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Machang i was not trying to defend people who buy as you said a toyota just because its a toyota. In other threads some ahve suggested older cars as repalcements for Axios buyers. I was just trying to point out certain features/advantages of Axio that you may not get in an older car. At the end of the day it all boils down to personnel preference.

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You do know they have a really good public tranportation system over there right????? Why would anyone want to change the meter before the car even leaves the port. Its nto as if they have buyers lining up egerly waiting till teh car is released form customs Interesting choice of words in both posts So machang what do you suggest??? only buy brandnew at twice the cost? Interesting logic you got there. Just because your car had 50k on the clock all the imported cars must have done 50k.

JAII certificate is the easiest way to confirm the mileage. About the auction papers/certificate, it is not part of the official set of documents send by the exporter to clear the car from the local customs. Plus some importers has been dealing with the same exporter for many years and trust their word. So there's no need (for the importer) to specifically ask for the auction sheet to inspect. Plus if the vehicle is not purchased through an auction then obviously there no auction paper for that car. Guess what I’m trying to say is if a car sale guy says he don't have the auction papers that necessarily doesn’t mean that he's trying to pull a fast one on you. Safest option is to take the car to agents or a mechanic to inspect the car.

machang can you list some not so tasteless cars (good idea for a new tread to kill some time?)

Very nicely summed up Siffan.

There's no such thing as permits are giving every 5 years just because the last set of permits had a none transferable clause. If the government is to issue new permits they'll target a different segment working in the public sector.

As i recall he has had it for lot longer. remmember seen him in it in 2002.

I was rather disappointed to see that none of the Axio/Allion owners came forward to defend their purchase choices. Even though I don’t own one thought of giving a shot at trying to balance the equation. On top of all the usual pluses attached to the these econo-boxes bellow are few pointers why I would buy one 1) I like the looks of Axio and Allion, both inside and outside 2) I like all the little bells and whistles it comes with i.e. multi function steering wheel, pushbutton start, intelligent key etc 3) Been a newer model/YOM/low mileage i have a fair chance of trouble free motoring for some time (compared to old high mileage alternatives) 4) It’s a newer model I have no intentions of racing fellow road uses or taking high speed corners so I don’t care much about bhp or Nm figures (I think it’s rather stupid of people to expect these from a car in this category) Just to elaborate a bit more on the point #3, unlike most of you enthusiasts in this forum not too many people enjoy getting their hand greasy over the weekend or spending endless hours at a garage. Plus it’s not easy to find a well maintained used car. It is unfortunate we are overpaying for these cars but we have no other option (just like how we are overpaying for day to day groceries) it’s neither the buyer nor sellers fault. As most of you have agreed before different people have different priorities.

Dude rememebr to bring this up when the whole gang is bashing Maruti's next time.

I don't think worlds such as 'bragain' or even 'value for moeny' exist/apply for the local car market.

Machang what's included in this serivice? just the basic filters, oils and liquid???

Still what kind of tax refund can be offered to a used car? there's no VAT or any otehr tax involved on them

No you are NOT

I don't mind having two lanes and some space for hard shoulder per side. But if the lanes are as narrow as everyone here makes them out to be, this'll be useless. I really hope this won’t be just another show piece from the chinthanaya as we badly need an upgrade to the aging infrastructure.

Oh dear another nice car off our roads. Any ideas how the owner manage to wreck it?

This is a very common practice. Waiting till the car reaches the amximum age limit before export. There's something new every day now huh. So how does thsi gona work? tax refund to the importer or the buyer???

I am all in for tax cuts but this is absurd from a business’s point of view. There's already lot of stock with importers plus there's lot on the way to SL. Government should have reduce whatever percentile as one big chunk not segmented like it is happening now or atleast they should announce any future reductions well in advanced so importers can formulate a strategy and everyone can come out winner. If the government reduce taxes say tomorrow it'll take a lot longer time for the market to absorb the reduction since there's lot of stock that was brought down under the previous tax scheme. Just shows how short sited these policy makers and their so called advisors are.

