limprod wrote:
> If anyone has seen Japan's junkyards you
> know how it hurts to see new model
> cars stacked on top of each other like
> dog doo 8 levels high. Maint/repair
> costs are too high to meet inspection
> standards so they junk them. It
> appeared
> to me some of the "junk" had nothing
> more than quarter panel damage while
> others had no visible exterior damage at
> all. I just don't understand.
The issue isn't maintenance and repair costs, it is the Japanese tax code.
The Japanese government applies a far higher property tax on cars older than
three years, which makes older cars prohibitively expensive (after all, how
many 3-year-old, low mileage Japanese cars need major maintenance work
done?). The tax code is designed to force people to buy new cars -- partly
to support the domestic auto industry. The policy certainly is a subsidy to
the rest of us, as we benefit from a surplus of relatively low mileage,
newer used Japan Dom. Market cars/engines, parts, etc.
But the other problem is that Japan is simply running out of room in it's
metropolitan areas. In Tokyo now, you have to PROVE you own a parking space
for a new car before you are allowed to buy one. When this rule was first
instituted, people were selling parking spaces to 2, 3, even 4 cars. Now you
have to prove you own it and it's solely for your car. They are also
building roads over rivers because it costs too much to buy the land to
build them on. Crazy.
Alex Avery, Staunton VA
SRL311-07278, '69 2000
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