I Spent Just $260 On A Running And Driving Car In Japan

For the past couple of years, I have been saying that there are some incredible car deals to be had in Japanese auctions. Cars that don’t have a cult following sell for basically pennies on the dollar. Now, I’ve finally put my money where my mouth is and bought an entire running and driving car for just $258. It’s not a junker, either, but a 1997 Honda Life Kei car in surprisingly good condition. If you’ve ever wanted to enjoy a JDM car on the cheap, this is how you do it.

Cars in Japan are subject to a labyrinth of taxing schemes. Vehicles are taxed on weight, engine displacement, age, and even the prefecture they’ll be residing in. Generally, larger, more expensive, and more powerful cars will be subject to higher taxes. Some taxes are paid out only once while others are levied on a regular schedule. Over time, all of this adds up.

For much of Japan’s automotive history, the Kei car – Japan’s smallest class of road-legal car – has existed as a way to reduce tax burdens. These tiny cars have miniscule footprints and adorably small weights and engines to match. The tax benefits of buying a Kei car used to be heavy, but they’ve been reduced in recent years and Keis aren’t exactly as popular as they used to be.

What’s really important for an American is the age factor. Japan’s tonnage tax increases as a car ages. By the time a car hits 18, the tax is 50 percent more than when it was new. Additionally, a car that’s over 13 years old is subject to a 20 percent increase in engine displacement tax.

Add it all up and a Kei car that was once cheap to own when it was new is now an expensive ride once it reaches about 18 years of age. The same goes for pretty much every car, really. Now, some Japanese people do hold on to their classics and just pay the higher taxes. But countless regular cars are cast off into the impressive Japanese auction system. Locals don’t want these old cars because of their taxing scheme.

If you monitor the auctions like I do, you’ll commonly see regular cars show up in the same auctions over and over and never getting even a single bid. I’ve watched cars circulate through an auction for over a month before anyone bothered to place a single bid. And even then, the one bid wasn’t enough to satisfy whatever reserve was in place so the cycle continued.

While this taxing scheme sucks if you want to have an old car in Japan, it’s great if you’re an American looking for that 25-year-old peach. Sure, famous cars like the Honda NSX and Nissan Skyline will sell for big bucks even though they’re old, but common cars are totally worthless.

Loving The Unpopular

A couple of years ago, I hosted an Autopian meetup in a parking lot in Milwaukee. A lot of great Midwest Autopians braved the cold and snow to join me at the Milwaukee Auto Show that morning. One of them was reader Tyler B, a local JDM importer. He brought his newest find to the meeting, a 1997 Honda Life. I was a bit shocked by the little car. It wasn’t famous like my Honda Beat and it wasn’t cool and weird like my Suzuki Every van. Instead, it was just a bog standard Kei car with an automatic transmission and nothing particularly special.

Yet, this little car was so fun to play around with! Even a normal Kei car is just a little weird compared to a U.S.-spec city car like a Mitsubishi Mirage. Driving the little Life felt like driving the Doctor’s TARDIS, and it was such a cheerful ride. I also noticed that the Life got a lot of attention despite its lack of popularity. By now, most JDM fans probably know what an Autozam AZ-1 and a Honda Beat looks like because those are the cars everyone loves to import. But this Honda Life was something different.

From that day forward I wanted one of my own. Maybe I wouldn’t keep it forever, but I at least wanted to play with one. Sadly, life got in the way, as did a car collection that was too huge to manage on my own. Now that I have fewer cars and more time on my hands, I decided to get back searching for one.

For this import, I partnered up with the guys at Japan Car Direct. The team at JCD made importing my Suzuki Every a breeze, so they were an easy pick for my third Japanese import.

According to my statistics on Japanese auction pages, I’ve spent the past few months scrolling through nearly 500 pages of cars. I’ve had an interest in a variety of cars. I occasionally looked at Rover MGFs for sale in the country and have checked out some buses and some Toyota Century limos as well. But I never pulled the trigger on a bid.

Some importers and JDM enthusiasts believe that the bulk of the best older than 25-year-old normal cars have already left Japan, and my experience in the auction system seems to reflect that. So many of the cars you’ll find rolling across the auction block today will be rusty, have huge dents, have large swaths of missing paint, or catastrophic mechanical issues. I’ve seen a Toyota Century with an oil leak so bad that my exporter said it wouldn’t have been allowed on a ship. I’ve seen Kei trucks so rusty they were a speed bump away from losing their rear axle. And I’ve seen Honda Beats that looked like they lost a fight to Mike Tyson.

Because of this, it can take months to find a car that’s in acceptable condition. Even then, you may end up choosing a car with a few imperfections because you have no idea how long it’s going to take to find a car in better shape.

My Honda Life

In my case, I think waiting has paid off. Last night, I won an auction for a 1997 Honda Life for just $258 and what I got was a pretty sweet car. Here’s a clipping of Honda’s press release:

It has an individualistic, stylish design and an excellent package for daily use. It also offers superb performance, with both driving stability and ride comfort. The Life will be sold through Honda Primo dealerships nationwide from April 27. This vehicle is not only “easy to handle, functional, and economical”, which are advantages of mini vehicles, but also has a spacious cabin, with priority given to driver and passenger comfort.

