Buying a car in NZ is an interesting experience for a new American expat.
For starters, you have to get to know the brands we don’t have at home: Holden, Ssangyong, Diahatsu, Mahindra and Skoda – to name a few.
Then, there’s the issue that even brands we're familiar with have different names for their vehicles and different models altogether. For instance, you’ve got Mazda’s Demio and Premacy, Ford’s Modeo and Falcon and Toyota’s Aurion and Hilux.
Adding to the difficulty is the huge (and I mean HUGE) number of second-hand vehicles imported from Japan, with even more models unfamiliar to us. Why all the used cars coming from Japan? There’s actually a good reason for it.
Japan has incredibly strict regulations when it comes to motor vehicles. The country's inspections are some of the strictest in the world, and as vehicles get older, the likelihood that they pass inspection becomes smaller. For most Japanese people, after about six years with a car, it’s easier to just get a new one than try to pass inspection.
Of course, these cars only have like 50,000 km on the dial – that’s about 30k miles for you stubborn Americans -- and, for the most part, are in excellent shape. So a world-wide grey market for lightly used late-model Japanese cars has developed.
In NZ, there are entire dealerships – and in fact, entire roads full of dealerships – dedicated to selling used Japanese imports. Some of these dealers are totally legit; some are probably legit but don’t look it; and others are downright dodgy.
The first “dealer” I went to was in a seemingly abandoned dirt lot behind a bus stop in an industrial park. The lot was muddy and the car I had called ahead to take a look at was parked behind 3 other vehicles and had a flat (dead) battery. In short, it might have been fine, but the dealer didn’t really put its best foot forward.
The next dealership I went to was significantly more professional. Of course, with all of these amenities -- you know, a building, a sign, and some chairs for customers -- comes a higher price. Even so, I bought a 2004 Toyota Raum with 90,000 km on the dial for about $5500 NZD. When these cars were still in production, they cost almost TWO MILLION Japanese Yen!!!! Oh, wait, that’s like $20,000. That seems right.
Moses modeling the storage space. He won't let us leave the house without him.
The Raum is a fascinating little car. It was only sold in Japan, so about 2/3 of the buttons on the dashboard are in Japanese. (Have you ever seen that episode of The Simpson’s where Homer test drives a car at Crazy Vaclav’s Place of Automobiles? And the salesman tells him to “Put it in H”? It’s kind of like that.)
Right-hand drive, baby!
The Raum is a tiny minivan that shares a chassis with the Toyota Vitz, which was sold in the U.S. as the Yaris and/or Echo (are you following?). In American terms, imagine a Ford Focus made it into a minivan. It’s super cool how big it is, given how small it is. There isn’t a centimetre of wasted space and it’s basically the perfect Kiwi vehicle – kind of boring but incredibly useful.
Another tan-tastic car!
The best part of the car-buying experience here was the salesman who sold me the Raum. He was a Kiwi named Leon who seemed like the kind of guy who's always been old. He had only one ear, chain smoked and was super into American civil war history, diners, Route 66 and all things “classically American.” He also thought the mainstream media wasn’t giving Mr. Trump a fair shake (presumably because they play clips of Trump saying the things he says).
He was the kind of guy you don’t forget. And the kind of guy you don't mind handing $5,000 to and never seeing again. :)
