Every mark on the diagram, named in English and priced in dollars.
The inspector walked around the car and wrote what he found in a private shorthand. Each mark below is what one of those letters means, and what the work behind it costs at an independent US body shop in 2026.
No auction house publishes an English legend, so where the trade guides disagree we say which ones and how. The printed legend on your own sheet is always the authority for that sheet.
A — scratches
Surface to deep, A1 through A3.
U — dents
Thumb, palm, larger than a palm.
W — previous repair
Bodywork already done, graded by how much it shows.
S — rust
Rust the inspector could see.
C — corrosion
Metal being consumed, not just discoloured.
P — paint damage
Chips, peeling, lifting.
H — faded paint
Colour gone from sun.
X and XX — replacement
Needs replacing, or has been replaced.
Y — cracks and tears
Plastic or trim, split.
E — dimples
Counted rather than sized.
B — dents and structure
The least consistent letter on the sheet.
Glass marks
Chips, repaired cracks, replacements.
Handwritten notes
The half a machine translator drops.
Next
The grade, and why Grade 3.5 tells you almost nothing
The overall grade, the interior letters, and the marks people mistake for grades.
Then
What the car actually costs in your driveway
Hammer price to titled in your name, line by line, at today's rate.
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.