"Flavien Vidal" (flyingfrenchy)
04/12/2016 at 07:35 • Filed to: None
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"Flavien Vidal" (flyingfrenchy)
04/12/2016 at 07:35 • Filed to: None | 17
| 45 |
Ever since I started to have some interest in Japan, about 10 years ago, when I first got to date my japanese girlfriend-now-wife, I learned about japanese culture but also about all the apparent difficulties that came with owning a car in a country that is known for having a certain lack of land space. Now, I live in Japan, own and even import cars here, and I can definitely say that not everything people “know” about the car owning experience in this country is true. So once and for all, let’s go over all those beliefs surrounding it, what is true and what is not.
“Japanese don’t have old cars because they are forced to change them after XX years or they have to pay lots of taxes if they keep them”
FALSE: Owning an older car in Japan is pretty much the same thing as owning a 3 year old car. 5 or 6 years ago, it was slightly different as cars older than 10 year old had to pass an extra test. What happened was that you had to pass the mandatory technical inspection (Shaken) every 2 years, but every 2 other years, you had some kind of a mini tech-inspection to pass in order to make sure your car was still in driving condition. It was cheap and took 30 minutes at worst. Now the secondary inspection doesn’t exist anymore and you only have to pass the main one every two years like all the other cars. Taxes are based on car and engine size. Cars over 13 years old have to pay an extra 10% on their annual taxes though , which is hardly a deal breaker (an extra 25 to 100 USD every 2 years).
“Japanese have so many tiny cars (kei-cars) because owning a big car is very expensive and taxed a lot”
PRETTY MUCH NOT TRUE BUT... : As I mentioned earlier, smaller cars are taxed less than bigger cars. This is not the reason why people stick with tiny kei-cars nowadays though. It’s been about 5 to 10 years that Japan and Japanese car manufacturers are trying to sort of “eliminate” or at least diminish the popularity of kei-cars in Japan, which they can’t seem to do. From their logical point of view, it’s expensive to develop cars solely for the japanese market... Cars that they won’t be able to export anywhere and that follow a strict and restrictive spec sheet. So the japanese government is taxing more and more tiny kei-cars, to the point which, today, owning a kei-car is (tax-wise only and running costs aside) almost as expensive as owning a regular car. As far as taxation goes, bigger cars are not that much more expensive to own either. Here are a few examples:
The annual tax costs 29500 yen (275 USD) for a car with an engine under 1L, 51000 yen (470 USD) for a car with an engine displacement of 2.5 to 3L or 88000 yen (815 USD) for anything between 4.5 and 6L. Kei-cars taxes are a bit harder to define as they are paid to cities and not to the prefectures and they vary depending on where you live. It’s usually about the same as taxes for engines under 1L. I personally pay about 700$ for my car and that includes the mandatory minimum insurance and the inspection fees.
So do japanese chose to buy small cars because owning a big one is taxed too much?? I don’t think so. For most japanese, driving a small car is just something practical. They rarely use their cars for long distances or to drive outside of cities and considering how small streets can be in Japan, a tiny car is just something they want and buy. A LOT. In spite of the raise in taxes on kei-cars, 44% of new cars sold in Japan last year were Keijidoshas. Also as we’ll see after, running costs for cars in Japan are not cheap, to the point that people might simply chose something as cheap and as reliable as possible. Taxes are not the problem here though.
“Japanese have to change their engines after a while, so they get rid of their cars instead”
TOTAL MYTH: I have no idea how this myth ended up being so popular that even Matt Farah mentions it in one of his one-take video. Maybe because of the enormous amount of engines being shipped overnight from Japan, everywhere in the US?? Honestly no idea. That would be a bonkers law! Imagine the mess of owning an XJS V12 or something ridiculously rare like a 250 GTO and having to change its engine every 5 years.
