor?

I thought how's he going?

Thanks for having me.

Yeah, absolutely man.

After we got a chance to hang out with you, you know, over there at Stacked and reallygot to know you through the purchase of my 34 GTT that I had.

I was like, this guy is going to be excellent when we finally have guests to get him on hereand just, you know, chat it up.

So yeah, I mean, we'll kind of get into how you ended up over there because clearlyyou're not, you know, born Japanese citizen, but you are over there in Japan right now.

So we'll kind of get into that.

But first, you know, can you just kind of tell the listeners a little bit about yourself,you know, what you do, what do you drive, you know, that type of thing?

Yeah, I'm Trevor.

I work for K-Zo International.

We're a high end like sports and luxury car dealer out of Osaka.

I love what I do.

It's very fun.

I've been in Japan for, I think I'm closing in on nine years.

So I'm about to start my 10th year.

I wasn't always doing the car business.

I was in English like every other foreigner that comes to Japan.

You're not making any money, you know, you got to work hard.

So I actually met my boss through a kindergarten I was working at.

And joked with his wife, I was like, you know, they should hire me.

I love cars.

And she took a series because Japan understands sarcasm.

So I was like, all right, I like hire you on my L.

Let's try it.

You know, that was about four years ago.

So I've been doing this going on my fourth year.

And everything is, you know, it's fun.

I work every day.

I hardly have a day off.

Like today is my day off.

But, you know, I get the chance to make you guys.

And I talk to customers all day long.

Like that's my selling point.

As long as I'm like, you know, I'm going to respond.

As far as what I drive, I think what I used to drive is more interesting.

You know, I started with the 34 GTR is my first car in Japan.

Drown that for about a year, you know, and then jokes on me.

I sold it like a year later.

And then bought a family truck.

That wasn't enough.

So I went with the S15.

Then, you know, prices jumped.

So I sold that.

And then I bought the A90 GR Supra, which I'm driving now.

You guys saw it at stack that day.

And, you know, it was funny because you were like, you know, you're cool.

But you're cool or pulled up in a Supra, you know, like if you'd have pulled up in likea K car, you know, you'd have still been, you know, a nice guy.

But you wouldn't have been driving Supra kind of guy.

That was pretty cool.

Yeah.

Now, I mean, you've had quite the, quite the list of cars there.

That's, I mean, that's an impressive list.

Love cars, you know, even, you know, I'm 42 now, you know, ever since, you know, my veryfirst car is a teenager was a Honda Prelude, a 92.

And then, you know, I drove to work the next day and I had some Honda guys that I worked with.

And they asked me a question that changed my life.

They said, is it BTEC?

What does that mean?

Right.

Yeah.

Kind of like the trajectory of my entire life.

You know, sold that, bought it in Tigard GSR, put a turbo on it.

You know, this is, you know, 99, you know, before like, really took off.

But I've always been into this.

Ben in the game.

Hell yeah.

So, you know, what was it like being an American kind of, because a lot of guys want to know this,right?

As soon as you get back from vacation in Japan, you're googling how to immigrate to Japan.

It's for sure a thing.

So, you know, for some guys listening, what was it like being an American immigratinginto Japan?

Well, it's not easy.

First off, there's really no way to do it.

Like, there's really no easy way to do it.

Now, I, I took the most difficult route.

I got married.

You know, so for some people, you know, that might be a good thing, but yeah, it's really noteasy, you know.

So, my wife was Japanese, we met in America, and then she lived in Japan.

So it was kind of the toss up, you know.

I said, yeah, I love cars.

I love Japan.

I've got a lot of hobbies.

You can't really see, but, you know, I build Gundoms and I love Samurai's and, you know,like every other foreigner that comes to Japan, typically.

So the biggest thing is, you know, getting an immigration visa, like a temporary visa.

They're really strict, you know, they give you one year.

Then you have to go back to the immigration office every year, get it extended.

I blocked out.

I built a house that the house I'm in now.

