Auction sheets of Japanese cars: how to check them and decryption of data

What is an auction sheet?

Before issuing this paper, the expert carefully checks the car and fills out the document. This makes it easier to convey information during trading. The estimate should not be inflated, as this may undermine the credibility of sellers and auction organizers. Deciphering this important document is not that difficult. The main thing is to know all the necessary notations. For example, the condition of a car from Japan is assessed on a six-point scale. Number 1 refers to “killed” cars, most often after accidents. 5-6 is given to almost worn-out cars that have almost no mileage. The number 0 and the letters R and A indicate that the car was previously repaired and parts were replaced. The designation *** is placed if the car has not been restored after an accident. In this case, it is most likely beyond repair. The auction sheet contains many other designations. For example, the interior is usually priced separately from the exterior. For this, the letters A, B, C, D are used. Almost perfect condition is given an A, and extremely poor condition, requiring additional repairs and replacement of spare parts, is given a D. The sheet always contains an expanded diagram of the car body, on which various letters and numbers also indicate defects and their degree. Most often, the auction sheet consists of different blocks.

Deciphering the state of the car

Let's look at the interior condition ratings.

Now let's move on to a detailed system for rating damage to the body.

The bumper damage assessment is as follows.

And now we just have to look at the last, but very important point - the assessment made by a specialist at the auction for the selected car.

Upper block

The following parameters are specified in the “header” of the sheet:

• A number indicating an auction lot.
• Auto history. Information about previous owners is indicated.
• Engine volume, which is calculated in cubic centimeters.
• Automobile model.
• The most important information is the assessment given by the expert. It is designated by a letter of the Latin alphabet or simply by a number.
• Body type and car modification.
• The condition of the interior is often assessed separately.
• The year of release of the car, which is written in Japanese chronology. To get a more understandable meaning, you need to add the number 88 to the existing number.

Explanation of additional information

We present the meanings of the abbreviations in the table.

Let us now move on to the abbreviations of the machine state.

Main characteristics

This section includes:

• Japanese vehicle inspection validity periods. It is called shakena.
• Vehicle mileage. Often you can see a question mark here, which means that the expert cannot be sure of the authenticity. The mileage could have been specially adjusted by the seller.
• The shade of the car, its code and information about color changes (indicated by an arrow).
• Type of fuel - gasoline, gas or diesel.
• Color inside the cabin.
• Information about the service life of the vehicle.
• The place where the steering wheel is located.

Decoding the auction sheet of a Japanese car

Remember that gullible buyers are a real gift for scammers operating in the car market. Experienced sellers know more than one tricky way to lower the vigilance of even experienced drivers and sell them a car without an auction sheet.

Making such a purchase is dangerous for several reasons, which we described in detail in the article “A car without an auction list.”

How is the reason for the absence of an auction sheet explained to the buyer?

Some of the most “honest” sellers say that there is no auction list because the car was purchased from a Japanese parking lot (and you and I know very well that it is absolutely forbidden to purchase such a car).

Others claim that the auction sheet was lost, while others assure you that they simply bought the car in Vladivostok and brought it for sale.

However, since it is more difficult to sell a car without an auction sheet, some sellers show potential buyers a fake auction sheet.

Suppose a businessman who wants to hit the jackpot buys a used car very cheaply with a mileage of 150 thousand km. After which he carefully prepares the car (“paints the lips”): he covers the mileage to 50 thousand, pulls out the body parts, paints them, polishes the car body, and dry-cleans the interior. The car is then put up for sale.

This seller is aware that most buyers ask about the auction sheet. Therefore, he finds a car of the same brand and with the same parameters in the auction statistics (remember that it usually contains only 2 photos).

In many cases, deception is easy to detect already at this stage by some discrepancies between the car offered to you and “its” auction photographs. For example, they may have mudguards, a rear wiper, but the seller’s car no longer has them, there may not be original Japanese stickers on the rear window, the wheels may be different, etc.

However, professional scammers thoroughly match their car to the one sold at auction (they even apply exactly the same stickers as on the car at auction), so a visual inspection from photographs may not reveal a fake.

When you enter the lot number of such an auction sheet on the website, you will be given information about the car that was sold. But this auction sheet has nothing to do with the seller’s car.

Before purchasing, the buyer sees that the auction sheet is in the statistics, and this convinces him of the security of the transaction. He goes to inspect the car. The seller’s task at this moment is to gain confidence and sell the car by any means.

Many buyers are slightly euphoric before purchasing, anticipating the pleasure of owning an excellent car. In order to enhance this feeling and make their offer more tempting, sellers indicate in the ad that the car is for sale “urgently” and set the price slightly below the market price. And of course, they slip in a fake auction sheet.

