How to Read a Japanese Auction Sheet for Kei Trucks: Grades, Codes, and Red Flags
Every honest kei truck for sale in the US started life on a Japanese auction lane, and the auction sheet is the most truthful document in the entire buying process. Learn to read the grade scale, the interior letter grades, and the damage diagram before you wire money to an importer.
TL;DR: The auction sheet is a one page inspection done by a Japanese auction house, and it tells you more about a kei truck than any dealer listing ever will. The exterior grade runs from R (totaled and repaired) through 1, 2, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5, and S (basically new). Interior is letter graded A through D. The damage diagram uses letter codes to mark every scratch, dent, rust spot, and repaired panel. If your importer cannot produce one, walk away.
The first time someone hands you a Japanese auction sheet for a Suzuki Carry, it looks like a tax form filled out by a calligrapher. There are numbers, Japanese characters, a tiny diagram of a truck covered in letters, and somewhere in the upper right corner a single number that someone has circled. That number is the grade, and that grade is the most important thing on the page.
Auction sheets exist because Japan's used vehicle market runs through wholesale auction houses like USS, TAA, and ARAI rather than dealer to dealer trades. Each truck that rolls across the auction lane gets inspected by a staff appraiser who walks the vehicle, opens panels, drives it if possible, and fills out the sheet. The result is a standardized condition report that buyers anywhere in the world can read if they know the codes. A US importer who pulls a kei truck from a Japan auction sale is buying from that sheet. When they sell it to you a few weeks later, the sheet is your translation of what they saw.
Why the Auction Sheet Beats Any Listing
A dealer listing is marketing copy. The auction sheet is testimony. The appraiser who inspected the truck did not know who would buy it, did not get paid more if the truck sold for more, and signed off on the condition under their own initials. That alone makes the sheet worth more than five photos and a paragraph of dealer prose.
There is a real cost to inspecting a vehicle wrong at auction. If an appraiser misses a major issue and the truck sells under that grade, the auction house eats the dispute. So the inspections trend honest. Cosmetic flaws get marked. Frame rust gets called out. Replaced panels show up as letter codes on the diagram. According to Japan Car Direct's import primer, the sheet plus the photos is what their team uses to decide whether a truck is worth shipping at all.
Every reputable importer should be able to email you the auction sheet for any truck they are selling. If they say they do not have one, the truck either came from a private sale (no inspection ever happened) or the sheet is bad and they do not want you to see it. Both are reasons to keep shopping.
The Grade Scale: 0/R Through S
The big circled number in the upper right is the overall exterior grade. The scale is not perfectly standardized across every auction house, but the conventions below are close enough that you can use them at USS, TAA, ARAI, JU, ASNET, HAA Kobe, and the rest. From worst to best:
| Grade | What It Means |
|---|---|
| 0 or R | Repaired accident damage, frame work, or major structural repair |
| RA | Light accident history, repaired to acceptable standard |
| 1 | Heavy modifications, very rough condition, project car territory |
| 2 | Old or hard used, heavy wear, expect rust and tired drivetrain |
| 3 | Honest mid grade, visible wear, fixable issues, common for older kei trucks |
| 3.5 | Above average for age, fewer flaws than a 3, daily driver quality |
| 4 | Clean, well kept, only minor flaws expected |
| 4.5 | Very clean, low miles for age, minimal cosmetic issues |
| 5 | Showroom condition, rare on older kei trucks |
| 6 or S | New or as new, essentially flawless |
For a typical 25 year old kei truck pulled to qualify for US import under the 25 year rule, Grade 3 to 3.5 is the realistic sweet spot. Grade 4 trucks exist but cost meaningfully more at auction. Grade 5 or higher on a truck old enough to import legally is unusual and worth a second look to make sure something is not being hidden. Anything graded R, 0, or 1 should be approached with the same caution you would apply to a salvage title pickup back home.
One thing that catches first time buyers: grade is condition relative to age, not absolute condition. A Grade 4 truck from 1999 will not look like a new Daihatsu Hijet on a Japanese dealer lot. It will look like a clean 1999 truck. Set expectations accordingly. Cross checking the grade against sold listings on Bring a Trailer is a fast way to calibrate what each tier actually looks like in pictures.
