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Can I, a foreigner, buy a car with a loan in Japan without permanent residency?
In Okinawa the public transportation is not like in the major cities of Japan, and having a car is a necessity much like it is in the United States. Therefore, I'm currently renting a car from Daidou Rent-a-Car in Naha, but it costs almost 40,000 yen a month, so I've been thinking about buying or leasing a car to reduce my payments.
When I looked in the newspaper, I saw an ad from TAX (Total Auto Excellence) for new cars for 5,000 yen a month. Of course, I thought if it's too good to be true... but, I went to check it out anyway. Well, to make a long story short, it was too good to be true, but that didn't stop the salesman from starting to sell me another car. It was a pretty sweet car, so I filled out the loan application paperwork to see if I would be approved. I thought that being a foreigner with only one and half years left on my visa my chances of getting approved for a five year loan were slim to none, but lo and behold it came back OK as long as I had a Japanese, any Japanese, for a guarantor.
I had just done the loan application to see if it was possible for me to be approved and had told the guy at the store that I wasn't interested in buying today, but after it was approved he immediately began pressuring me to buy the car. I told him I wanted time and left. Then I called him later and told him I decided not to buy the car. It would have been about 25,000 yen a month for a 1,500,000 yen loan. In addition they said it would cost about 10,000 yen a month in insurance and 10,000 yen a year for tax.
Although I had been rather frustrated by my last experience, a few hours later I was feeling good and ready to buy a car, so I stopped off at a local Mazda dealer. There were quite a few nice cars there and the prices were much better than what I had seen at the previous dealership. I got some information on a 1,000,000 yen almost new Demio and a 1,200,000 yen 2000 Miata.
I'm still not sure if I'll take the plunge and buy a car, but I feel like I've learned a few things. The first is that even though I'm a foreigner, as long as I have a Japanese person to vouch for me, I can get a car loan. The second is that even in Japan you shouldn't trust a car dealership farther than you can throw it. Readers have left 3 comments.  No.1 UntitledSo, you had no second thoughts about going to a car dealer and wasting his time filling out a loan application and then blew him off when he got you financed. Cool. Are you the same kind of guy that complains when Japanese treat you as if you are a waste of their time? Go figure. Then you wonder why car dealers try to sell cars. I have always had good experiences with car dealers, especially on Okinawa. If you want a good deal on a used car, don't make the mistake of going to the big dealers. The big dealers are all shiny so people end up paying more for less. No.2 Untitled
Hi Guest,
Honestly, no I didn't have any second thoughts about it. Does that make me a bad person? Maybe I should have thought about the car dealerships feelings more, I don't know. I guess I thought I wasn't able to get a loan at all, so I shouldn't waste my time thinking about buying a car and spending my time and money on it unless I had checked to see if it was possible. I have always had bad experiences with banks and loan applications in Japan, so that was a contributing factor.
Anyway, I haven't gone to look for a car again, because I don't want to waste anyone's time again until I am sure I am ready to buy. So I do agree with you in a way.
By the way, do you have any recommendations about where to go? No.3 Untitled
Either way, he was a salesman. That is what he does. I'm sure you weren't the first and won't be the last. You said up front "I'm not looking to buy today". That doesn't mean you are going to later. After looking at it, it would be about the same to rent as it would be to buy. I'm guessing you liked it somewhat if you were checking it out. Don't feel bad for not buying it if it doesn't make sense to. Keep looking, and if you find something you like and can afford it, go for it.
Hopefully I will be there in a little less then a year. Is there any chance an 02 Impala will fit on the roads there? J! Reactions • General Site LicenseCopyright © 2006 S. A. DeCaro |
