Keeping a car in Japan for 20+ years

[Bushiman]

I only got rid of her because "shaken" was due and was going to cost me around 200,000 yen (four new tires alone = 60,000 yen).

I had to shaken my 21yr old Subaru WRX at the beginning of this month...
Instead of pay the predicted ¥120k~¥150k, I tried the DIY shaken called "User Shaken."
Because I wasn't paying any fees to a garage or for anything unnecessary, the shaken cost me ¥70,000 total... Including renewing the 2yr compulsory insurance... Bargain!

[Roger Van Zant]

I only got rid of her because "shaken" was due and was going to cost me around 200,000 yen (four new tires alone = 60,000 yen).

I had to shaken my 21yr old Subaru WRX at the beginning of this month...
Instead of pay the predicted ¥120k~¥150k, I tried the DIY shaken called "User Shaken."
Because I wasn't paying any fees to a garage or for anything unnecessary, the shaken cost me ¥70,000 total... Including renewing the 2yr compulsory insurance... Bargain!

That's nice. I have zero idea about cars though, and would probably end up killing myself if I started tinkering around with things!
One thing on my mind was the next couple of years.
I could have paid for the "shaken" plus new tires etc., and the car would have passed.
But since the car is almost 20 years old, I anticipate lots of little things starting to go wrong; nothing major (probably!), but we're talking 10,000 yen here, 15,000 yen there. It all mounts up. Hence biting the bullet and buying a new Kei-truck.

[Deep Blue]

We just part exchanged our 17 year old Mazda MPV for a new car. To be honest there was nothing wrong with it mechanically and it breezed through every shaken, we never had a single issue with it. I would be been very happy to keep running it but wife (who is the main driver) wanted to change it up.

Seems it definitely possible to run a car for 20+ years

[7-seasons.com]

Has anyone done numbers on this kind of thing in Japan? I usually hear from Japanese that the biannual checkup costs over $1000 or something? Also you have to pay to destroy the car at the end of the day or you can let it rot on your land with your house as I've witnessed.

My coworker mentioned to me that he was considering to lease a car after owning one for many years. He said it's a current trend in Japan to lease because the price has come down or is reasonable?

If I was a car enthusiast I might own a car and keep it in shape but I feel like I would relieve a lot of stress with a lease and breakdowns covered kind of deal for a reasonable price - and potentially keep switching out the car for a different one at the end of the contract. Sounds like a dream for a liability / depreciating asset. Also of course the option to just give up having a car for awhile at the end of the contract potentially. Anyone have experience with this here?

[regular]

Continuing to own a used car that has already depreciated enough remains the cheapest way to drive, in my opinion. Yes, the fixed cost of operating a white plated car in cities remain expensive, but that cost will remain for leased vehicles too, in addition to the leasing cost.

What changed during the last two decades is that the price of used Toyota cars (2000-2500 cc, mid-size SUV/Station-wagon class, I can't knowledgeably comment on others) went from being very cheap to being fairly priced to being expensive toward being very expensive NOW. So much so that instead of buying a 5+ year old used Toyoya SUV, I felt buying much newer car is a better value NOW.

[mighty58]

Do not lease as an individual. Leasing could make sense if A. you're a business, and: B. you want to avoid CAPEX costs with your fleet, or C. want to lock-in expenses, including maintenance, at a fixed rate over the course of several years, or D. want to avoid bloating your balance sheet with unnecessary assets. But as an individual, it almost never makes sense, unless your company is paying for the vehicle or something.

The best deals on the used car market are with cars in the 10-15 year range that have low mileage and that are not the most "popular" models. These cars will generally be in excellent shape, although, as with any piece of machinery, will need to be maintained. However, the cost of maintenance (including the bi-annual shaken test) is NOT prohibitive, and doing the math, always works out better than buying a new car. It always blows my mind that people are willing to pay $20,000 extra to avoid a $1,000 bi-annual maintenance bill.

The only reason to buy a new car is if you are a vehicle enthusiast and/or you want the social status. Financially, it doesn't really make sense.

[Deep Blue]

In addition to your points on displaying social status or vehicle enthusiast (neither of which apply to me) I'd add in new features/safety. Our new car is so much easier to drive and has so many new safety features I had absolutely no idea about. I am much happier about the upgrade now I've driven it a few times.

I honestly believe these features will save lives and reduce accidents as they become more prevalent across the entire driving fleet.

[pfdsa]

I been driving a 1988 pickup (Nissan with 235,000km) for the past 3 years. It is a diesel 小型貨物車(4ナンバー), so the annual taxes only cost around 17,000 yen. Plus, always do the User shaken and maintenance myself, so thats around 30,000 yen plus the parts that I need to replace.
Therefore, if it is a Japanese car and you can do the maintenance/shaken yourself I would say that is definitely cheaper to keep it as long as parts are still being sold ( around 40 years). In my case, my biggest problem will be the rust, which is starting to eat away the body metal. I'm planning on keeping it until either it rusts away or the manual transmission breaks down.

[TJKansai]

In addition to your points on displaying social status or vehicle enthusiast (neither of which apply to me) I'd add in new features/safety. Our new car is so much easier to drive and has so many new safety features I had absolutely no idea about. I am much happier about the upgrade now I've driven it a few times.

I honestly believe these features will save lives and reduce accidents as they become more prevalent across the entire driving fleet.

I am with you on this.
Seatbelts, ABS brakes and air bags all made a difference. Now there are a host of sensors which I imagine are raising the bar on safety. They also raise the cost of course. The cracked windshield on our 2013 car cost ¥100,000 to replace, but 2022 cars have ¥200,000 windshields packed with cameras and sensors.

I was aiming for a 3-5 year old car, but as a previous poster said, used prices have shot up due to new car production issues. Wait times for many Toyotas are a year or more, and people who need a car immediately will now pay more for a used vehicle.

[TJKansai]

Do not lease as an individual.

I looked at some EV leases but they range from ¥70,000-¥120,000/month. Pretty steep!