Buying a Used Japanese Car in Japan: Surprising Costs & Rules

Kwanza, the month of June, and Jimmy's wife I'm just a little bit of lore, a whisper in the wind, a fleeting moment in time here is the tan of rof st it pate in atme atme On the way home. Here is the translation: Bad luck Mbaya 95% for as Zambia's mountains For the good of Japan South Africa When you're in a tough situation, you'll shine. So, the more you do it, the better you get. Well said at the right time when you speak Bad luck Therefore, well done You are welcome to stay anytime. Yes, I live in a city as well, but once you leave the comfort zone of the city That's when you start living in Japan City, the tall buildings, Osaka That's not where the beauty of Japan lies. The beauty of Japan lies in the countryside. Inaka means the rural area. And when you can drive It means you are flexible. You can go anytime, you can go anywhere You don't need You are not bound by time. The rural areas of Japan Japan is cheaper, especially if you're Japanese and you know how the systems work here. For instance, what most Japanese people do is sign contracts with dealers. For example, if it's a Nissan, I'll take this Nissan back, and they'll give me the latest model. If I have the money, I will pay the entire amount upfront without installments, but you are free to pay in installments. Niman is KSh 20,000 You can pay KSh 20,000 or according to how much you agree, and then you can drive when the next one comes. The model is out, you take that old model back, they'll give you the latest model, like that, so you Can you be driving the latest model every time? Do you hear that? Like, yes, imagine driving. the latest model every time, like when a new model comes out and you buy it, yeah, but then that means that's the disadvantage of it—you become a slave. That's why, if you have enough money, you just buy the car, but if not, then you become a slave; but then the good side is, you will You and technology are on equal footing—you always have the latest, yes, but it comes at a cost. so it's a huge difference because in Africa when we buy, we own it—yes, everything, like there's Nothing like tomorrow—I'll pay you more. No, you buy at full price, but the disadvantage is why? Buy a car and stick with it, and you'll be able to drive something better tomorrow. Yeah, but what really makes a car better, I mean when you talk about technology and all that? gets you from point A to point B—that's not the driving experience. It's how you feel in the car, how safe you feel. feel so you will ask yourself why, despite these cars being very cheap, the Japanese people still Buy the white ones, the new white plates, the cars. They say these cars aren't as safe as the white ones. Some Japanese people will prefer the plates ones apart from the engine capacity being lower. Take the white ones because, as I mentioned, the engine, apart from its displacement, feels safer. The carrying capacity is greater, but they keep talking about safety; yet again, Japan is so Safe, so these are city cars—they're meant to be used just in the city, you know? Yeah, but you don't go across the country—you can do that. That's how we do it; we use them for Long distance, yes, you can use them for long distance. You can also use them in the countryside. The place where you'll get some K Torah—they're called K Torah; they're tracks, like that one. That one, yes, that's a K Torah. A K Torah is a short form of K track. It's a K kind. It's a track. So that's what that was—that's what has faded away, the pickups. You remember, there were pickups. So the K track has done away with the pickups because they perform the same function. They are stronger, can thrive well in rural areas, and are inexpensive to maintain, yes. And in Japan, people in rural areas don't even bother taking the key off the car. They leave it there, yeah, because people don't steal here, they don't steal, and a friend of mine Told me something about Hokkaido, especially the reason why they don't take the keys out of the car. For example, let's say you're in Hokkaido and the bears are running after you—you can get into any car, but if it's close, you're doing something that saves lives, and another thing, where where People buy cars, yeah, you can buy cars from dealerships, but you can also buy used ones if you want. most likely, perhaps almost all, all, perhaps 98 percent of the cars exported from Japan They were bought at auction centers, auction centers—yeah, that's where I got this from, my friend. We went, I went around the cars and I spotted this one and I liked it, and yeah, we started the process of obtaining it from an auction, okay, so those auction centers, are they like accidents? It's either an accident vehicle or the company is going bankrupt and they're selling it off. No, it's like this: right now I feel, yeah, for example, right now I'll take this; we said you can take that. This old Nissan back, and they give you a new one—where will Nissan take it? Of course, I see, so they... have to take it now Nissan takes them now to auction centers because now Nissan usually they They won't really sell new cars, will they? They'll sell you old cars. They'll sell you new cars, so. The old cars, mostly they'll take them to yeah, and also regular Japanese people who don't who are not slaves to the dealers, and when they want a new car, they buy it, and as for the old ones, they Sell them at auctions. By the way, do you know that in Zambia, I'd say 95 to 98 percent of the So I don't know what it's like in Kenya; in Kenya, maybe the 60s, I would think—60s to 70s, I would say. You think you guys have a port, right? So yes, where do most of your imports come in terms of like vehicles, vehicles, they are from Japan, but still we have lots of them, where are the European cars? Yeah, okay, the Yeah, benz but they don't outperform Japanese cars, but either way, when we buy Used cars, for example, even if it's a Benz, if you're buying a used car, you'd buy it from Japan. because the websites listed depend on what you want; some people prefer the German Some machines will prioritize durability and prefer to remain with the camouflage and reliability. And that's where the Japanese comes in—I'm assuming you speak Japanese very well. That's why, yes, you don't need to speak to drive, but how do you drive? You need to understand. some basic signs, and you need to understand, yeah, some basic signs like the stop sign and where to turn It's easy compared to okay if you come from a country that drives on the left, like me in Kenya. You're lucky you just left; you're lucky you just came in, and you won't be confused. but then there are things like roundabouts—Japan doesn't have them, but instead they have a lot at traffic intersections, traffic lights—so that's what you need to acquire. It's not easy, but