35,000$ for the basic models of small compacts (Toyota Corolla 1.6L, Ford Focus 1.6L, etc.) and about 40,000$ for better trim levels or slightly better cars (VW Golf 1.4L, Opel Astra 1.4L, etc.).
Not to mention almost 2,000$ for taxes and compulsory insurance, and a 200$ compulsory (insurance wise) anti-theft device, and you get to a ridiculously high price for a new car.
I've just seen a review for VW Jetta which costs about 16,000$. It costs 31,000$ here, after a 3,000$ discount.
And we're talking USD here, not HKD... Ridiculous!
Well, I have to buy me a new car and it has got to be with as much safety stars as possible (the girlfriend insists, can't say no to the girlfriend [unless she says "enough with these flashlights already!" ;) ] ), so I may be spending more than I thought I would.
(I really don't want to buy a used car, although it's about half the price. People here don't really take care of their cars, especially when most better cars are hi-tech companies leasing with 100,000 km after 3 years... and even less care from the drivers than with privately owned cars)
What's more insane is that the median household income here is 14,000$, while in Australia it's 27,000$ and in the US it's over 31,000$!! (PPP for 2007, Wikipedia)
You'd think we have a decent public transportation system to compensate for the high prices of vehicles (and fuel: 8.3$ per gallon), but no! It's rubbish! Train is almost nonexistent (and is now broken for the most part, with strikes filling in the gap), bus service is almost exclusively daytime only and is very infrequent to even slightly remote locations, and you really can't trust anything to be on time.
I really thought that vehicle pricing was high when I worked in Taiwan... engine displacement taxes (annual), import costs, registration fees etc.... the average car there was 20-30% more than in the US... but now I see Israel has 'em beat ...
Our friends across the pond have always had much higher per litre/per gallon costs than people in the US... but of course in Iran you can get your fuel fix for a mere $0.37 US per gallon....
How about if you compromise and get a decent motorcycle with a comfortable seat for her to ride on the back? Just remind her that relationships like life in general revolve around compromise.
Just mentioning the word "motorcycle" makes her look like I should not be surprised to find myself in the morning without an important member of my body. :)
Is it just supply and demand that drives the price up in Israel? I haven't looked lately but I'm guessing a new Corolla here is 16-18k and you can't walk a block without seeing one. This board really opens my eyes to a world I (apparently ) know little about.
There's about 80% customs tax for vehicles. Was higher (about 100%) but there was a "reform" some years ago that reduced it and gave bonuses to "greener" cars and penalizing the more poluuting ones. (no local vehicle industry to protect, that's just taxation because the government can. I never understood why they prefer older, unsafe cars that don't protect people [and we have bad roads here as well], and having national health insurance I believe this costs the country more than reducing taxation on cars. About 500 killed each year and tens of thousands injured [of a population of about 7 million] probably don't make a difference, I guess)
Also, as most of the new cars (especially Mazda, Toyota and Ford) are bought for leasing by companies, the importers raise the prices artificially above what they should be, so they can give discounts for leasing fleets.
Plus they want some profit so prices are pushed a bit up again.
That's basically how prices are double here than in most other western countries.
I many countries the tax legislations are considering a car a luxury item... some Scandinavian and North European countries have high taxes on cars. That leads to the bizarre scenarios like this: I can buy German cars cheaper in Denmark because German manufacturers have to sell them cheap to sell any, but because of EU (European Union) laws, I can buy it there without having to pay the Danish taxes and without special Danish tolls are fees (free European market). Even in the US German cars are cheaper than in Germany. But we already know that from flashlights.... don't we. Welcome to global markets ... where common sense is pretty much useless. Not that I am complaining... I really would miss my flashlights. ;-)