Also emission testings are very fair toward older cars which are allowed to pollute more than newer cars. Fair to the point that I have a 31 year old straight piped SA22C Turbo RX7 as a daily driver. I’d NEVER pass emissions with it anywhere else in the world.
“Using a car in Japan is very expensive, so they stick to cheap new-ish econo-boxes to minimize the costs”
PARTIALLY TRUE: When someone wants to buy a car in Japan, that person has to prove that he can park it, that he has a dedicated parking spot or a garage first. No proof of parking spot rental or ownership = no license plate for him. And unless you live in the middle of nowhere, parking can be expensive. In my 300k inhabitants city near Nagoya, I pay 9000 yen (83$) per month to park my car. If I were to live in Nagoya, I’d pay between 100 and 250$ per month. In Kyoto or Osaka, it would be between 150 and 400$. In Tokyo, the sky is pretty much the limit (200 to over 1000$). Parking for free on a side-street is also not something you can do in Japan, those types of spots simply do not exist and you HAVE to go in a pay-park. When thinking about it though, prices are not that different than other big cities everywhere else in the world. The main difference with the rest of the world, is how expensive it is to travel around. Freeways are VERY expensive in Japan. On average it will cost you about 25cts per kilometers on ANY freeway in the country. If you chose not to use freeways, your travelling time will double or triple in time. Quick example: Last Friday I went from Okazaki to Kyoto, one-day round trip. In total I drove 300km on toll roads and 100km on free slower roads. I paid 8860 yen (82$). Not even counting the 13 gallons of gas my car sucked on the way (4.2$ per gallon right now), you end up with massive costs when doing trips that would be considered as simple daily transits for some americans.
“Japanese take great care of their cars! Buying a JDM car sight unseen is a fairly safe process.”
SOMEWHAT TRUE BUT... : For many japanese, their cars are a bit like fashion accessories. New car = good, old car = bad. So, just like that expensive shirt you bought 20 years ago and that you only wear on “special occasions”, their cars, that are quite expensive to run, are a way to show off in society, show to the world the kind of person they are. If you own a crappy car that looks dirty, you are most likely a bit like that yourself: crappy and not clean. So japanese people, in general, take great care of the aesthetics of their cars. Of the aesthetics. When it comes to mechanical maintenance, most japanese people can’t be bothered (which is also why they get cheap, overly reliable cars). The amount of people who can wrench on their own in Japan will probably equal the amount of people who can speak anything else other than Japanese. An insanely small minority. So if you buy a JDM car, don’t think that, because the car looks perfect and clean, the mechanic has been maintained just as well. If you’re lucky, the absolute strict minimum has been done regularly, but don’t expect the car to be mechanically as good as it looks. This is also part of the reason why Japanese people don’t own older cars. As soon as something starts to go wrong, they get rid of it.
So what else have you heard and that may have struck you when it comes to owning a car in Japan? Anything in particular you may have in mind? If so, don’t hesitate to ask in the comments!
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RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
> Flavien Vidal
04/12/2016 at 07:45 |
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Great article Flavien! :D
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Flavien Vidal
> RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
04/12/2016 at 07:56 |
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Thanks man :)
Alex from Toronto
> Flavien Vidal
04/12/2016 at 08:02 |
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It doesn’t seem that bad as people make it out to be. Thanks for sharing!
kanadanmajava1
> Flavien Vidal
04/12/2016 at 08:06 |
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Good article! Do you have info about the legality problems of modified vehicles in Japan? I have heard that bosozoku style cars and dekotora trucks are usually modified back to original condition to pass shaken. This doesn’t seem very realistic. I would believe that some parts could be taken off but removing one million lights from a dekotora truck seems unrealistic.
I have seen a lot of modified vehicles (in pictures) in Japan that would have a lot of problems passing the yearly inspection here so there has to be some some kind of “standards” for them.
Btw. In Finland Wankel engines are exempted from yearly emission tests. Noise might become an issue though...
