How to read a Japanese auction sheet

What an auction sheet is

Most used vehicles exported from Japan pass through an auction house. Before a vehicle is offered, an inspector employed by the auction examines it and records what they find on a single sheet.

That sheet is written for bidders who will not see the car in person. It is not marketing material, and it is produced before any exporter, shipper or local dealer has an interest in what you eventually pay.

That independence is what makes it worth asking for.

What is on it

Sheets vary by auction house, but the same categories of information appear across them.

• Vehicle identification: chassis number, model code, model year, engine and transmission.
• The inspector’s recorded mileage at the time of inspection.
• An overall condition assessment, expressed on that auction house’s own scale.
• Separate interior and exterior assessments.
• A diagram of the vehicle with marks indicating damage, repair and replacement, by location.
• Written notes from the inspector, in Japanese, on anything the marks do not capture.

Grading scales are not universal

Different auction houses use different grading systems and different diagram notation. A grade quoted with no auction house attached is close to meaningless.

Read a sheet as that inspector’s findings at that auction, on that day. Ask your exporter or agent which house issued it and what its scale actually means, rather than assuming a grade from one house maps onto another.

The same applies to the diagram. The marks are a shorthand that the issuing auction defines, and they distinguish between things a buyer should care about differently, such as a scratch, a dent, a repaired panel and a replaced one.

Using it as a mileage record

The inspector records mileage from the vehicle in front of them, on a dated document, before the sale. That makes the sheet a third independent reading alongside the export certificate and the pre-shipment inspection certificate.

Order them by date and check that each reading is higher than the one before it. A sheet showing more kilometres than a later document is the clearest possible signal that something was altered after the auction.

Also check the sheet’s chassis number against the export certificate, the inspection certificate and the vehicle. A sheet for a different car is not evidence about this one, and sheets do get attached to the wrong listing.

Created

Before the auction sale, by the auction’s inspector

Useful for

A dated mileage point and a pre-export condition record

Always check

Chassis number matches the other documents

How to get the original

Ask the seller or exporter for a copy of the actual sheet. A summary, a grade quoted in a listing, or a verbal assurance is not the same thing.

If the vehicle has already changed hands in Jamaica, the sheet may sit with the original importer rather than the current seller. It is worth asking who imported the vehicle and requesting it from there.

Have it translated. The structured fields are readable with a reference, but the inspector’s handwritten notes are often where the useful detail is, and those need a translator.

• Request the original sheet image, not a transcription.
• Confirm which auction house issued it, and on what date.
• Get the handwritten notes translated, not just the boxes.
• Compare the diagram marks against the panels on the actual vehicle.

What it does not settle

The sheet describes the vehicle on the day it was inspected, in Japan, before shipping. It says nothing about transit damage, what a local shop did afterwards, or the vehicle’s state today.

Inspectors work quickly and to that auction’s standard. A clean sheet is a good sign, not a guarantee, and it is not a substitute for a pre-purchase inspection by a qualified technician.

Its strength is as one of several independent records. Read it alongside the export certificate and the pre-shipment inspection certificate, and treat agreement between them as the thing that builds confidence.