Don't lose your head when you see such advertisements. Think logically: those who make money by reselling cars that are trouble-free in Russia have several cars in use at the same time. Because of this, the likelihood that they sell any car urgently is incredibly slim. The point of “urgency” is only to encourage you to make a purchasing decision as quickly as possible.

The buyer comes to inspect the car, does not identify any pitfalls and completely forgets about all precautions. Needless to say, some buyers only look at the year of manufacture of the car in the title when making a purchase! And if it differs from what the seller stated, they turn a blind eye to it, because the emotions from the purchase outweigh common sense.

At the same time, it is very easy to identify a fake. It is enough to find the car body number, which is located either under the hood or under the seat, and compare it with the auction sheet that you saw in the ad. It must match.

The seller can cheat and show you the same auction sheet as in the ad, only with the body number of the already “fake” car entered. Therefore, you must bring with you a printed auction sheet from the ad, or copy the body number from it.

Practice shows that 95% of advertisements for the sale of cars at a temptingly low price do not pass verification of the authenticity of auction sheets. Yes, this is an unpleasant moment, but you must be prepared for such a turn of events.

Also, the auction sheet posted in the seller’s ad may not be included in the auction statistics. You enter the lot number and find nothing. The seller shrugs and assures you that he doesn’t know what the reason is. Don't fall for this trick: any auction sheet by lot number can be found in the statistics. In the same way, any car auctioned in Japan can be found in auction statistics by body number.

The easiest way to find a car is to simply enter its chassis number, otherwise you will have to spend some time doing this.

If searching for a car in the statistics by body number does not return any results, this means that it was not purchased at auction in Japan. Consequently, you are being deceived, and operating a car with a fake auction sheet can result in big problems for you.

Keep in mind that even if a subcompact car has a real auction listing, you will pay more for it from a car market seller than if you buy it to order. The difference in cost is usually 30-50 thousand rubles, but sometimes reaches 100-200 thousand rubles.

Another important point is car delivery. The car could arrive in the city where it is sold under its own power. This is a cheap delivery method that shortens the life of the car. In addition, during such delivery the car may be damaged.

In the practice of our company there was one very significant case. The buyer decided to order a Toyota Passo with a 1.3-liter engine and entered into an agreement to search for a car in Japan. But before we could start searching, he said that he had found the same car at the car market, and at a price similar to ordering a car from an auction in Japan. Of course, this surprised us because market sellers cannot buy cars in Japan at the same low price as the big companies.

Our client went and looked at the car and said that everything was in order. We checked the car body number and also did not find anything suspicious. The only alarming thing was that the title was issued in January, and the car was sold in May. In other words, for some reason the car has not been used for several months.

We assumed that some damage occurred as a result of delivery, which forced the seller to carry out lengthy repairs. We told our client about our suspicions, but he was determined to buy the car and purchased it.

At the end of summer, this buyer came to us and asked us to take his Toyota Passo purchased in May as credit and order exactly the same car in Japan. According to him, he was very tired of the steering wheel constantly turning to the left.

It turned out that the car had a bent side member, which made it impossible to align the car's wheels. Because of this, while driving, I had to return the steering wheel position each time. As we expected, the car was damaged during delivery.

What does this story say? There is never a need to rush when buying a car. Methods of misleading the buyer are constantly being improved. Even with a thorough check, it is not always possible to identify any pitfalls.

If you don’t want to take risks, order a car from a Japanese auction on our official website. We bear full responsibility to our customers at all stages of purchasing a car - from its selection to delivery. With us you are guaranteed to buy an excellent car that will never let you down on the road!

Hello, can you tell me about the Toyota Isis 2010, black, body number ZGM10-0023939, mileage 75 Is the mileage real? What is its condition according to a real auction?

Good afternoon, Vitaly! This car has 112 thousand km mileage and is rated R. The car was restored after an accident.

Best regards, Tokidoki

Good afternoon, please advise on the price, I am considering purchasing a 2003-2004 Toyota Harrier from you, with a mileage of up to 200,000 km, THANK YOU

Good afternoon, Ivan! Only cut, no documents. The price for this car will be about 300 thousand rubles and more.

Best regards, Tokidoki

Hello, please look at the Toyota Prius 30. ZVW30-0267771. What is the mileage and auction estimate. Thank you very much in advance!

Good afternoon, Slava! Unfortunately, information on this car is closed.

Best regards, Tokidoki

Hello, can you tell me about the car? Honda fit 2013 GK3-1000158

Good afternoon, Denis.

There is no information in the statistics for the lot with this body number.

Sincerely, Tokidoki.

Good day! Please tell me the information: Toyota Vitz, KSP90-5197130 title issued 06/22/2017. Thanks in advance

Good afternoon, Alexander! Unfortunately, the information is already closed.

Best regards, Tokidoki

Hello . Please tell me about the car: Honda fit shuttle GG7-3100065. Is it in the statistics and is there an auction list?

Good afternoon, Vasily! There is information on it.

