%!$ing shaken

[james]

yeah, i know, bitching about it is pointless. still absurd that i have to pay for all this on a car that is only 3 fucking years old. if it were 5, i could understand somewhat.

anyway, just want to get the input of those with some experience regarding this - i've got an estimate from the dealer where i bought the car (toyota prius).

given that they were going to charge me 79,800 for the exact same new set of tires i found elsewhere for 70,800 i'm curious if they'd be trying to ream me by as much of a margin for the other shaken shit.

i will likely get a second estimate at another shop (yellow hat or whatever) but does anyone have experience? - dealer vs. car shop, which is better for shaken?

[Greji]

i will likely get a second estimate at another shop (yellow hat or whatever) but does anyone have experience? - dealer vs. car shop, which is better for shaken?

I have driven nothing but Toyota's for the last 20-25 years and one thing I learned early on. Only go to the dealer for the warranty checks. Everything else you need should be purchased elsewhere unless you want to pay top dollar. The dealer of course will give you great service, the best parts, but it will also be at the best price.

You can get better tire prices at Tirekan and even some department/outdoor stores that have automotive sections. Tires are much, much cheaper away from the dealer.

On shaken, the dealer will charge you for every nick and ding to make sure it will pass inspection, which includes replacing any part which has the slightest look of wear on it. This is all good and well, for me this was quite costly because will all my kids (and goat haulers) I had three cars for most of the last few years.

I then found out that my local gas station buddy. who is qualified to do shaken inspections can do it all at the minimum price and only replace parts that are needed to pass the inspection, or are otherwise dangerous.

There are many places that can do shaken and you can get an easy estimate to compare. The dealer is always safe, but for price it should be the last choice.

Big price difference

[dimwit]

I seem to recall an article in The Alien Magazine (Japanzine) a few years back that talked about how you can DIY your shaken and save about 80% of the costs. There apparantly have been books written on the subject (in Japanese) that you might check out.

My assumption is that because Japanese are so mechnically incompetant that few every attempt to do all the tests themselves.

[canman]

I did my own shaken two years ago, and it is so damn easy! Get someone to help you fill in the forms, which must all be done in kanji, make a reservation, and then show up with your money, get in line and away you go. But be careful with the damn light check, take a couple of screwdrivers with you, in case you have to adjust your headlights up or down. But it is so easy. For years I had people tell me how difficult it was etc. Now if you had a beater, and it was in bad shape, I would re-think it. But with a 3 year old Prius, it must be almost like new. No worries. If you have any question pm me and I'll try to help you.

[Big Booger]

I did my own shaken two years ago, and it is so damn easy! Get someone to help you fill in the forms, which must all be done in kanji, make a reservation, and then show up with your money, get in line and away you go. But be careful with the damn light check, take a couple of screwdrivers with you, in case you have to adjust your headlights up or down. But it is so easy. For years I had people tell me how difficult it was etc. Now if you had a beater, and it was in bad shape, I would re-think it. But with a 3 year old Prius, it must be almost like new. No worries. If you have any question pm me and I'll try to help you.

I concur with the canman's sentimonies.

[FG Lurker]

Including all the taxes etc that you have to pay at shaken time, how much did the self-serve version cost?

[james]

I did my own shaken two years ago, and it is so damn easy! Get someone to help you fill in the forms, which must all be done in kanji, make a reservation, and then show up with your money, get in line and away you go. But be careful with the damn light check, take a couple of screwdrivers with you, in case you have to adjust your headlights up or down. But it is so easy. For years I had people tell me how difficult it was etc. Now if you had a beater, and it was in bad shape, I would re-think it. But with a 3 year old Prius, it must be almost like new. No worries. If you have any question pm me and I'll try to help you.

i was going to send a pm, but i figure others might like to know. when you say "the" forms, what are they called? where does one make a reservation? what do i have to do mechanically? i don't even change my own tires.

i'll be getting another estimate on friday when i'm out but looking over the current estimate, i'm currently looking at 13.5 man, half of which is bullshit taxes of course. not like i didn't just pay a vehicle tax a few days ago.

[Mulboyne]

A couple of links:

http://bigdaikon.com/mystory-20030305.shtml

http://www.navi.go.jp/english/inspection/index.html

[james]

A couple of links:

http://bigdaikon.com/mystory-20030305.shtml

http://www.navi.go.jp/english/inspection/index.html

that first link is definitely a keeper. my local 陸]if[/I] i go, it would be after i got paid at the end of the month. i do not respond well to coersion, especially if it's for an ass reaming. in the very least i'm going to get an estimate elsewhere.

