Shunto$19
A 1990s Japanese coupe on wet asphalt under an expressway at night

USS · TAA · JU · HAA · CAA · ARAI

The one honest document in the deal is written in a language you cannot read.

Shunto reads the Japanese auction sheet, names every damage mark in English, prices the ones that cost money, and states one number: the highest you should ever bid.

Get a Verdict — $19Read the codes library

The library is free. A Verdict on your car is $19 and lands within 12 hours.

DecodeFree
Verdict$19
Auction Pack$59
01The sheet

One page. Half of it handwritten by a man who walked around the car.

He wrote what he found in a private shorthand, in Japanese, on a diagram the size of a postcard. It is the most reliable thing in the entire transaction.

Shunto names every mark once, in English, and shows you where it sits on the body. That part is free, and it always will be.

Inspector notes, as written

  • Right quarter panel has been beaten out and repainted.

  • Rust underneath.

  • Air conditioning does not work.

Japanese is always shown next to its English decode, never instead of it.

A1

Scratch, about the size of a palm.

U2

Dent you would see from ten feet, paint intact.

W3

Wavy panel. Beaten out once, needs paint again.

XX

This panel has already been replaced.

S1

Rust, about the size of a fist.

C1

Corrosion, eating into the metal.

RA

Minor accident damage, repaired well.

Grade 3.5

Fair for its age. Marks, nothing structural.

Grade R

Accident history. Read the diagram twice.

Codes are shown exactly as the inspector printed them. Nine of roughly forty, and every one of them has a page in the codes library with what the repair costs.

02How it is read today

You have three ways to read it, and all three cost you money.

01

Your exporter reads it to you

He is paid when the car sells. Nothing about that arrangement rewards him for translating a note about rust underneath.

02

A free translator reads it

It returns fluent nonsense on the codes and silence on the handwriting, which is the half that describes the damage.

03

The forum reads it

You get four confident answers that contradict each other, from people who have never seen this car either.

So people overbid on rough cars, walk away from good ones, and find out the true number after the wire has cleared.

03The half nobody translates

A perfect translation still says nothing about money.

The hammer price is roughly 60% of what leaves your bank. Everything else stacks on top of it, in order, and nobody shows you the stack until the invoice arrives.

Shunto builds it line by line for the car in front of you, at today's rate, with the bodywork the sheet just told us about already inside the total.

Rain on the rear quarter panel of a dark car at night

Landed cost build-up

¥152.40 / $1

Hammer price¥1,780,000$11,680
Auction and proxy fees$860
Domestic transport in Japan$310
Export clearance and inspection$240
Ocean freight to Long Beach$1,450
Duty at 2.5%$292
Customs brokerage$225
Port fees and inland delivery$640
Paint and bodywork for the W2$2,400
State title and registration$410
Landed, titled, yours$18,507

A 1994 BNR32 at Grade 3.5, with one W2 on the right quarter panel. You were about to bid ¥1,780,000 because the sheet looked clean.

04The Verdict

Then the sheet becomes a document you can hold us to.

White paper, black text, one amber rule. It prints, it forwards to a spouse, and it survives being read twice at 3am.

Risk flags ranked by what they cost to fix. The landed cost. The month the car clears the 25-year rule. And at the top, in dollars, the number to stop at.

Sample Verdict, built for this page

Shunto verdict2026-08-25 · USS NAGOYA · GRADE 3.5

NISSAN SKYLINE GT-R · BNR32 · 1994 · 88,420 KM

Max bid

$14,900

Bid to $14,900 and no further.

Risk flags, in dollars

  • $2,400W2 on the right quarter panel. Beaten out and repainted once. The blend into the door will likely need redoing.
  • $1,600S noted underneath, at the rear subframe. The sheet confirms rust but not how far it has gone.
  • $700Interior graded B with a torn driver's bolster. Correct trim for this chassis is getting hard to find.
Landed cost
$18,507
Eligibility date
Legal now

Confidence is moderate. The inspector left three notes and one is partly obscured on the scan. A closer photo of the top-right block would raise it. Rate used: ¥152.40 / $1.

05Why us

We are paid $19 whether or not you buy the car. Your exporter is paid only if you do.

What a Verdict is

One experienced read of one sheet of paper: the marks priced in dollars, the money to the driveway, the eligibility month, the number to stop at, and a plain paragraph on what would change it.

What it is not

We are not certified. This is not a valuation, not an appraisal and not a marketplace. If we cannot read your car, you get your money back the same hour, without argument.

06What it costs

Decode

Free

Every grade, every damage mark on the diagram, every inspector note in Japanese and English. Nothing hidden, nothing blurred.

Verdict

$19

Risk flags ranked in dollars, the repair estimate, the landed cost build-up, the eligibility date, and your Max Bid.

Auction Pack

$59

Five Verdicts, because most buyers run five to fifteen cars before they win one. The habit should cost less than hesitating.

Order a Verdict

One-time payments, no subscription. The free Decode is not reading uploads yet, so a Verdict is read to order and reaches you within 12 hours.

07Open now, and free

The reference library is already here.

While Shunto learns to read your uploaded sheet, everything we know about reading one is written down and open: every damage mark with a dollar range, every grade, and the exact month each chassis clears the 25-year rule.

Codes

Marks, in dollars

Grades

What 3.5 hides

Landed cost

Bid to driveway

Clearing the 25-year rule now

Live

BNR34Nissan Skyline GT-R73%last clears August 2027S15Nissan Silvia73%last clears August 2027JZA80Toyota Supra89%last clears August 2027JZX100Toyota Chaser, Mark II and Cresta94%last clears December 2026
Every chassis code

Night Line

Be told when Shunto opens

The Decode is not reading sheets yet. Leave an address and we will write once, when it is, and once more if something changes for the car you are watching.

One address, no list swapping, and you can reply to any of our email to be removed.

The sheet already contains almost everything needed to price the risk. It just needs a reader who knows both the shorthand and what bodywork costs here.

Start with the codes

Drop your first sheet when Shunto opens.

3MINUTES

Target time from landing on the page to a Max Bid on screen.