Used car rental

Used car rental

A “Cheap rental car” business with around half the price of the existing prices has started. The secret of the low prices is that they are drastically cutting costs by using used cars, not the latest models and tying up with petrol stations who are struggling to stay in their business. Pushed by the slow economy, the numbers of the cheap rental car outlets are rapidly increasing.

One of the used car rental outlets opened in July last year. At the beginning, their turnover per month was only 300 -400 thousand yen but by December, it went way over 1500 thousand yen. The rate of operation of the cars was “less than 50% at large rental car companies but they maintained around 60%” and it is looking good. The main thing is of course the price and it is 2525 yen for half a day to hire a compact car like a Nissan March, which is about half the price compared to the price at a large company.

The reason they can do this is that they are cutting the cost of the car purchase and employment costs. Large companies normally use brand new cars for rental but these used car rental places use 5-7 year old cars, which are used and around 200 thousand yen on the market. There are some scratches inside and outside of the cars but even with a new car, it will get scratches after 1 year, so customers are quite happy to rent these cars. Of course there are some standards: 1) no problem in safety, 2) the mileage under 50,000 km, 3) no major scratches on the body and 4) no big scratches inside or offensive smells.

Unlike large companies, the main outlets for these are petrol stations. Because their existing employees can do all the necessary work of renting & returning, cleaning & maintenance when they are not helping with the customers to fill up their cars, so there is no added cost for the owners. They also have similar insurance as large companies.

Since July 2006 when newcomers started the cheap rental car business, there are more & more companies starting the business as their new venture. One of the large trading company, ITOCHU Corporation started this business in April.

Behind this rapid growth was the fact that the young generation has a detachedness from cars. Because of the sudden recession since last autumn, many people have got rid of their cars when it got too much for them to pay taxes, Shaken (Warrant of Fitness) cost, car parking fees, etc. However, people still use cars occasionally and some clever people thought there might be more people who want to hire cars. So the current situation is providing a “leading wind” for them.

Used car rental outlets are all linked up with petrol stations. Most petrol stations in the country are making losses as the consumption of petrol keeps dropping after the year 2004 when it reached its maximum. Petrol station owners are looking for ways to make money apart from sales of petrol, car maintenance & wash, so I think this business will expand even more.

Large companies are not thinking about dropping prices because “there are some who are after comfort in cars and there are some who are after the prices, so they should not lose their customers yet”. The power of used car rental outlets might push large companies into price wars but for people who care about the price, used car rentals should be convenient.


★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
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(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
3B YS-Building, 1-2-2 Botan, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955

Washing a on a rainy day?

In Japan, we are in the middle of summer and it has been hot! Extremely hot! I know it is not going to change the situation even if I say it a hundred times but when I see someone I cannot help but saying “It’s hot, isn’t it?” as a greeting. It is like our custom to use weather as a part of greeting, isn’t it?

When we hand over a car in our yard to the customer, we wash it beforehand but when it is this hot, washing a car seems a really hard job. If it is a mini car or compact car like Vitz and Fiat, it does not take that long, but if it is a mini van or a wagon, the area for washing is large so we will be sweating like a pig by the time we finish it. We wash outside first, then clean inside and it is hard not to drop any sweat on the seats in case they leave marks on the upholstery. But I guess it is the same situation for every car dealer. So we try not to think about it too much and get on the job thinking that it can solve the problem of our lack of exercise.

The other day, I had a special order of a Porshe Cayenne so our usual cleaner came to clean inside and I was to apply a polymer coat outside. While we were working, I said to him “I get disappointed if it rains just after I wash a car” but he said “It is not always bad to have a rain straight after we wash a car”.

According to him, the reason is to do with acid rain & ultraviolet rays. Quite often, when we wash a dust covered car after a rain, we cannot totally get rid of the grime and water stains easily. This is something to do with “oxidization”. If we wash a car soon after it gets dirty, it is easy to get rid of the dirt but when the dust and dirt get oxidized, it gets hard to get rid of. The reason for the oxidization is the dust and dirt change into an oxidative product after some chemical reactions among the “dirt”, “rain”, “ultraviolet rays” and “heat”. Also when an oxidative product touches acid substances it gets more oxidized called “resonance oxidization”. If we wash a car when the dust is only on the surface of it, we can get rid of it just with water but when acid rain touches the dust it turns into dust that is hard to get rid of. It also oxidize the paint, coating and wax on the surface, causing dullness.

Ultraviolet rays on a fine day can also cause damage to the paint. When the dust which turned into an oxidative product by acid rain gets ultraviolet rays and activates more of the oxidation reaction and gives more damage to the car’s body. However, we cannot really stop ultraviolet rays reaching our cars, so it is important not to leave dust and dirt on the cars too long.

Lastly there is “solar heat”. When the sun heats up the surface of a car, it causes microscopic holes just like pores on human faces. If you wash a car then, water and detergent get into the holes and makes the paint look dull. Water dries out quickly on a sunny day and if you try to get rid of dried dirt with sponge or towel, it also scratches the surface.

