If you've narrowed your search for a Japanese used car down to the three names that dominate almost every search result — BE FORWARD, SBT Japan, and Car From Japan — this guide is for you. All three are large, long-running platforms that ship tens of thousands of vehicles a year to buyers across Africa, the Caribbean, Oceania, and beyond. But they are not interchangeable: they differ in how old they are, how they price vehicles, how transparent that pricing is, and how their customers rate the experience. Below is a side-by-side comparison built from each company's own published information, plus a look at where independent reviewers and review-tracking sites land on each one.
As with any third-party comparison, treat review scores as a snapshot rather than a permanent verdict — ratings on sites like Trustpilot shift over time, so it's worth checking current scores yourself before you commit to a purchase.
Quick Comparison Table
Factor
BE FORWARD
SBT Japan
Car From Japan
Founded
2004 (Tokyo)
1993 (Yokohama)
2014 (Tokyo)
Headquarters
Chofu City, Tokyo
Yokohama, Kanagawa
Chiyoda, Tokyo
Approx. inventory
500,000+ vehicles listed across Japan, Korea, UK, Thailand, Singapore & UAE stock
Sources from Japan, South Korea, the US, UK & Germany (exact live count not published)
100,000+ vehicles listed, primarily Japan-sourced dealer stock
Core buying model
Browse & buy own dealer stock, with an optional Live Auction bidding service
Buy listed stock, or register as a member and have SBT bid for you at auction
Browse & buy listed dealer stock with upfront all-in pricing per car
Price display
FOB price shown on listings; freight quoted separately
Varies by listing — confirm whether a quote is FOB or freight-inclusive before paying
"Total (CIF)" — cost, insurance and freight bundled into one price per listing
Payment methods
Bank transfer, PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, Amex
Bank transfer, PayPal, credit card, "Pay Later" option
Bank transfer, PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover, JCB
Buyer protection
CAP (Car Arrival Progress) shipment tracking; published warranty-coverage program
Global Protection Program covering specified transit damage and theft (with stated exclusions, e.g. EV battery fires)
Standard card/PayPal chargeback protection; no separately branded protection program identified at time of writing
Trustpilot rating (at time of writing)
"Average," around 3.5 / 5
"Poor," around 2.0–2.2 / 5
Mixed across tracking sites — verify the current score directly on Trustpilot before relying on it
Best known for
Sheer breadth of inventory and decades of brand recognition in African markets
Longest operating history and a genuine auction-bidding service for buyers who want a specific auction lot
Simple browsing experience with transparent, all-in landed pricing on every listing
BE FORWARD: The Volume Leader
BE FORWARD was founded in Tokyo in 2004 by Hironori Yamakawa and was one of the first Japanese exporters to sell directly to overseas buyers online. It has since grown into the largest platform of the three by raw listing count, with stock numbering in the hundreds of thousands when you include vehicles held in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, the UK, Singapore, and the UAE. Selection ranges far beyond passenger cars into trucks, buses, tractors, and motorcycles, and the company added a dedicated auto-parts marketplace in 2015.
Pricing on BE FORWARD's main stocklist is quoted FOB (Free On Board) — the price gets your vehicle loaded onto a vessel at a Japanese port, but freight, insurance, and destination-side charges are calculated separately. Buyers track their order after purchase through CAP (Car Arrival Progress), an online portal that updates from auction win or stock reservation through to bill-of-lading issuance. BE FORWARD also runs dedicated "BF" landing pages and local services for dozens of countries, including most of East and Southern Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific, which can make support and payment slightly more localized depending on where you're buying from.
On Trustpilot, BE FORWARD sits in "Average" territory, around 3.5 out of 5 at the time of writing. The pattern in customer feedback is fairly consistent across review sites: buyers who do their homework on a specific listing tend to report smooth transactions, while complaints cluster around shipping delays and instances where a vehicle's condition didn't fully match its description. The company states a repeat-customer rate above 80%, which is worth weighing against the negative reviews rather than instead of them.
SBT Japan: The Old Guard, With a Reputation Gap
SBT Co., Ltd. was founded in January 1993, making it the oldest of the three by a wide margin — over a decade ahead of BE FORWARD and two decades ahead of Car From Japan. It's headquartered in Yokohama, holds a secondhand-dealer license from the Kanagawa Prefectural Public Safety Commission, and as of recent company disclosures runs 32 overseas offices with close to 1,200 employees worldwide. SBT's inventory draws from Japan, South Korea, the US, the UK, and Germany, and registered members can have SBT's buyers bid on their behalf at live Japanese auctions, in addition to buying from listed stock.
SBT's main differentiator on paper is the Global Protection Program (GPP), which covers specified categories of transit damage and theft between shipment and arrival, with some stated exclusions (for example, fire or damage tied to an EV's lithium-ion battery is not covered). That's a more clearly documented protection scheme than what the other two companies publish.
The catch is reputation. Independent review trackers paint a noticeably worse picture for SBT than for BE FORWARD or Car From Japan: Trustpilot has rated the company "Poor," generally in the 2.0–2.2 out of 5 range, and other review aggregators put it even lower. Recurring complaints involve pricing discrepancies and shipping surcharges that weren't clear upfront, plus some reports involving third-party agents operating under SBT's name. SBT itself has publicly warned customers about fraudulent websites impersonating the company — a useful reminder to double-check you're on sbtjapan.com (or a verified country-specific SBT domain) before sending any payment.
