Japanese import mileage check: what the records show, and where the gaps are

Japan records a car's odometer reading every time it goes through the roadworthiness test (shaken), and the national record notices when a reading goes down. Dealers who belong to the industry's fair trade council also have to say if the odometer has been replaced, or if they doubt the reading. So a mileage check on a Japanese car can go further than a number in a listing. But a reading every two years leaves long gaps, and a record can only tell you what was written down. How the car has been used shows on the car, not in the record.

How mileage is recorded in Japan

• At each shaken. A private car is first tested three years after it's registered new, then every two years. The odometer is read and recorded each time.
• On the certificate's record. The transport ministry's sample record shows the current reading and the previous one, each with a date. While the car is registered in Japan, the owner or dealer can read this record from the certificate's IC tag. Our page on Japanese chassis numbers explains how.
• As a maximum, if a reading has gone down. The national inspection data keeps the two most recent readings. If a reading has ever gone down at a test, for example after the meter was replaced, it also keeps the highest reading recorded and the date it was set. If the reading went down at a test in or before December 2017, no highest reading is kept.
• On the export certificate. When a car leaves Japan, the certificate that takes it off the register carries earlier readings with their dates in the remarks box. These come from past inspections too, so they have the same gaps. See the Japanese export certificate.

If a car went through a dealer auction, the auction sheet usually gives a reading as well. We don't go to auctions or read auction sheets, so we can't tell you how far to trust one: see why we don't go to car auctions.

What our own car's record shows

Our own car is a Toyota Prius α, first registered in August 2012. Its inspection record has two odometer lines in the remarks, which the transport ministry's list of remarks calls the new and the old odometer reading, each with a date:

• 108,700 km on 8 August 2022
• 155,100 km on 29 July 2024

There's no line for a highest reading, so the record shows no test at which the reading went down. And that's everything the record says about mileage: two readings, two years apart. The car covered about 46,400 km in between. How it covered them, the record can't tell you.

What a dealer has to tell you

Japan's Automobile Fair Trade Council runs the industry's own advertising code. Its rules apply to dealers who are members. Under the 2023 version of the code:

• Mileage is a required item. It has to be shown on a used car on display, and in online and printed adverts that give a price.
• A replaced odometer has to be disclosed, along with the reading before and after the replacement. This applies when there are papers, such as the service record book, showing both readings, who replaced the meter and when. A sticker saying so also goes on the driver's side centre pillar.
• Doubtful mileage has to be disclosed. If there's doubt whether the reading is the car's real mileage, the listing has to say so.
• A tampered odometer has to be disclosed, and it also gets a sticker on the driver's side centre pillar.
• Making the mileage look lower than it is, by tampering with or replacing the meter, counts as misleading advertising under the code.

So a member dealer's listing has three possible warnings about mileage: replaced, doubtful, or tampered. If none of them appears, the dealer hasn't flagged a problem. That's useful, but it's still the dealer's word.

What the records can't tell you

• What happened between tests. Two years can pass between readings. The record shows where the mileage started and ended, not how it was done.
• The first three years. A car's first shaken comes three years after it's registered new, so the first gap is the longest.
• Readings from a car that was off the road. A car that wasn't tested for a while has a longer gap.
• Older roll-backs. The highest-reading check only covers readings that went down after December 2017.
• Whether the wear matches the number. The record is a number. The driver's seat, the steering wheel and the pedals are on the car. When we look at a car, we photograph them and report what we saw. We don't estimate the mileage from them, and we can't confirm that any reading is genuine. What two years of hard work use did to our own car is on high-mileage cars from Japan.
• Non-member dealers. The council's code is the industry's own rule for its members. A dealer outside it isn't bound by it.

The record gives you numbers. What those years did to the car you only find out by looking at it.

If the readings look right but you'd like the inside of the car seen before you pay, send us the listing. We'll tell you what we'd be able to photograph there.

Send us the listing link

How to check it yourself

1. Ask for a clear photo of the odometer with the ignition on, and the date it was taken.
2. Ask for the inspection readings. While the car is registered in Japan, the dealer can save the record from the certificate's IC tag as a PDF with the transport ministry's free app. Ask for the page with the current and previous readings.
3. Ask the dealer in writing: has the odometer been replaced, is there any doubt about the reading, and has it been tampered with? Those are the three things the code makes members disclose.
4. Ask for a photo of the driver's side centre pillar. That's where the code puts the sticker for a replaced or tampered meter.
5. Ask for photos of the service record book, every page with an entry. Readings written there should fit between the inspection readings. See the Japanese service record book.
6. Line the numbers up by date: the record, the service book and the odometer photo. They should only go up, and the gaps should make sense for the car's age.
7. Keep the Japanese readings with your papers. If you're in the UK, a car's MOT history there starts with its first UK MOT, and UK readings are usually in miles. Japanese readings are in kilometres (1 mile is about 1.609 km).

If a dealer won't answer question 3 in writing, that tells you something too.

Questions buyers ask

How do I check the mileage in a paid history report?

Put its readings next to the dated ones on the Japanese papers: the export certificate's remarks box, or the inspection record sheet if the car was still registered when you got it. They should agree, date for date, and only go up. Where the report has a reading the papers don't, ask the provider where it came from. A report can only be as good as its sources; see Japan car history checks. What else the record sheet shows, line by line on our own car, is on the Japanese shaken record sheet.

Written by Yoshiaki Sagara, a paintless dent repair and detailing technician in Japan. He looks at cars for overseas buyers through Ninja Desk Japan. About us

Send us the listing link