In this way, when the sun hits dust and dirt on a car which is already oxidized, oxidization by ultraviolet rays occurs and leaves some dirt and scratches on a car. It is important to wash your car before it rains.

Although I understand his theory, I am not keen on handing over a wet car just being in the rain. It means I would have to wash it again after the rain, which means it would take twice as long to clean a car.


★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
3B YS-Building, 1-2-2 Botan, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955

World No 1 car market: China

A TV personality came to our office and interviewed us the other day. We were asked for some comments on car exports from Japan to China. We told them that there is huge demand in China and considering the needs in the market over there, we have many enquiries regarding exporting left-hand drive cars from Japan; but because of the import ban on the Chinese side, we cannot do so. Although on the actual programme, they cut bits & pieces, they conveyed what we wanted to say; so I guess it went OK.

Speaking about China, since last year’s subprime mortgage crises, even the Chinese economy has been greatly hit. However, they are recovering from it incredibly fast, a lot faster than other countries in the world. According to the latest report, the number of new cars sold in China in the first half of the year 2009 (between January and June) was a 17.7% increase from the previous year to 6.1 million vehicles and it was the world No 1 easily beating the USA (4.81 million vehicles).

The Chinese government announced car sales promotion policies such as big cuts in automobile acquisition tax for compact cars and handing out subsidies for rural people’s car purchases. As a result, private passenger cars especially compact ones have sold well at an increase of 25.6% compared to the sales of the year before.

In China, not many people use car loans unlike Europe and the USA. 90% buy them in cash. This could be the reason why the financial crises had minimum impact on their economy. In the USA etc., finance companies tightened their criteria for loans, which caused the chill in the market but in China they used cash so the effect only hit their psychology. The property and share prices and individual consumption in the country are all heading upward and the car dealers remain confident for sales in the second half of the year.

Toyota, struggling in sales in Japan, started offshore production of their sport SUV “RAV4” with their merged company in China. They are thinking about widening their car lines. Nissan Motors increased their sales in China by 18.9% to 540,000 cars, which is 1/7 of their world expected sales in 2008; and now they are increasing the line-ups of compact car ranges to increase their sales volume to 800,000 by the year 2012.

All Japanese car manufacturers are in slump now in the domestic market and are now looking at the Chinese market. Even in China, cars are not cheap. As in Japan, they cost 1-2 million yen each. It will be a few years income for the average Chinese person. They usually buy cars which are like 5 years income but to me it seems too much compared to their income and car prices. I guess there is status in owning a car in China and cars are selling well. Wait a minute: isn’t it amazing that people have a saving of 5 years income? We cannot underestimate their power, can we?


★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
3B YS-Building, 1-2-2 Botan, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955

Car Sick

My wife drove us to our eldest daughter’s school Cultural Festival last Sunday. I like reading, so as usual I was reading a book while she drove the car. Although I was absorbed in reading, I felt sick without a warning. Yes, I was car sick. Searching my memory, I had never been car sick before. It could be because I had not had a decent sleep for a while. Anyway, I started feeling really rotten. Because I had not had it before, it is not easy to describe the condition, but I had a wicked headache and felt nauseous. It could be because of my wife’s bad driving or my reading in the car (of course she was blaming the latter) I just wanted to get out of the car as soon as possible. Luckily it only took 5 more minutes before we got to the school, by taking a bit of a break, I felt better and it did not affect me for the rest of the day. However, it was embarrassing I, who deal cars everyday, got car sick. Anyway, I could not leave it behind and checked about the condition.

According to a health magazine, in Japan, there are more cases of people between 40 and 50 years old as well as late teens getting car sick. The reasons are unknown but it said that stress might be playing a great part.

It said that no one knows why we get car sick in the first place but recent studies are showing it happens through three different stages.

Firstly, there happens a gap between the positional information our brain gets from our eyes and the information about speed and gradient we feel in the inner ears, etc. Our brain checks the gap by comparing it with any previous information, and decides it is anxiety and discomfort if we have never had it before. Then as a result, it provokes secretion of stress hormones and unusual levels of adrenaline. Finally this causes an imbalance of our auto immune system, cold sweat, short term fluctuation of blood pressure, excess saliva & slight yawns and eventually it makes us feel like throwing up.

The reason this happens more often for primary to junior high school age is that their brain takes this unexperienced body reaction as an “abnormality” and decides it is discomfort at the second stage. As we get older, we have more experience and get used to different movements, so the gap is most often cancelled and we do not get sick.

Also they found that middle to senior people with depression or early stage Meniere's disease get car sick. People with depression feel this uncomfortable situation caused by the gap in the information in their brain in the same way as when they feel stress. People with Meniere’s disease have different levels of function between their left and right ears and this also increase the level of anxiety and stress.

In my case, thanks to annual health check-ups, I do not have depression or Meniere’s disease but this time, I will listen to my wife’s earful lecture and stop reading in a car.



★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
3B YS-Building, 1-2-2 Botan, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955