Buying a car, be it your first or not, can be a pretty stressful mission, unless you or a family member or best mate is The Stig or a mechanic.
So, this week we’re debunking a few myths about buying Japanese imported cars.
•Japanese cars are bulletproof. Japanese cars have had the reputation of being almost bulletproof since the 80’s and 90’s by building more reliable cars than the competition. But don’t lump all Japanese car brands with that stereotype. Some are better than others, some are riding on the coattails of this myth. DO your research. Once you purchase, don’t forget you can buy extremely competitive used Japanese car parts from Dodson’s.
•Inexpensive cars are unreliable. Price & quality don’t always go hand-in-hand. Don’t be fooled by this notion. Sure, there are some dirt cheap cars which can be seen as ‘throwaways’, robbery getaway cars or not meant to be kept around but there are cheap cars and then there are inexpensive cars. For some, the Toyota Camry might come to mind when you think of reliability and reasonable price. When visiting Cambodia a few years back, I noticed that most of the taxis were Toyota Camrys. Our driver said it was because they go and go and the shocks are tough. It was easy to understand when we travelled from the Thai border to Siem Riep. Some of the potholes had us bouncing around around like we were in a bouncy castle. My travel buddy was cursing she wasn’t wearing a sports bra!
•Japanese have to get rid of their car after two years. That’s complete bollocks! They don’t get taxed more for owning a car for over two years, they don’t have to change the engine for whatever reason so it’s easier to buy a new car. It’s because the price of new Japan-made cars are the cheapest prices in all of Asia. That’s why they tend to replace theirs once the newest model is introduced. Also, they have a fantastic loan system which enables them to upgrade cheaply. Because they replace them every two years, most Japanese people can’t be bothered to service their cars.
The Japanese are fastidiously careful with the exterior and interior of their cars (when they want to buy a bigger car, they have to prove they can park it before they’re allowed to buy it!) you can be assured that what you’re getting is in pretty good nick. But under the hood, it might need a little more attention. Back to that ‘bulletproof’ reputation that’s trickled down for decades- It’s not as sound as you might think, so chances are you might want to give us a call at Dodson’s to discuss Japanese auto parts, used car parts or Japanese parts online.
•Japanese imports have expensive-to-fix parts- Not true. There’s a lot of competition for Japanese car parts now and at Dodson’s we aim to carry a wider range of all Japanese car parts than the competition.
•The odometers have all been wound back. There might be one or two bad eggs doing this but it’s rare these days. One reason is that it’s so expensive to drive in Japan and that could be contributing to why people might think this. The freeway toll roads are very expensive. The shorter ‘free’ routes will double or triple your travel time. So they haven’t been thrashed all over the country and back.
There’s a tonne more myths we could put to rest but we have parts to unpack, unwrap and shelve. We thought this will get you started and on the right road to finding the right Japanese import for you and your family.
We have more cars and Japanese auto parts arriving by container all the time. Check our website for car parts online or if you’re not sure, why not just give us a call. We’ll look after you.
Sayonara!