What is the Shaken?
Cars and bikes for private use have to have their Shaken renewed 3 years after the vehicle was bought, and then subsequently every two years after that. In the case of cars owned by businesses, this has to be renewed every year.
While there may well be environmental and safety benefits to this regime, the result is often that as cars age, it is increasingly more likely the owner will consider getting rid of the car and buying a new one rather than paying for it to be tested again. This is a great boon for Japan's car manufacturers, but also for you. After all, this is one of the reasons that there is such a good selection of quality used cars in the Japanese car auctions.
How does this affect you?
But you may be wondering what this has to do with you. After all, if you are reading this, you are almost certainly thinking about buying cars from auctions in Japan and importing them into your country. You’re never going to drive the car in Japan, so what do you care about the Shaken?
Well, you may not care, but remember that there are other people competing against you for these cars in the auctions.
Some will be other car importers buying to export the cars out of Japan, but the majority will be car dealers in Japan looking for vehicles to sell to their local market. In fact, about 1 in 7 cars is exported, so most competition is going to come from "home" buyers.
Imagine you are a Japanese car dealer. You have a choice between two cars: The Shaken on one has expired. On the other hand, the other car has 17 months still remaining on the certificate.
Which one would you prefer?
Obviously, as a car dealer in Japan the one with more time left on the Shaken certificate is going to be worth more to you. If it is worth more to you, then you are going to be willing to bid more for that car. So you can see how the length of Shaken remaining on a car is going to have some effect on its final price at auction.
So keeping an eye on the Shaken can help you pick out cars with less competition and, on average, lower prices.
We find that the most successful importers really understand how it all works - from the auction to the ship and beyond. Don't get left behind!