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Flavien Vidal
> Alex from Toronto
04/12/2016 at 08:07 |
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If we rule out the cost of freeways, it’s actually better than most countries, Canada included. (Especially Ontario as you guys have yearly safety and emission testing and license plates + driver license have to be paid yearly too...)
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Flavien Vidal
> kanadanmajava1
04/12/2016 at 08:12 |
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Some Bosozoku don’t even pass their shaken test and therefore are not really registered nor insured... It’s more of a show car that does “vroom-vroom” on parking lots. Some do modify their cars back to stock for shaken though as it often only involves replacing bumpers, raising the car back up and changing the exhaust... Shaken is fairly strict though, nothing crazy, but strict, as you can read in one of the link I posted at the end of that article.
And emission exemptions for rotaries is a GREAT thing haha. Strangely, straight piped rotaries are not nearly as noisy as straight piped 4cyl, V6 or V8. My car, while not quiet, is not that loud at all.
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kanadanmajava1
> Flavien Vidal
04/12/2016 at 08:28 |
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Interesting. So the shaken inspector probably don’t care about upgraded engine or racing suspension if they doesn’t leak oil or hang too low? I have too noticed that the most radical bosozoku cars seem to trailer to the gatherings.
Here you are in trouble if you want to have more than 20% more power compared to the most powerful production model of that certain car model. Upgrading an N/A engine is kind of a loophole as their maximum power is only limited by the power to weight ratio. The power to weight ratio limit applies also forced induction cars if the value is achieved before +20% power is achieved.
That was very short version and the actual regulation is slightly more complicated.
My friend has an RX-4 with a stainless steel exhaust pipe with one Racing Beat end silencer. It’s still very quiet and makes way too little of nice Wankel noises.
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Flavien Vidal
> kanadanmajava1
04/12/2016 at 08:31 |
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No, that is fine as long as it respects emissions and as long as the car is safe to drive. No problem for 2000hp cars as long as they don’t pollute and brake on a dime haha.
Dru
> Flavien Vidal
04/12/2016 at 08:39 |
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How are the quality of the roads? Hearing you describe the tolls is mind boggling, but when I think of the near third world roads we have here in SC, and the subsequent havoc it wreaks on tires, suspension, teeth, kidneys, it ALMOST sounds worth it.
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Flavien Vidal
> Dru
04/12/2016 at 08:45 |
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Not as great as they should be for the price... Japan is a very seismic region, so to handle that, they use lots of expansion joint that move and are sometimes very rough, especially in a sports car like mine. Also, still due to earthquakes and everything moving constantly, roads are not perfectly flat but often “wavy”.
So no, if you want good freeways, go to France or Germany, not here :)
LongbowMkII
> Flavien Vidal
04/12/2016 at 08:46 |
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Taking mountain roads takes 2-3 times as long? Not in my AE85!
Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig
> Flavien Vidal
04/12/2016 at 08:46 |
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Great stuff. I confess I believed the 30k mile engine replacement requirement. I just told my hair stylist yesterday. What an odd myth.
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Flavien Vidal
> LongbowMkII
04/12/2016 at 08:47 |
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lol... I’m fine with mountain roads... Passing through 30 cities to avoid toll roads is another story though :)
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LongbowMkII
> Flavien Vidal
04/12/2016 at 08:50 |
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That makes a lot of sense.
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Flavien Vidal
> Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig
04/12/2016 at 08:50 |
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Oh you’re not the only one who believed it, don’t worry... It’s insane, what country would force something like that. Imagine the amount of work garages would have lol
Scott
> Flavien Vidal
04/12/2016 at 09:10 |
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Most of those I had not heard, other than the Myth about changing the engines. And your assumption as to how it got started has a lot to do with how I heard it. I had a seal go out on my FB RX-7. I wanted to rebuild the motor myself, but a seized nut prevented me from getting it out. the priest at my Church Raced RX-2 and RX-3's and told me to get a used motor from Japan, that they are in great condition because they have to change them out regularly.
