Buying a car from SBT Japan: what's checked, what isn't, and what to ask before you pay

People who search "is SBT Japan legit" usually want to know two things: is the company real, and is this particular car what the listing shows. The first can be checked from public records, and we set those out below. The second is harder. SBT's help pages say its purchase team inspects each car before buying it, and that the detailed condition of a Japanese car is in its auction sheet, which you ask the sales staff for. That's useful, but it's paper and photos. Photos show less than you think, and so does a sheet of paper, so the questions you ask before paying are where most of the value is.

We don't rate sellers, and we don't use or work with SBT. Everything about the company here comes from its own pages, checked on 2 October 2026.

Who runs SBT Japan

	What the public pages say
Company	SBT CO., LTD.
Founded	January 1993
Headquarters	Yokohama Plaza Building 10F, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama
Offices	2 in Japan and 32 overseas (as of November 2022)
Staff	229 in Japan and 966 overseas (as of September 2023)
Yard in Japan	Noda Yard, Noda, Chiba Prefecture
Secondhand dealer licence	Kanagawa Prefectural Public Safety Commission, No. 452740600252
Customer service	The FAQ says it's available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

A secondhand dealer licence is required in Japan to trade used goods, including cars, and it's issued by the prefecture's Public Safety Commission, which oversees the police. It tells you the company is registered. It doesn't tell you anything about a specific car.

Where the cars come from

SBT's FAQ says it usually has more than a thousand cars in its regular stock, and gives access to about 150,000 cars a week through online auctions. The How to Buy page also mentions cars from its partners' stock, where you get an estimate from the partner, and the FAQ mentions "dealer stock" units, where you reserve the car and then confirm with the sales staff that it's still available.

So for any car you're looking at, it's worth asking which of these it is.

How buying works

SBT's How to Buy page describes five steps:

1. Order. Choose a car. Each listing has photos and specifications. You can also request a car that isn't listed.
2. Complete the order. Set your destination and click "Buy Now", which reserves the car and issues a proforma invoice. Some cars can't be reserved directly and need an estimate first.
3. Pay. By international bank transfer, PayPal or card, with local bank transfer in some countries. There's also a "Pay Later" option that marks the car as reserved while staff contact you.
4. Shipment. You can track it and download the Bill of Lading from your account.
5. Customs clearance. This is yours, and checking your country's import rules is your responsibility.

The FOB price on the site is the car only. Freight, clearance fees, import duties, registration and compliance fees in your country are extra. SBT's terms say transactions are governed by the Terms of Trade issued with the invoice, and that bank charges aren't included in the invoice price.

Cancelling. The FAQ says you can cancel an order, but additional costs may apply, including the balance and any costs of re-selling the car.

What SBT checks and covers

• Inspection before purchase. The FAQ says SBT's purchase team inspects each car before buying it.
• Auction sheets. The FAQ says the detailed condition of a Japanese car is in its auction sheet, available from the sales staff.
• Damage on arrival. If the car arrives damaged, SBT says it evaluates the damage and, where it finds the damage was on its side, offers compensation or covers the repair. The categories it lists are mechanical issues, missing accessories, and damage to the exterior and interior. Compensation is decided case by case.
• Global Protection Program (GPP). Optional protection you can add in the price calculator, from 30 US dollars. It covers accidental damage from the time the car is shipped until it reaches its destination, up to the car's FOB value, including body damage, dents and bends, theft, and fire or sinking. Claims must be made within 100 days of collecting the car from the port.
• Chassis Check. A tool on the site that looks up a Japanese car's year of manufacture from its chassis number.

What it doesn't cover

All of these come from SBT's own help pages:

• The damage cover is only for SBT's fault. The damage report page says coverage applies only where SBT is found to be at fault.
• GPP excludes rust. Damage from the nature of the car itself, such as wear and tear, deterioration and rust, is excluded.
• GPP excludes mechanical faults. Engine, gearbox, computer-related and air conditioning failures aren't covered. Nor are scratches.
• The Chassis Check is for reference only. The page says it doesn't guarantee the information and suggests confirming with the manufacturer.
• Seeing the car. We couldn't find anything on SBT's help pages about buyers seeing a car in person. Ask before you assume either way.

None of this is unusual for buying a car from a distance. But it puts the car's condition before shipping, including rust and mechanical faults, on your side of the line.

If the car comes through an online auction, it's outside what we do: we don't go to auction houses. Ask your exporter about a pre-bid check at the auction house instead. If it's dealer or partner stock and you can find out where it's kept, send us the link. We'll tell you honestly whether an appointment and a viewing are possible for that car.

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What the auction sheet and photos won't settle

For our founder, what decides a car is rust, the state of the body and how far any faults have gone, with the underside and the strut tops weighing far more than the paintwork (what dealer photos miss).

An auction sheet and a set of listing photos are a good start. But the two things SBT's GPP leaves out, rust and mechanical faults, are exactly the kind of condition he's talking about. If those matter to you, they need to be asked about, by name, before you pay.

What to check before you pay

1. Ask whether the car is SBT stock, partner stock, dealer stock or an auction car, and where it is now.
2. Ask for the auction sheet, if there is one, and the date of the auction. A sheet shows how the car was graded on that day.
3. Ask for photos of the spots that matter to you. For example: the underside as far as it can be seen, both strut tops, the rear arches and sills, and the boot (trunk) floor with the mat lifted. Name the exact spots; general requests get general photos.
4. Ask for a short video of the engine starting, with the exhaust in view, and whether the engine was already warm. Since GPP leaves out engine faults, it helps to know what such a video can and can't tell you; see engine start videos.
5. Ask to see the Terms of Trade that will come with your invoice, and how cancellation costs are worked out.
6. Read what GPP covers before you decide whether to add it, and note the 100-day claim limit.
7. Get the full cost in writing. The FOB price, freight, any pre-shipment inspection your country requires (the FAQ says there's a fee where it applies), bank charges, and import duties and clearance fees at home.
8. Check your own country's import rules with your own government.
9. Pay only to the official accounts shown on SBT's own payment page or given to you directly by SBT. Its payment page warns about fake invoices and payment fraud, and asks buyers to contact SBT if they receive suspicious payment instructions.

If you're still choosing where to buy

We're based in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, and mainly cover Aichi, Gifu and Mie. If you're looking at a car at a Japanese dealer that accepts visits, 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 car at a dealer anywhere else in Japan, a Remote Check is a phone call to the dealer in Japanese: your questions, the extra photos you're missing, and a translation of the paperwork.

We don't tell you whether to buy, or where. You'll make that call.

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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