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From: lepreau@utah-cs.UUCP (Jay Lepreau)
Newsgroups: net.consumers,net.auto,net.legal
Subject: Would it pay to buy a car in Japan?
Message-ID: <2582@utah-cs.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 15-Mar-84 12:15:07 EST
Article-I.D.: utah-cs.2582
Posted: Thu Mar 15 12:15:07 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 16-Mar-84 02:16:59 EST
Lines: 22

Seems that my wife is not going to put up with driving half-dead VW bugs
much longer, now that we're no longer students, and she's got new car
fever.  The cars that are contenders are all Japanese, but I am very
reluctant to pay the outrageous prices and get the ridiculous options
they want around here.  I understand that the reason for our lousy
bargaining position is simply the import quotas.  So my question is: is
it possible to buy the car in Japan and get both a car and a
sight-seeing trip, if not a vacation, for the same bucks?  Seems that
some years ago people used to do this sort of thing with European-made
cars all the time.  The factors I can think of offhand are
legality and weird restrictions, meeting EPA requirements, warranty problems,
cost of purchase abroad, shipping costs, and possible delays.

The very strong dollar we've had lately, although it has dropped about
7% in the last couple weeks apparently, should help too.  Another
question:  when will the recent drop affect prices on the lots here?  Or
won't it affect it at all, assuming the price is reflecting demand and
artificially-low-supply, and not cost?

Thanks for your hopefully informed thoughts!

Jay Lepreau  {harpo,hplabs}!utah-cs!lepreau, lerpeau@utah-cs.arpa