[Leica] Re: LUG Digest, Vol 32, Issue 17

[joseph at yao.com (Joseph Yao)]

Don,

Exporting used cars is straight forward, but many countries now have very
tight regulations regarding imports of used cars.  Emission control is the
claim/excuse, but ironically many countries which impose tough controls over
used car imports have a less stringent emission standard than HK.  The same
countries also benefit a lot financially from new car sales thus money
speaks louder than pollution here.  Still, used cars here in good condition
are often exported: upmarket German cars tend to end up in Australia and New
Zealand, and Japanese cars are often shipped to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia,
and Indonesia.  As a former British Crown Colony, we in HK have RHD cars.
The ideal market for our used cars would be China, but they drive on the
wrong side of the road ;-)  To give you a rough idea how cars depreciate
here, I was offered US$5,150 for my 1990 Porsche 928S4 in 2001.  It had
covered 29,000 miles and was close to showroom condition ('mint/mint-/98%
new' in Leica speak) with full Porsche service history - I was the original
owner and it had cost me US$180,000 in 1990.  That's 97% loss.

If I had a choice I would trade trade cheap Leica for cheap cars - as a
'petrolhead' I would be a lot happier paying US car prices and would not
mind suffering US Leica prices :-)

Bests,

Joseph


On 29/4/06 4:25 am, "Don Dory" <don.dory@gmail.com> wrote:

> Joseph,
> So is there a good arbitrage shipping used HK cars somewhere that does not
> devalue used so much, possibly the Philippines or South American countries?
> 
> Curious minds want to know?
> 
> As a sidelight, people wonder why Americans drive such large cars with
> relatively huge engines, costs are much, much less here.  If you live in a
> normal city and work for a largish company then your costs would be
> Porche 911:  62000 to 85000
> Insurance: 1800/yr
> Gasoline/93 Octane 0.82/litre
> Parking: generally free at work and home
> Parking: events might vary from $5 to $10
> Tolls: in Atlanta 0.50 each way on the only toll road for several hundred
> miles
> 
> With costs so low compared to a lot of the world, no wonder we drive so 
> far,
> so fast(Nathan, the normal speed on Interstates in Georgia is 
> 130-140Km/hr),
> in such large vehicles.
> 
> Don
> don.dory@gmail.com
> 
> 
> On 4/28/06, Joseph Yao <joseph@yao.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Gerry,
>> 
>> I lived in the UK for twenty years and it is still a relatively
>> inexpensive
>> place to maintain a car.  Here are my car-related expenses in my part of
>> the
>> world:
>> 
>> Car tax 100% - for example, a 2006 Porsche 911 costs US$220,000
>> Annual road tax  US$1,700
>> Insurance  US$2,800/year with full NCB
>> Petrol/gas  US$8.33/gallon, approx. US$900/month
>> Parking  US$520/month (residential)
>> Parking  US$580/month (office)
>> Parking  US$4/hour (typical downtown parking lot)
>> 
>> Plus various tolls for tunnels/roads.
>> 
>> And culturally we do not like buying used cars, cars depreciate heavily
>> here: typically 30%/year.  Like Leica purchases, we prefer to buy new
>> whenever possible :-)
>> 
>> Still, I must not complain.  I understand my friends in Singapore have
>> approx. 250% car tax.
>> 
>> Joseph
>> [Hong Kong, SAR]