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Buy A Car Or Not!

TAG Manager said:
Been there, done that. :giggle:

If you've not been drinking (and driving) you've got nothing to worry about.
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I quit drinking a long time ago, and love drunk driving checkpoints now. They always look so disappointed.
 
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Angus Beef said:
If you were buying, would you go domestic or import?
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There is some disinformation about buying domestic or foreign... but typically, just to save on costs, buying domestic is always going to be a better deal in that department.

I bought domestic because I could buy it in cash at the time and the overall TCO is reasonable, well, very reasonable. I'm thinking I'll buy a second car, probably something in the high performance market to travel with. My little domestic Toyota struggles on the highway and other HP cars are just blowing by me, lol.
 
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Yeah, I understand that highway thing. Ive seen K cars get blown off the road. I am thinking about getting a car suitable for long drives.
 
Angus Beef said:
If you were buying, would you go domestic or import?
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Point in case on the advantages of domestic over foreign - my neighbor damaged the door on his Audi, necessitating the replacement of the door panel. They had to order the panel in from Germany, and the job took nearly a month and cost over 500,000 yen. A friend had a front quarter panel and front bumper ripped off his Toyota SUV when a drunk drove into it while it was street-parked in Shinjuku, and he had it back in 6 days at a cost (to his insurance company) of 150,000 yen.
 
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I did! I did and I probably will buy an import. I love exotics. Anyways, as you will see, I'm serious about the car so I'll need not get on here. Easily tempted means waiting to get that car. It was good to rap with you. But yeah, I keep seeing new ways to spend too much money.

I guess this is a temporary good bye of sorts till I get what I want or maybe I'll never get it if I dont!
 
Cornelius said:
If you are buying an older car, even if it is low milage, it can be surprisingly inexpensive. But, part of the reason for this is the inspection, shaken, cost. Older cars have to be inspected every 2 years and 200000 yen is not unreasonable for a larger car ( my last shaken cost was 140000 yen for a 2 liter nissan). Then there's parking cost as well. And gas at 150 yen per liter.
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shell gas stations on japan will do a 2 liter car foraround 70k yen
 
I went looking around for a car. Stopped at the Honda showroom. Then went to the BMW shop. And finally, checked out Minis. I am really sold on Minis!
 
The biggest cost is parking space - over time it will cost more than the car in large cities
 
That is a problem! But I have observed that if you park at shopping malls, the fees could be minimalized by buying a certain amount at the mall. The parking lots are very expensive. I am still thinking about the cheapest way to become an owner of a car here.
 
Expired Beef! said:
That is a problem! But I have observed that if you park at shopping malls, the fees could be minimalized by buying a certain amount at the mall. The parking lots are very expensive. I am still thinking about the cheapest way to become an owner of a car here.
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You have to have a registered parking space - as in one that is dedicated to your vehicle - in order to register a car.
The space must be within 2 km of your residence and be large enough to fit the vehicle, height included if the space has a roof.
 
You need to provide proof of 2km max parking space rent at the time of registering the vehicule to your name ONLY.
Once this is done you can cancel the rent and rent a cheaper - further away location as preferred. You don't need this proof of parking for shaken renewal and also the shaken itself can be done by the user (user shaken) at the local dept. Of motor vehicle for about 2000 yen provided everything works normal on the car.
A pain as you need to take a day off and deal with the paperwork and process but the cheapest option
I have owned several cars for years around Tokyo so I know the inside out of the system by now

Cars are fun especially combined with girls

Maybe because back from where I come from your first sex experience would have typically happened on the back seats of your parents car...

Also
Chicks really love it when a guys picks them up by car in Japan
 
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If you live in a big city in Japan, I think having a car is more problem than it is worth. The public transportation is so good. But if you live in one of the suburbs or a small town, and especially if you have kids, you really need at least one car.
 
My point is - if you can afford the monthly parking fee then the rest isn't so bad or as expensive becuase driving a car is definitely fun even though you don't actually need one in Tokyo .
The first thing would be to look at parking options to decide if it's worth it or not
Cars are actually quite cheap here
 
It's always funny to me that so many of my Western colleagues insist a car is not necessary if you live in Tokyo, for some of them it is a weird point of pride not to own a car, like veganism or something. No, a car is not "necessary" in Tokyo, but if you can afford it, it is a very handy luxury that makes life more pleasurable to live (particularly on weekends) and it is not clear to me why that needs to be justified. I mean, it is also not necessary to eat nice meals or cool or heat your home or pay a professional to cut your hair to live in Tokyo, but they don't seem to find these things to be controversial extravagances. As far as I can tell most of them are intimidated by the idea of getting a proper driver's license, to say nothing of owning and driving a car in Japan, and I feel like the "public transportation is so good here it's dumb to own a car!" stance is just a smokescreen for not wanting to figure out how.

