Hi all, I’m buying my first car and I found something I like at a dealer which I’m going to see this weekend. I have a few questions for those who have experience with this and would appreciate any insight.
1. Is it possible to get an independent inspection done before buying to make sure everything is okay and it will pass its next shaken? It’s pretty standard in the UK but my Japanese friends had no idea about this.
2. Shaken expires next month – is it possible to ask them to do the shaken first? (in which case I suppose it would be included in the total price) I’m worried about repairs and don’t want to end up paying as much as the car. So if they do the shaken first and it passes, I will gladly buy it – anyone did this before?
3. They offer a 1 month guarantee for foreign cars, so if they say no to the above and I do the shaken which ends up identifying a lot of problems, can I take advantage of this guarantee and return the car without doing the repairs (in which case I’d only lose the shaken cost, waste of money I know, but you get the idea).
4. I’ve been looking at insurance and got a quote on Axa. The three plans are ¥39,280, ¥152,490 and ¥191,450. It’s a massive difference as you can see and they all cover the basics (injury to yourself, passengers, other people, damage to other cars, property etc). The only difference I can see is 車両保険 and natural disasters. As far as I know, these aren’t mandatory but would you suggest I get them anyway? There’s a more than 100k difference, so I want to know if it’s worth it.
If you have any other tips, please share them. Thank you!
4 comments
I’ve never bought a car here so I’m sure many others can give you better advice, but what’s stopping you from buying the car after the shaken inspection? I guess if you need a car right away, but if it expires next month then why not let them deal with it rather than yourself.
You can request an inspection for a used car before buying it if it’s from a dealer that provides that service. As far as foreign cars go, though, getting service for them can be a pain. My husband had a problem-plauged VW when we first met and the nearest VW dealer was an hour’s drive from the house. We spent a lot of Saturday afternoons sitting in a kissaten near the dealer waiting for the latest problem to be fixed.
My experience with foreign cars. You can ask them to fix stuff before you buying and also, if it’s just a month left of shaken, then you can but they usually will talk about it and add the price, if the price isn’t added already.
The warrant should cover most of stuff if there is a problem when doing the shaken. But if the dealer itself does the shaken, then they will take care of it.
The insurance… I never had the natural disaster or know anyone who had it.
Depends on the region you live, maybe it’s worth it for you. If for example there is too many typhoons there
I’ve never heard of an independent inspection in Japan that a potential owner can hire (there are 3rd party inspection services that contract with the dealer). I wish such a system existed here. The best you can do is bring a friend who is knowledgable about cars.
It should be possible to negotiate shaken, with a corresponding increase in price. Note however that you shouldn’t trust shaken to fix any/all potential problems with the car.
Does the 1 month guarantee allow you to return the car? I’d expect that you can’t return it, but instead forces the dealer to fix issues at their expense. Make sure that the guarantee isn’t limited in scope.
Insurance you will need to think about yourself. There are different levels of 車両保険; the most expensive one will fix your car even in cases where you damaged the car without involving another driver (including being a victim of hit-and-run). If the car is rare and you want to drive it for a long time, maybe it might be worth enrolling in 車両保険, but you have to decide whether it is worth it.
When I owned a car I had full coverage, but didn’t use it at all in the end.