The Auction Sheet Decoder
Every grade, interior rating and damage-map code on a Japanese auction sheet — explained on one page. Bookmark it for the next car you check. When you’re ready, we’ll verify your actual sheet free.
Free 2-page printable — keep it on your phone for the car bazaar, or print it for the glovebox.
Grade reference: S to R
The single-number verdict from the auction inspector. An “R” outranks any number — it means accident repair. This is the lookup table; for what each grade means for the car you’re actually buying in Pakistan, read auction sheet grades explained.
| Grade | Condition | Buyer signal |
|---|---|---|
| S / 6 | Almost new — very low km, near-perfect | Premium. Pay top money with confidence. |
| 5 | Excellent, minimal wear | Excellent buy. |
| 4.5 | Very good, light cosmetic marks | Strong buy — the sweet spot for most imports. |
| 4 | Good, normal wear for age | Solid. Inspect for the usual age-related items. |
| 3.5 | Average — visible wear or minor repairs | Negotiate. Inspect the noted areas closely. |
| 3 | Below average — repairs likely needed | Only with a full inspection and a discount. |
| 2 / 1 | Heavy wear, corrosion or major issues | Risky. Avoid unless very cheap and inspected. |
| R / RA | Repaired accident vehicle | Warning — structural/accident repair. Inspect the frame. |
| 0 / ★ / *** | Special: modified, damaged or non-standard | Caution. Understand exactly why before buying. |
Cabin condition (A–E)
Damage-code reference
Codes vary slightly by auction house. Clusters of W, X or XX in one area often signal a repaired impact.
Need the reasoning rather than the lookup — why location matters more than the letter, and how to tell wear from an accident pattern? That’s covered in auction sheet damage codes, decoded.
Where sheets come from
Each house grades on a similar scale but uses its own sheet template — an unfamiliar format is worth verifying. More on Japanese auction houses → Lookup came back empty? Here’s what that means.
Fake-sheet quick checklist
- ✓Chassis / frame number on the sheet matches the car
- ✓The original Japanese sheet exists (not just an English “translation”)
- ✓No whiteout, mismatched fonts or smudging around grade / mileage
- ✓Layout matches a real auction-house template
- ✓The overall grade agrees with the damage diagram
- ✓Lot number + auction date are present (so the record can be looked up)
Six fast checks for when you have the sheet in front of you. If something here already looks wrong, work through the full 8 signs of a fake or doctored sheet — and if the documents are the problem rather than the sheet, our document verification checks the import file itself.
Get your actual sheet verified — free
This chart tells you what the marks mean. A verification confirms the sheet is genuine and matches the car — and an inspection confirms its condition today. The sheet verifies the past; an inspection verifies the present.
A clean auction sheet is step one. The car itself is step two.
The auction sheet tells you what the car was like in Japan, at auction — not what happened on the ship, at the port, or in the months since. In our inspection data, cars with clean paperwork still turned up with engine faults, hidden resprays and stored ECU error codes the dashboard never showed.
Before you pay, get the actual car checked: a doorstep pre-purchase inspection in Lahore — 70+ checkpoints, paint-depth metering, OBD scan and a scored digital report, from PKR 2,500. See how the inspection works.
70+
checkpoints on the real car
10/10 → 0/10
body vs engine on our worst find
PKR 2,500
doorstep, report included
Same day
scored digital report
Using this decoder — your questions
Can I download and print this auction sheet decoder?
Yes. The printable PDF at the bottom of this page carries the same grade table, interior grades and damage-code list in one sheet, so you can take it to a viewing without needing a signal. It is free, there is no email wall, and you are welcome to share it with anyone else buying an import.
Which auction houses does this reference cover?
The grade and code tables here follow the conventions used across the major Japanese houses — USS, TAA, the JU group, JAA, HAA Kobe, ARAI, CAA, SAA and GAO. Each house prints its own sheet template, and a few use slightly different letters for the same defect, so treat this as the common core rather than a single house’s exact legend.
Is this chart enough to judge a car on its own?
No, and that is the honest limit of any reference chart. It tells you what the marks mean; it cannot tell you whether the sheet in front of you is genuine, or what has happened to the car in the months between the auction and the showroom floor. Verify the sheet against the auction record first, then inspect the actual car.
Take the decoder with you
The full decoder — every grade, interior rating, damage code and the fake-sheet checklist — as a free 2-page printable PDF. Keep it on your phone for the bazaar, print it for the glovebox, or share it with a friend who's buying an import.
2 pages · no email required · share freely