None of this means every SBT transaction goes badly — a company exporting at this scale for over 30 years is clearly doing plenty right — but the review-score gap versus its two main competitors is large enough that it deserves more pre-purchase diligence than the other two: confirm the final all-in price in writing, deal only through verified official channels, and get any auction-sheet or inspection documentation before you pay.
Car From Japan: The Newer, More Transparent Option
Car From Japan (operated by CAR FROM JAPAN Co., Ltd., licensed in Tokyo) is the youngest of the three, founded in 2014. Despite the shorter track record, its listings claim over 100,000 vehicles, and the site is built around a feature the other two don't lead with: every car listing shows a single bundled "Total (CIF)" price — cost, insurance, and freight all rolled into one number — rather than a bare FOB price that requires a follow-up quote to understand your real landed cost.
That pricing transparency is the company's clearest practical advantage for first-time buyers who find FOB-versus-freight math confusing. Car From Japan accepts a wide spread of payment methods (PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover, JCB, and bank transfer), and maintains country-specific "CFJ Local" pages for markets including the US, UK, Canada, and several African and Caribbean destinations. The company's site doesn't prominently advertise a live-auction-bidding service the way BE FORWARD and SBT do; its model leans toward browsing and purchasing already-listed dealer stock.
Review sentiment for Car From Japan trends more positive than SBT's in the search results we reviewed, but the available scores were inconsistent enough across tracking sites that we won't put a specific number in front of you here — check Trustpilot directly for the current aggregate rating before treating any single figure as definitive.
The Real Differences That Matter
Strip away the marketing and three things actually separate these companies in practice.
Pricing transparency. This is the most concrete, verifiable difference. Car From Japan's all-in CIF pricing tells you the landed cost on the listing page itself. BE FORWARD's FOB pricing means the sticker price is not your total cost — you need a freight quote to know what you'll actually pay. SBT's listings can vary, so confirm in writing whether any quote you receive is FOB or inclusive of freight before you wire any money.
Buying model. If you specifically want to bid on a particular car at a Japanese auction rather than buy from a pre-listed stock pool, BE FORWARD's Live Auction service and SBT's member-bidding program both offer that route; Car From Japan's site is oriented around browsing stock that's already been acquired and listed.
Track record versus reputation. SBT has the longest operating history of the three by far, plus the most explicitly documented buyer-protection program (GPP) — but it also carries the weakest independent review scores of the three. BE FORWARD sits in the middle on both age and reputation. Car From Japan is the newest company but currently shows a more favorable review profile than SBT in the sources available to us. None of these review scores are static, so a check immediately before you buy is always worth the five minutes it takes.
Which Exporter Is Right for You?
If raw selection and price range matter most — you want to compare a Toyota Hiace across five trim years and three source countries in one search — BE FORWARD's inventory size is hard to match. If you specifically want a particular auction lot and are comfortable navigating FOB-plus-freight math, either BE FORWARD's or SBT's auction-bidding services fit, though SBT's much longer history and documented protection program come with a real reputational discount you should weigh and verify against current reviews. If you're a first-time importer who wants to see one clear number per car and a simpler checkout, Car From Japan's CIF pricing model removes a common source of confusion, though its newer history means a shorter public track record than the other two.
Whichever you choose, the fundamentals from our broader exporter comparison still apply: check the auction sheet or inspection report before paying, confirm the total landed cost in writing (not just the listing price), verify the shipping line and estimated transit time to your destination port, and pay only through the company's official, verified payment channels.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is BE FORWARD, SBT Japan, or Car From Japan the cheapest?
There's no fixed answer — prices vary by specific vehicle, source country, and shipping route. The more useful comparison is total landed cost, not the headline listing price. Because Car From Japan shows an all-in CIF figure directly, it's often the easiest of the three to compare quickly; with BE FORWARD and SBT, ask for a full freight-inclusive quote before comparing.
Which of the three has been in business the longest?
SBT Japan, founded in 1993. BE FORWARD followed in 2004, and Car From Japan is the newest, founded in 2014.
Can I bid on a specific auction car through any of these companies?
BE FORWARD and SBT Japan both offer auction-bidding services (BE FORWARD's Live Auction service, and SBT's member-bidding program). Car From Japan's platform is built primarily around browsing and buying already-listed stock rather than bidding on live auction lots.
Why does SBT Japan have lower review scores than the other two?
Independent trackers consistently show SBT rated lower than BE FORWARD and Car From Japan, with recurring complaints about unclear pricing and shipping surcharges, plus reports involving third-party agents and impersonation scams using SBT's name. This doesn't mean every transaction goes wrong, but it does mean extra diligence — verified channels, written price confirmation, and documentation — is especially worthwhile if you choose to buy through SBT.
Do any of these three companies inspect vehicles before listing them?
All three source from Japanese auctions and dealer networks where vehicles are graded and an auction sheet is generated. Always request the auction sheet or inspection report for your specific vehicle and have it explained or translated if needed — see our guide on reading a Japanese auction sheet for what the grades and codes actually mean.
Are there other exporters worth comparing besides these three?
Yes — these three are simply the highest-volume, most search-visible platforms. See our broader roundup of top Japanese used car exporters for additional options if none of these three feel like the right fit.
