In an elevator apparatus, a guide rail has a plurality of unit rails that are vertically connected to each other. A car is provided with a rail joint detecting device mounted on the car, for detecting the presence/absence of a joint between each of the unit rails. The rail joint detecting device has a joint detecting portion for optically detecting the presence of the joint; and a joint determining portion for determining the presence/absence of the joint based on information from the joint detecting portion. Information on the presence/absence of the joint is outputted from the joint determining portion to a car position correcting circuit. In the car position correcting circuit, information on the position of the car is corrected based on the information on the presence/absence of the joint.