Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 11:44:16 +1000
Reply-To: Andrew Jack <andrewxp@AJ.DNSALIAS.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Andrew Jack <andrewxp@AJ.DNSALIAS.NET>
Subject: Re: Cars in Oz
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Ken,
100%+ duty used to be the norm here, back in '85 I brought a BMW in and paid
more in duty once landed than I had paid for the car from the factory in
Munich... From '86 all new cars had to be unleaded fuel only, and had to
have catalytic converters. After a few years, the goverment realised that
people could not afford new cars and modified the tax structure somewhat to
try and make the national fleet younger.
While I am not sure of the exact figures, cars under about USD25,000 are now
comparitively cheaper, whilst above that level additonal duty cuts in.
Additionally, there is a depreciation limit that makes dearer cars
unattractive to businesses. What this has resulted in is (indeed) making
the fleet younger, but it has also made so called "luxury" cars
prohibitively expensive. Whereas a top of the line BMW would have cost
USD35,000 in '85, it now costs well in excess of USD100,000. Obviously,
they are completely different cars.
I bought my '92 Syncro Transporter in '00 for about USD5,000 (required
vanagon content).
Drive away specials are rampant at around USD6,000 for a new Hyundai or
similar (Korean) with minimum equipment levels that is then worth about
USD3,000 as soon as it is off the dealers lot. Something like a Legacy
Outback will set you back around USD20,000 in usable spec (power everything,
air conditioning, etc)
New Zealand used to be a lot worse than Australia in this regard, and when I
was over there in '86 there were many '50s cars still on the road, including
the "ubiquitous" Morris Minor. The situation changed significantly when
import restrictions were relaxed, and Japanese market cars that were 5 or so
years old flooded the market for next to nothing. It was a very different
story when I was there again in '96 (mind you crank operated payphones were
in common use in '86 too, and these were nowhere to be found in '96).
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Kenneth Wilford" <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Monday, October 21, 2002 10:15 PM
> Subject: Re: some notes from counterman mag
>
>
> > If you think cars are expensive here, just think about this: A friend
> > of mine who is a missionary to Australia told me that over there any
> > car brought into the country is subject to 100% tax (yes I said 100%).
> > They say that when you buy a car you are buying one for yourself and
> > one for the government. This keeps some pretty old cars on the road
> > over there. He told me that the first van he bought over there was
> > such a piece of junk that he would have normally sent it to the scrap
> > yard here. He bought it for a little over $5000 (US) and it was
> > considered a good deal. He said that you would be amazed at some of
> > the really old cars that are still on the road, yet kept in good
> > running condition. It is just too expensive of an investment to buy
> > new. Any Australian list members, please comment.
> >
> >
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Ken Wilford
> > John 3:16
> > http://www.vanagain.com
> > Phone: 856-327-4936
> > Fax: 856-327-2242
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: jimt <westydriver@TACTICAL-BUS.INFO>
> > Date: Sunday, October 20, 2002 8:54 pm
> > Subject: some notes from counterman mag
> >
> > > look at these figures keepin in mind three things
> > > 1. sixties era buses
> > > 2. seventies era buses
> > > 3, vanagon series
> > > and how many miles some complain they never get out of engines
> > > jimt
> > >
> > > 1960 avg vehicle survived 92kmiles before scrapping
> > > 1970 - 105k
> > > 1980 - 132k
> > > 1990 - 191k
> > >
> > > 1970 15 percent of vehicles 10 yrs or older
> > > today close to 40 percent are 10 years or older
> > >
> > > 1980s 20 percent of 5 to 7 year old vehicles scrapped
> > > today only 10 percent of 12 to 13 year old vehicles are scrapped
> > >
> > > dealers service the majority of vehicles to age 5
> > >
> > > ten years ago a thousand dollar bill for a ten year old car sent
> > > it to
> > > the scrapper because it had reached its lifespan anyway.
> > > today that car is probably fixed and expected to last another 5 years
> > >
> >
>
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