Careco and the other car-sharing services are potentially a good option if you live in the city and just want to try out car life without investing a lot of money. Some of the ones in Minato-ku even have pretty nice cars like Benzes and BMWs, although the fleet mostly seems to consist of Priuses and Honda Fits. Renting cars on the weekend also is pretty convenient and if you only really drive on weekends (which I imagine is true for many people) it's economically more sensible than owning a car. Don't get me wrong, like I said if cost is no object one's own car is great to have. But if I didn't have a family that needs to be schlepped around I could probably be content with Careco, Nippon Rental Car and Uber to meet my automotive requirements, and save a few hundred thousand yen, at least, a year.

Foreign cars are expensive to buy new because of the import car VAT but residuals plummet after a couple of years. If you want foreign I suggest buying a three-year old car off its first shaken, which are often traded in by the previous (well-heeled) owner who is too fashion-conscious and lazy to keep his "old" car. 40% depreciation on a car with only a few thousand KM is not uncommon, if it's been "driven hard" (30,000 km+) more than 50% is not hard to find.
 
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There are no import taxes for cars or car parts in Japan
The foreign cars are expensive becuase of the dealers margins and registration costs etc

The government only charge the 8% sales tax of the invoice sales price you submit ...if you import a car in Japan as a firm or individual

For cheap rental cars you can look into the gasoline stands operated rental companies such as itsumo rent a car - cost about 3600 for 24 hours
 
DrTeeth said:
for some of them it is a weird point of pride not to own a car, like veganism or something.
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Wow, I've heard this a lot, I always get that kind of response when people learn that I have a car.
I don't get it, so what if you don't have a car, it's not anything that's worth mentioning and certainly something to give yourself kudos about.

Anyway, having a car just opens up that world of everything that's not reachable by train. Yes, I'll even truck on down to central Tokyo in my car and pay for parking but usually get a voucher when I eat somewhere with a parking agreement or just simply pay the parking fee. It's nice to get into a warm car and drive home in the cold. (or, A/C when it's hot outside...) :)
 
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What I like about driving a car in Tokyo is that you can hit a few different spots the same day with ease
Say you eat in Shibuya then have a coffee in hiroo then do some shopping in ginza and end up in shinjuku - that can be done easily and its a lot easier on the little ladies wearing high heels
They won't be dead tired when it comes to have some action at night
 
TAG Manager said:
Wow, I've heard this a lot, I always get that kind of response when people learn that I have a car.
I don't get it, so what if you don't have a car, it's not anything that's worth mentioning and certainly something to give yourself kudos about.

Anyway, having a car just opens up that world of everything that's not reachable by train. Yes, I'll even truck on down to central Tokyo in my car and pay for parking but usually get a voucher when I eat somewhere with a parking agreement or just simply pay the parking fee. It's nice to get into a warm car and drive home in the cold. (or, A/C when it's hot outside...) :)
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Yeah . . . I lived in a suburb in Kansai before I moved to Tokyo, where not having a car was barely conceivable. People outside of Japan seem to think that all of Japan is something out of Blade Runner and you can get from point A to point B on laser skates. That's actually not how it works. Even in Tokyo, as both you and Tokyodude point out, having a car allows you to just be able to do a lot more over the course of one day. It's not rocket science. I remember telling a guy that going to Hakone was much more convenient with a car and he sniffed "I don't really see why it is necessary, the Romancecar is faster and more comfortable." Yeah, maybe if you live within walking distance of Shinjuku Station and plan to never leave Hakone Yumoto. Foreigners who don't drive are like the fox who can't reach the grapes in the Aesop's fable. Look, you live without it, that's cool. But stop trying to act like it's a superior choice, because it's not.
 
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They also miss the other point - if you're commuting by car/bike and you're running late, you can take shortcuts and "bend" traffic law to get back on schedule. On public transit, you have no control whatsoever.
 
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