Best regards, Tokidoki

Help me find information, I'm interested in Mark X GRX120-0005792

I am asking for information on a Toyota Prius, white, 2012, body number ZVW30-1565217, technical passport issued on 08/04/2017, Vladivostok. Customs t/s 07.24.17 on legal. face of Razvit LLC.

Good afternoon, Alexander! Information on this car is already closed.

Best regards, Tokidoki

Hello. Tell me about the Honda Stepwagon 2010. body RK1-1010172 according to title, issued on November 27, 2015, Vladivostok. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Valery! Information on this car is closed.

Best regards, Tokidoki

Hello! Please tell me. Auto Nissan AD VAY-073113. Is it in the statistics? And what about the auction?

Good afternoon, Alexander! Rating 3.5, mileage 149 thousand rubles.

Best regards, Tokidoki

Tell me about the car, Toyota Hiace KDH206V-8046535

Good afternoon, Galina! This car was sold on June 3, 2017. The mileage of this car at the time of sale was 415,000 km.

Best regards, Tokidoki

Tell me about the car, it was brought in 2012 Subaru Legacy B4 BL5-070111

Materials: https://tokidoki.su/avtomobil-s-poddelnyim-auktsionnyim-listom/

Car at auction

In the final block of the sheet write the following:

• In what lot is the car being sold? There are blocks that include restored cars, broken ones, and so on.
• Registration number.
• Written by hand, the complete body code of the vehicle.

All information about the car is indicated in numbers or abbreviations . In some cases, the help of a translator is required to decipher the auction sheet, but you can get a general impression of the lot yourself.

Leaf head

We begin to decipher the auction sheet of a Japanese car.

We will “translate”:

• The auction lot number is written here.
• Unfortunately, this information is written only in hieroglyphs. The history of the car is displayed here: whether it belonged to a private person, whether it was rented, etc.
• The point is easy to decipher - this is the engine volume in cubic centimeters.
• Here the expert indicated the car model.
• This is the most important column. The translation of the auction sheet indicates the rating given to the car: this can be a number or a Latin letter. We will discuss their differences and varieties in detail below.
• This is the field where the car's interior is rated - sometimes it goes separately from the general one and does not coincide with it.
• We read the field from left to right: model name, body type, modification.
• But this figure indicates the year of production of the car in the chronology of the Land of the Rising Sun. To get to more understandable numbers, add 88 to this number. For example, 11 + 88 = 99. This means that the car rolled off the assembly line in 1999.

Last final mark

As promised above, we provide abbreviations and explanations of auction estimates. It will also be useful to know how to check the auction sheet you have. You should always check the lot information with the list provided on several relevant sites.

• S is the highest rating. This a priori indicates that the car is new or no more than a year old. The mileage is unlikely to exceed 10 thousand km.
• 6 – the car is at least 3 years old, but it is perfectly preserved. Does not require any repairs. The mileage is 15–30 thousand km. The engine runs very well and the tires are fine.
• Number five. There are visible damages and dents on the body, but no repairs are required yet. The engine is also normal. If cosmetic repairs are carried out, the rating will increase to “6”.
• 4.5 – a car of unknown age, but in good condition. There are scratches on the body, but the number is insignificant. The interior is not in very good condition.
• 4 – again, the car is in good condition, but the age is difficult to determine. There are slightly more dents and scratches on the body than the 4.5 rating.
• The number is "three and a half." Good condition, but requires body repairs. The interior is also in poor condition.
• O – condition is a C grade. The paint is faded and the interior is in poor condition.
• 2/1/0/R/R1/RA – poor condition, there is severe damage and there may even be an engine defect.

Auction sheet authentication service

Where to find and how to check the auction list of a Japanese car is one of the most important questions of interest to potential buyers. Each vehicle has its own identification number assigned to the lot. This data is entered into auction statistics.

How to check a car and an auction list on the website
You can find information about a particular auction list in a special database. To do this, it is enough to know the VIN code of the car.

It is important to know that not all auction sheets can be found in the public domain. There are auctions from which it is impossible to obtain information.

Not knowing how to get through the auction list of a Japanese car, you can turn to specialists for help. These are independent experts who will help restore the true history of the car and understand how genuine and reliable the information provided in the document is. This will allow you to avoid buying a damaged or sunken car under the guise of being fully functional.

Section 6

Starts with the block of lots in which the car was sold. For example, if a block called “one owner” is given, then the car had one owner. If it says “recycled” the car is damaged, but if it says “refreshed” it means it has been repaired. There is another concept - “rabito jersey”, which translated from Japanese means an inexpensive and fast-selling car.

From the auction sheet you can understand whether the car has been repaired

Next in the section is the vehicle registration number, which includes the name of the city, as well as numbers and letters of the Japanese alphabet.

The 6th section ends with the registration number of the car body.