Since so many used motors get shipped state side it makes me wonder where these motors come from? It’s not like you see a ton of used BMW motors coming state side, and I can see more demand for that.
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Flavien Vidal
> Scott
04/12/2016 at 09:19 |
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It comes from Japanese cars that are deemed “too old” by Japanese owners and literally thrown away because “new = good and old = bad” :)
Not that many car go over 60000 miles here. They are retired and abandonned or parted out or shipped to other countries before that. They are in great condition because they don’t drive much (too expensive) and don’t drive far (cars often too shitty for that lol)...
My Turbo SA22C is 31 year old and only 50000 miles on the clock.
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Scott
> Dru
04/12/2016 at 09:26 |
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I have travelled all over the World, been to almost all the states, I think 4 or 5 I have not visited, lost track of how many countries I have been to after about 30 countries.
I can’t really see a huge difference in road quality between most countries, especially comparing apples to apples. Generally speaking, the more harsh weather an area gets the worse the roads. Especially true if it sees sub zero winters. The more rural, a road gets, or at least the less of a tax base to support it, the worse a road gets.
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Dru
> Scott
04/12/2016 at 09:46 |
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Interesting. I am honestly not that well traveled. I have spent most of my life in North and South Carolina. The difference can be striking between the two. But SC boasts its low gasoline tax, which is ridiculously obvious in certain areas, especially when you consider the immense space which is rural. When I travel home to visit family, I cannot wait to cross the state line.
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kanadanmajava1
> Flavien Vidal
04/12/2016 at 10:14 |
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Sounds awesome. I hope I’ll find my way there some day too. Is there still harsh import taxes? It could become expensive if I bring all of my cars with me.
Luc - The Acadian Oppo
> Flavien Vidal
04/12/2016 at 10:18 |
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I’m originally from New-Brunswick but now living in Alberta and Alberta is pretty kick ass when it comes to motoring.
No inspection EVER (unless your insurance ask for it) in N-B it is a yearly occurrence.
NO TAX on cars bought thru private sale (makes it A LOT easier to flip cars) in N-B you pay 14% on the purchase price or blue book value, whichever is higher.
If you buy a car from a dealer it’s only 5% tax instead of 14% in N-B.
Insurance is WAY cheaper in Alberta. I’m 31 with a so so driving record and it cost me $94/month for 2 vehicles FULL coverage.
It essentially cost me $85/car per year for the license plate the only other fee is the insurance.
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Flavien Vidal
> Luc - The Acadian Oppo
04/12/2016 at 10:39 |
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Quebec was pretty similar too... Cars under 10 years old had to pay taxes though... Over 10 years old, anything was fair game... I paid my Corvette 100$ officially. I used to pay 800$ per year for my Corvette, fully covered, winter driven and street parked. Ontario just happens to be really terrible... But it’s terrible at pretty much everything so... :)
(jk of course... or not)
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Flavien Vidal
> kanadanmajava1
04/12/2016 at 10:41 |
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Still?? Up until last year, it was 5% import tax on cars, based on the price YOU declare lol. Now it’s 8%, still on the price that you declare... Pretty damn low really
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kanadanmajava1
> Flavien Vidal
04/12/2016 at 11:04 |
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Oh! My “still” was based on some old article about some enthusiast who imported a modified Riviera and complained that he had to pay x000 USD worth of taxes.
That’s very low indeed. We have to pay VAT (24%) and customs (~10% only if it comes outside EU) for the purchase price + shipping. And the actual car tax is calculated for the estimated value of the car and then the year model will reduce the tax amount.
So if it’s a modern expensive car the car tax can climb up to +x0,000€ but with a normal 70's car it is 100€ or something. From my ‘48 Packard they wanted 5€ which was below the minimum that you actually had to pay.
I have two 60's cars for which the car tax is still unpaid but I don’t expect very big amounts.
