The sudden departure of European brands caused a temporary vacuum in the domestic market. The need to update cars has not disappeared, but there have been huge problems with their availability. "European" resellers, taking advantage of the confusion, inflated prices to the sky, and what to do in such a situation, when you really want to change the car, but there is not enough for the usual European? The answer is in the Far East, where right-hand drive "Japanese" cars have long made up a solid part of the car fleet. Yes, the right-hand drive is inconvenient, our infrastructure is not adapted to it, but what prices for cars with almost no mileage... But why are they without mileage? Why sell a 2-3 year old car with a mileage of 10-15 thousand km.? Let's figure it out.
1. Prestige
A painfully banal reason. Of course, they may not point a finger at you, but there will be bad talk behind your back about your shaky financial situation. Even for ordinary Japanese people, social status is very important, and cars are a subject of a certain cult. No one holds on to their favorite model of 5-10 years ago, with the exception of truly legendary ones, but more on that later. Therefore, even ordinary employees of small enterprises save up for new products. Of course, there is a layer of poor citizens who are forced to use their cars longer, but even they will buy something fresher at the first opportunity. And some even manage to get income from such transactions. And that is why most cars go to auctions and continue their lives abroad - no one will buy them in Japan.
2. Service
As a rule, up to the age of 3 years, car maintenance at a service station is either preferential or completely free. But after 3 years, the situation changes dramatically, the need for car maintenance does not disappear, but the price of this maintenance can be quite biting. Another option is to service it with your own hands, but not every ordinary Japanese person will agree to this. But if you are suddenly stopped on the road with an oil leak or smoke from the exhaust, the car will go to the impound, and subsequently may be disposed of, and at your expense. And why pay for the maintenance of an old car if you can send it to auction and just pay for a new one, which you can leave at the service station again and go about your business?
3. "Shaken" System
The Japanese are very strict about road safety and do not allow cars that have not passed a thorough technical inspection called "Shaken" to be on the road. And here we again come up against a three-year period, because cars up to 3 years do not go through this procedure, after which - every 2 years. And the cost of the procedure is around $1,000, given that the car must be in perfect condition, and this may also require small, but investments, does not add enthusiasm to the owners. As a result, the car is sent to auction.
4. Modern reality.
So, we understood about the term of ownership, 3 years. But why such a small mileage?
The fact is that in large cities, a car is more of a weekend transport. In order not to overload the already heavily loaded Japanese narrow streets even more, many municipalities and even employers encourage travel to work by public transport. But on the weekend, when the city is unloaded from traffic, you are welcome, with friends out of town, with a child to the water park, with a girl on a short trip. And if you remember that overtime in Japan is a sacred thing, then there will not be so many weekends in these 3 years, hence the minimum mileage on 2-3-year-old cars.
Of course, there are many lovers of classic cars and collectors in Japan, in whose garages there may be 30- and 40-year-old specimens. But the main thing here is that they stand in the garage. They move, most often, from exhibition to exhibition or to closed areas on car transporters. So, if you see a car from the 90s on the streets of Japan, then its owner is either very rich or presses the gas very hard when he sees the police. After all, street racing originated here, but that's another story...
Read more materials on the topic:
"Europeans" with "biceps": how purely American cars appeared in Europe