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There is a massive export market in Africa and the middle east for vehicles from North America, Europe, Japan, Australia, certainly other places as well. Most o
by cmyr 11y ago
There is a massive export market in Africa and the middle east for vehicles from North America, Europe, Japan, Australia, certainly other places as well. Most of the importing nations have far less restrictive (or any) restrictions on things like emissions and road-worthiness, and often have highly competitive local secondary markets. New vehicles are often much more expensive then they would be in western markets as well.
Sell any low-cost used 4x4 vehicle in North America and you are likely to at least be approached by somebody intending to ship it to West Africa. East Africa is serviced by huge japanese auction sites such as beforward (http://www.beforward.jp http://www.beforward.jp).
Ford and Toyota trucks are highly valued because they're the easiest to find spare parts for. High demand and low supply pretty quickly justifies the expense of shipping over a container and (maybe) paying import duties.
What here needs to be investigated?
- michaelt 11y agoWhat here needs to be investigated? Presumably we have a trade embargo with ISIS? I'm not an expert on military strategy, but if our aim is to bomb all their equipment, we should probably investigate the possibility of not selling them replacement equipment?
- wstrange 11y agoI think the challenge is that markets in Africa are quite fluid. The car's don't get sold directly to ISIS - they get sold to a broker, who then sells them to another dealer, and so on..
- dshibarshin 11y agoEasier said than done. Even if the cars originate from within the United States, they pass through so many brokers and middle men that it will be quite a challenge to track their final destination. I would even argue that ISIS doesn't source their cars from the US. Instead they look to the United Arab Emirates, who remain the number one importer of used US car (in containers) by quite a margin. [1] [1] http://www.wcshipping.com/hubfs/D_OfferPDFs/PDF/2015_Q3_Final.pdf http://www.wcshipping.com/hubfs/D_OfferPDFs/PDF/2015_Q3_Fina...
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- beachstartup 11y agopeople will also lease cars on good credit (soon to be terrible credit, or just straight up identity theft), and just ship them out of the country illegally, for a huge lump sum of cash. when i lived in sf, i knew of (friend of a friend of a friend) foreigners who were here on visas that did this, somehow. maybe exaggerated. either way, when i lease cars i need to sign a piece of paper that says i won't ever take it out of the country, so it must be a problem.