So after three years, I put the reason why I want my permanent visas because, you know,I built a house.

I continue my life in Japan, I'm married, and they accepted it.

A lot of people said, you know, they get declined.

They can't get a permanent visa.

I mean, but for my experience, it really wasn't that difficult.

If you are, if you have a, what can I say?

If you're willing to, like, give up everything and come over, then you can join, like, somethinglike the Jet Program, which is the Japanese English teacher exchange program.

You have to have a diploma, I think, a two-year degree in college, and then you can applyfor that.

But there's like a cutoff of, I think, 30 years old.

So in your early 20s, it, but it's not easy either.

I mean, you'll, you have a dream, you're like, yeah, I want to come to Japan.

It's going to be awesome.

But then you were like, why am I working 13 hours a day, you know?

So it kind of loses its luster in that sense.

But if you really want to do it, that's probably going to be the easiest way.

Nice.

Okay.

So what, you, I know you had something for him.

Yeah, yeah.

What, so talking about exporting, what was the first car you exported when you got in thebusiness?

Do you remember?

Of course I remember.

So my customer, like, the majority of my customers, like you guys and all of my customers,I talk to every day, you know, they become my friends, no matter their age, if they're young,if they're old.

So my very first client, Mr. Keith, I'm sure he'll be listening to this.

I didn't tell him he was my first customer, but he wanted a toy with a sensor, you know?

So he ended up getting a 97 century.

It was what he wanted, fender mirrors, dark green.

Classic.

But, yeah, yeah, I mean, it was awesome.

And then it wasn't until November cars.

So he had the store for like eight months.

And then, you know, we talked every single day and he ended up buying another car from me.

And, you know, he's a really nice guy.

And so that was really my, the century, like he posted it on a, on a century, like a forumon Facebook.

And then I got like a bunch of customers from that all buying centuries.

That was my number one selling car until the skyline became legal.

Now, that's the hottest car on the planet.

Yeah, that's a good way to say it for sure.

So okay, so on long that line of the things you've exported, what would you say is themost unique car that you've either exported or I need, I know you've done some inspectingand whatnot, but what's like the most like no way car?

Yeah, the most unique.

Obviously, my, I wouldn't say my specialty, but my, my desire for inspections and thingslike that are going to be with the GTR, the 34 GTR.

So anytime I can inspect one of those and whether it's for another client or another exporteror for, you know, just social media content, I'm so happy to do that.

But as far as the most unique, it was probably the Lancia Delta, the Evo 2.

I actually had one in stock, even though that car was.

You know, so like I posted it.

I was like, hey, we have this Lancia, whatever.

And I posted another car.

And then somebody commented on the, he's a, he's actually in New York with you guys,the JDM Supreme.

He was like, hey, I'll buy that Evo if it's still available.

And I'm like, I don't have an Evo.

What does that mean?

I was like, oh, whatever.

And then I was like, oh, you mean the evolution, the Delta?

I was like, yeah, I still have that.

And then he's a, yeah, I'll buy it.

So that was really cool because it's like an Italian car, spin in Japan forever.

Nobody wanted it.

But they have such a cult following that.

I didn't know that.

Oh, yeah, they do for sure.

Yeah, that's cool.

He is a pretty big collection.

So I'm sure that fit right in there.

Yeah, all right.

He's got like a whole, a whole warehouse full of red cars.

Yeah, yeah, he, yeah, he isn't that far from us.

So as far as pricing goes with cars, are you seeing a big incline or decline in prices?

Are they staying about the same since the 34 became legal?

With other cars as well.

Like, is there a big, is there a big uptick in prices nowadays?

Or no prices are dropping.

So the way I look at it is some people, they bought the 34 GTR two years ago.

Right.

They've been waiting for it.

The GTT has been legal for over a year now.

Those prices are not dropping.

What I can say is the quality is dropping.

So if I upload a GTR that's like 10 million, well, let's say 13 million in, like that's cheapfor a GTR right now.