Jay, the practical enthusiast
> Flavien Vidal
04/12/2016 at 21:39 |
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I left Japan 6 years ago but there were two other things I heard that I wonder if you know are true or not.
1. I heard that K cars are exempt from needing a parking space to get registered.
2. You can get the Shaken paperwork from city hall and fill it out yourself without taking your car to a garage to be inspected.
Do you know if either of these are true?
Great article by the way.
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Flavien Vidal
> Jay, the practical enthusiast
04/12/2016 at 21:46 |
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1 - Yep that’s true... They are exempt of PROOF of parking space to get registered. But since parking on the side of streets is not allowed, they need one anyway
2 - No, not true. You need the inspection to be done in a specific shaken certified garage. What you can do though, is get the full list of what will be checked and pre-check everything yourself to make sure it passes. What the shaken offers is basically state insurance for your car... It’s kind of a pre-insurance check. No car check, no insurance.
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Andrey6
> Flavien Vidal
09/19/2016 at 06:25 |
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How bad would it be to bring my 1979 6.6L Trans Am to Japan?
Are there any exemptions for antique cars?)
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Flavien Vidal
> Andrey6
09/19/2016 at 06:48 |
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No exemptions for antique cars no... Cars over ten years cost an extra 10% in tax actually. Not much but still.
As for the cost, with that kind of engine it would cost you about 1200$ every year on top of an additional 1000$ every two year. Then you’d have to import the car and since it’s been built after 1973, it will be a bit more expensive to import, requiring a few safety features such as a breakable steering column. Usually about 3000$ per car to get them importable in Japan.
I wrote a more complete article on the subject here:
http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/bu…
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Spongus Van Heillesbiergen
> Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig
06/29/2017 at 21:00 |
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It’s kind of true though. That’s probably the average mileage when they think they are too old. It said 3-5 yrs. Nobody there knows how to wrench, so they dump them to the U.S.
Hatto
> Flavien Vidal
09/21/2017 at 01:56 |
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Hi Flavien
I am a visitor to Japan but I own a house in japan, Is there a way I can own a car
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Flavien Vidal
> Hatto
09/21/2017 at 05:40 |
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If you can prove that you have a parking spot to park your car, it shouldn’t be a problem.... Not sure about the insurance itself, they might require you to have a japanese driver license, but I’m sure you can find one that does not...
If you only come for a short time, keep in mind the process between the moment you buy the car and the moment you can actually drive it, is quite slow... 2 weeks or so for a non-kei car... You have to take an appointment with your local police department who will come and check that you have a parking spot to park your car and that said car can fit lol... Yeah, quite insane, I know.
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JBGinowan
> Flavien Vidal
11/12/2017 at 06:06 |
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1. It depends on the city you live in. Here in Okinawa, there are cities/towns that require a parking space. But where I live in, they don’t. My kei car didn’t need a certificate of parking space. But if I got a regular car, i would have needed one.
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JBGinowan
> Flavien Vidal
11/12/2017 at 06:06 |
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Great article BTW. Thank you!
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Flavien Vidal
> JBGinowan
11/12/2017 at 06:16 |
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Ah not impossible that some cities or prefectures have different requirement indeed... I don’t know anywhere on the mainland where it is required for keicars, but it would make sense for some islands to do...
Imak37
> Flavien Vidal
01/31/2018 at 11:37 |
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Hi,
If I own a vehicle in Japan. Am I allowed to perform any repairs on it by myself without taking it to a mechanic? Are there repairs limits to any part of the car... like wheel only but not shocks, brakes, etc? Any guidance is appreciated. Thanks
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Flavien Vidal
> Imak37
01/31/2018 at 20:15 |
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hey! Yes no problem for that and no limitation... Difficult thing is if you swap an engine with a different one... Then it becomes a mess of paperwork and shit. Anything else, go for it! You better have your own garage for that though. Japanese don’t exactly enjoy seeing foreigners ripping cars apart on their parking lot haha
Todd Bentley
> Flavien Vidal
04/14/2018 at 09:23 |
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Hello from Hiroshima!
