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Bolivia is awash with contraband cars from Japan

economist.com

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Re: Bolivia is awash with contraband cars from Japan

#41

Post by kragen »

snypher wrote: post #39
kragen wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bolivia isn't entirely 4000 meters up in the Andes, and two thirds of it aren't in the Andes at all; the eastern lowlands are as low as 70 meters above sea level. They have a navigable river to the Pacific (the río Paraguay); you could ship in barges full of iron ore to Puerto Suárez. It would be a longer trip than crossing the Great Lakes to River Rouge, but it wouldn't involve any costly overland shipping at all. M…

May I ask about your use of a five digit year?

Oh, it's just a bit of fun: https://blog.longnow.org/02013/12/31/long-now-years-five-dig...

Re: Bolivia is awash with contraband cars from Japan

#42

Post by oblio »

smnrchrds wrote: post #11
scythe wrote: post #9

This is a good example where import controls are obviously silly. Is Bolivia (pop 11M) going to have a domestic car industry? Does it make any sense to ship the raw materials for building a car 4000 meters up in the Andes instead of just shipping the car?

Probably not, but not because of the population. Sweden's population is smaller (10.3 million) and yet it is home to Volvo and Scania.

Yeah, but Sweden industralized a century and a half ago.

Re: Bolivia is awash with contraband cars from Japan

#44

Post by jayski »

kragen wrote: post #21
scythe wrote: post #9

This is a good example where import controls are obviously silly. Is Bolivia (pop 11M) going to have a domestic car industry? Does it make any sense to ship the raw materials for building a car 4000 meters up in the Andes instead of just shipping the car?

Bolivia isn't entirely 4000 meters up in the Andes, and two thirds of it aren't in the Andes at all; the eastern lowlands are as low as 70 meters above sea level. They have a navigable river to the Pacific (the río Paraguay); you could ship in barges full of iron ore to Puerto Suárez. It would be a longer trip than crossing the Great Lakes to River Rouge, but it wouldn't involve any costly overland shipping at all. M…

I once hitchhiked from Mexico city to Rio (had to take an airplane from Panama to Colombia).

During that trip I saw many Wonderful sights, and met many Wonderful people, but I also saw a lot of extreme poverty.

Even so, the poverty in Bolivia was worse.

They lost the war of the Pacific to Chile and Peru, which cost them valuable land and resources, and made them one of only two landlocked countries in south America (Paraguay is the other)

Re: Bolivia is awash with contraband cars from Japan

#45

Post by ehnto »

kragen wrote: post #38
spike021 wrote: post #26

I wish I had a good source, but from what I've seen firsthand (well, by following the Japanese car community and having friends in it) there's a pretty large export market for stolen cars. Either the full car is exported or people literally chop off things like front bumpers for popular cars, remove special limited parts, etc. There's probably some Japanese car website with actual numbers, but it can be unnerving whe…

Doesn't Japan also require you to junk your car after two years or pay an arm and a leg for a yearly pollution inspection? If that's true, that's probably a much bigger stream of profitably exportable cars than theft.

It's not that bad, every year you must take all cars through the Shaken ( 車検 ) process. It's exhaustive but they also help you resolve some issues at the Shaken workshop so it's not like they are antagonists unlike in some other country's roadworthiness processes. The rules aren't outrageous, and modified cars can make it through. It's certainly less strict than where I live in Australia.

There is also no requirement to junk your car, if you can't be bothered with getting a particular car through Shaken anymore, you can still sell it to someone who will.

Re: Bolivia is awash with contraband cars from Japan

#46

Post by ehnto »

bombcar wrote: post #17
vlovich123 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Answered in the article > Mechanics fix suspension wrecked by the drive over the mountains from Chile; others move steering wheels from right to left.

Moving a steering wheel seems like it would be more trouble than it’s worth, but I’ve not actually taken apart a Japanese car to see if the holes and mounting spots are all there.

You would still have to solve a lot of other issues, it's usually a huge process. You'd need to import a correct-side dashboard ensemble, a correct side drivers door card and electronics panel, sometimes move your master cylinders across, get a different sided steering rack.. etc. Wiring harness may not even match up for different sided cars. There's a lot of parts you would need, and I'm not sure what types of cars they're bringing in, but JDM parts are getting harder to find.

Re: Bolivia is awash with contraband cars from Japan

#47

Post by kragen »

ehnto wrote: post #45
kragen wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't Japan also require you to junk your car after two years or pay an arm and a leg for a yearly pollution inspection? If that's true, that's probably a much bigger stream of profitably exportable cars than theft.

It's not that bad, every year you must take all cars through the Shaken ( 車検 ) process. It's exhaustive but they also help you resolve some issues at the Shaken workshop so it's not like they are antagonists unlike in some other country's roadworthiness processes. The rules aren't outrageous, and modified cars can make it through. It's certainly less strict than where I live in Australia. There is also no requirement…

Thank you! Is there some carveout that makes sha-ken less rigorous or expensive the first couple of years, or was I just totally wrong about that? How much does it cost later on?

Re: Bolivia is awash with contraband cars from Japan

#48

Post by jacquesm »

mrtksn wrote: post #37
IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #27

Countries like bolivia, and other countries that slap very large (>50%) import duties on foreign-made cars, have a very funny side-effect. Every 4 years it seems there is a model or brand that is cool, and that every elite seems to be driving. Is that the cool new car? The "in" brand. No. The cause is simple. Its 101 economics: Import duties are usually managed on a country-by-country basis. Politicians will manage c…

That's interesting but Turkey has found a solution to the problem. Having one of the highest tax rates in the World[0], the country had to be creative, thus invented the "Special Consumption tax" or SCT , which is determined by the size of the engine and price bracket of the car. When you buy a car in Turkey, on top of the import duties(if any) a SCT is added(anywhere from %45 to %150), on top of that a VAT is added(…

Same in NL. BPM.

Re: Bolivia is awash with contraband cars from Japan

#49

Post by hoesephgerrible »

It's interesting to see the diversity/lack thereof in South American countries when it comes to availability of automobiles (Lots of classic Ford trucks functionally operational, a nice quirk of history). Perhaps population size and geography play a role, but does it really matter at all, trivial, even - at such high altitudes.

Re: Bolivia is awash with contraband cars from Japan

#50

Post by tragomaskhalos »

mrtksn wrote: post #37
IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #27

Countries like bolivia, and other countries that slap very large (>50%) import duties on foreign-made cars, have a very funny side-effect. Every 4 years it seems there is a model or brand that is cool, and that every elite seems to be driving. Is that the cool new car? The "in" brand. No. The cause is simple. Its 101 economics: Import duties are usually managed on a country-by-country basis. Politicians will manage c…

That's interesting but Turkey has found a solution to the problem. Having one of the highest tax rates in the World[0], the country had to be creative, thus invented the "Special Consumption tax" or SCT , which is determined by the size of the engine and price bracket of the car. When you buy a car in Turkey, on top of the import duties(if any) a SCT is added(anywhere from %45 to %150), on top of that a VAT is added(…

Turkey has always had creative taxation schemes - as a British holidaymaker visiting in the 90s, everyone had to pop a fiver (sterling) into a hat at passport control.
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