In Japan, people have to get their cars inspected and approved for use every two years. This is known as “shaken” (車検, pronounced shah-ken). I believe the first inspection is scheduled for the third year after the car was manufactured and then it comes every two years after that. There is also an annual inspection that must be done in the in-between years. This means that the cars that you see on the roads in Japan tend to be in a very good state of repair. It also means that you need to keep a budget that will allow for a very big expenditure once every two years, as the average amount spent on the inspection for a white-plate car (engine over 660L) is around 100,000 yen (or more if you need more work done on the car).
One frugal way to make sure that you pay a relatively standard amount every time the bi-annual inspection comes up is to develop a relationship with a single garage or a single mechanic and take your car to that person for tune-ups every six months. For example, my shaken is due in April of odd years, so it will come up in April 2009. I will have the full inspection done at that time. Then, in October 2009, I will have a “six-month checkup” (６ヵ月点検, rokkagetsu tenken). Usually there isn’t much to be repaired six months after the shaken, but I can get my oil changed and get advice on anything that might look like it is wearing down. This can usually be done for under 3000 yen if no major repairs are needed. Then, in April 2010, I will undergo the 1-year inspection (一年間点検, ichinenkan tenken). If I have been having regular checkups, nothing surprising should come out of this inspection, and it can usually be done for 10,000 yen or less. In October 2010, I will again undergo a six-month checkup before the next shaken in April 2011. By taking my car to the same place for all of these checkups, I am ensuring that I can’t be hit by a HUGE bill when it comes time to have the biannual inspection. One or two things might crop up, but there shouldn’t be a huge collection of major things that need to be repaired, since they would have shown up at one of the earlier inspections. Also, by doing it this way, my mechanic knows that I will come back in six months, so he is able to tell me whether something really needs to be repaired NOW or if it can wait for another six months and be looked at again.
By the way, there is also a way to do the inspection yourself. If you have some knowledge of cars and feel comfortable with both Japanese and making critical decisions about the safety of your car, then you might want to go that way. I believe it is called “user shaken” (ユーザー車検) in Japanese. You should be able to find information about it online by searching for that term.
However, for someone who knows nothing about cars, I find that the “six-month method” is a good way to give me both peace of mind and a better sense of how much I will need to pay when the biannual inspection comes my way.