But the majority of the GTRs are going to be 20 million in.

So why is that 13 million?

Well, probably because it has rust issues, you know, like I had that silver GTR, I justsent to Italy.

Strat towers were corroded.

The customer knows like part of the deal.

But yeah.

But I mean, any car that's going to be low kilometers, good condition manual, not hidingany rust, they're still going to be super pricey.

Yeah.

Bummer.

But not really.

But it's, you know, it's part of it.

Yeah, you can find the market.

You know, so the only way I think you can score a cheap car is like a fire sale.

Somebody in America bought a car.

They're in over their head.

I need to just get rid of this car.

I think that's really going to be the only way you can score a cheaper price any car now.

Yeah, that's things.

I mean, and on one hand, you know, if it's here and they're fire sailing, it, you know,it's already gone through the whole process of being imported, which, you know, as we'llget to in a few, it's not like super hard, but it, you know, it's a process, right?

And so, yeah, I think as some of these come over and people maybe made some bad decisionsand they have to get out of them, you're right.

Yeah.

I'll be trying to keep my eye open for those.

I don't know about you.

Oh, yeah.

So.

Yeah, yeah.

For sure.

So we were hoping to kind of get, you know, for some of our listeners that maybe haven'timported a car or are looking to, you know, do it this time.

Can you kind of run us through the process of getting with you and how the whole thingworks?

Yeah, the overall process is, it's quite simple.

If you take it step by step.

Now, my biggest trouble is building trust between the client and me.

I just want to send Trevor $50,000.

It's not going to my bank account.

So, I mean, that's fine.

It's going to K-zo.

We are, you know, certified, you know, Japanese, you know, dealerships.

So there's nothing like really shady there, but like still, like international, they've nevermet me.

You took a chance.

I mean, look what happened.

So building that trust is the very first thing.

Contacting me through any of my social media, Facebook, Instagram, even my YouTube whereI put my inspections up so people know I'm, you know, more honest with my, yeah, I'm notjust trying to push a car on somebody.

Setting up the trust, finding the car, trusting the process.

And also, I tell the customer, you know, be prepared for a heartbreak.

We find a car like this car is great.

Let's go get it inspected.

The dealers don't care.

First come first serve the car sold.

You know, just wait for the next car.

Don't lose hope or say, you know, I want my deposit back.

That's really going to be the first thing.

Some dealers will really play ball.

Getting, you know, I've been doing this for a while now.

So like, global auto, if I want a GT, that's who I would go to.

If I want a GT, you know, auto sports rabbit in Takatsuki near me, you know, I have a goodrelationship with them.

So they'll hold the car for me.

You know, finding dealers and, you know, if I need storage, I have stack.

If I need extra inspections, I've got zap auto's, you know, a really good friend of mineas well.

You know, making the process as flawless and easy for the client is the biggest thing.

You know, let me do the legwork.

You just have to, you know, get over the unneasiness of sending money internationally.

Everything's going to happen.

Should something happen that's out of my control?

Like, there's an oil leak.

I've got four cars in my dealership right now that are getting oil leaks fixed.

We didn't see that in inspection, but it's not that big of a problem, but it has to befixed before it goes on the boat.

So understanding there could be some sort of speed bumps on the way, not expecting itto be completely flawless.

But let me, you know, do everything I can to make sure you're comfortable, take inspectionswith a grain of salt.

I'm, you know, not a certified mechanic, but I can, you know, I have good eyes.

I can see flaws and paint really easy and point that out.

The customer is like, you know, I really appreciate that.

That's kind of the way I look at it.

Yeah, you had, uh, when I brought my 34 over to stack to see you, I'm like, hey, come checkit out.

And he starts pointing out all these things.

And I mean, it was fine.

These were things that I just hadn't noticed.

And I felt like I would have noticed them, but I hadn't.

And you did pretty much immediately.

So yeah, we were both like, okay, that guy's got an eye on him.