Interior Grade: A Through D
Underneath or next to the exterior grade you will find an interior grade, usually a single letter from A to D. The convention is roughly:
| Letter | Interior Condition |
|---|---|
| A | Like new, no smells, clean seats, undamaged dash |
| B | Light wear, possibly some staining, generally clean |
| C | Noticeable wear, stains, possible tears, lingering smells |
| D | Heavy wear, torn seats, strong smells, damaged trim |
For a kei truck that spent twenty plus years on a Japanese farm or worksite, B is common. C shows up plenty. A is rare. If you smell smoke when you take delivery and the interior grade was A, that is a discrepancy worth raising with the importer. As Hemmings has noted in writeups of JDM auction culture, the interior letter is often the clearest predictor of how loved the truck was, since the body can hide a careful repaint but the seats and headliner cannot lie.
The Damage Diagram
The middle of the auction sheet usually shows a small overhead and side view drawing of the vehicle covered in letters and numbers. These mark the location, type, and size of every issue the appraiser found.
The most common codes you will see on a kei truck:
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| A | Scratch (A1 small, A2 medium, A3 large) |
| B | Dent with scratch (B1 through B4 by size) |
| C | Corrosion or rust |
| E | Concave dent (a depression, usually from impact) |
| G | Glass chip or crack |
| H | Paint fade or color mismatch |
| P | Paint repair |
| S | Rust |
| U | Dent without scratch (U1 through U3 by size) |
| W | Wave in paint, often indicating a panel was previously refinished |
| X | Needs replacement |
| XX | Already replaced |
| Y | Crack |
The numbers after a letter denote size. A1 is a small scratch under 20 centimeters. A2 is medium. A3 is over 30 centimeters or wraps across panels. Same scale applies to U (dents) and B (dents with scratch).
What to watch for on a kei truck specifically:
A few As and Us scattered around the bed and lower fenders are normal. Twenty plus year old work trucks pick up scratches the way a kitchen counter picks up knife marks. Most owners do not even repaint.
Cs and Ss on the floor pan, rocker panels, frame rails, or cargo bed should set off alarms. Kei trucks were built light, and once rust gets into the structural members, restoration math turns ugly fast. Our kei truck rust prevention guide covers what is salvageable and what is not.
Ws across a front fender, hood, or quarter panel almost always mean that panel was repainted. That can be cosmetic touch up from a parking lot ding, or it can mean the truck was hit hard enough to need bodywork. Combined with an R grade or any letter at the front of the truck, assume the worst.
XX on a panel means it was already replaced. On a kei truck that age, a replaced tailgate or cargo bed is common because they get beaten up doing actual work. A replaced fender or hood with an R grade in the corner means the truck was probably in a collision. Replacement panels in OEM spec are usually available through parts specialists like Amayama, which is useful context when you are deciding whether a marked up sheet still pencils out.
Reading the Inspector Notes
The auction sheet has a comment box where the appraiser writes free form notes in Japanese. This is where the gold is. Comments call out things the diagram cannot: aftermarket parts, missing keys, broken stereos, leaks, warning lights, and most importantly, modifications and accident history.
If your importer is decent, they will translate the comments before you commit. If they will not, you can drop a phone camera over the box and use a translation app. The phrases worth watching for:
修復歴あり (shuufuku reki ari) means repaired accident history. That typically forces the truck into R or 0 grade and is a hard pass for many buyers. 修復歴なし (shuufuku reki nashi) is the opposite and is what you want to see.
タイミングベルト交換済 (taiminguberuto koukan zumi) means the timing belt has been replaced. Intervals matter on older Suzuki F6A and Honda E07A engines.
事故車 (jiko sha) means accident vehicle. Walk away. 機関良好 (kikan ryoukou) means mechanical condition is good, which is the inspector saying it drove fine on the auction lane.
Two helpful references for the rest are the inspector glossary on TradeCarView's auction grade help page and the breakdowns posted to r/keitruck when members post their sheets for crowd reading.