you have to. Be very patient. In Japan, you will see very long queues, and people won't overtake you. You must respect that. You don't honk unless it's necessary. All the time we've been here, cars have been passing. though you haven't had a single honk, yeah, we only honk when absolutely necessary, like maybe You are at an intersection; the car in front of you has gone green, but the car in front of you is still stopped. Maybe he or she is really busy on their phone, so you can't keep doing it forever—so you'll just have to be a peep. And just like that, you said yeah, because you see, yeah, that guy was sleeping, and that's that's the exact situation, but at least you saw it here, yeah, see, it's not even like the one they do, like in Zambia just woke up, wake up, wake up, yeah, it's time to go like that, and you've seen it, yeah, that's it. I have one last question. Yeah, so I have a used Japanese car, of course, which is new to me, yeah. You're back home, yeah, but every time I get into the car, something says in the morning. What does it say? Maybe we should try and see if this one says the same thing—if it's going to say the same. The same, okay, what was that? It says so new, so that the etc. card, so new, so that they imagine. So new that the etc etc card is etc card. Let me see if I can show these guys my electronic. Yes, this is an ETC card. Okay, it says it means it has not been inserted. And where do you insert it in this car's etc card slot? Uh, maybe you'll have to open that. Oh, it's this thing I've been seeing a lot in my car. I never knew what it was. So I'll put it in and you'll hear the message again now. So first you'll hear then it will say then after inserting it, it turns blue, and then it says the card has been inserted and tells You, the expiration date of the card, okay? Yes, so that in case you are like, don't drive with it. on the expressways yet it's expired, which tells you the card has been inserted and The expiration date is this and this day, so you can know. So, just the expiration date of the card, not like that. The money—that's no, no, no, no, the money, this card has no money, you don't put money in this card. Then what is it for, just for registering when you pass through the target? Okay, I have you, you have. A credit card, yeah, you go to the bank, you get the credit card, the same bank issues you with an ETC. Card okay, so you have these two cards connected, okay? So when I drive through the toll gates will deduct money from the credit card, not this—that's smart, yeah, so there's No money here, I can't use it for anything like shopping. No, this is only for etc. Okay, yeah, okay, that makes sense. Yes, that's very useful. So if I stole your card, yeah, and was driving in my car, it means the credit card and that's where you saw it's not in my car now, yeah, I'm not, I just noticed I was Wondering why yes, why we don't leave, even Japanese people don't leave, etc., card here because they might get stolen sometimes, unless now you use the etc, like you're going to work You have to use here now that's but for me to go to work I don't need I don't use expressways so I will use expressways and go to designated places, and that's when I use them. because sometimes maybe the car might be stolen or someone might break in and steal it because People don't lock their cars as much in Japan, but you never know—Japan is also full of surprises. places where disasters happen, you know, like an earthquake might occur and your car gets wrecked, but you survive A lot of your things are still there, but your ETC card is gone, so you have to start the process of acquiring it again. I know people will say that's trivial, but it's one of the reasons, yeah, so that's it. Oh, so in winter, what happens in winter, like where we are, Gifu—where are you? It snows, but not a lot. like Hokkaido, but this year it's particularly snowy—you can't just drive with regular tires. You change the dude's tires, they're expensive, you know that, right? Yeah, but the good thing is, you can drive with them. A good number of seasons like the ones I've had—I think this is the third winter I've been driving in. because you don't drive the entire year—you only change them in November, maybe late. Beginning of November to end of December, you use them. December, January, February, March—I'll change these. Those near the end of this month, maybe so you switch them now to summer tires, yeah, okay. Because in my country, since we don't have snow, we always use summer tires. Yeah, yeah, no, no need to have winter tires, so this is what winter tires look like, right here, yeah. See, it says "Winter Max," "Winter Max," and they're actually called studless. Let me check whether There is a name, studless, studless star here, here, here, here, here. Yeah, studless, studless means You can buy tires with studs, like small pins, so when you drive on the road now They grab the ice, but these ones are studless, meaning they don't have the studs. They are kind to the road. the meaning is that they don't damage the road, yet they are very much so—the studs are saying They are, they will actually be like metal, yes, small metals. Those ones are very good when It's freezing—you're driving on ice. Okay, yes, okay. So with this, you don't need to wrap chains. on it, but some you'll meet Japanese people, especially those who live in places that don't snow and need to come maybe once in a while to ski in places like Gifu that snow instead of buying winter tires for just one day—they’ll have chains that they’ll wrap around, yeah, mostly If your car is a two-wheel drive, like this one, they'll put them on the front wheels, okay? Yeah. To me, it sounds like owning a car in Japan is even more expensive than owning one in my country. It depends on what you're willing to sacrifice to own a car you don't actually have. to buy winter tires, if you don't drive to places that snow, yeah, so for example, people who They don't need nice weather, yeah, they never need snow tires, but people who live in Hokkaido and Gifu, especially Hokkaido, they don't really have time to change, I don't think they actually do, yeah, it's Winter, most of the time, yes, so for them, maybe they don't need to change winter, maybe they don't have all-season tires, yeah, yeah, but in Gifu and other most places in Japan it's better to Okay, yes, thank you very much for taking the time to meet me. How do you say "mine" in Swahili? Is it what language do you speak in Kenya yourself? Yeah, in Kenya Swahili, but do you speak? So I know you've got tribes, obviously, like yeah, yeah, yeah. In Swahili, we say Goodbye, in my mother tongue you say Tuonane Tuonane, yeah, that's the same thing we say in my language. We're all Bantus, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. So, uh, Jimmy Thank you very much