Holy moly.

Yeah, but that's what you want.

Yeah.

You know, with your ex-porter.

Yeah.

So, but that's the thing.

Like people, yeah, I don't have cars in stock.

I don't really want cars in stock.

I'm not paid on commission.

I'm paid on salary.

So if you want a $3,000 car, if you want a $300,000 car, I'm going to treat you the same.

If I can, I feel like if I have my own skyline, I'm trying to sell to you.

There might be a chance I have to lie to sell that car.

I don't want that.

You know, I don't want, you know, like, well, I see this law here, but I don't really wantto point it out because if it was me, I wouldn't buy it.

But if I'm going to a dealer and I'm looking at a car, I can point out every negative thingon the car.

And then it's up to you to decide if you want that or not.

I'm not hiding anything or lying.

That's really important to me.

Yeah, that was in some of the previous episodes when we talk about, you know, what the benefitof the ex-porter is.

And that's kind of what I say is the ex-porter is motivated to get you the best car becausethat makes their reputation better.

They're getting the same fee regardless of if they had gotten you a junk car or a nicecar.

So they're always going to get you that nicer car.

Whereas maybe somebody who is importing it and has these extra fees, they had to pay.

Now they're wanting more on top.

Whereas with you, I'm paying the fees exactly what they are, you know, with nothing on top.

Yeah, no, I like that about ex-porters for sure.

So I did have one kind of question that was a little separate than cars where you do livein Japan and we have a lot of listeners that would like to go to Japan.

If there's one place in the Osaka area that you would recommend, somebody check out ifthey were in Japan, what would it be?

You can come to my dealer, look at the Lamborghini's and Ferrari's, that's fine.

But that's probably not what they want.

So I mean, people that are calling in or listening to the podcast.

Really, I would say, it really depends on what you want.

Most people want to see the GTRs.

You're going to see the most GTRs in one place that's going to be global auto.

You went there yourself.

So I recommend stopping by global auto, checking that out.

I can go with whoever wants to go.

I mean, it's really fun for me.

I'm friends with the guys over there.

As far as like a night scene, like there's really not in the Osaka night scene as far aslike I'm aware of.

I have gone to individual like secret car shows, like meetups, but there's not like in everyweekend we do this kind of thing like Tokyo.

So if you want parts, it's your typical up garage.

If you want, you know, to really see some cool cars, you can check out GTNets and the globalauto in Sakai, which is near my dealership as well.

Oh, yeah, man.

Thank you.

We appreciate that.

We did go to global auto.

Oh, yeah.

That was a good time.

It was crazy.

Yeah.

Just so many.

I mean, I've all.

I've all.

Yeah.

Dude, it was just so nuts.

Seeing all those cars packed in there.

So tight.

Just squeezed every square foot that place was just the highest in GTR with, you know, NismoMotor here, HKS over here.

Like it was insane.

Yeah, for sure.

I mean, I just put up a net at the night.

Yeah, we did see that and they like slide it out when they're all done with it.

Yeah.

That's definitely a pretty high risk situation there.

Just anything could.

I don't know how many have been doing it forever.

So yeah, man, we definitely appreciate you coming on all the way from Japan.

It's always nice to talk to you.

I always make sure I for sure always recommend Trevor.

It really was a great experience from yeah, like you said, the gaining the trust.

And then of course, we had the opportunity to actually come see you so that really solidified,you know, who I was dealing with.

And then yeah, the support after the fact is always great too.

So if you do need a car, I personally always say you're going to be the best routeand now you inform me that you even have a way to, you know, kind of work the registration thingif somebody's really interested in it.

Yeah, so like there's nothing.

I mean, how can I put it?

I don't feel like I have any competition.

And the reason being is there's so many people in the world.

I mean, if 10 people come to me, 100 people go to your social media giants like stackedand top rank.

I just really don't feel like they can give them the attention that I give.

But you know, everything, you know, like I just try to do my best.