The Mileage Question
Japanese auctions verify mileage when possible and mark the sheet if they cannot. A truck with an unreadable or replaced odometer gets an asterisk or a specific note. Modern sheets list mileage in kilometers. Many older kei trucks crossed into US ownership with under 100,000 kilometers (roughly 62,000 miles), which is genuinely low for the age because most of them were retired in Japan at much younger ages than US trucks would be.
Verified mileage on an honest sheet matters because it gives you a real number to make purchase decisions against. As Hagerty has noted in coverage of the JDM import market, low mileage Japanese vehicles often sell at a premium because the Japanese inspection regime (shaken) makes high mile cars uneconomical to keep, which selects for low use rather than for special treatment. That selection works in your favor.
Where to Actually See Sheets Before You Buy
You will find auction sheets in a few places. Real time bidding services like TradeCarView and Goo-net Exchange publish sheets alongside listings for many auction lots. Established US importers like Duncan Imports and Japanese Classics usually keep the sheets on file for trucks they pulled from auction and will share them on request.
If you are doing your own bidding through a service, expect to pay a deposit before the auction, and expect to lose more bids than you win because well graded kei trucks attract real competition. According to a recent Forged 4x4 piece on the 2026 import boom, retail landed pricing for clean trucks now sits between $8,000 and $15,000, and the auction floor has climbed with it.
If you are buying from a US importer who already has the truck on a lot, ask for the sheet before you put down a deposit. Cross check it against the photos. If a sheet shows W codes across the front but the listing photos are all from the rear, ask for front shots. If you cannot get them, that is your answer.
Common Kei Truck Red Flags on Auction Sheets
A few patterns show up often enough that they deserve a watch list.
Rust on the cargo bed floor combined with rust on the inner rocker is a sign the truck spent time in coastal or snow belt service. Replacement beds exist, but inner rockers are a frame adjacent repair. The Honda Acty and Subaru Sambar are especially worth checking because their rear engine layouts hide rust until you crawl under.
R grade with replaced front panels suggests a frontal collision. On a Daihatsu Hijet or Mitsubishi Minicab cab over design, frontal impact often deforms structures that do not show up in a quick walk around. Pass unless the price is cheap enough to absorb a frame check stateside.
Heavy wear interior with low mileage is a contradiction that should make you nervous. Either the odometer is wrong or the truck lived a hard short life. Combined with poor compression notes or any mention of 警告灯 (warning light), assume engine work is in your future.
Modifications listed in the comments can be a feature or a bug. A lifted Sambar with off road tires can be exactly what you want for the best kei truck mods for off road use, or it can be a budget build hiding wear under spray paint. Ask the importer to itemize the mods if it is not clear from the sheet. Specialist shops like Oiwa Garage publish parts catalogs that make it easier to tell genuine OEM upgrades from cheap aftermarket dress up.
How This Fits Into the Total Cost Picture
The auction sheet is the cheapest possible source of information about the truck you are about to buy. It is free with any listing from a competent seller, and reading it well can save you the cost of a regretful purchase. Once you have a clean sheet, our pre purchase checklist covers the rest of the buyer side homework, and our cost guide lays out the full landed price for a US delivery. The Drive has covered the wider JDM import economy in detail if you want context for where kei truck pricing fits in the larger Japanese vehicle market.
The Bottom Line
The auction sheet is the single best document in the kei truck buying process. Learn the grade scale, learn the letter codes, get a translation of the comments box, and verify what you see against the listing photos. Pay attention to rust codes on structural panels, replaced front end parts, and any R or 0 grade entry. If your importer cannot produce a sheet, that is not a hassle, that is a signal. Take it.
A clean 3.5 graded Suzuki Carry or Daihatsu Hijet with verified mileage and a translated comments box is the foundation of a buy you will be happy with five years from now. Skip the sheet, and you are buying a story instead of a truck. Read it carefully, and you are buying with the same information the importer had when they pulled the trigger in the auction lane. The kei truck community on r/minitrucks is a friendly place to post a sheet for a second read before you commit.
