What is involved in shaken?

[sewid]

Can any of the Japanese resident folk (or anyone else) tell me a bit about what is involved when cars in Japan must renew shaken? (please forgive me if I have not got the terminology right).

Thanks

[Demon Dave]

what's involved in getting a shaken - simple, giving the government lots of money in taxes

Seriously, most of the cost of shaken is made up from taxes - tax for this, tax for that, compulsory insurances, weight tax etc etc. There are 2 options (AFAIK) for getting a shaken. Most people drop their car off at a local dealer/garage and get them to sort everything out. A few, prefer to do it themselves and (although I've not done this myself) I believe it involves a trip to the prefectural shaken/test centre, filling out a pile of paper work, then driving the car through a series of booths, each one checking things like emission, lights, brakes etc. Then empty your wallet of a load of money, get your little shaken sticker/documents and away you go...

[yukz2daizzo]

yup, demon dave is right. but thats the good thing about having a "yankee" plate, it doesnt cost us that much to do ours. it cost my gt-r about 60,000 yen total to get shaken for 2 years, hehehehehe.

[Rezz]

"Yankee" plate? Oh do tell...

Actually, I got my 2 years shaken done for 100,000yen... I've heard it as high as 200,000yen when parts (wipers, lights etc) have to be replaced, but a J-girl told me that, no offence to the ladies but she may not have known what was going on.

[Demon Dave]

So far my cars are (on average) around the 100,000 yen mark. Most expensive shaken was on my old R33, but at the time I took it to a Nissan dealer and had them give it a full service - oil, filters, plugs, belts the works...came to around 160,000 yen IIRC. I guess getting shaken can get very expensive if you have to start messing around replacing worn tires, swapping exhausts and "de tuning" a performance vehicle...

[sewid]

Thanks, i guess that helps explain the extra cost of vehicles with lots of shaken remaining when purchasing a vehicle in Japan.

[yukz2daizzo]

"Yankee" the ones you guys called soldier boys? i mean whats the deal of you giving me attitude? did i offend you in any way? it this forum board is strictly for australian then just tell me and ill just lay off of it. it says skyline in the url so i thought that my thoughts count, and it says Japan in the forum so i thought i can post since i live in japan too. just tell me straight up.

[Revhead]

ffs take a pill

I'm not sure where you got the idea that anyone was giving you attitude - Rezz was just asking for more info on yankee plates, as you imply that these can make shaken cheaper. I must have missed the bit where someone said that certain groups of people (yanks or anyone else) are not allowed on these forums...

[Rezz]

"Yankee" the ones you guys called soldier boys? i mean whats the deal of you giving me attitude? did i offend you in any way? it this forum board is strictly for australian then just tell me and ill just lay off of it. it says skyline in the url so i thought that my thoughts count, and it says Japan in the forum so i thought i can post since i live in japan too. just tell me straight up.

Calm down... geezuz.

Now, lets straighten this out. You reply to this thread stating that "Yankee" plates allow eeerm, dare I say "US military employees" to get cheaper shaken, to which I (nobody else, so I guess your outburst was directed at me) said "do tell", as in "would you mind explaining "Yankee" plates to us non-military types".

Did I miss something?

To answer your question straight up, no... this forum isn't strictly for Australians, all are welcome.

[sewid]

"Yankee" the ones you guys called soldier boys? i mean whats the deal of you giving me attitude? did i offend you in any way? it this forum board is strictly for australian then just tell me and ill just lay off of it. it says skyline in the url so i thought that my thoughts count, and it says Japan in the forum so i thought i can post since i live in japan too. just tell me straight up.

Yeah, on top of what's already been said and explained, you are very welcome here, I for one especially value the input given by Skyline owners who are abroad somewhere.

[Evo_Lee]

As Dave said, shaken is why people get rid of their car after before the end of the 3rd year (1st owner), or every 2 years subsequently, reason why cars are expensive to run, but you have to understand we shouldn't ask why but rather if you want a car here this is what you have to abide to have it on the road, there are other stuff as well like registration.

Shaken on my car cost me just under 100K Yen, and the car was completely legal still i.e. having no illegal mods...I run out of Shaken again soon .

