Imported cars cheaper here than in Australia

By SCOTT MACLEOD transport reporter

They may be flood-damaged or rusty and have wound-back odometers - but at least they are much cheaper here than across the Tasman.

The editor of The Dog and Lemon Guide, Clive Matthew-Wilson, studied the prices of at least 6000 cars while expanding his car buyer's manual for Australia, where it is about to be sold for the first time.

He found that New Zealanders paid half as much as Australians for vehicles more than five years old.

Mr Matthew-Wilson said that the average 1995 or older car cost at least twice, and often three or four times, as much in Australia.

The most extreme example was a 1992 Nissan Skyline R32 coupe. He said it would sell for $60,000 in Australia and maybe $6000 at a big auction in Auckland.

More typically, a 1980 KE70 Toyota Corolla, valued at $800 to $1800 in Australia, would sell for one-quarter to one-third that price in New Zealand.

The reason? Australia had slapped tough restrictions on imported vehicles to protect its indigenous carmaker, Holden. New Zealand, on the other hand, was a virtual dumping-ground for cheap Japanese imports.

"All we did was wipe out 5000 jobs, and now we have extremely cheap cars," Mr Matthew-Wilson said of the open-border policy which killed our own car-assembly plants. "I can say that because I'm neutral. My cynicism crosses all political and economic boundaries."

David Russell, of the Consumers Institute, said used imports initially had two benefits for motorists - cheaper cars and the safety benefits of more modern vehicles. But safety was now less of a benefit, because the first batches of used cars shipped here were beginning to age.

Mr Matthew-Wilson said there had been a vague awareness for years that cars were cheaper here than in Australia, but the price gap had surprised him.