The most common reason for the sale of car in Japan- is the expired (or close to expiration) period of validity of the technical inspection ("shaken") 車検. In Japan, all cars must undergo a mandatory inspection every two years (for new cars, the first inspection is carried out after three years).
In addition to the fact that the inspection itself is not cheap (for passenger cars it costs about $ 600 - 800), an even greater problem is the very strict rules for its passage. If it does not meet the required standards, the car will need to be repaired. And the cost of work in Japanese car services, even by Japanese standards, is very high.
So it turns out that if the toxicity of the exhaust gases of the car does not correspond to the norm, then in order to undergo maintenance, you need to pay not only 600, but all 3000 dollars (the cost of spare parts with work to replace them). Many Japanese prefer not to get involved with the procedure for passing the technical inspection, but simply sell the car to buyers, or send it to a srap yards. Although the first inspection, at the age of three, most cars pass. Most of the cars are sold at the age of 5 and 7 years.
You can find out when the car was supposed to pass the next inspection by a square sticker in the center of the windshield. There, on the back of the sticker, there should be the date of the next MOT. For example 15 10 27 (separated by hieroglyphs) means: 15 - 2003, 10 - October, 27 - the day of the month). In addition, the front side of the sticker can have one of four color options, according to the year of the next MOT. For example 2003 - blue, 2004 - red, 2005 - green, 2006 - yellow, 2007 - blue again. The numbers in the middle of the sticker indicate the month of maintenance. For example, if you see a red sticker with the number 5, this means that the car must undergo a technical inspection in May 2004 (or 2000, 1996, etc.).
The round sticker in the upper right corner indicates the date of the annual optional maintenance.
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