Long-term car rental in Japan

We'd like to rent a hybrid car for two and half months, 2-3 times a year. Any suggestions? Tks a lot.

Are you going to need the car every day of these 2-3 months? I mean if you are somewhere very remote and need to move around yes. But if not, a combination of public transport for the longer distances and local rental car for a few days is going to be better.

Also if you go for a rental at for the entire duration, where will you park it? If you are in some rural area, no problem. If in a city you�fll need a paid parking lot. Not sure if it�fs going to be easy to rent a monthly parking lot without being a resident.

Regarding car rental companies, I only ever used Toyota.

Enjoy your stay in Japan!

Depending on how exactly you're going to use it, car-sharing is an option.
http://yurudie.com/transportationfare/miyagawa007

But I can't really think of a case in which one would want to rent a hybrid car for two and half months, 2-3 times a year, within Japan. Are you sure there is no transportation assistance in that area? Or are you sure that buying a car isn't an option?

Please let us know why you think you need to rent a car so long.

Renting a car for 5 to 8 months combined per year seems cost prohibitive.

Buying would be cheaper long term.

Buying a car in Japan is not that easy.
You need a address in Japan + you need parking space (rental)
So many things before you even may drive a car

Hi All, thank you very much for your replies. We need a car because we visit and drive around in remote countryside. We don't live in Japan so we can't but a car even we visit Japan 2-3 times a year.

I wonder what that remote area you will be staying in is. Have you already been there? How did you move around so far?

For long term rental as PP said car sharing might be an option if available in the region you go.

Or here are some options for longer car rental:
https://www.2525r.com/sp-price/long_rental.php

https://rent.toyota.co.jp/sp/car/monthly/index.aspx

Times is somewhat similar to car share: https://www.timescar-rental.com/en/

What driving license will you use? I remember that when I first wanted to rent a car in Japan I tried with Times, but there was something with my driving license they didn�ft like. I think it was too new, as I had just gotten a Japanese driving license issued. With Toyota it was no problem so I stocked with them for all rentals I ever did in Japan.

Depending on how far you need to move around every day in Japan a bicycle (including an electrical one) could be a good option for your rural transport. You can buy that relatively easily and the shop will help you with the registration. (However not sure if you can register it on a tourist visa).

Sarah,

Thank you for your feedback. I too wonder what that area is like, but an acquaintance of mine who has a summer house up in the mountains just has someone pick them up at the nearest public transportation port and stay at the house for days doing their own cooking. If they want to do some driving, they are free to go backwards to the nearest hub and rent a car for a day or two.

If you're visiting an area where that's not possible, I still wonder if there are more people like you feeling the same. If so, you may want to consider getting together and trying to do something as a group, such as to share a car among that group or taking action so that an organization can hire transportation for more people like you.

Now that there is much more awareness about driving problems, such as elderly drivers causing accidents or the need to decrease CO2, it may be a good time to ask for change.