Buying a car in Jamaica

[l0cke]

Here are some pictures of a similar process:

http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2009/03/16/car-with-surprise/

Could be possible, but not very safe to drive around in. :hmm:

 

[alkemyst]

In Jamaica being an island the best solution would be pulling the cars in underwater. This happens in Asia, esp theft from Japan.

These island nations aren't as patroled as the US and even if caught a few grand to the officer usually gets you on your way.

 

[amdhunter]

From what I thought, they just remove the front clip of the car, then re-assemble it. They don't literally "cut" the car in half.

 

[AMCRambler]

Well looking at the above posts, it certainly looks possible. Maybe they just remove all the body panels though. That would be simpler and leave less evidence once it was put back together.

180% of the value of a car is a lot of money. Especially if its brand new. That means you buy the car, lets say 25,000. Then you pay an import tax of 180% of it's value or $45,000!!! You're telling me people in Jamaica can afford a Ford Mustang that costs $70,000? Hehe. I'm 90% certain you can strip that car down and make it look like a salvage car and then put it back together for a hell of a lot less than $45,000.

 

[IcePickFreak]

Here are some pictures of a similar process:

http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2009/03/16/car-with-surprise/

Could be possible, but not very safe to drive around in. :hmm:

Everyone knows about a Maaco paint job, well there's some Maaco body work.

 

[Mike Gayner]

I have done a pretty thorough search and cannot find a single thing that confirms this bullshit story with respect to ANY country, let alone Jamaica. I'm amazed you believed this crap, and your mate must be laughing his ass off about it.

 

[EightySix Four]

Well looking at the above posts, it certainly looks possible. Maybe they just remove all the body panels though. That would be simpler and leave less evidence once it was put back together.

180% of the value of a car is a lot of money. Especially if its brand new. That means you buy the car, lets say 25,000. Then you pay an import tax of 180% of it's value or $45,000!!! You're telling me people in Jamaica can afford a Ford Mustang that costs $70,000? Hehe. I'm 90% certain you can strip that car down and make it look like a salvage car and then put it back together for a hell of a lot less than $45,000.

The taxes on cars in China is similar. A friend of mine wanted to buy her family a Mercedes SUV which she had purchased in the U.S. for ~$50k. We went and talked to a few dealerships and it was going to cost somewhere north of $135k after taxes.

 

[StageLeft]

There are plenty of upper class people in Jamaica to buy new cars, just like in Alabama.

No, not really.

 

[AMCRambler]

I have done a pretty thorough search and cannot find a single thing that confirms this bullshit story with respect to ANY country, let alone Jamaica. I'm amazed you believed this crap, and your mate must be laughing his ass off about it.

I'm pretty sure that if you could just Google this and find a website talking about it, the Jamaican government would have figured out the scam a long time ago. If this actually goes on, then it's kept real quiet by any car dealers in Jamaica.

All I can say for sure is that that import taxes for a car going to Jamaica certainly make this a financially viable solution. Maybe not cutting the car in half(he was probably exaggerating), but stripping it down and shipping it in pieces and classifying it as parts.

 

[Q]

The part about salvage cars being extremely cheap to ship overseas is true, though I don't know if they actually cut the car in half to achieve that state.

A guy I know buys lightly wrecked cars at auction, rebuilds and resells them. He takes picture of before and after, etc and is a very honest guy. (I've bought 3 cars from him over years, all are great). Anyway he told me that Jordanians regularly show up at the auctions and pay 1-3k over 'retail' value on these salvage cars in order to ship them to Jordan and make a nice profit.