I am a former mechanic. Even so, when I looked at the bill for the shaken, the vehicle inspection that Japan requires by law, the number was bigger than I expected.
The car is a Toyota family 1000cc, first registered in October 2018.
The last time, in September 2023, it came to 46,000 yen. This time, in October 2025, it was 114,950 yen. The gap was close to 70,000 yen.
Here is how it broke down. Brakes, 26,000 yen. The battery, 14,000 yen. The tax went up by about 10,000 yen from the last time, because the period of the eco-car tax reduction had ended and the weight tax went back to the normal rate. The eco-car tax reduction lowers the tax on a car with good fuel economy for a set period, and once that period passes the amount returns to what it was. If I stay quiet, no one comes to tell me. On top of that, small replacement parts and labor came to about 20,000 yen. Added up, that is exactly how it lands. More than double the amount of two years ago came at once, and that is a fact, but I did not think it was expensive. Every item had come at the time it was supposed to come.
How I drove it for seven years
As a former mechanic, my work was mostly light maintenance, but I have confidence in my feel for whether a car is in good shape or not. So I have not simply been driving this car around. I have watched it in my own way while I lived with it.
The car is a Toyota family 1000cc, first registered in October 2018. I have always had the oil changed every 5,000 km or every six months. Engine oil is the lubricant that keeps metal parts from wearing against each other. If it is left to degrade, the damage inside the engine moves forward. Changing it often, by itself, makes a large difference to how long an engine lasts. I turned the idling stop off from the very beginning. The frequent work it puts on the starter motor bothered me, and I could hardly feel any difference in fuel economy either. Even when a function is installed on the car, if I decide not to use it, I do not use it. That is one of the things I learned as a mechanic.
In year five, I said no to a new battery
At the shaken in year five, the person in charge told me the battery was getting close and I should replace it. I said no.
Back then I was commuting 40 km round trip every day. The distance was more than enough, and there was not a single moment of hesitation when the engine started. From my experience as a mechanic, I judged with my own eyes and my own feel that it still had life in it. The person in charge said I see, and let it go.
In the end, the battery lasted seven years. The person in charge told me that this was a long one. The long commute, and keeping the idling stop off, are the two things I believe did the work.
After I retired, the way I drove changed
I think the battery and the brakes came this time partly because the way I drove changed after I retired. Once I left work, most of my driving became shopping close to home. A battery is charged while the car is running, by the alternator, the generator that the engine turns. On short trips the charging never finishes, and the battery is drained again every time the engine starts. That piles up and shortens the life of the battery. Fuel economy also dropped from 18 km per liter in my commuting years to the low 12 km per liter range.
Brakes are the same. Pads wear down through friction, so town driving, with more presses of the pedal, wears them faster than a highway or a country road. The brakes that were fine at the last shaken were replaced this time, and that too is the result of a change in the way I drive. Same car, and yet over seven years the whole way I used it had changed.
After they replaced the whole set, the way the car ran was clearly different. It was smooth, a completely different feel from before. I asked the young mechanic at the shop about it, but his words were not enough and I did not really understand. Thinking about it later, when pads get worn down, the return often goes bad. New pads making the car feel light is only the car going back to the state it should have been in. Even as a former mechanic, when it is my own car, I do not notice.
Even so, at this shaken, no hand was put on the engine itself or on the transmission. 54,000 km driven, and no big trouble. I think that is the result of replacing the consumable parts properly, each time they were due.
If I wanted it cheaper, it could have gone cheaper
If I wanted to bring the cost down, maybe it could go down as far as I pushed. Negotiating and asking for a discount is free.
But, and this comes out harsh, making it cheaper does not come with a two year guarantee. If I am told a consumable part should be replaced and I hold back on the repair money, I am raising the rate of trouble myself. If the worst happens and the engine dies in the middle of a long drive, the towing and the repair cost more in the end.
Negotiate the price down, and after that it is your own responsibility. That is all it is.
Even a person who is not a mechanic can go through the estimate and ask, one item at a time, what this cost is for. What is truly unnecessary can be refused. It is the same as me refusing the battery in year five. There is no need to stay quiet and pay for all of it just because you are not an expert, and no need to hold back on what is actually needed.
I leave it to a shop I trust
The place I take the car for shaken is a repair shop in my neighborhood. A relative of a relative runs it, and the shop works around the clock. I have never once thought of taking the car anywhere else. Leave it to a person you can trust. As a mechanic, that is the thing I understand best.
Seen with the eyes of a former mechanic, what matters is not putting off the consumable parts, and having a shop you can trust. That alone lets a car last a long time. Even when an expensive shaken comes, it is also proof that the car has been driven all that way. For a person with no acquaintance in the trade, taking estimates from several shops and comparing them is the surest way.
The bad parts, I have them replaced. That is my way of driving.
In these seven years, the car has never stalled on me. I think that is the whole answer.
Related stories on this blog: The Same McDonalds Coffee: 190 Yen in Japan, 490 Yen in America / Earthquake Insurance in Japan: I Know I Should Cancel, but I Cannot
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