Our son’s 2007 Toyota Ractis is coming up for it’s biennial Japan Compulsory Insurance (JCI or “Shakken”) inspection in August. It still runs well but will need quite a few parts replaced – and at sixteen years old, the inspection would cost more than it’s worth. He has a wife and one-year old daughter and is moving into peak minivan years. The spouse’s 2017 Toyota Sienta would be a perfect fit for his family…so we decided to hand him the keys. That meant we were car shopping again – which is a little different here in Japan than in the states…
2023 Sienta
2023 Roomy
The wife expressed an interest in two models – a new Sienta which was updated this year, and a Toyota Roomy; a small two-row minivan. She has never had a brand new car, only used – time to fix that. So off we went to the nearest Toyota dealer.
The New Car Dealership. Three things are immediately apparent when you walk into a new car dealership in Japan;
1. There is no NADA – all the dealerships are owned and operated by the manufacturers. That’s good in that the manufacturers have more of an incentive to keep you as a long-term customer and offer much better after-service. It’s bad in that there’s no competition between dealers, so you’ll pay pretty much the same no matter which dealership you visit.
2. There is no inventory. Land being scarce and expensive, dealerships are mostly a showroom, a service area, and a small outside area for parking demonstrators. As a result, if you want a new car in Japan, in almost all cases it needs to be ordered.
3. While we visited the dealership, it is also common to contact the dealer, tell them what model you’re interested in, and a salesman will visit your house with the respective brochures and a demonstrator model if you want to take a test drive.
As is typical with most service industries here, the salesperson was polite, knowledgeable, and professional – no hard sell or any “games”. We would have likely bought new but when we asked what the waiting time was, we were told that once your order was placed, it was an eight month wait for the Sienta, and a six month wait for the Roomy. Unfortunately that wouldn’t fit with our schedule.
The Used Car Dealership. There are a myriad of used car dealers in Japan – from small neighborhood eight-car lots to large national chains, to include the manufacturers. The major national chains are Keiryu, Gulliver, and Big Motor. Exactly opposite the new car dealership, the large national chains have lots that can fill an entire city block – I guess since they’re dealing with cars already built, they have to put them somewhere. We searched Big Motor’s website and found a nice, low-mile 2021 Roomy with the color and options the wife wanted, and it was at a lot very near our house.
The Transaction. Similar to the new car dealership, the young salesperson was courteous, professional, and knowledgeable. When buying a car from a dealership, there’s very little negotiation on price. However, negotiating “bennies” or “service” as it’s called in Japan is fair game. These include any services the dealer offers plus dealer-installed accessories. The Roomy was in great shape so we didn’t need to haggle for many extras but on a previous used Toyota Mark II I bought, I paid the price the dealer was asking but negotiated for four new tires, replacement of the serpentine belt, new engine and A/C filters, oil change, radiator and brake fluid flush and fill, and a set of factory white lace seat covers. Interestingly, in private sales, I’ve found negotiating is readily accepted.
Which I guess must be standard practice everywhere, the salesperson gave us his pitch for an extended warranty and a paint sealant – which we politely declined. He didn’t press any further.
After filling out at least eight different forms, and putting our official “hanko” stamp on the bill of sale, the transaction was finished. The salesman said he would take care of all the registration requirements – which in Japan is a long, bureaucratic process, and that we could pick the car up ten days later.
Total price for the Roomy was Y1,890,000 or at the current very favorable dollar to yen exchange rate a little over $13K. We picked it up this week and so far the spouse is happy. I’ll do a COAL post on it sometime in the near future.
Great article! Very interesting about the buying process.
Sounds much better (IMO) than what we deal with here in NJ with new and used car “Dealers”; I was never much of a negotiator and have always found the car buying process to be unpleasant.
Also, these models are very attractive. We’d love to know that similar replacements (short/high/roomy) for Debbie’s Honda Element were readily available in new or used categories.
And as far as inspections go, in NJ it is emissions only every other year for personal use vehicles under a certain weight.
The Roomy’s interior has a Honda Element-al sense to it
Maybe in the future article, you summarize how the Japanese biannual inspection. I am told it is comprehensive with long list of items to check, recalibrate and repair. For this reason, used Japanese cars are highly demanded in Russia snd African countries.
Shaken failures are also exported, we get a lot of ex JDM cars here there are thousands between where I live and the depot I drive to, going a slightly different route takes me past vehicle certification outfits with fresh imports parked roadside with the failure points and defects written on the windows Certifying imported used vehicles has been getting tougher and plenty of junk has landed that is only fit for parts here yet were legally on the road in their place of origin.
99% of the time I’m here at CC to learn, and I enjoyed today’s snapshot of buying new/used in Japan (and, as expected, vehicles I couldn’t buy in the US). I’d enjoy similar writeups anytime from other CC-ers!
p.s. I’m charmed by the vehicle’s name (“Roomy”)…
I LOVE buying cars here. No high-pressure tactics, and they actually try to make you happy so you’ll do maintenance and inspections with them. We got a bunch of accessories thrown in, and the salesman actually called his body shop to answer questions about the paint options (mostly about longevity). He stops by to bring us a calendar every year and while he does drop off catalogs sometimes, he knows we drove our last car for 14 years, so he doesn’t push. When it’s inspection time he picks up the car and leaves a high-spec loaner of the new version of the model we have. Our next car, new or used, will likely come from his dealership. If he doesn’t have what we want, we’ll ask him to recommend someone who does…that way he can send business to a friend who will return the favor later.
