Quote:
Originally Posted by wodin
Last time I was in Yokosuka, there were a lot of three or four year old cars running around on the Naval Base. It seems that the Japanese laws regarding inspections makes it not practical to repair a car after a certain point, so the Japanese people just replace them. This causes the price of used cars to be virtually nil, and they get recycled.
BUT!!! The US status of forces agreement with Japan exempts US servicemen from having to comply with the inspections, so they can and do scoop up those relatively new used cars for a song.
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The cost of the National Inspection increases each year with the age of the car. As you say, after a certain point, it isn't financially practical to keep them. Plus, YOU have to pay to get the Junk Yard to take a car, not the other way around, so it's expensive to get rid of them too.
Japanese companies makes a lot of money shipping 5-8 year old cars and motorcycles to Third World countries. Every month or so, companies leave flyers on windshields and tucked into motorcycles offering to buy them. Just to see what was up, I called one and asked how much they would give me for my bike. Understand, at that time my bike (a BMW) would 'Blue Book' for about $5,000 and was in absolutely perfect condition. They offered me Sixty dollars...
Stitchawl