You know, if somebody wants a car, I'm going to make it happen one way or another.

So as far as registration goes, like they want not everybody in Japan can do that becauseyou need to have like a wall plate service.

And my company has that, which I didn't know until you, you know, you brought it up.

And then I was like, well, if top rank can do it, why can't we?

And my boss is like, we can stupid.

And I'm like, I mean, this is not cheap.

But if it's your dream, you can make it happen.

Right.

Hell yeah.

And so how do we, how do they get a hold of you?

But you know, if they want to get the process started, where are they going to go?

Well, first they would need to have their car purchased through us.

If they have that and yeah, it's just them.

We have to get it inspected.

It's called shock in the shock in test is like a two year, but I think we can even do aone year, which would be a little cheaper.

And then yeah, within one year, they could come to Japan and drive it.

It's really not, it's nothing the customer would have to worry about.

It's only paying.

We would have everything taken care of.

Well, yeah, which is, you know, of course, when somebody's traveling overseas, that's thisstressor.

But obviously, you seem to have a habit of making things pretty stress-free.

So, yeah, let me be stressed.

You don't need to.

Which is great.

That's customer service at its finest.

It really is.

So if they want to get a hold of you, Trevor, to get the car and follow the dreams, howare they going to get a hold of you?

You know, my Instagram is Trevor, Kaiso, exporting.

Kaiso is K-E-I-Z-O.

I told my boss I was like, people can't really pronounce Kaiso.

So it's kind of difficult.

So we actually have, like, I mean, I believe I've heard you say Kaiso.

But everybody says that.

You know, so we're actually starting a new exporting only division where I do the exportingthrough the dealership just the same.

But we're kind of, you know, let's change the name, make something more English-friendly.

So we're thinking about that.

But yeah, Instagram is for me.

WhatsApp, you can get my number from any post I make.

Contact me through WhatsApp.

Instagram.

Facebook Messenger, Trevor, K-I-Exporting.

And then, yeah, my YouTube is seconds chance JDM.

That's kind of separate from my business.

But I have all my links there as well, just so they can contact me if they feel like I'ma trustworthy person.

Oh, yeah, man.

That's awesome.

I definitely feel like you're trustworthy.

100%.

Yeah, we appreciate it, man.

And looking forward to hopefully the next car.

Yeah, man.

I'm here.

I look for you.

You know, you mentioned the Civic and the Silvia's everything you want.

I look every day and I enjoy seeing you guys blow up and all the recognition you're gettingand being a voice for the people, you know, haven't seen that yet.

So I appreciate you guys just as much, of course.

Oh, yeah, man.

We'll be in touch.

Enjoy the day there in Japan.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

See you.

Dang, that was a good one.

Do you tell me about it?

It was really cool just hearing his perspective on, you know, the GTR pricing and, you know,where to go if you're in Japan and the Osaka area.

Yeah, I would say that was a successful second guest on the podcast.

Yeah.

Do Trevor's the man.

Yeah, absolutely.

And so again, you know, as he said, just head him up if you got any questions.

If you, you know, he literally will answer them all.

Like he said, he eats, sleeps and breathes it, you know, so, and that's what I found.

He's definitely on point as really good communication.

I think that's part of working with him, even though he does work for K-Zo for him is it'snot, you know, kind of let's just say like top rank where they're very busy and theymaybe don't have a lot of time for you.

I feel like he always makes time, which, which was probably key in the trust factor likehe talked about.

Yeah, yeah.

So yeah, that was episode 62.

You can of course follow us on all the socials at RHD, GUIS.

Hit up the website, rhdjuis.com for all the merch and all the good stuff.

But until next week, I'm Bobby.

This is Aaron.

See ya.

Peace.

[Music]

The Best (& Worse) JDM Cars On Marketplace March 2024 - EP.65

Nissan Gtr

Toyota A90

Honda Prelude

Suzuki Samurai

Buick Century

Lancia Delta

Nissan Silvia

About this episode

Original notes