A (legit) car exporter told me recently —when I sold him my 24 year old Subaru that he only wanted for the engine— that really luxury cars aren’t easy to maintain without fancy diagnostic equipment, only available to registered dealers of which there aren’t that many in poorer countries in Africa and the Middle East. He volunteered that the Honda CR-V is the most stolen car here because it can still be repaired all over the world. I take his word for it, I don’t know much about cars.
$45-50K is the going price for a 3 year old Mercedes or BMW (for example) SUV. I suspect they are destined for eastern Europe, I saw plenty of such SUVs on the streets of Riga/Tallinn/etc. (many clearly from North America often with a US dealership logo still on the car).
jeather 12:05 on 2023-03-29 Permalink
I’m unconvinced that a car that costs 45-50k is generally classed as a luxury SUV. Not that those are cheap cars, but luxury?
mare 10:18 on 2023-03-30 Permalink
A (legit) car exporter told me recently —when I sold him my 24 year old Subaru that he only wanted for the engine— that really luxury cars aren’t easy to maintain without fancy diagnostic equipment, only available to registered dealers of which there aren’t that many in poorer countries in Africa and the Middle East. He volunteered that the Honda CR-V is the most stolen car here because it can still be repaired all over the world. I take his word for it, I don’t know much about cars.
thomas 11:43 on 2023-03-30 Permalink
$45-50K is the going price for a 3 year old Mercedes or BMW (for example) SUV. I suspect they are destined for eastern Europe, I saw plenty of such SUVs on the streets of Riga/Tallinn/etc. (many clearly from North America often with a US dealership logo still on the car).