Used car subscriptions gain popularity in Japan amid delivery delays

As subscriptions for a wide variety of commodities have become common across the world, the younger generation in Japan have recently started using them for used cars amid a delivery delay in automobiles caused by a global chip shortage.

“I first thought about buying a new car, but its delivery date was far in the future,” said a man in his 20s from the city of Oita in southwestern Japan. He began subscribing to the service “Teigaku Carmo-kun” from November 2022, paying a monthly fee of 33,000 yen ($250) and drives a mini-sedan Honda Grace.

The system lists around 5,000 used automobiles online...