Thread: Three reasons Thailand will not permit easy import of used cars

Followed three cars on a Japanese car auction site.

Toyota Camry 2006 2400 cc 4,5 out of 5 condition 82040 km sold 63,000 baht eqv Thai price 250,000 baht.


Mercedes Benz E300 2010 4.5 out of 5 condition 71500 km sold 240,000 baht eqv Thai price 1.240.000 baht.


Volvo XC 90 2006 2900 cc 4 out of 5 condition 102300 km sold 44,600 baht eqv Thai price 430,000 baht.

I take your point but it's also kinda irrelevant because those cars cost more in Thailand to begin with which is why they hold their value.

Besides, you'd still be liable +$X and +Y$ in shipping and import duties to any country outside of Japan on those cars.

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

I take your point but it's also kinda irrelevant because those cars cost more in Thailand to begin with which is why they hold their value.

Besides, you'd still be liable +$X and +Y$ in shipping and import duties to any country outside of Japan on those cars.

I don't think there's that much of a mark up for ex-Japanese used cars in NZ

What it's all about here is protectionism for the domestic car manufacturers....ie BKK hiso.

cars in Thailand hold their price,NOT IF YOUR SELLING.

4 pages of debate here.

https://teakdoor.com/motoring-in-thai...cars-west.html (Compared to Thailand ... How cheap are cars in the West!)

Point taken though.

Originally Posted by Maanaam

I don't think there's that much of a mark up for ex-Japanese used cars in NZ

What it's all about here is protectionism for the domestic car manufacturers....ie BKK hiso.

I can't find the numbers, but I feel safe in saying that the majority of cars in NZ are second-hand from Japan imports.

Originally Posted by happynz

I can't find the numbers, but I feel safe in saying that the majority of cars in NZ are second-hand from Japan imports.

I'd say that was safe to say, for Japanese makes. There're no more car factories, are there? Ford closed down in the early 90's, and that was the last of it (I think) and so all new cars are imported, and the used cars from Japan.

...and second-hand Japanese cars can be bought for a song in Japan.

Originally Posted by happynz

...and second-hand Japanese cars can be bought for a song in Japan.

Ah ... but what about the Taxes to keep them on the road there?

^ In Japan or NZ?

Originally Posted by happynz

...and second-hand Japanese cars can be bought for a song in Japan.

hence their popularity in NZ as imports. Thankfully the government cracked down on it with some regulation. For a while there in the 90's, importers were creaming it with imported lemons with wound-back oddometers.

Originally Posted by happynz

^ In Japan or NZ?

Japan

Many people come to Japan and are very surprised that all the cars are clean, well maintained, and always running efficiently.
The sensitive Japan "experts" will tell you that it's because Japanese take such pride in their work, have such dignity to drive cars that only look like new, etc.
All of which are true. But the real reason is different, and you'll pay dearly for it.
Cars that are 3 years old have to have a mandatory maintenance check (Shaken), which is repeated every other year.
The costs again vary according to the size of the car, but basically you'll be paying 120,000-160,000 yen or so for a smaller car, and more for a larger.

Also, when the car is very old, it has an official value of zero and you may actually have to pay someone to take it off your hands!
After that it'll be either scrapped or sold to dealers in Asia.

Buying a Car in Japan

Wealthier countries often have cheaper second hand vehicles because more people can afford to buy new, so used cars are in less demand.

From Switzerland to Saudi...Simples innit.

There is a very long and reasonably well know reason. America also imports its fair share of used Japanese vehicles.

This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.
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September 12, 1993, Page 001007The New York Times ArchivesOne of the first things an American motorist might notice about Japan is that the automobiles here all seem so shiny and new, without smashed headlights, dents, rust or even dirt.
The reason is only partly that Japanese fastidiousness extends to the maintenance of cars. Rather, experts say, there really are relatively few old cars in Japan, because of an automobile inspection system that is so onerous and expensive that many people prefer to trade in a perfectly good three- or five-year-old car rather than spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars for the inspection.
The inspection system, critics say, is a case study of the regulations in Japan that benefit businesses at the expense of hard-pressed consumers. It is the type of regulation that Japan's new Government is promising to relax as part of a major effort to improve living conditions. Consumer Group Complains
"The people who profit from this are maintenance shops and car makers," said Fumio Matsuda, head of the Japan Automobile Consumers Union.
Japan's 83,000 garages obtain 44 percent of their roughly $60 billion in annual revenues as a result of mandatory inspections. Automobile companies benefit because people replace their cars frequently.
Continue reading the main story

Inspections are required when a car turns 3 years old, then every 2 years until the car turns 11, then every year. The inspections, which cover more than 100 items from brake function to headlight orientation, are done by a Government test center or by an authorized service station.
Other nations and many states in the United States also require inspections, either of emissions alone or also of the car's functioning, but Japan also requires car owners to have certain items checked or serviced every 6 months, 12 months or 24 months.
Another big difference is that Japan's Government asks the owner to have the car repaired before it is inspected, so that it will pass. Faced with this requirement, most owners give their car to the dealer or a service station to prepare it for inspection.
"You take it to the garage and they will just change everything, even if there is nothing wrong with the car," Kenichi Ohmae, organizer of Heisei Reform, a movement that advocates less Government control over Japan's economy. said. "If they keep fiddling with the car, there are more problems after the inspection." Inspection Itself Costs $12
A typical bill for this pre-inspection inspection is $600. The actual inspection at a test center costs only about $12.
Government officials defend the inspection system as necessary to keep traffic flowing. In Japan, where congestion is horrendous and highways often have only two lanes in each direction, a vehicle breakdown is far more disruptive than in the spacious United States, they say.
"Inspection actually contributes to the situation where most of our automobiles run in good condition," said Takashi Shimodaira, director of the maintenance service division of the Transport Ministry.

He said that only 1 in 2,000 car accidents in Japan were caused by mechanical failure, compared with between 1 in 200 and 1 in 20 in the United States and Europe.
In the United States, 64.1 percent of passenger cars in 1991 were at least five years old. In Japan, only 46.8 percent were. In the United States, 30.5 percent of cars were at least 10 years old, versus 9.6 percent in Japan.
With little demand for used cars, cars here lose their value quickly. "A car more than six years old and in very good condition you can easily see in a junkyard," said Hiroshige Hanabusa, who makes a living helping people with the administrative chores associated with their cars.
Many of the used cars find their way to other nations, where they are considered bargains. In New Zealand, used Japanese cars are cutting so heavily into sales of new cars that auto dealers and assemblers have complained to the Government. And Russians can't get enough of old Japanese cars. Taking Cars Home to Moscow
Last year, when a Russian circus returned to Moscow after a tour of Japan, 93 animals, including bears, leopards and parrots, were abandoned on the dock at Yokohama. There was no room for them because the ship was full of used cars bought by the crew.
In June an advisory committee to the Transport Ministry recommended several changes to the inspection system to be carried out in the next two years.
The periodic 6-month checks would be abolished and the number of items in the 12 and 24-month checks would be reduced. Cars more than 11 years old would need inspection every 2 years, instead of every year. And consumers would have the option of going for their inspection first and then doing the maintenance found to be necessary.