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

[don.dory at gmail.com (Don Dory)]

Joseph,
Thank you for the explanation.  RHD would tend to make the cars less
saleable around the world.

Don
don.dory@gmail.com

On 5/1/06, Joseph Yao <joseph@yao.com> wrote:
>
> 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]
>
>
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