Japanese Car Auction Guide
Japan has over 100 vehicle Auction houses that run Monday through to Saturday. There are a huge selection of cars with over 150,000 cars sold monthly during the peak seasons. These auctions are not open to the general public and are for car dealers/exporters in Japan. Most of the vehicles sold at the auctions are trade-ins from car dealers.
We have access to all the auctions and can purchase any car you are interested in. Please sign up to our car auction search tool so you can view the latest Japanese car auction prices.
Once the car arrives at the auction house it is photographed, then inspected by the one of the auction house inspectors.
The car is graded on the quality of the body condition, interior and any noticeable issues. You can find more information below about auction days and the grading system.
Japanese Car Auctions Schedule
Monday
JU Tokyo
Honda AA Tokyo
Honda AA Nagoya
Honda AA Kanssai
Honda AA Kyushu
Tuesday
USS Yokohama
USS-R Nagoya
CAA Gifu
CAA Tokyo
CAA Tohoku
JU Saitama
JU Shizuoka
JU Mie
JU Nagano
JU Yamaguchi
JU Fukui
JU Aomori
Arai Sendai
TAA Kinki
TAA Kyushu
TAA Minami Kyushu
TAA Hiroshima
TAA Shikoku
Wednesday
USS kobe
USS Fukuoka
USS Niigata
USS Sapporo
USS Tohoku
JAA
CAA Chubu
MIRIVE Saitama
IAA Osaka
LAA Shikoku
KCAA Kyoto
KCAA Minami Kyushu
JU Ibaraki
Thursday
USS Tokyo
JU Aichi
MIRIVE Osaka
ARAI Oyama
KCAA Fukuoka
JU Kanagawa
JU Gunma
JU Hiroshima
JU Fukushima
JU Toyoma
JU Miyazaki
Suzuki Hamamatsu
ZIP Osaka
NAA Nagoya
NAA Osaka
TAA Kantou
Friday
USS Nagoya
USS Osaka
USS Saitama
Arai Bayside
JU Chiba
JU Fukuoka
JU Miyagi
JU Niigata
JU Okinawa
JU Hokkaido
JU Tochigi
JU Shimane
MIRIVE Aichi
LAA Okayama
KCAA Yamaguchi
NAA Tokyo
Isuzu Ima Kobe
Saturday
HAA Kobe
USS Gunma
USS Shizuoka
USS Okayama
USS Kyushu
USS Hokuriku
JU Gifu
JU Nara
JU Yamanashi
JU Yamagata
TAA Yokohama
TAA Hyogo
Zip Tokyo
ARAI Oyama
NAA Nagoya
Japanese Car Auction Grading System
Each auction has their own way of grading the cars at auctions and their own auction sheets. I will discuss the auction sheet for CAA but all auction houses follow a very similar format. When using our buying service we make sure you have all the important information translated on the auction sheet. The example below is just to help you to get a feel for the auction grading system and to give you a better understanding when browsing auction cars online.
First things first. When dealing with Japanese car auctions you will notice that it is very hard to understand the manufacturer year of the car.
When dealing with cars in Japan the Japanese Year system is used. The Japanese year system is based off the reign of the Emperor so each time an Emperor comes to power the calendar is reset and begins from year 1.
The current era is Reiwa which began on May 1st 2019, before that was Heisei January 8th, 1989 – 2019, April 30th and before that there was the Showa era which lasted from 1926 – 1989, January 7th. This can be very confusing so we have made a cheat sheet below with the Japan years to help you when searching the Japanese car auctions.
Overall Grade Rating
The has milage of under 50,000KM. There may be some very light wear on the interior and exterior of the car.
The car has milage of under 100,000KM. There may be some very wear on the interior and exterior of the car.
The car has milage of under 150,000KM. There will be noticeable marks/damage but overall a very clean car.
Our customers most popular choice when buying through the auction. Wear and tear with paint damage, dents, interior marks, scratches, cigarette burn marks but still looks nice.
Requires panel/body work, paint work to numerous areas on the car. Bid carefully after going over all the auction sheet details and getting an inspection done.
In very bad condition with major restoration needed and possible rust, holes, corrosion on the chassis.
Salvaged car, water submerged car, heavily modified car etc. Each auction house has slightly different grenadine system so contact us to confirm with the car you are looking to bid on.
Generally R means an accident repair car but very minor with RA being a major accident repair.
Interior Grade
Very clean condition with little notice of wear
Clean and in great condition for the age of the car.
Needs cleaning and may have scratches, cigarette burn holes, holes in dash. .
Significant wear and damage, stains, holes and must be cleaned or restored.
Interior is very bad condition. Will need to be fully cleaned and restored.
Vehicle Diagram Codes
- X – Needs Replacing
- XX – Has been Replaced
- W1, W2, W3 – A wave in the paint work. May have been touched up or repaired.
- A1 – Light scratch very small
- A2 – Scratch 10cm
- A3 – Large Scratch and will require paintwork
- U1 to U4 – Dent in car with 1 being small and 4 being very large.
- Any mark/sign on the windshield can indicate a chip or crack.
- S1/C1 to S3/C3 – Light rust to sever rust.
- U – Pin Dents
Auction Sheet Short Codes
- ナビ – Navigation
- TV – Television
- SR – Sunroof
- 革,カワ – Leather Seats
- AB, エアB – Air Bag
- アルミ, AW – Alloys
- PS – Power Steering
- PW – Power Windows
- AC, AAC – Air Con or Automatic Air Con
- MT, 5MT, 4F, 5F, 6F – Manual Shift
- AT, CAT, FAT – Automatic Transmission
- ABS – Anti-lock Braking System