I’d be very tempted by a Roomy for $13k. What a deal!
Thanks for taking us through that; it’s about what I expected, from what I know of Japan. I didn’t know the new car dealers are actually owned by the manufacturers, but that makes sense too.
I’ll be looking forward to the write up on the Roomy; despite the sliding rear doors, these and their siblings (Tank, Daihatsu Thor, Subaru Justy) are the direct descendants of the much loved first generation Scion xB/Toyota bB twins, and are largely a product not of Toyota, but their subsidiary Daihatsu.
Spot on – even though marketed as a Toyota, in looking at some of the data plates on the Roomy it came down a line at a Daihatsu Assembly Plant.
I’m very curious about the Roomy’s A-pillar: it looks like there’s a slim window set into it? Is that better than just a bigger piece of glass for the windshield
If that’s true, it would have something in common with the Panhard Dynamic and Panoramique of the 1930s.
Yes there is David – a split A pillar with a very small window. It took a little getting used to when I was first driving it but seems normal now. The Roomy has great visibility all around.
Thank you for sharing this interesting info, on the purchase process.
The variety and presentation of dealerships, where Toyotas are sold, is quite fascinating as well. Appears, looser presentation consistency, than we see here in North America. Elaborate architecture, we may have still seen here in the 1960s or 1970s.
Reading this, I’m seeing the biggest difference between Japanese and American dealer tactics is that the Japanese dealer is always thinking long term. Not just “What will you buy today?” but “How many times in the future will you buy from me again?” That concept is not only alien to the American dealership way of thinking but so far off the mark that it wouldn’t even register as an alien concept to an American dealer. It just wouldn’t register, period. It makes me wonder how much pressure there is on the dealer regarding ‘end of the month’. Which of course, is everything in the American market.
And the American model has gone on so long that the American customer has long turned into the combative s**t that the dealer counts on beating down.
Now what would definitely not fly in America is the idea of buying a used car and then having to wait ten days to pick it up. We’re definitely a nation of, having just gone thru three hours of sheer hell negotiating for that car, it better be ready to drive RIGHT NOW.
Obviously, the Japanese have figured out a way to treat the customer with respect and still make a profit. Pity us Americans can’t figure that out. Well, some places can . . . . . which is why my preferred shopping point for used cars over the last twenty years has been Car Max.
Another big difference is that Michigan, as well as other states had area dealers lobby their respective legislatures to ban manufacturer own dealers. You can’t actually buy a new Tesla in Michigan. They have a showroom somewhere near Detroit where you can see them and try them out, but you have to buy it somewhere out of state. Buying online has made that easier, but I don’t know how they handle delivery.
Thanks Jim for the short yet very enlightening article. Aso thanks Syke for chiming in as I have respect for your first hand knowledge growing up in a family owned car dealership.
Below are some armchair observations of why I believe american car dealerships (less Tesla) operate like they do.
1. Americans are very impatient
2. We purchase cars based on an immediate need like an accident or a repair quote that exceeds our mechanical or financial resources
3. Lack of access to affordable and time sensitive mass transit due to infrastructure being based on automobiles
4. Uber is an option but not affordable for an extended amount of time
5. Carpool or ride-sharing only seems to work when subsidized by a company or to reduce toll fees
6. Lack of second car
7. The above observations mean most of us have to act immediately and buy another car. How else do we to get to work and keep our jobs
7. Many dealerships rely on, thrive and exploit our codependancy
8. Manufactures depend on dealerships to take cars and relieve them of what otherwise would be an insurmountable financial burden
9. Tesla is the only major manufacturer to do direct sales and does so quite successfully
10. Competition means Tesla will eventually face reduced demand. They will have to either reduce production, develop a new hybrid dealership model to get inventories off the books or risk stockpiling inventory and crippling cash flow.
Visited Japan four years ago. The most civilized country I have ever been in.
Note the small wheels on the cars pictured. The Japanese prioritize fuel economy over appearance. If these cars were designed in the U.S. the wheel mass would be at least 100% greater.
I liked Japan so much I’ve gone back several times – civilised indeed, they drive on the left….
Thanks for an interesting article. I was working in rural Japan last year and was surprised when one day a pair of well dressed men with slick brochures stopped by my workshop. I am renting the space (building wooden boats) so I assumed they were looking for the owner of the building (a contractor). It turned out they represented a commercial truck dealership and were just cold-calling any workshop they saw. Traveling truck salesmen! They weren’t the least bit put off that I was a foreigner and they insisted I take a selection of their brochures. I am driving a very old and beat up kei pickup so I do look like I badly need new wheels. I call the truck boroboro which means “ragged.” One thing this article brought to mind is I can’t think of ever seeing a private party car for sale. No car in a driveway with a for sale sign in the window. Can’t believe I never noticed that before. Is there something about the registration that makes this onerous? I do know people who have bought used cars at Yahoo Auction; are those cars sold by dealers or private parties?
