We have a trip coming up in September and we are planning on driving a loop around Kyushu starting at Fukuoka and going to the cities like Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Kagoshima, Miyazaki and Beppu.
Has anyone recently used the KEP that could share their experience with how to actually reserve it, and whether it needs to be made a certain number of days in advance? We’ve reserved a car with Orix Hakata but are having difficulty trying to find the information about how to get it sorted/check if its available. Thank you!
2 comments
Hi!
I’ve not used KEP but I have used TEP, which is a similar sought of driving pass.
KEP looks easier than TEP since, it seems to be most rental car agencies in Kyushu vs. TEP is only available from specific ones, though I have not gone through the full list. Make sure your Orix rental branch is one of the following: [https://global.w-nexco.co.jp/pdfs/kep/orix.pdf](https://global.w-nexco.co.jp/pdfs/kep/orix.pdf)
I do not know if there are others branches, but if there are, they won’t have KEP. In my case, I put a note in my car rental reservation with Orix that I wanted to rent an ETC and TEP. For KEP, I would put a similar note.
If you’ve already rented the car, I would email the Orix office specifically and let them know you want to rent an ETC and KEP Pass. You need to rent an ETC on top of the KEP Pass for the pass to work.
In my case, I believe I paid up front for my TEP. This was my second time renting a TEP and both times through Orix but two different Orix branches, but this time went much much better because I had the note in my reservation about the pass in advance. I rented from Hachinohe and Ichinoseki, which are both much smaller than Fukuoka. When I rented my first time, in 2019, I couldn’t find any info either, so I just brought a copy of the info sheet about TEP with me. It took the office an extra 15-20 minutes to sort it out, because Ichinoseki had never heard of the TEP before.
I hope you have a great time driving around Kyushu. Just be careful since the expressways around Fukuoka itself are not covered, so make sure to get on in an area where the Pass starts for it work. I also found Japanese rental car agencies are sticklers for wanting to see the receipt of a nearby gas station when you return the car. I rented a car in Kuwana and drove maybe 10 kms total. The car was still on Full, but they went and calculated exactly how much I still owed for gas along with a refilling fee. In my home country, if the gas tank was still on F that would have been fine, so make sure you get a listing of nearby gas stations to your rental car return location.
I sometimes use the included GPS with most rental cars. In 2019 it worked great. It mostly worked great in December 2022. I had mixed luck this Summer. You generally enter the phone number of the place you want to go.
Good luck!
>Just be careful since the expressways around Fukuoka itself are not covered, so make sure to get on in an area where the Pass starts for it work.
Also, make sure when getting on and off the expressways that you get in the ETC lane. For example, the image ([direct link](https://s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/we-xpats.com/uploads/article/en_271_1.jpg)) on [this page](https://we-xpats.com/en/guide/as/jp/detail/4333/):
Left side, green (一般): not ETC: NG
Middle (purple/green): both ETC and non-ETC: OK
Right side, purple: ETC: OK.
If you *do* happen to end up in a non-ETC lane, just get a paper ticket (there’ll be a machine with a button — like parking garages in the US). When you exit*, *also use the non-ETC lane*. You’ll insert the ticket and pay the toll (cash, *maybe* credit card). (You want to avoid having an unpaired exit or entrance.)
*If you’re on the expressway for more than one exit or so, you’ll might just want to exit it at the next IC (interchange) and re-enter using an ETC lane.