Choosing a Japanese car exporter: what to check and what to ask before you send money

Search for Japanese car exporters and you'll mostly find exporters' own sites and "top 10" lists. We won't add another list. We don't rank exporters, we don't take commissions from any of them, and we think the useful question isn't "which one is best?" but "what will this one tell me before I pay?" Every exporter can be asked the same things, and many of the answers are already in their own FAQs and terms. Wherever you buy, photos show less than you think, so the answers matter more than the photos.

First, check that the company is registered

Three checks you can do yourself, from abroad, in a few minutes.

1. A secondhand dealer licence. Under Japan's Secondhand Articles Dealer Act, anyone who runs a business buying and selling used goods, which includes used cars, needs a licence from the prefectural Public Safety Commission (Article 3). The same law says a licensed dealer must, except in cases set by regulation such as very small businesses, make its name, the name of the Public Safety Commission that licensed it and its licence number available to the public online (Article 12, paragraph 2). In practice you'll usually find it in the site footer or on the company page, in Japanese or English. If you can't find it, ask for it.

2. A corporate number. Every Japanese company has a 13-digit corporate number. The National Tax Agency's Corporate Number Publication Site has an English version where you can search by name or number and see the registered name and head office address. Check that they match what the exporter tells you.

3. Association membership. JUMVEA, the Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association, publishes a member list with member pages on its website. Membership tells you an exporter has joined the association. Not being a member doesn't, on its own, tell you anything either way.

None of these tells you anything about a particular car. They tell you who you're dealing with.

Questions to ask any exporter before you pay

We've read the FAQs and terms of several large export sites for our guides to where you're buying. The same questions came up every time, and the answers differed from site to site.

1. Who is the seller of this car? On some sites the company you deal with isn't the one that owns the car. Ask who is, and who you'd have a contract with.
2. Where is the car right now, and can anyone see it? Some exporters say their yards are closed to visitors. Others list cars that sit at dealers. Ask.
3. Who took the photos, and when? Photos taken by the dealer last month and photos taken by the exporter this week are different things.
4. Will you photograph the places I name? Some exporters say they don't provide extra photos as a standard service. Better to know before you're attached to a car.
5. Is there an auction sheet or inspection report? If so, who did it, and on what date? A report shows the car on the day it was checked.
6. What happens if the car isn't as described? Get the rule in writing. On one site we read, the FAQ and the terms of use described this differently, so ask which applies to you.
7. What does any shipping protection cover, and what does it exclude? Two of the protection schemes we read exclude rust, and one excludes mechanical faults. That's the condition you most want to know about before shipping.
8. What are the cancellation rules and costs? At the sites we read, these ranged from free cancellation before payment to fees of half the invoice after it, and no cancellation once shipping is booked.
9. Which bank account, in whose name? Check that the payee matches the registered company, and that it's the account on the invoice and the company's own website. Several exporters warn about fake invoices.
10. What's the full cost to my door? The listing price, freight, insurance, any inspection your country requires, bank fees, and import tax and registration at home.

How an exporter answers is information too. Clear, specific answers in writing are easy to compare. Vague ones, or no answer to a photo request, tell you where to be careful.

If the car you're interested in is at a dealer in or near Aichi, Gifu or Mie that accepts visits, we can make an appointment and look at it for you before you pay anyone. If you're not sure where it is, send us the link and we'll tell you whether we can help.

Send us the listing link

Send a list, not "more photos, please"

When Yoshiaki Sagara, who runs Ninja Desk Japan, explains how this service should work, he starts from the buyer's side. Someone abroad already has the listing photos. What they're missing is the places that decide whether the car is any good: rust on a rear wing (fender), a strut top, one particular spot inside. And those places differ from car to car. That's why we ask every customer where to look before we go.

The same idea works with an exporter. A message that says "can you send more photos?" usually gets a few more general shots. A message that lists the exact places, such as both strut tops from above, the rear arches, the sills and the boot (trunk) floor with the mat lifted, gets you either the photos or a clear "no". Both are useful. For why the underside and strut tops matter so much, see what dealer photos miss and rust in the body.

Where to go next

• JDM cars for sale in Japan: where cars are listed and what each kind of listing can't show you
• All our guides to where you're buying, site by site
• Japanese chassis numbers: what the number can and can't tell you
• Importing a car from Japan to the UK

We're based in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, and mainly cover Aichi, Gifu and Mie. For a car at a dealer there, we can make an appointment, look at the car in person and send you photos, video and a plain-English report that separates what we saw, what the dealer told us, and what we couldn't check. See how a viewing works. For a dealer anywhere else in Japan, a Remote Check is a phone call in Japanese: your questions, the extra photos you're missing, and a translation of the paperwork.

We don't recommend exporters, and we don't tell you whether to buy. That's your decision.

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