RetireJapan

Hi all,

I'm considering whether I can afford to buy a small car, but I'm completely clueless about the costs involved here in Japan.

Besides the obvious (the cost of the car itself, gas, road tolls and parking), what other costs should I consider?

I know that at the very least I will need to pay for insurance, some kind of motor vehicle tax, and periodic inspections. Can someone help me understand how much (roughly) these amount to, and how often? What other costs am I missing?

One of the models I'm interested in is a compact hybrid SUV in the 2.5 million yen range.

Thanks in advance.

If you get a ‘kei’ (yellow number plate) car, the costs are much lower. From memory we pay around 7k per annum local tax and 35k for insurance. Then there is the shaken inspection every 2 years which includes mandatory insurance (not sure what this covers in comparison with the insurance I mentioned before) and a tax based on the weight of the car. Again, yellow plate cars are cheaper. As an indication we were around 70k for our last shaken but not much work needed done.

Do consider second hand, pretty good value. We paid 150k for a wee Daihatsu, private sale, 9 years old with low mileage. I remember hearing that shaken costs go up with an older car but not sure of details.

I am not a car enthusiast and am sure others will have more knowledge but that’s my personal experience.

At the risk of stating the obvious, all the other costs are peanuts compared with depreciation cost on a new car. I frankly don't see how anyone who is remotely cost conscious -- and I'm not saying this is you, cause I don't know your situation, but speaking in general -- would buy a new car. Regardless of budget, you are getting a better vehicle if you spend the same amount of money on a 3 year old vehicle rather than a new one. Best value is on the auction market -- maybe 20% less than the dealer price for a used car, but it varies -- but you need to be a little less sensitive about cosmetic stuff cause you won't get to see scratches or stains in person.

amattie wrote: ↑Tue Aug 27, 2019 3:55 am Best value is on the auction market -- maybe 20% less than the dealer price for a used car, but it varies -- but you need to be a little less sensitive about cosmetic stuff cause you won't get to see scratches or stains in person.

Have you bought a car at auction in Japan?

Hi there. This is my first post. Thank you very much for putting together this great forum, and thank you all for posting invaluable information on it.

I am not a car enthusiast and am sure others will have more knowledge but that’s my personal experience.

I am an ex-car enthusiast. Getting older now.. and cars are money pits.
In my opinion, Beaglehound and amattie are spot-on.

- Buy a small car. The bigger it is, the more it will cost.
Taxes, shaken, insurance, tyres, gas, spare parts, unexpected expenses -- all the costs wil be proportionate to the size of the car.

all the other costs are peanuts compared with depreciation cost on a new car. (.....) Regardless of budget, you are getting a better vehicle if you spend the same amount of money on a 3 year old vehicle rather than a new one.

- Couldn't phrase it better. NEVER buy a new car.

Do consider second hand, pretty good value. We paid 150k for a wee Daihatsu, private sale, 9 years old with low mileage. I remember hearing that shaken costs go up with an older car but not sure of details.

- For me too the trick is to find an old car with low mileage. Although it will have lost a lot of market value, it will serve you well. In general, cars are well maintained in Japan, and well built. Shaken costs can go up, but for me it's nothing compared to what you loose on a new car.

-It's a good idea to look for unpopular cars "funinkisha". These are good deals in my opinion.
You have a few examples here.
https://hobby-review-blog.com/archives/10829
For example we bought a 4-year old Suzuki Swift in 2012, when second-hand Honda Fits were all the rage.
It was not as roomy, but it was much cheaper and it worked flawlessly.
Just make sure the car is not unpopular because of gas mileage or reliability issues.
I don't know what cars you are interested in, but "SUV" and "hybrid" will probably command a premium over
more boring cars. That's fine as long as you know what you're paying for.

- Get a car with 2-year shaken done. You'll have peace of mind for 2 years at least.
For example, on an old car with low mileage, parts like rubber hoses, joints, etc., will probably be worn out, but they will get replaced during shaken.

-Sorry, I know nothing about auctions. I prefer to buy from used car dealers, where you can get a 6-months or 1-year warranty for free (kind of).

- If you decide to purchase a car that is new, or recent, it's a good idea to look for a car with side air bags. Unfortunately, they are not mandatory in Japan (last time I checked) . Cheers to automakers who offer them as standard or at least offer the option. (Search the Goo-net database with this criteria : サイドエアバッグ)

- For certain cars, prices may vary between regions. To buy my present car, I saved a few man-en by taking the Shinkansen to Tokyo. I bought an used car from an official dealership, so the 1-year warranty applied nationwide. They did repair my car navi for free

Sorry for the long post! I'm an ex-car enthusiast, but I'm no professional, so take my opinion with a grain of salt . Hope this helps.

Useful stuff Tanuki. I know where to turn when I run into future car difficulties!

Thanks.

As for actual cost of ownership and size of cars.
According to this page, a compact car will cost you between 200,000 and 250,000 yen/year including shaken, gas, oil, tires, etc.
That's one million yen every 4 or 5 years...

https://support-carlife.com/honda-fit.html#5

Now let's look at a bigger car. Randomly chosen just for an example.

https://support-carlife.com/subaru-legacy.html

That's close to one million yen every 2 years.

Also. If you have a model in mind, new or used, I recommend browsing through owner reviews on kakaku.com
You'll get unbiased advice as to the pros and cons of each model, old or new.
ex : 2001 Fit https://review.kakaku.com/review/K0000287367/#tab
You can learn about reliability issues (there are reliability issues on some cars !), real gas mileages, options that it's better to choose, etc. For example, I bought an used car with LED headlights based on what I'd read in these reviews.
It was a very good decision. Now I can spot pedestrians at night in dark alleys. Also, gas mileages announced by automakers are not realistic at all.
And there are hidden costs, like tires with special dimensions that command a premium, etc . The fine print.
kakaku.com is my friend.

Great stuff Tanuki. I've always wondered about the expected cost of ownership in japan, and even though I'd googled around, I had never found that site, it looks like an amazing resource!

Also interesting to note the majority of the difference between the examples you posted came from gasoline costs. Definitely seems like it's worth checking for that when picking a car

I reckon on about 15k a month for car costs but it’s a small car and mostly used for short trips so our petrol costs will be much lower than average. And any major repairs would add to that. Personally I would happily do without one but my better half insisted as we live out in the sticks and she wants to be able to ferry her elderly parents around, which are decent reasons.

ricardo wrote: ↑Tue Aug 27, 2019 5:57 am

amattie wrote: ↑Tue Aug 27, 2019 3:55 am Best value is on the auction market -- maybe 20% less than the dealer price for a used car, but it varies -- but you need to be a little less sensitive about cosmetic stuff cause you won't get to see scratches or stains in person.

Have you bought a car at auction in Japan?

I have. I used getcars.jp as my agent and found them to be very helpful and they charged what seemed to be a low fee. I still have access to their online system which means I can search all the auction listings in the country and also see all the statistics on past prices for whatever make/model/mileage.