tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3236867205390231520.post2556692614344155250..comments2023-03-20T05:37:14.080-07:00Comments on OkiNinjaKitty - The Blog 2.0: Buying a car in OkinawaAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14062653501456244621noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3236867205390231520.post-66100252104777670622012-07-09T22:05:43.000-07:002012-07-09T22:05:43.000-07:00You should include the fire sales people tend to h...You should include the fire sales people tend to have on sites like OkinawaYardSales.com People from all over the island, not just military, tend to use it, so it can have a real wide variation in car types available. <br><br>Most of the base/English speaking dealerships only do trades once you buy from them at their inflated prices, so people try to sell in a hurry on sites that. Personally, I sold my perfectly fine white plate for less than half of what we paid a year before from Payless. Just be careful as people leaving do not give a crap about the state of their car, and you should have someone with you who knows what to look for or just be okay with maybe buying a lemon. <br><br>There are also Japanese classifieds and magazines you can check out to see if the price you are getting quoted is standard or inflated, too.Eating Okinawahttp://www.eatingokinawa.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3236867205390231520.post-48293979294308221822012-07-18T01:46:40.000-07:002012-07-18T01:46:40.000-07:00Thanks for the suggestion! I am actually in the pr...Thanks for the suggestion! I am actually in the process of preparing a blog and video regarding "second hand stuff" featuring information regarding the various sites which one might find helpful here on Okinawa. <br><br>To be completely honest there are good and bad in all these places and it is important to know what you are looking for or you are going to get a good deal on a hunk of junk. The biggest problem with private sellers on Okinawa is that they know that they are not here for long and so they do not maintain vehicles just use them and try to get some money back when they leave. This is problematic because the regular maintenance which allows these cars to run and function properly is not done. You can find yourself buying a car which is a ticking time bomb and going to cost you three or four times as much just to get it back up and running when the engine finally decided that this 4 year old oil is no longer doing it's job. <br><br>On the flip side there are private sellers out there who are trying to get someone to purchase their car for the same price they paid for it although they have never done anything to it as far as maintenance goes. Again it goes back to knowing what you are looking for. <br><br>Although the prices that you pay at a dealer are higher (in some cases) than you would pay from a private seller there are benefits to purchasing from a dealer, as mentioned above, that you don't get from a private seller depending on what you are purchasing. One of the things that I find beneficial is that they cars usually come from the auctions and had previous owners who were Japanese (who tend to take better care of their cars). Again it depends on what dealer and what car particularly but with some consideration for what you are purchasing you can find something that it worth the money they are asking for. <br><br>The Japanese classifieds and magazines are also very helpful at seeing what cars are being sold for at dealers and from some private sellers out in town although I think it is important for people to remember that the prices are not one to one. It is also important to remember that many of those cars do not accommodate for transfer of title, cost to get plates, inspections and transferring from a kanji plate to a Y plate if you are sofa. <br><br>There is probably someone on here who is going to read this and think that purchasing a car is going to be a terrifying experience but it's not. The fact is you need to just know what you are looking for. There are some basic things that you can do even if you are not a car savvy person which will prevent you from getting something which is trash.OkiNinjaKittyhttp://okininjakitty.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com