Repair history and flood cars: what a Japanese listing tells you, and what it doesn't

Most Japanese used car listings have a line for repair history (shufuku-reki): yes or no. Big listing sites such as Carsensor and Goo-net show it, and dealers who belong to the industry's fair trade council are required to state it. It's useful. But "repair history: none" has a narrow meaning, and it isn't the same as "never damaged". Flood cars are a separate question again, and a well-cleaned one is hard to spot even in person.

What "repair history" means in Japan

The rules come from the Automobile Fair Trade Council (AFTC), the industry body that runs Japan's fair competition code for car advertising. Under the code, a member dealer selling a used car has to show whether it has repair history, and if it does, which part was repaired.

"Repair history" here has a specific meaning: repair or replacement of the parts that make up the car's body structure. The council, the Japan Auto Appraisal Institute (JAAI) and the Japan Auto Auction Association use the same standard. The structural parts are:

• the cross members, front and rear
• the side members (chassis rails), front and rear
• the front inner panels and the dash panel (the bulkhead between the engine bay and the cabin)
• the pillars: front, centre and rear
• the roof
• the floor and the floor side members
• the rear floor (boot (trunk) floor)

If one of these has been replaced, bent, dented, cracked or repaired, the car has repair history. Since April 2019, damage smaller than a credit card (8.5 × 5.4 cm) on these parts doesn't count.

What "no repair history" doesn't mean

Because the definition is about the structure, a lot of damage falls outside it. The outer panels aren't on the list, so a car can honestly be listed as "no repair history" and still have had:

• a replaced or repainted door, bonnet (hood), front wing (fender) or bumper
• dents and scratches repaired on the outer panels
• small damage to the structure, under the card-size limit
• some kinds of damage the standard lists as not counting, such as dents in the spare wheel well pushed up from underneath

None of that makes the listing wrong. It means the line answers one question: has the body structure been repaired or replaced? It doesn't tell you how much bodywork the car has had, how well any of it was done, or what the car is like now. For telling a repainted panel from an original one, see how to tell if a car has been repainted.

Flood cars

A flood car (kansui-sha) is a different thing from repair history. The council quotes JAAI's definition: a car that has been flooded by heavy rain or floods to above the cabin floor, or that shows traces of it which are likely to reduce its value.

The council's position, from its 2020 notice to dealers:

• Not showing that a car is a flood car is misleading advertising under the code, the same as falsely saying it isn't one. The code was revised in 2023 to say this directly.
• Flood cars carry a high risk of serious problems later: the engine not starting, electrical faults, even fire.
• In its view, a flood car isn't suitable to sell to consumers as a used car at all.

The same notice lists signs a flood car may show: rust or corrosion where normal use doesn't cause it (seat rails, pedal brackets, wiring connectors), dirt or stains on the floor or seat rails, and a smell of mud or mould in the cabin or when the air conditioning runs. It also says flood cars are hard to judge from the outside.

In 2021 the council warned a member dealer that had listed five cars online without saying they were flood cars, even though they had been judged flood cars at the auction where the dealer bought them.

How I look at it

I work in paintless dent repair and detailing. When I'm checking a car for past repairs, what I go by is the look of the sealer along the panel seams, or a sense that something isn't quite right. And in any case, sites like Carsensor and Goo-net already show repair history.

On flood cars, I'd be honest: if a car has been cleaned up well, it's hard to tell. In my experience, by the time a car is out on a dealer's forecourt, most of the time this is already written in the listing.

What the listing can't tell you

• How the car is now. The repair history line records structural repairs. It doesn't describe rust, wear, or bodywork outside the definition. For the places listing photos tend to leave out, see what dealer photos miss.
• What a photo shows of a repair. Sealer, seams and paint texture only show when you're close to the panel, in the right light. Shallow dents can vanish in photos too: see hail damage on a used car from Japan.
• What the cabin smells like. The council lists a mud or mould smell as a sign of a flood car. No photo carries a smell.
• Anything about a dealer who isn't a council member. The council's 2020 notice describes a flood car case at a dealer that wasn't a member. The code is the industry's own rule for its members.

We don't certify accident or repair history either. If we go and look at a car, we photograph what we can see, report what the dealer tells us as the dealer's words, and mark what we couldn't check.

If the listing says "no repair history" and you'd like someone to stand next to the car before you pay for it, send us the link.

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What to ask the dealer

1. Ask them to confirm the repair history in writing, and, if there is any, which part was repaired.
2. Ask whether the car has been judged a flood car, at auction or anywhere else, and ask for the answer in writing.
3. Ask for the auction sheet or the quality report if the car came with one. Note the date.
4. Ask for close photos of the places the council names for flood signs: the seat rails, the floor with the mats lifted, and the area around the pedals.
5. Ask for photos of the engine bay. In one of the council's example cases, a buyer at a distant dealer received photos of the interior and exterior but none of the engine bay, was told by email that it was clean, and found it full of mud on delivery.
6. Ask how the car smells inside, and with the air conditioning on. You'll only get the dealer's answer, but it's worth having in writing.

If the dealer is unwilling to answer these, that's worth knowing too.

To check that the car in the photos is the car on the papers, see what a Japanese chassis number can tell you.

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

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