Excellent packaging was a development prerequisite. The luggage space was designed to accommodate various user needs.
The Life has a highly rigid body, resulting in good performance, with excellent driving stability and ride comfort.
The exterior design is friendly and stylish, and was designed with modern styling and functionality in mind.
The Life sets a new standard for mini vehicles at a reasonable price. The most up-to-date features are included. The Life has a driver-side SRS air bag, heat-absorbing green glass that absorbs ultraviolet rays in all windows, an anti-bacterial steering wheel, and an arm rest as standard equipment.

The car I bought sits in the Life’s weird second-generation. The first-generation Honda Life was a tiny hatchback, step van, and pickup truck that sold from 1972 to 1974.

When Honda brought back the Life in 1997, it was designed to look like the old step van, but for the modern era. This second-gen model, chassis JA4, sold for just the two model years of 1997 and 1998 due to a change in Japan’s taxing scheme. I love the look of the second-gen more than the third gen. The interior makes more use of fabrics and I’m a sucker for the tall taillights.

Here’s a third-generation model for comparison:

According to the auction I won, I just bought a T type. This was supposed to be a more luxurious Honda Life, and it came from the factory with a roof rack, keyless entry, an automatic air-conditioner, and power windows. My example also appears to be painted in a relatively uncommon color. The majority of the second-generation Honda Lifes that go through the auction system appear to be painted in white or a shade of gray.

This one is a deep blue color.

It came with an inspection sheet listing its overall condition grade of 3.5. I generally consider a car rated 3.5 to be a car in daily driver condition. These cars will often have small problems like scratches or paint fade, but will be mechanically sound. The inspection sheet from the auction noted paint peeling on the right front fender, paint peeling on the trunk, and driver side power windows that weren’t functioning.

Now, the funny thing about auction house inspections is that sometimes the inspectors exaggerate problems. My Honda Beat was given an RA grade (indicating previous accident damage) because it had a “bent core support.” The only bend an independent inspection found was a ding to the vehicle’s front recovery hook, which is welded to the vehicle’s core support.

In the case of my Honda Life, I spent $20 to get an independent inspection in Japan. The inspector found all windows to be working just fine. The only issue was that, specifically, the switch on the driver door couldn’t roll one of the rear windows back up. But the switch on the affected door worked fine. So one day I’ll probably have to replace that switch, which isn’t a big deal.

The inspection also noted that the paint peel was more like some minimal clear coat fade and the paint underneath was fine. From the comments, it sounds like a buffing and maybe some clear coat spray on a tiny area will be all that needs.

Otherwise, the inspection noted that the air-conditioner blows cold, no mechanical issues were noted, and the only real interior issue was a tiny tear on a mostly hidden area on the driver seat that will be easy to sew up. The car was even last serviced in December. Based on the results of the independent inspection, I got a fine 93,827-mile car for just $258.

Looking at other recent Life sales, another 3.5-grade car sold for $310, and that one was in a boring silver color, had worse body damage, and was a lower trim level. An example in the same trim level and with a nice color but with far more kilometers sold for $140. The average selling price over the past few months is $240, so I think I did pretty ok here.

So, what’s next?

Will Be A Smidge More Than Just $258

My contact at JCD will facilitate the purchase of the vehicle, generate the necessary paperwork in Japan, and arrange for the vehicle to be trucked from the auction to a port. The car will then be loaded onto a ship and off to a port of my choice. The timeline I’ve been given for this is a week or two to get the car to the port and up to 60 days to get it onto a boat. So, I’m looking at about two or three months before I get to bring my car home.

I’m expecting the final cost to be lower than $3,000, or about half of what JDM dealerships charge for these things and still less than you’d pay on an American auction platform. This is why I continue to import my own cars rather than buy them from a dealership. Even after paying for an independent inspection and even after paying for ocean shipping you come out on top compared to buying a car that’s already here.

Update: I received my invoice, which covers everything but U.S. entry. The price of the car plus auction fees, JCD’s fee, land-based shipping in Japan, and ocean shipping has added up to $3,000. The big ticket item was ocean shipping, which was quoted at $1,700. My last import cost $900 to ship. I was warned shipping was going to be more expensive this time around. I’m revising my total cost estimate to $3,500, which is still ahead of buying from a U.S. dealer.

I’ve been debating with myself about getting the car home. Second-gen Life owners tell me that the car will do about 75 mph. The 656cc three-cylinder under the hood makes 48 HP, which isn’t too bad for a 1,741-pound car. The limiting factor is the three-speed automatic. A five-speed manual was available, but I’ve seen a grand total of just one of those over the past few years. Unfortunately, the gearing of the auto box is ridiculously tall, so I’m told cruising speed is closer to 60 mph to 65 mph. More than that and it seems like the engine is working hard.

In this case, I think I’ll just use a press loaner truck and haul it home across America.

Either way, I can’t wait to try this little car out. Will I keep it forever? I’m not sure, but I’m happy to finally scratch an itch I’ve had for the past couple of years.