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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

#51

Post by dontlaugh »

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 just like an MOT in the UK, or the periodic checks in most countries for that matter.

The car is exempt for the first few years, then gets checked yearly. Most cars pass with few, if any, repairs.

Re: Bolivia is awash with contraband cars from Japan

#52

Post by vishnugupta »

Tade0 wrote: post #33
vishnugupta wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read a story on an auto enthusiasts forum. A guy had his Tesla totaled in the US. He claimed insurance etc and disposed it off. And then out of curiosity he opened Tesla’s app and was able to follow the car all the way across the Atlantic to Czechoslovakia before the car was deregisteted.

FYI Czechoslovakia ceased to exist in 1992.

Dart, sorry. I should have said Czech Republic :-).

Re: Bolivia is awash with contraband cars from Japan

#53

Post by kragen »

dontlaugh wrote: post #51
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 just like an MOT in the UK, or the periodic checks in most countries for that matter. The car is exempt for the first few years, then gets checked yearly. Most cars pass with few, if any, repairs.

Thanks to ehnto providing the keyword, I found https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor-vehicle_inspection_(Japa.... It says:

... the system effectively represents an additional tax on used car ownership. Even owners of a perfectly maintained vehicle can expect to pay 100,000 yen (US $899) for a two-year inspection, and requirements are even stricter for vehicles over 10 years old leading to an extremely high effective tax rate. This is in contrast to vehicle tax regimes in other developed countries, where the tax or registration fee is based on the current market value of the vehicle, meaning older vehicles have a lower tax burden. ... A typical third-party shaken for a small or normal sized passenger vehicle costs between ¥100,000 (US$806) and ¥200,000 (US$1,612). [3] However, these prices often include large service fees so the cost of a self-performed "user" shaken is much lower, although exact prices are dependent on the size, weight and age of the vehicle.[4] ... Many Japanese used vehicles are exported once it is no longer cost-effective to keep them in service in Japan.

Wikipedia also has a page about the MOT in the UK. which I hadn't heard of; it says it costs £54.85 per year for cars and light vans. I don't think paying US$70 per year is "just like" paying US$600 per year.

Anyway, it confirms my inference that Japan exports a lot of used cars without them getting stolen first.

Re: Bolivia is awash with contraband cars from Japan

#54

Post by ehnto »

kragen wrote: post #47
ehnto wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

A new car only needs shaken after the first three years, which gives you a brief respite from cost and time it takes to go through the process, last I checked it was close to $500USD (which includes vehicle weight tax/insurance). In practice it also get's more expensive the longer a vehicle is on the road, because mechanic work is expensive in Japan and to continue meeting the requirements you'd end up spending money on maintenance.

I think those are the two key factors that encourage people to keep buying new vehicles, but I might be missing something!

Re: Bolivia is awash with contraband cars from Japan

#55

Post by Jenk »

tragomaskhalos wrote: post #50
mrtksn wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It was a tenner in 2011.

Re: Bolivia is awash with contraband cars from Japan

#56

Post by ycombinete »

sandworm101 wrote: post #6

The irony is that Bolivia is a hotspot for lithium production. I love the diconnect. A country to poor to effectively control the import of illegal used cars, where cops can be bought off for 100$, is producting lithium for electric vehicles sold in the richest.

This must be one of the most common ironies in the world. It’s the story of most extractive developing economies

Re: Bolivia is awash with contraband cars from Japan

#57

Post by mellavora »

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(…

Hey, that's even better than turning houses into investments, creating a house price bubble!!

Re: Bolivia is awash with contraband cars from Japan

#58

Post by throaway2818123 »

hoesephgerrible wrote: post #49

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.

Are you assuming Bolivia = South America or do you have experience in other countries? I haven't been to Bolivia, but here in Chile (and other countries I've visited in South America) your statement isn't true.

Re: Bolivia is awash with contraband cars from Japan

#59

Post by pseingatl »

el-salvador wrote: post #16
mrlonglong wrote: post #4

I thought Bolivia drives on the right? It doesn't make sense to have right hand drive cars on the roads in a country that drives on the right?

There are some places where the wheel and driving side don't match what's usually expected. Like Vladivostok, Russia, where cars drive right but due to its proximity to Japan some cars have the wheel on the right. Or the U.S. Virgin Islands, which drives left, but most cars are U.S. imports and have the wheel on the left.

Or Myanmar, but things there are changing. Previously they drove on the left as in the UK. Then a fortune teller told the dictator to change to drive on the right, but the imported cars still had the steering wheels on the right. With the penultimate government, this was starting to change. There's a new government now, so who knows?

I've driven in a Bolivian chuto. The steering wheel and pedals are moved, but everything else stays where it was manufactured. It's odd to sit in the right sea as a passenger in front of a dashboard with no steering wheel.

Re: Bolivia is awash with contraband cars from Japan

#60

Post by pseingatl »

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.

The chutos I've been in have had only the steering wheels and pedals moved, the rest of the dash stayed where it was originally manufactured.
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