Buying a car?

[Uchinanchu3]

Ok, so I've been driving with a SOFA liscence my whole life and I'm thinking Of buying a brand new car. But my husband is retiring soon and we'll lose our SOFA status. So when we do buy this car we're thinking of leaving it a kanji number. What do we need to buy a brand new car? Heard I need a proof of parking spot?? Is the process difficult?
Basically I just need a how to buy a car in Japan :P lol

Would like to hear you guys's story on how you did it

[thefg]

Ok, so I've been driving with a SOFA liscence my whole life and I'm thinking Of buying a brand new car. But my husband is retiring soon and we'll lose our SOFA status. So when we do buy this car we're thinking of leaving it a kanji number. What do we need to buy a brand new car? Heard I need a proof of parking spot?? Is the process difficult?
Basically I just need a how to buy a car in Japan :P lol

Would like to hear you guys's story on how you did it

if you buy from a dealer they will take care of the whole process for you.

the only thing you will need to do is get a parking space and get your local police station to validate a form confirming that.

[Uchinanchu3]

if you buy from a dealer they will take care of the whole process for you.

the only thing you will need to do is get a parking space and get your local police station to validate a form confirming that.

.




Oh ok thank you!

[Uchinanchu3]

Also I heard there's a lot of different taxes that I have to pay...I'm buying a keijidousha and I heard you can get hojokin for buying a Eco car also but it's limited??? Is it still going on?? Sorry for all the questions >.<

[Chromedome]

Is that you, Willis?

[rtfm]

Have you got a JP license yet? Not needed to buy a car but unless your license is issued by a state and not the military you will need to do it before your SOFA expires.

[Uchinanchu3]

Have you got a JP license yet? Not needed to buy a car but unless your license is issued by a state and not the military you will need to do it before your SOFA expires.

I'm in the process of getting my us license converted to Japanese but I'm so scared of the driving test part. I heard stories where people getting failed over and over :/

[Mr. Ludd]

I'm in the process of getting my us license converted to Japanese but I'm so scared of the driving test part. I heard stories where people getting failed over and over :/

Got mine changed over before tests were required, but maybe can help. Driving license is issued by the police department here, along with the tests. Legally anyone can go and take the test without attending driving school, but these people most always fail because of the police attitude. You can be a letter perfect driver, but the attitude is "Who do you think you are, not going to school like everyone else?" There should be places just outside your base dealing with cars and such that cater to the military. Found such a car dealer near a base that also provides insurance and information on cheap shakken places. Best to check with these places as they know a lot about such things. They can tell you if there are any easy ways to take the test, or, if a driving school is required, which ones will take foreigners with limited Japaese ability.
As mention above, car dealers will take car of most all the paperwork.

[rtfm]

I'm in the process of getting my us license converted to Japanese but I'm so scared of the driving test part. I heard stories where people getting failed over and over :/

The conversion test is fairly easy, but the examiners are anal-retentive to an extreme degree. Tell them it's your 3rd-4th test and pay cose attention to the details. 1m back from the stop line is ok, 1cm over it is not.

[Uchinanchu3]

Ya that's what I heard and I get all scattered brain when I'm nervous D:
If I do buy this car as a Y plate now, is it hard to convert it to a kanji plate??
Im just wondering :P

[ttokyo]

Ya that's what I heard and I get all scattered brain when I'm nervous D:
If I do buy this car as a Y plate now, is it hard to convert it to a kanji plate??
Im just wondering :P

As said before, the dealer will take care of everything. Don't be in a hurry. Shop around for bargains (we got 20 % off the list price due to a model change, but could not chose the color), use a dealer that it is close to your home and keep the relationship. The guy then knows your car and will also give you a better price if you want to sell it (in our case even twice what an 'unrelated' dealer offered).

[Mr. Ludd]

Ya that's what I heard and I get all scattered brain when I'm nervous D:
If I do buy this car as a Y plate now, is it hard to convert it to a kanji plate??
Im just wondering :P

Check with the transportation/license section on your base. Not 100% sure about this, but think that military cars (Yplate) can not be converted to regular Japanese registry. When I was a civilian employee on one of the bases cars were a glut and were actually given away (mine was free) or sold very cheaply. Seemed that cars from off base could be bought by military people and converted to the Y plate, but not the reverse. Something about the inspection requirements being different (meaning cars from base no way as safe as our well maintained machines). Check with the off base dealers and those on base who should know about these things before you part with any money.