Non-tariff barriers for Japanese imports.

 

My Toyota GAIA Limited and my friend's Ford Mustang GT, both 1999 models.

In Japan, there are no tariffs on imported cars, but because Japanese cars are not compliant with the international VIN code and are Galapagos cars, maintenance shops in town can only obtain maintenance manuals for cars sold for the domestic market, However, with regard to imported cars, even if the car was imported and sold by an authorized dealer in Japan, the imported car dealers sell the imported car at a high price, looking at the customer's footsteps with the image strategy that the imported car is a "luxury car" more than it really is, and they charge a high price for maintenance. Only millionaires like AFJ people can easily afford to buy them. In addition to this, even authorized dealers have to wait a long time for replacement parts for repairs to arrive, and I think the problem is that the nature of the market forces fewer and fewer imported cars.

In addition, even for models sold in Japan, the main purpose of manufacturer-affiliated dealers is to sell new cars and to get consumers to replace their old cars with new ones. It is regrettable.

I am grateful that the maintenance shops in town, which are not mainly selling new or used cars (even if they are) and which are used by people who still drive old domestic cars, including myself, do not recommend new cars for sale and take good care of older cars because they are good customers who need more maintenance and replacement of broken or worn-out parts. They take good care of their customers. It is unfortunate that without a relationship with such a maintenance shop, it is difficult to continue driving old Japanese cars that can still be driven because they cannot be serviced quickly and inexpensively.

It is also unfortunate that because of this situation, Japanese cars that can still be driven if they are serviced are traded in under the deception that they can no longer be driven, and most of them end up overseas as used cars. In other countries, various external manufacturers continue to supply compatible parts for cars that are no longer produced in Japan and are virtually impossible to repair without finding used parts at dismantling shops. It is also a funny story that repair parts for older Japanese cars are more readily available and less expensive overseas than in Japan.