October & December CAR WOES

Okay, I was trying to make a spoof of 'Star Wars' as 'Car Wars.' Lame, I know.

Here's my story: The evening before heading to Tokyo Disney and Tokyo for a few days, I was going on base. As I was rolling up to the check-point at Womble gate, I leaned over to get my ID out of my wallet. It wasn't where I normally put it, and I had to dig a bit deeper and WHAM!

I had hit one of the small, rounded barriers at Womble Gate. It startled me. The air bag did not deploy. William was fine. They put the barrier down, and I drove to the side to wait for the cops to come write me a ticket.

I was surprisingly calm. You couldn't tell where I'd hit the barrier (I had to show the police where the scrape was). Thankfully, I was on government property, so the base police (2 nice young Americans) were writing my ticket.

It was explained to me that I would have a point taken off my license, I had to have it reported to my command... etc. I signed the paper, and proceeded on. The woman security officer at the gate said I needed to get my car checked out. As I drove, it pulled severely to the left. I drove directly to the autoport (the car shop on base) and left my keys.

They ended up not being able to fix it. We asked Denise, a friend here who had needed a car worked on, where to go. She told me about Bubba's son, Andy. Bubba is the proprietor of a bar here, and sold us the kegerator. Andy's friend fixed it for ¥70000. That was roughly $800 American at the time.
If you look closely, you notice the wheel is slightly farther back than it should be.
This is the strut underneath. Bent badly.
This is the strut on the other side. It looks straight and fine.

We ended up getting a white (not crimson) Nissan Presage. While I still had the Mercedes, I showed how much longer the Presage is than the Mercedes 160. Here, they are equal.
Yes, I can put in 3 more people. But the new car won't let you take out the seats. So, when we really need a cargo carrier, I think it's less effective.

We sold the Mercedes to a really nice couple. We paid far too much for a car with way too many miles. The deal here is: You pay in advance for someone to go to a Japanese car auction and get you the car you want. Well, I knew what I wanted. The designated buyer did not listen to me. Then, he contacted Tim at work and said he had to have a decision NOW on a car, and Tim said 'okay.' Any guesses to see if I got what I wanted in a car?

We wanted a car with AWD. The Mercedes sucked on snow, and we needed a ski car. A little extra room would be great. We got that... BUT... It took an extra week to get the paperwork on the car. Then, it took 2 more weeks to get it properly licensed.

The order of licensing a car in Japan:

1. Buy the car (make it a caveat that it will pass inspection).

2. Have the car inspected (on-base is cheapest and reliable...our guy used someone off-base), and obtain the documentation of this.

3. Get the car's papers with VIN number, bill of sale, and passed inspection certificate.

4. Have the papers with you to get insurance (on-base is easiest).

5. Go to Yokosuka City Hall for temporary plates (you need the VIN and paperwork, pay money to get use of them for 5 days, you'll have to bring them back before you can register your car for permanent on-base access).

6. Apply for a temporary pass to get on base at the Vehicle Registration Office.

7. Pick up the car, put on the temporary plates, and put the temporary pass/registration/cars papers/bill of sale/record of insurance in the glovebox.

8. Go to the city office nearest you to apply for a parking permit (not city hall). You will need the car's papers and your house rental agreement with the dimensions of your parking space(s), and one water, power or gas bill showing you actually live there. This costs a minimal fee and 5 days before you can go pick up your parking permit/decal at the same place.

9. Go back to VRO and have them fill out the paperwork to have the car permanently licensed at the LTO in Yokohama.

10. Go to the LTO Licensing office in Yokohama. Wait in line for one piece of paper, then go to different building to change address, etc. Go back to first line to pay a lot of money for licensing of car, depending on newness of car, weight of car, and engine size of car.

11. Get the permanent license plates from them, and put them on.

12. Return temporary plates to City Hall and get the receipt for them.

13. Do final VRO visit to have them finalize all your records, and give you a decal so you can get on base (BTW, if you aren't the sponsor, they will make a copy of your Power of Attorney, so have it ready.)

Unfortunately, our new car wasn't ready when they said, so I missed getting the parking request done that day, so I had to go extend the temporary plate at city hall. Then, VRO made a mistake. Then, the seller didn't want me doing the LTO run (I imagine he didn't want me knowing how much he paid for the car that he sold to us at a steep profit), so I had to extend again. Finally the stars aligned, and we were in business.

Until Tuesday, when the radiator spewed, and white smoke engulfed the car. I was blessed to be near 5 big American guys in a Jeep who came and helped me out. They told me what was wrong, and said to let the engine cool for 10-15 minutes, drive a minute (never let it go above the too hot line), sit and let it cool... and get it to the autoport. It took forever, but now we're waiting for the new radiator (2 weeks). Plus, there were a few other issues. Oh joy.

So, why are we having our car fixed instead of junked and buying a new one for the price of the fixing? Because the memory scars from the agonizing and long-extended licensing process on this car are too fresh. I just can't go through that again right now.