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Alfas in France Posted by Bill Homer [Email] (#3427) [Profile/Gallery] (more from Bill Homer) on Wed, 16 May 2012 20:52:13 In Reply to: Thanks!, dref, Wed, 16 May 2012 19:33:42 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
I find it hard to believe the claim that "not very old" Alfas are only worth a few hundred Euros in France:
1. Cars in Europe are priced higher than in North America; therefore used cars have a higher residual value.
2. Europeans used to keep cars longer on average than Americans did; not sure about the current situation. Recall that Volvo used to advertise something like "the average Swede keeps a car for 18 years".
3. Alfas are more upscale than a VW, Opel, Fiat, Renault, etc. (the new ones seem to be Fiat based). I would think that they are worth more used as well.
That said, on the contrary side Europe does have tougher auto inspection rules than America, i.e. cars with rust generally fail and get junked. I also suppose that if you forget to change the timing belt (as found on most European cars) and it breaks, then the car IS junk.
Importing an Alfa:
I don't know what the rules are in Canada, but in the US you have to jump through flaming hoops to import a non-approved car, i.e. you have to have it converted to US physical specs and emissions tested by a certified lab - don't know what the current safety requirements would be. I seriously investigated bringing in a grey market Mercedes in the 1980s when the US Dollar exchange rate was sky high and I was working in Europe. This eventually did not happen for several reasons, so I picked up my first C900 instead!
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