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U.S. Campus Life

Please meet my car

By Masako Yamada


ついにマイカー購入

筆者が購入した中古のトヨタカローラ。

Only two weeks ago, I was complaining about having to get a car so that I could work in Albany, N.Y. I had been trying to avoid the topic, but my labmates kept on asking me when I was planning on starting my driving lessons, and I couldn't hide any longer.

Now, I'm the proud owner of a car. How did this happen? A week ago, I heard that a friend of a friend was selling a 2001 Honda Civic. For some reason, I have believed for years that the Honda Civic and I are a good match, so my ears perked up. With only 10,000 miles (16,000 km) on it, it was practically new.

The seller based her asking price on a very popular and well-respected used-car manual called the Kelley Blue Book (KBB). It's now available online at http://www.kbb.com. Visitors can input the brand, model, year, mileage, options and condition of any car. The Web page immediately calculates a price that is fair for both the buyer and seller.

At a little over $15,000 (¥1.95 million), her asking price was in line with the KBB price and it was certainly thousands of dollars cheaper than the cost of a new car. And since she was a friend of a friend, she was willing to give me an interest-free loan for a year so I could pay in monthly installments.

She said she wanted an answer in a few days, but I didn't want to answer without doing a bit more research. I decided to compare her price with the prices of other used cars. My natural choice was to visit the bulletin boards of Japanese supermarkets. Most Japanese researchers, students and businesspeople stay in the States for only a few years before returning to Japan, so there is a large market for used cars.

In general, Japanese owners tend to buy nice cars and are careful users. They tend to sell their cars because they are moving, not because they need to dump a lemon. I feel I can trust that they won't lie about the condition of a car. Call it national favoritism, but this is a common sentiment even among Americans.

Many expatriates return to Japan during the summer, so there were plenty of used-car ads. I got information for about 10 cars. The cheapest option was a 1992 Geo Metro for $1,500 (¥195,000). The most expensive option was a 2000 Toyota Camry for about $14,000 (¥1.82 million). Everything else was in between, including two Honda Civics.

Quickly, the pool of candidates became smaller. Some of the cars ran on diesel. Some of the owners were honest enough to say that their cars had engine troubles. The 1995 Mercedes Benz had already been sold for $10,000 (¥1.3 million). Two days after visiting the Japanese supermarkets, I scheduled my first appointment to test-drive one of the cars, a promising 1996 Toyota Corolla with only 47,000 miles (75,200 km) on it. The owner of the car was moving back to Japan within a few days. My boyfriend told me that after a few minutes of driving the car, he could tell that it was in good shape. After thinking about it for half an hour, I called the owner and told him I would buy it.

One of the main reasons I have dreaded buying a car is because I've always been afraid of negotiating prices with a car dealer. This was completely different. I wasn't trying to outsmart a professional car dealer. I may be reserved by American business standards, but I've been told many times by Japanese men that I can be intimidating. This can be considered a criticism, but it really helps in these cases. It's true the seller was an (undoubtedly bright) MIT researcher, but I knew I had all summer to buy a car and he had three days to sell. I was in control.

I told him that I had done my own research on used cars, and that I felt that the KBB price was too high by over $1,000 (¥130,000). I told him that he was free to discuss my bid with his family and to visit different used-car dealerships to see whether he could get a better price. He said this would be unnecessary and accepted my offer.

There are many things I still need to do in order to start driving the car. I have to change my driver's license to a Massachusetts driver's license to register the car in this state. I have to get insurance. I have to get a bank-certified check to pay the seller. I have to arrange a transfer of title and sign a bill of sale. Heck, I still have to take those driving lessons. But the hardest part is over. I have a car.


Shukan ST: May 3, 2002

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