Hello everyone,
I’ll be leaving the JET program at the end of my contract this July and plan to sell my car to whoever my successor is (assuming they want it of course). The question I have is what all do I need to prepare in advance in order for the transfer to be officially on the books, and where do I get said documents from?
2 comments
You specifically need to prepare your inkan shomeisho (from your local town hall), a transfer of ownership certificate (譲渡証明書, print it yourself), a power of attorney form (委任状, also printable at home). You can search online and see which parts you need to fill out and stamp with your seal. With these they can transfer the car without you being present.
In addition to that, you need to make sure you have your shaken certificate, jibaiseki hoken certificate and proof that you have paid your road tax. These are legally required so you should already have them ready to go (they are probably in your glove box).
They need to prepare their own inkan shomeisho, parking certificate, registration application, vehicle recycle certificate, etc when they arrive but that’s not your problem. They can take all these down to the land transport bureau, pay a fee and submit them to legally take ownership of the car.
If they do it themselves it’s cheap, but if they don’t know Japanese or have patient coworkers willing to help it’s likely going to be a major headache for them. It will probably be worthwhile for them to find a local dealer that they can pay to take care of the paperwork for them.
Man. I bought a kei car from a friend and it just had the “paperwork” inside a booklet, like the city tax thing. He didn’t prepare anything special for me and I was able to move it into my name. Kei cars are different from white plates though.