If you think cars are expensive here, just think about this:  A friend
of mine who is a missionary to Australia told me that over there any
car brought into the country is subject to 100% tax (yes I said 100%).
They say that when you buy a car you are buying one for yourself and
one for the government.  This keeps some pretty old cars on the road
over there.  He told me that the first van he bought over there was
such a piece of junk that he would have normally sent it to the scrap
yard here.  He bought it for a little over $5000 (US) and it was
considered a good deal.  He said that you would be amazed at some of
the really old cars that are still on the road, yet kept in good
running condition.  It is just too expensive of an investment to buy
new.  Any Australian list members, please comment.

Thanks,
Ken Wilford
John 3:16
http://www.vanagain.com
Phone: 856-327-4936
Fax: 856-327-2242

----- Original Message -----
From: jimt <westydriver@TACTICAL-BUS.INFO>
Date: Sunday, October 20, 2002 8:54 pm
Subject: some notes from counterman mag

> look at these figures keepin in mind three things
> 1.  sixties era buses
> 2. seventies era buses
> 3, vanagon series
> and how many miles some complain they never get out of engines
> jimt
>
> 1960 avg vehicle survived 92kmiles before scrapping
> 1970 - 105k
> 1980 - 132k
> 1990 - 191k
>
> 1970 15 percent of vehicles 10 yrs or older
> today close to 40 percent are 10 years or older
>
> 1980s 20 percent of 5 to 7 year old vehicles scrapped
> today only 10 percent of 12 to 13 year old vehicles are scrapped
>
> dealers service the majority of vehicles to age 5
>
> ten years ago a thousand dollar bill for a ten year old car sent
> it to
> the scrapper because it had reached its lifespan anyway.
> today that car is probably fixed and expected to last another 5 years
>