March 3rd, 2020 - "Show Me The Carfax" Looking into the vehicle history of Project PRO.2 CR-X EF8

March 3rd, 2020 - "Show Me The Carfax" Looking into the vehicle history of Project PRO.2 CR-X EF8

So yesterday while surfing Facebook I saw a post on JDM Auction Watch’s page where a client’s AE86 was spotted and featured in a video prior to his purchasing and importing it to Ireland. They posed the question “Has anyone else tracked down pictures of info about their car from it’s time in the motherland?”

Back in the mid-1990s I had called Honda Canada about Project 88 and they gave me all sorts of information about the car such as build date, retailing dealer, retail date, the previous owner and his address (there wasn’t much in the way of privacy concerns back then obviously). So, in 2009 I tried my luck and called Honda Japan to see what information they could give me about my EF8. They were able to provide me with a letter on Honda letterhead stating pretty much all the same things, minus the previous owner information.

I replied to the post and mentioned at the end how I’d always wanted the original auction sheet for my car but never could track it down. The seller’s hard drive had crashed, and it was long gone. Well, low and behold another Facebook user replied to my comment and told me about a site called carvx.jp who, for about $40, could provide me the information I was looking for – and more. 

I looked them up when I got home and popped in my VIN/chassis number. They said that it takes about a day to get a vehicle report, so I paid by PayPal and went to bed hoping that I would find a present waiting for me in the morning. It felt like Christmas again.

When I woke up this morning my report was there waiting for me.

It wasn’t everything I’d hoped. There was no auction sheet, but I really wasn’t holding out much hope for it. After all, my car was sold at auction back in 2005. That’s a long time to keep records of a sold and de-registered car. It contained a lot of the same information I received when I called Honda Japan and a couple tidbits I didn’t know before and a couple more that I wasn’t expecting to find at all.

1) No accidents reported for my car, which was great to see.

2) It was last registered in Omiya, in Saitama prefecture, about 700kms from Aomori, where it was first registered.

3) It was clear of radiation - - a section likely added after the earthquake in 2011.

4) The Average Market Price of EF8s was listed at 830,000¥, which should help a lot during my appraisal later this year. With current exchange rates, that works out to approximately $10,500 CAD or $7,800 USD.

So, I don’t really know if it was worth the $40 for the information I received, but it was definitely worth the gamble to see if the auction sheet was on file. I could see this being a phenomenal tool to help perspective buyers of vehicles still in Japan waiting for export, or those newly imported models that someone is looking to purchase. Like Carfax, it seems like the newer the car, the better quality the information will be.

Remember, this blog was written in chronological order so, you will need to click OLDER POSTS to move forward in time, and click NEWER POSTS to go backwards.