Is the mileage genuine?
All vehicles imported from Japan by Green Ball Imports are accompanied by an original Export Certificate with the most recent mileage and date recorded at the Japanese roadworthiness inspection.
For every car we sell, we will provide you with an export certificate certifying that the mileage was not rolled back at the time of importation to deceive the consumer.
In Australia, many imported cars have had their mileage rolled back by unscrupulous dealers and trust has been lost.
Therefore, some people think that buying an imported car means taking a risk on the mileage, but we provide a very reliable export certificate that has been improved by the excellent Japanese system.
【How to detect odometer rollback】
If you have been researching problems with used cars, you have probably seen the term “odometer rollback” at least once.
Odometer rollback is “tampering with the mileage,” and if you buy such a car, it will cost you a lot of money.
That is why you would never want to buy a car with an odometer rollback.
However, did you know that the fraudulent practice of odometer rollbacks has already been eliminated in the Japanese used car industry?
In Japan, there is a vehicle inspection system, so in order to drive on public roads (generally every third year from new for standard passenger cars, and every two years thereafter), vehicles must undergo maintenance and inspections as required by law.
Generally, the vehicle is taken to a government-authorized dealer or maintenance shop for overhaul.
Any parts that do not meet the standards must be replaced or serviced before the renewal can be granted.
Even if the mileage is low, the vehicle must be inspected.
If the vehicle is not inspected and the driver continues to drive it, the insurance will automatically expire and the vehicle will be uninsured, and the driver will be penalized.
When the vehicle passes the inspection, the vehicle inspection certificate is updated, and the mileage and date of maintenance are recorded up to the last two inspections.
Thus, anyone can easily tell if the odometer rollback has been done.
However, there have been a number of scams that have taken advantage of the fact that only the last two records are kept.
Please see this article
国交省
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT)
中古車の総走行距離メーターを不正に巻き戻して高く売る詐欺商法を巡り、国土交通省が講じた対策をすり抜ける手口が広がっている。走行距離は車検時に車検証に記載されるが、過去２回の記録しか残らないのを悪用して書類上、巻き戻しの形跡を消す方法だ。国交省は過去にもメーターの巻き戻し対策で記載方式を変えたが、来年１月に更に改めることを決めた。A fraudulent scheme to sell used cars at a higher price by illegally rolling back the total mileage meter is spreading, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) has taken measures to prevent it from being circumvented. The mileage is recorded on the vehicle inspection certificate at the time of inspection, but only the last two records are kept, so this method is used to cover up any traces of meter rewinding on the paperwork. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) has changed the method of recording mileage in the past as a measure against meter rewinding, and has decided to further change the method in January next year.
～（略）～ Omission
こうした手口の対策として、国交省は、メーターを交換するなどして走行距離が以前より短くなった場合には、過去の車検時に記録された最大値を追加記載するよう改める。何度車検を受けても「最大値」は消えず、購入者が不自然な記録に気づきやすい。国交省は「新方式が始まるまでは、車検を受けた日付が近接していないか十分注意してほしい」と呼びかけている。
As a countermeasure against such tactics, MLIT will revise the maximum value recorded at the time of past vehicle inspections to be additionally recorded when the mileage is shorter than before due to meter replacement or other reasons. The “maximum value” will not disappear no matter how many times the vehicle has been inspected, making it easier for buyers to notice unnatural records. Until the new system is implemented, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism urges buyers to be very careful to ensure that the dates of vehicle inspections are not in close proximity to each other.
毎日新聞（Mainichi Daily Newspapers）
The following is an example of an Export Certificate that will actually be delivered.
【Vehicle inspection certificate with unaltered mileage meter】
If you look at the lower right hand column of the vehicle inspection certificate, you will see that the vehicle was last inspected on June 6, 2019, and the mileage at that time was listed as 42,800 km. The date of the last inspection, approximately two years later, was May 24, 2021, and the mileage at that time is listed as 59,500 km.
This means that the mileage has increased by 17,000 km in about two years, and the inspection certificate seems to indicate that there is no problem.
Next, let us look at a vehicle inspection certificate that has been tampered with by an unscrupulous used car dealer, i.e., the mileage has been rolled back.
【＊This is not the real thing. I made it as a sample for this article.】
【Odometer tampered with Certificate】
In the case of this car, when the inspection was performed on May 24, 2021, the mileage meter read 19,500Km, which is somehow less than the mileage that should have increased over the two years since June 6, 2019.
This is due to the fact that the mileage meter was rolled back during this two-year period, which makes the vehicle inspection inconsistent.
This is easy to understand and I think some people would notice it, but if you were to ask the store, they would say, “The meter malfunctioned, so we replaced it with a used meter. Since it was a used meter, the one they happened to have on hand had 19,500Km on it. I did not intentionally tamper with the meter or replace the meter.” They may try to evade the issue by saying, “We didn’t intentionally tamper with the meter or replace the meter.
Please take a look at the following examples of cleverly rolled back odometers due to double inspections, which have caused many problems in the past.
【Vehicle Certificates Cleverly Falsified by Double Vehicle Inspections】
As shown in the previous example【Odometer tampered with Certificate】, if the mileage meter is falsified to 19,500 km when it was originally 59,500 km, the distance is reduced and it is easy to be detected, so the car is inspected twice in a row immediately to erase the actual mileage of the two previous inspections. （In this case, the actual mileage was 19,500 km in May 2021. In this case, the vehicle was inspected on May 24, 2021, and the second inspection was conducted a few days later on June 6, 2021.
This is a clever and nefarious trick that takes advantage of the fact that only the mileage for the most recent two inspections is listed.
Not many people can spot this right away.
Even if you point this out to the car dealer, they may say something like, “We had to have the car re-inspected to make sure there was nothing wrong with it, so you can drive it with peace of mind. This is a common practice of deceiving consumers under the guise of kindness.
Therefore, MLIT made the following improvements as countermeasures.
【Vehicle inspection certificate required to state the maximum】
This was implemented in January 2017 to prevent meter tampering and double inspections by requiring the maximum recorded mileage. The image is an image, but it has been improved to state [maximum recorded mileage] 42,800Km (June 6, 2019) at the bottom to make it easier to identify a history of tampering.
If you had not understood this fact, you might have worried in vain that the car might have had an odometer rollback!
As of 2023, odometer rollback for used cars in Japan is “eradicated.”
In other words, a system has been adopted that allows you to know if the odometer rollback has been done as long as you have the vehicle inspection certificate.
Thanks to this system, even an amateur can tell if the odometer has been rolled back, and this has created an environment in Japan in which vendors cannot tamper with the odometers lightly.
But what if an unscrupulous used car dealer tampered with the meter after the car was imported into Australia?
Since both analog and digital meters can be easily tampered with, a used car dealer could purchase a car with a mileage in excess of 200,000 km at a very low price, and then rollback the meter to, say, 30,000 km, and sell it at a lower price than other dealers. There are many such unscrupulous used car dealers in the market.
How many of us in Australia are aware of this system in Japan?
If you have read this article, you will not be fooled anymore. It is obvious from the export certificate when you import a car from Japan.
We attach this export certificate to all vehicles imported from Japan.
If you are considering purchasing a vehicle imported from Japan, we recommend that you always ask if the original documents are available.
If you do not tell us, a suspicious vendor will never show you the original documents.
If the vendor does not show you the original documents, such as if you have lost them, please assume that they are suspicious.
In addition, check to see if the imported car you are considering buying has a record book with warranty cards and maintenance history from the time it was new.