You’re right Douglas – there are hardy any private to private sales here in Japan – my guess is that most trade their cars in when they buy new or they just junk them. I’m still amazed how many nearly new, well cared for cars are sent to the junkyard – but many Japanese still see them as disposable items.
That is interesting in how cars are handled. I would have assumed they would be exported out like trucks. All through the 90’s I saw these large for the country trucks transporting freight in the Philippines. I asked and the trucks were imported from Japan used and presumably because of an inspection failure. They did look really run down and would make me nervous to have one next to me on the road. Have known a few people who were killed by these trucks late at night when moving freight roughshod over the Philippine roads. Photo below.
I do love the name 2023 Roomy. Maybe they should sell a 2023 Beast here. The name alone should attract buyers.
It’s hard to look askance at some other countries when neither of our own states has any kind of inspection program and nobody seems to enforce the rules that are already on the books, instead going for the easy 10 over the limit enforcement action instead, usually on a well-maintained newer vehicle… I suppose at least big trucks go through weigh stations (when they are open) and perhaps sometimes get an eyeball on them there.
People here would freak if subjected to a Shaken or TuV. Half of the national fleet would probably fail.
This is the Philippines and so no such thing as inspection or a single weigh station. Same goes for inland ferries given the latest one that caught fire. While there is a possibility laws are on the books there is precious little money for actually hiring inspectors while the police can be counted on looking for a bride.
Yes I understood that. It’s just not that it seems much better over here. The attached was sighted in November on I-25 traveling at 55mph without any kind of escort whatsoever taking up two full lanes. Traffic was carefully passing on the left, soon the freeway narrows to two lanes in each direction for the rest of the way into WY. This is in Northern Colorado, maybe 80 miles south of Wyoming, the plates on the “house” are from Oklahoma which isn’t just around the corner. How is this sort of thing considered okay?
The tow-rig. At least he has big mirrors I guess.
Very interesting, Jim. The last time I was in Tokyo I visited three dealerships, one a Toyopet outlet with one car in the showroom, another a Subaru dealership with two cars in the showroom and more outside and the third a BMW dealer with a couple of dozen cars inside and multiple dozen outside.
I could not have been treated more politely and hospitably (and most importantly, felt it was sincere) at the Japanese dealerships even while it was obvious I was not there to purchase a car and there was a significant language barrier, of course we all spoke the language of “car” so were able to communicate to some degree, and I believe both parties were satisfied with the interaction. The BMW dealer I visited with my companion (in Tokyo Bay) we were approached to see if we needed assistance, after we explained we were merely looking we were left to our own devices which was in that case perfect as well.
Having purchased multiple new cars from dealerships and one new car manufacturer-direct without a “dealer” involved, I’ve come to the conclusion that dealers bring nothing useful to the table anymore (they may have in the distant past) and could go away as soon as possible, at this point in my life they’ve become a deterrent to me buying a new car rather than an asset for the manufacturer. I suspect I am not alone in this regard. The service aspect of the non–dealer manufacturer-direct vehicle has been just fine as well, without complaints.
Good point Jim. I should have said there was little to no inventory for the JDM brands – the major importers do usually have more inventory at their dealerships. BMW has a large staging/parking area not too far from us, that I think supplies most of the dealers in the Tokyo area.
I was never a NADA/US dealer fan but having experienced the manufacturer-owned model, I agree with you that they’re more of a detriment and hinderance these days.
As I mentioned above in Syke’s reply, due to lobbying by area independent dealers (I know in Michigan) manufacturer direct sales are banned. As an example you cannot buy a new Tesla in Michigan.
Jim, thank you for taking us through the process, and explaining it all so well. How nice to be treated with politeness as an honoured customer rather than a dupe to cheat. That says a lot about the culture. I have to wonder what on earth the registration process for a used vehicle involves, that it could possibly take ten days, but what value having the salesman deal with it for you.
(No Sienta or Roomy models, guys!)
Thank you for a most interesting article. As others have said, please would you write about the registration process, testing and the intriguing car auctions?
The Japanese seem to be a polite and very honest society, which creates problems here with their domestic market cars, They get stolen because the cheaper models lack any real security to model being stolen now Is the Toyota Aqua,Prius C to most of you next just been beaten is the Mazda Demio 3rd place goes to the Nissan Tiida, actual export cars have vehicle immobilisers fitted, its the used imports that thieves target
Huh. The Roomy looks like a Rollerskate by Norelco…but I definitely don’t hate it!
in some ways, this mirrors the UK experience too. Dealers, especially the smaller ones, carry very little stock of new, as opposed to pre-registered and/or demonstrator stock and if you don’t want that one, then there’ll be a wait. This is still post-COVID long for many brands.
There are some used car supermarkets, some leading on particular brands and some more general. Stock is then stock, and if there business has multiple sites, so you usually arrange for a transfer for the car you want