[Nyororin]

You can easily do any repairs yourself, but in the end the car is still going to have to pass shaken - and you`ll have to take it into an authorized center to have it checked. They will NOT just fix whatever - they will tell you that you have not passed and what needs to be done to pass. You can then do those repairs yourself or have a service center do them.

In the end, there are a number of things that have to pass but they don`t really care how they reach the standard. The "just go ahead and fix-it" thing is when you ask for that sort of package. Tons of packages for quick shaken are offered, and they will fix whatever is necessary to pass within the package time frame.

The exception to this is if your car is expiring/expired - either you have the repairs done immediately or you cannot take the car home as it would be illegal to drive.

In my personal experience, dealers tend to be the best deal and the most reasonable for repairs. Their mechanics are held to a high standard and are required to actually attend a university dedicated to automotive service. (In the case of Toyota, Honda, and Nissan. I`m not sure about others.) They usually have the cheapest and quickest access to parts - for example, a friend recently replaced his car`s headlight casing. At a dealer the price was about US$8 for the part, and US$30 for the labor with guarantee. Looking to order the part himself, it would have been US$60 for the part alone. Guess which route he took. (Dealers in Japan are directly connected to the company whose cars they sell. A Toyota dealer is a part of Toyota, a Honda dealer a part of Honda, etc. They don`t mix, and tend to be just nicer than any dealer I`ve seen in the US. Anyway, as part of the maker company things tend to be quite tightly regulated when it comes to service costs, etc.)

I don`t have tons of experience with garages, but I have never heard stories of them ripping people off for repairs or the like as was pretty normal in the US. People tend to have their cars serviced very regularly and replace the cars quite quickly, so there really isn`t much chance for things to go wrong. Buying a new car with a dealer warranty (not a rip-off in Japan, unlike the US) will get you free servicing, free parts, and free labor for anything that is within a normal range - ie. not because you got into an accident, put in the wrong type of something, or the like. Most people will take this option as it is rarely a waste of money. However, servicing your car on your own can invalidate the warranty if you use parts other than those specified (ie. cheaper generics, "performance" parts, etc).