Yukio, easy mate, Rezz just asked a question which you quoted "yankee plates"...I also have never heard of a Yankee plate and why would it be cheaper unless it is registered as a US Govt military car? A GT-R for a US Govt military car...interesting, would the car need to be modify to comply to any security regulations?

[yukz2daizzo]

sorry if i flipped out like that, didnt really mean to. i was just on a pissy mood that day and thought that you were dissing my reply. my bad i apologize to everybody in this forum.

[Demon Dave]

Now that's all cleared up does anyone know how to go about doing a "self Shaken"? I heard several people say they took the car to the test centre themselves, thereby saving the cost of having a dealership/garage do it for you, but I wonder what's involved? Even so, what with the taxes and everything, surely it's still gonna cost the better part of 100,000 yen for a #3 car, right?

[yukz2daizzo]

its pretty much the basic stuff. wipers, windshield, ride height (must pass at least 9cm in height, if youre not sure how hight that is get a pack of cigarette and just run it to the lowest part of your car see if itll pass). if your tires are sticking out of the body, muffler it cant be sticking out, smog test, you have to have a catalytic converter, and make sure you wipe down all the dusty and oily surface that you have in your car. thats according to my experience.

[Polski]

so what kind of mods are the cars allowed to have for shaken ?

so if you buy a car from the auctions, chances are that it will most likely be due for a shaken in the near future?

i was hoping to pick up an rx7 when i get japan

[DaiOni]

Even so, what with the taxes and everything, surely it's still gonna cost the better part of 100,000 yen for a #3 car, right?

no, I've known others to do it and it cost them significantly less than 10man (IIRC, was half that price, or thereabouts) - of course, with any repairs on top of that figure. I've personally followed the japanese trait of getting rid of a car before the due date. I'll probably be shipping the FD back next april to avoid shaken.

[Demon Dave]

Yeah, I must admit since coming here I've tried to follow a similar pattern - in most cases getting a new (used) car with shaken, running it for 2 years then changing it for something else. But, I dunno - my GT-V is up for renewal next Feb and I think I'll bite the bullet and get shaken for another 2 years instead of selling...nevertheless, I've been thinking how to trim some of (unnecessary) costs down...

[Evo_Lee]

Dave I got a garage to do my shaken, couldn't be stuffed doing the running around unless you have time...a few mates have done it and their advise was how much time do you have. Also you have to get there early with your car and que up...if you miss out you just have to go back the next day and que again.

My car had to make 2 trips on the flatbed to Kobe Transport inspection center, (I have Kobe plates, people here tend to perfer Kobe plates instead of Osaka if your a real status person but I actually live closer to Osaka) as I got picked up for a worn timing belt. As I said the waiting...long process...don't know if Garages get an express lane kinda inspection or not but if you do it yourself expect to wait 2, 3 or 4 hours depending on the que...Yamanashi may have less people. Then if you have to replace something you have to return again, which will most likely be the day after as there will be no way you will have time to fix/repair the defect and expect to que up in time for them to re-inspect before the end of the day.

I can't quite remember exactly how much I got quoted for but all up including the timing belt was 90,000yen and I remember seeing their fee was nothing compared to the shaken cost and it save me 2 days of hassle if I had to do it all myself.

Note: I mention the car was transported down on a flatbed (I wanted it this way), most garages drive your car to the inspection center which is perfectly normal here. But I wonder how the insurance is covered. Anyway a mate got his car back after shaken with an extra 150km on the clock :confused:...yet the garage was only 15km away from the inspection center unless they had to make 5 trips due to multiple defects...beware the dodgy ones or get it done at a garage nearby the inspection center.

Brian, I was suppose to send my car back after a year but ended up doing the shaken because you can get some money back even if it ain't much for unused periods.

[Demon Dave]

In the past I've always gone to a dealer to have the shaken carried out, so I'm guessing there not going to be taking the car out for a thrashing...

Was thinking to take the skyline myself next year, but if it means multiple trips and loads of hassle, stuff it, I'll take it to Nissan and get them to sort it all out...besides, I usually use shaken time to get loads of maintenance work (fluids, belts etc) done, so I might as well let 'em sort out the shaken too...

[drift007]

for those who asked about yankee plates. normal plates have the one hiragana character next to the big numbers where as a yankee plate has a * Y *. i think these are for on base residents maybe. i live near a base in kanagawa and see the yanks driving around all the time.