I live in the inaka and I’ve been struggling to go about my daily life with only a bicycle so I decided about 2 months ago to buy a used car. To preface, I moved here 4 months ago.
I found a car, went to the shop to test drive it, and decided to buy it. It’s been tricky because my Japanese is around N3-N2 level so I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it alone. I only moved here a few months ago so I don’t have any proper friends, but my neighbour kindly offered to come with me to the initial viewing. He doesn’t speak English, but I more just wanted a native speaker to be able to gauge the vibe – is it a scam, do they seem reliable, a second opinion on the car etc. I’ve never bought a car in my home country by myself either so I was generally quite nervous. From what my neighbour said it seemed like everything was ok and the used car shop had great reviews so I went ahead and decided to purchase the car. The shakken runs out in less than 6 months so I decided to just get the shop to do it along with buying the car since they offered a decent price.
I signed what I needed to sign, gave them the necessary documents, and paid the deposit. The used car shop owner told me it would be around 2 weeks until the car would be ready to pick up. All good. After 2 weeks they hadn’t contacted me so I thought I’d wait a few more days & then contact them. Called them a few times, didn’t pick up. Then they messaged to say they actually wouldn’t know when it would be ready for another week or so. I said ok. 1 week later they messaged to say it would be roughly another week. Ok. 1 week later, they message to say the Juminhyo I gave them is no longer valid. I got my Juminhyo when I moved her just under 4 months ago so I don’t understand…Surely it should be valid?? Also, they’ve had my Juminhyo since the day I paid the deposit 4 weeks ago?? How is this the first time they’ve contacted me about it if it’s an issue?
Should I be worried about this? Is it normal to be messed around like this and have no consistent schedule/contact when you buy a used car in Japan? Every time I contact them it seems to be another issue… As someone with no history of purchasing a vehicle even in my home country I don’t know if this is major alarm bells or completely normal.
by sonesooyoung