Market prices are much higher than what you have quoted. Or are you saying this is what these models 'should' sell for? in that case as i already told someone it doesn’t matter what one person think. Machang what do you say we start a campaign against the proposed new constitutional reforms as well??? Will pave the way to run for the office at Diyawanna Oya too.

For a car in SL to be leagally concider a brandnew it must be imported via the dealership. Not too sure why others can't set up dealerships in SL. There must be something like a "sole agent" clasue somewhere as Sifaan has pointed out.

Another one to add to the list is, seller do not fancy disclosing exact sales figures with strangers. I personnaly don't see anything worng with that. Are you confatable telling strangers your monthly salary detials?

Dude you have answered your own question. What you think (a single person) doesn’t matter. It is what the masses think that counts. Rumor or not, manipulation or not the mindset among most are that the taxes will be increased. So everyone wants a piece of the pie before prices go even higher. There's no price manipulation in Japan. All that is happening is local (sri lankan) importers are out bidding each other to get hold of cars in good condition. What has happened is a price war. Japs have not increased prices. It is due to the intense competition among importers that has driven the prices higher. If you ask a japanies individual who works at an auction or an export company i'm sure he's clueless on the expected/rumored future tax hikes in SL. As i have said earlier, biggest reason for price increase is due to the demand in SL not the currency devaluation. But my point is that too play a key role. Increase of JPY 250k dosen’t translates in to an increase of LKR 250k. It is much higher. Unfortunately that amount needs to be recovered from the buyer. It is this increase that you are witnessing in the market these days. Economic theories very well apply to the local market. But what you have failed to grasp is that inorder for those theories to function certain variables needs to be static. Unfortunately these variables are constantly fluctuating in SL hence for the not so trained eye it may seems like the rules are not in effect. On a slightly different note, due to the latest chit-chat in the market about a possible tax cut, most of the importers have halted/delayed their future shipments. So unless someone set these stories straight we may see a drop in supply and i'm sure you boys can figure out what'll happen next.

And for (what seems like) the 10th time i'm gona say Spot on. And for people who are wondering why the prices has gone up by 2-4 laks, crunch some numbers and you will see for yourself. For example CIF value go up by say 250k Yen, in LKR it is almost 350k (FX rate 1.38). Now for the wise asses who's gona say FX rate is 1.34 why are you using 1.38 for your calculation. 1.34 rate is what's called interbank rate. This is the rate banks buy/sell from/to each other. When an end user buy currency the rate is always slightly higher. To make thing even mroe interesting if you add bank interest (assuming money used for the import was borrowed) for 3 months it comes clsoe to 20k. See this is the problem you boys don't take into account these minor details that in the end add upto a good 100k+

Care to elaborate your comment please???? Majority of cars imported by locals are purchased via auctions. Due to the over whelming demand in SL for unreg cars importers are outbidding each other on popular makes thus driving the prices hgiher. There's no close door conspiracy involved. Since you like to talk about financial markets, it is similar to a stock in high demand. On your second comment on why doesn’t the vehicle prices go down because of a newspaper article like in the stock market. Well market reacts to a negative price of information because investors are willing to cut their losses and move on by selling their stakes. unfortunately this is not happening in the car market. How many of you including yourself is willing to sell your car bellow the market price because of PBJ's comments???????? About the economic reforms, this has been a hot topic for not years but decades now. It is not something Chinthanaya or PBJ came up with. Our tax structure (not just for automobiles) are very complicated and scattered. Plus the income tax net has way too many holes in it. For instance people who provide professional services can easily go under the radar and let’s not forget about the tax haven given to government servants. If this regime is really committed towards the reforms they should publish the framework of the new structure and a time frame. Due to the absence of this people have no option but to rely on speculations. Unfortunately when you take into account the actions of this regime (i.e. 2500 pay hike, executive PM etc) even though they make an official announcement there will be a degree of uncertainty. All in all, if taxes are to come down that'll be good for the indsutry and the buyers. But it'll take a good few months for the revised taxes to come into effect due to the sheer volume of cars up for sale these days. If there's such a proposal in the next budget it won't come into effect till end of the 1st quarter of 2011 (budget needs to be approved from the parliament in the first place after three readings, plus it’ll take couple of months for the importers to adopt the new tax scheme)

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