Everybody complains about high car prices - used and new - in South Africa. John Oxley has just returned from New Zealand where he discovered cars are cheap. Why can’t it be the same here?
Imagine an MGF sports car with just 35 000 km from new, for less than R80 000. Or a Daihatsu Feroza 4×4 with 50 000 km for less than R8 000. Both in excellent condition, and complete with a two-year warranty.
  That’s the reality of buying a used car in New Zealand, where the flood gates have been opened for second hand vehicles from Japan, and almost everybody has a car which they own - or soon will.
It all comes about because the Japanese Government has a very strict car safety system which increases the cost of ownership over time.
Any car over five or six years old becomes very expensive to test and service so drivers prefer to buy new cars and put the old one up for auction.
 And many of these cars end up in New Zealand, which now has a thriving used car market.
On top of this all cars in New Zealand older than six years must have a safety check every six months; cars younger than that once a year. So you can be fairly confident your purchase is fit to drive.
However, the downside of all this is that new car dealers are finding it harder and harder to move stock. Why buy a new car when for a lot less you can get an excellent used buy?
 Source: [wheels24]