FAQ

Every car sold at a Japanese used car auction is inspected by the auction house before the sale, and the inspector fills in a condition sheet. It carries an overall grade, an interior grade, the mileage the inspector recorded, and a diagram of the body marked with the damage they found — each scratch, dent and repaired panel, with a code for how bad it is.

It is the closest thing to an independent, on-the-spot inspection of that exact car, written by someone with no interest in selling it to you. That is why buyers and importers ask for it before committing to a car they cannot see.

• Japan Auction Sheet — the original condition sheet for a car sold at a Japanese auction, with the grade, the inspector's notes and the photos from the listing.
• US / Canada vehicle history — a Carfax or AutoCheck report covering accident records, title status, service history and ownership.
• American auction photos — past listings and photographs from IAAI, Copart, Manheim and dealer auctions in the United States. This is not the Japanese USS auction; for a Japanese car you want the auction sheet above.

We also do two things by hand: finding a Japanese sheet the database does not hold, and translating a sheet you already have. Both are further down this page.

This is the question we are asked most, and getting it wrong is the usual reason a search finds nothing.

• Japan Auction Sheet — use the chassis number, in the form AGH30-0419969. Japanese domestic cars do not have a 17-character VIN, and our Japanese database can only search by chassis. A lot number, a model name or a VIN will not find it.
• US and Canada reports — use the 17-character VIN, for example 1HGCM82633A004352.

If you have a photo of the chassis plate, you can upload it on the check page and we will read the number off it for you.

Yes, and it is free. Enter the chassis or VIN and we will tell you whether we hold anything for that car before a single credit is spent. Only generating the full report costs a credit.

Free checks are limited per account so that the service stays available for everyone — generously for Japanese sheets, and once a day for Carfax, because our supplier meters those tightly. If you reach a limit the page will say so.

Buying and using are two separate steps, so you are always in control of when money turns into a report:

• You buy credits. They land in your balance immediately. No report has been produced and nothing has been used.
• You spend one credit to run a report. The report is generated and delivered straight away.

Credits are tied to the type of report you bought them for — a Japan credit runs a Japanese sheet, a Carfax credit runs a Carfax. Your balance shows each type separately.

Prices are in US dollars. Customers in Myanmar are billed in kyat through KBZ Pay at the equivalent price, shown at checkout before you pay.

Visa and Mastercard through Stripe, or PayPal. Accounts registered in Myanmar pay in kyat with KBZ Pay.

Card details are entered with the payment provider and never reach our servers. Credits appear in your balance as soon as the payment is confirmed.

Credits do not expire and there is no subscription and no recurring charge. You buy credits when you need them and they stay in your balance until you use them.

Unused credits can be refunded within 7 days of purchase — see our Refund & Cancellation Policy.

Yes. Larger packages already cost less per report, and if you resell reports or buy regularly we can set a standing discount on your account that applies at every checkout. Email info@jpauctionsheet.com with an idea of your monthly volume.

A chassis number can appear at auction more than once — the same car sold twice, or a similar chassis in the same series. We show every match as a card with the grade, colour, model, year and the plate photo so you can tell them apart.

Choose carefully: a credit is spent on the card you pick, and that choice cannot be reversed. Compare the plate photo with the car you are buying before pressing Get Report. If you are unsure, contact support first and we will help you identify the right one.

Seconds. The report opens in your account straight away, and a PDF copy is emailed to your registered address. You can also print it or save it as a PDF from the report page.

If the email has not arrived, check your spam folder — the report is always in your account regardless.

Reports are removed from your account about 15 days after they are run. Please download the PDF or print the report if you need to keep it — the emailed copy is yours permanently.

We keep a record that the report was run, so support can always confirm what you bought and when.

Our Japanese database does not cover every auction house or every year, so a car can be genuinely missing from it. When that happens you can ask us for a Manual Japan Auction Sheet and a person will go and look for it by hand.

Tell us the chassis number and anything else you know — the lot number, the auction house, the date. When we find the sheet we put the finished report into your account, exactly like any other report.

If we cannot find it, your credit is refunded automatically. You only pay when we deliver.

Yes. Upload a photo or scan of the sheet under Sheet translation in your account and we will send back the inspector's notes in English, together with a translated copy of the sheet image.

This is done by a person, not a machine, so allow some hours rather than seconds. If the photo is too unclear to read, we close the request and refund your credit. A flat, well-lit photo of the whole sheet reads best.

The overall grade runs from S at the top down through 6, 5, 4.5, 4, 3.5 and 3 to 2, with *** for a non-runner or a badly damaged car. R or 0 means accident history and repair — you may also see RA for a minor repair, RB for a heavy one and RC where a pillar or the frame was changed.

Interior and exterior are graded separately with letters from A (excellent) to D (bad), shown as exterior on the left and interior on the right. Grade 4 and above is generally considered a sound car.

Our grade and condition guide sets out the whole scale, with the sheet itself annotated.

Each mark on the body diagram carries a letter for the kind of flaw and, where it applies, a number from 1 to 4 for how serious it is — 1 being barely worth mentioning and 4 the worst.

• A1–A4 — scratch, from too small to mention up to a long scratch
• B1–B4 — dent, from too small to mention up to a large dent
• U1–U4 — pin dent, the small round marks from stones or careless doors
• W wavy panel · S rust · C corrosion
• BP has been repaired · X needs to be repaired · XX has been replaced

The complete table, with the diagram, is in our grade and condition guide.

We pass on the records exactly as the source holds them — the auction house's own inspection for Japanese sheets, and Carfax, AutoCheck or the auction houses for North American vehicles. We do not edit or interpret them.

What that means honestly:

• A sheet describes the car on the day it was inspected. Damage or repairs after the auction will not appear on it.
• A history report only shows what was reported to the databases. An accident never claimed or recorded will not be there.
• Neither is a mechanical inspection. They say nothing about the engine, gearbox or anything else that has to be driven or opened up to judge.

Use the report as strong evidence about a car's past, not as a guarantee of its present condition.

Refresh your dashboard first — credits are added the moment the payment is confirmed, and occasionally the page is simply showing an older balance.

If they are still missing, open a support ticket from your account or email info@jpauctionsheet.com with your order number, which starts with JPAS- and is on your purchases page. We will trace the payment and fix it. You will never be charged twice for the same payment.

Unused credits can be refunded within 7 days of purchase. A report that has already been run cannot be cancelled, because the product was delivered in full at that moment — but we do refund reports where no data was found or where the report failed or came back incomplete.

The full terms are in our Refund & Cancellation Policy. If something has gone wrong with an order, please contact us before disputing the charge with your bank — we can almost always fix it faster.

Open a support ticket from inside your account — it keeps the whole conversation and your order details together, and we answer there. Or email info@jpauctionsheet.com.

When you write, include the chassis or VIN and your order number if the question is about a specific report. It saves a round trip.