A Rough Guide To The Sri Lankan Car Market?

[gamgenie]

Hi guys

Finally posting up here after lurking for ages.

Anyway finally thinking of buying a car after being back for a couple of years, but I'm totally confused on how things work over here.

So if anyone can give me some general advice or help answer my questions below that will be great.

1) What's the difference between unregistered and registered cars?

2) Why do some people prefer cars from the UK? (what's the whole thing with UK plates)

3) Is it better to buy privatley (papers) or from a dealer?

4) Is it likely tax on cars will be reduced in the future? (Has it ever been reduced?!?!)

5) What do you think I can get for around 2 million? (Recent, reliable small car needed)

[Saturn]

1. Unregistered means a vehicle which doesnt have a numberplate and (presumably) hasn't been driven in Sri Lanka). This could mean the car is brand new or reconditioned (used in another country a few years and imported here).

2. Not sure why people prefer UK cars... I guess people who worked there perhaps.. are given an option to bring down a car for a lower price?.. Actually many cars come from Singapore these days...

3. Yes, better to buy from papers than dealer, as when you buy from a dealer you pay extra (for the dealer's profit).

4. I don't see taxes coming down. In theory this could happen but you are more likely to be struck by lightning or discover oil in your backyard.

5. For 2 Million - lots of options. You can get a brand new indian car (maruti or Alto) for just over a million, or you can get a reconditioned japanese vehicle for under 2m

Some rough pricing examples:

- 1m - 1.3m - english no Starlet late models (EP91 etc)

- 1.3m - 2m - early model VITZ (99 - 2001 or so)?

- True you could pick up a Nissan march, but Toyota's are better

- If you look through Autolanka there are many nice vehicles.. for example there was a Glanza... for 1.6m I think.

Good luck with your car hunt

[xXx]

2) Why do some people prefer cars from the UK? (what's the whole thing with UK plates)

do they?????????

according to the Autolanka resident european car experts if you are planning to go for an european model its better not to go for a recon one

[YALA]

Try the new fiats arnd dunno hw much exactly the prices are but extremely good tiny cars specialy the punto.

[gamgenie]

Cheers guys.

Quite tempted by the Suzuki Swift (newer model) - think it's above budget though. Will check out the adverts on the site. Are the Indian Suzuki's any good or do people prefer the Jap ones? They seem so cheap compared to 2nd hand prices.

Is there a way of working out what year a vehicle is registered from the number plate? Trying to find out what the system is, but can't find anything on the net.

[milinda]

2. Not sure why people prefer UK cars... I guess people who worked there perhaps.. are given an option to bring down a car for a lower price?..

UK cars = Original right hand drive europian make ????

[leonardo]

for 2 mil you could get second hand small cars like glazas, nissan march and second hand japanese suzuki swifts.

all of these would be better alternatives to the indian suzuki swifts.

[Devinda_Z]

Try the new fiats arnd dunno hw much exactly the prices are but extremely good tiny cars specialy the punto.

Sadly the Brand New Punto is rather expensive - sells somehwere between 3.5~4 Million

The older generations however can be spotted occasionally in the news paper classified and usually have asking prices around a million or less

[Saturn]

Sadly the Brand New Punto is rather expensive - sells somehwere between 3.5~4 Million

The older generations however can be spotted occasionally in the news paper classified and usually have asking prices around a million or less

Someone woke up the dead. Dead thread, that is

Edited June 6, 2008 by Saturn

[Watchman]

Is there a way of working out what year a vehicle is registered from the number plate? Trying to find out what the system is, but can't find anything on the net.

there is no official way to link the plates to the year, but if you look at the 'book' it'll say when it was registered

[sanjeev]

according to some unoffical reports prices of the bigger cars with high cylinder capacity will come down further more,specially models older than three years.fuel economical small cars may maintain current market prices.if government going to limit vehicle imports.. prices are not going to change anymore ...because lot of people who leased there vehicles are in diifculties to pay their installments,this is i heard through some friends in leasing field if anybody in same field can confirm this

[Devinda_Z]

there is no official way to link the plates to the year, but if you look at the 'book' it'll say when it was registered

true...

although there is no scientific way to go about it you can make a rough guess on the basis of similar model cars registered within a certian period..

its a tad hard to emplain without having to give a lot of examples...

you need to take into consideration whther the car is a reconditioned import or a brand new purchase - in the case of the former , the vehicle may have a newer numberp late , but the vehicle itself could be older...

roughly you can say that cars registered in the year 1999 would be on 301- number

Post 2000 will be on G_ (English numbers)

...like that list goes on - its not an accurate measure but it is possible to tell the rough age of the vehicle

calculated assumption is what it ultimately is

[Devinda_Z]

Someone woke up the dead. Dead thread, that is

sorry

just saw an unanswered question

[Watchman]

sorry

just saw an unanswered question

i thought u had uni exams and assignments these days?

[Devinda_Z]

i thought u had uni exams and assignments these days?

yup i do

that posting rampage cost me dear!

had to pull an exhausting all nighter to get a submission in on time