[Greji]

the dealer came by to my house yesterday with an estimate, mostly padded with the usual bullshit. he then told me they'd really appreciate it if i came within the next week at which point i got (more) annoyed and told him if i go, it would be after i got paid at the end of the month. i do not respond well to coersion, especially if it's for an ass reaming. in the very least i'm going to get an estimate elsewhere.

That's actually not a bad estimate for a dealer. However, if you have a regular, or friendly gas stand, or some of the shaken specialty shops, you should be able to easily beat that price.

Obviously, if you do the shaken yourself, it is the cheapest. After reading this thread, I finally remembered that I did this once when I imported a ford many years ago (bokkei). It was quite easy, but I did it at Tachikawa, which served a lot of the US Forces in the area at that time, so they were quite used to FGs and it went fairly well.

Having said that, I do remember that the thing they told you about the headlights is quite true. If you cannot check and adjust your headlights, by yourself, you might consider having the local TireKan, Autobacs, or gas stand do that for you. I say this because it seemed like they payed a huge amount of attention to this during the kensa and sent a lot of players off to get the headlights adjusted again!

[james]

That's actually not a bad estimate for a dealer. However, if you have a regular, or friendly gas stand, or some of the shaken specialty shops, you should be able to easily beat that price.

just arguing with the wife at the moment. she never sees anything from my perspective (that being i pay for everything) and this is yet another one of those things where she always sides with "japan".

i'm told there's crap on there that can come off. seeing as my wipers are fine, i don't need useless insurance (they didn't even fix the god damn cd player which is supposedly covered by the current insurance) and the underside is clean.

[canman]

Lurker, when I did it two years ago, including getting reamed for the recycling fee that everyone must pay, the whole deal cost me Y98 000. Now as I said, my car was in good condition and didn't need any work done. It seems to me James that Y205 000 is damn expensive. The forms, you just walk in and tell them you want the forms you need to do a shaken by yourself. Then you either call, or get your wife to call, as I did, and make a reservation at your local safety check place. Trust me it is really that easy. Unfortunately I don't know the name of the forms, but if you go, and ask it is pretty clear what you need and they will understand. What really sucks, is that at our local safety inspection place, they have a computer type terminal that the US military people, they guys with the Y on their plates to use. It is all English and looks really user friendly. I asked if I could use it, but was told that it is reserved on for SOFA members.

[james]

It seems to me James that Y205 000 is damn expensive.

that figure is including new tires, which i do in fact need. i was originally going to get them elsewhere but to their credit toyota was willing to give me the same tires for basically the same price as the best estimate i found (Y1300 more expensive in total, in other words a negligible difference). for the actual shaken, the figure to look at is 132,897. if i remove the wipers and useless insurance it would be closer to 12 man. i dunno, i should probably just stop bitching and get it done with.

i know it's preaching to the choir but it's complete bullshit that one should have to fork out for this on a car that is for all intents and purposes still fairly new and running perfectly. the really aggravating thing though is the very hefty tax part of it. we already pay an annual vehicle tax, so it's ridiculous that one is being taxed on the same vehicle twice every other year.

[gkanai]

I've done my own shaken 3 times on 2 different motorcycles. If you pay the dealer to do it, it's 7-80,000 yen depending on the bike and parts and whatnot. If you do it yourself you can get out for less than half that cost.

[American Oyaji]

Lurker, when I did it two years ago, including getting reamed for the recycling fee that everyone must pay, the whole deal cost me Y98 000. Now as I said, my car was in good condition and didn't need any work done. It seems to me James that Y205 000 is damn expensive. The forms, you just walk in and tell them you want the forms you need to do a shaken by yourself. Then you either call, or get your wife to call, as I did, and make a reservation at your local safety check place. Trust me it is really that easy. Unfortunately I don't know the name of the forms, but if you go, and ask it is pretty clear what you need and they will understand. What really sucks, is that at our local safety inspection place, they have a computer type terminal that the US military people, they guys with the Y on their plates to use. It is all English and looks really user friendly. I asked if I could use it, but was told that it is reserved on for SOFA members.

You aint gotta ask, just USE it. What are they gonna say if you do?

I never payed more than 5 man for shaken.