I just recently moved to Japan (less than a month ago) and thankfully my company proved me with a vehicle, but of course I plan on buying my own car in the future. And being a gearhead, I am of course going to modify it. However, I have been unable to find what exactly I would need to do to register any mods I do to any car I get. I understand for the shaken that changes to height/length/width have to be within a certain limit of stock, but I haven’t been able to find anything on how to register engine swaps, power upgrades, suspension upgrades, the like. What paperwork would I have to do to get this done? Thanks in advance
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Flavien Vidal
> Todd Bentley
04/14/2018 at 09:34 |
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The rough rule is that any mods are fine with a car, but stay away from engine swaps... While engine swaps are doable here, they are VERY complicated to get street legal and require one hell of a mess in term of paperwork. For anything else, you’re good to go, it doesn’t matter at all (bigger turbo, bigger cylinder bore, suspension mods...etc, anything basically, as long as the engine stays the one that was in the car when it came out of the factory). Just make sure the car doesn’t pollute too much, but cars older than 13 years are allowed to pollute quite a bit in Japan.
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Todd Bentley
> Flavien Vidal
04/14/2018 at 10:50 |
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Ah, that’s pretty cool then. I can deal without engine swaps, here it seems like suspension is better than power anyways. Thanks for the help!
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Cloud
> Flavien Vidal
05/14/2018 at 11:36 |
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We bought a car with 10 Grands with the help of one of my uncle lives there more than a decade ago. He was suppose to ship it Bangladesh. Something went wrong with the customs/tax in Japan and our car is still stuck in Japan ! Now my uncle claims he pays 100$ per month since then for parking fee - can you believe it ?
10k went into water just like that ! No Car, No Refund !
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Ben
> Flavien Vidal
09/05/2018 at 06:49 |
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Hi,
This is a little off topic, but I live in Ethiopia and found an ad online for a 2014 RAV4 for sale. The owner said I can buy the car and he can ship it to Ethiopia for around $6500 total. This seems very low to me but he says in Japan people drive cars that are 2016 or newer. Is this legit? If it is it seems like a great deal. Any advice you could give me would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
bennyyorkie
> Flavien Vidal
08/13/2019 at 09:25 |
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Hi,
Such an informative article! Many thanks. I have a quick question. I’m looking at buying a Mazda Bongo freshly imported from Japan. It does have low mileage (73000) but considering its a 2001 model...does that sound like a red flag in terms of why would a Japanese owner still have a 2001 car on the road in 2019?They are 8 seaters so maybe they are common in Japan as taxis...just a guess? I’ve seen a good few of them advertised on ebay... not sure what to make of them. Any thoughts? Thanks again for the fresh perspective! Invaluable!
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Flavien Vidal
> bennyyorkie
08/14/2019 at 07:17 |
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Hello and thx for your message! Nothing abnormal with that... I daily drive a 1985 first gen RX7 along with a 2002 Peugeot 106 S16... I just bought a 1988 Lancia Delta Integrale too....
As long as you don
Mazda Bongo were never used as Taxis here though...
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Lucas
> Flavien Vidal
12/31/2019 at 01:30 |
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Nice article!! I am planning to buy an used car. I thought kei-car would save lots of money but apparently not. Thanks to you now I am checking something better like BMW. Question: Will the maintenance costs for imported cars be much higher than “ kei national cars”?? Do you sell cars???
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Flavien Vidal
> Lucas
12/31/2019 at 02:52 |
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Hey, thanks! Yes, owning an imported car usually results to slightly higher costs for spare parts... But parts in general are expensive here, I order most parts for my cars abroad, Japanese cars included. Parts reseller make a fortune here, so it’s not really worth buying what you need locally.
And yes, I export cars but also sell from time to time to people living in Japan. https://www.facebook.com/amagasakimotor/
Feel free to message me. Where are you living?