Quote:
Originally Posted by Stirling
Here in Canada the differential between auction price and dealer retail on a $30,000 car might be as much as $5,000 - $8,000 but over there the differential seems much larger.
What gives?  |
I don't know the whole deal or a complete explanation, but I've been told that it is very expensive for dealers in Japan (mostly in the major cities) to have stock sitting on their lot. Space is at a premium, so my guess is that they put up huge price tags in order to try and find the right buyer at the right time and snag a big profit. You can also see these big mark-ups on Yahoo auctions.
I would guess that the general Japanese public doesn't purchase their vehicles from auction like people in Canada or the US do (when purchasing a vehicle from Japan). I could be wrong, I don't know. If we import a car we are going through a business that has access to the auction system, and they know the car is going to be exported. Maybe there are some other tax incentives and such?