Monday, February 18, 2013

Insane Policies of Guyana --- 1


Duly informed that my old banger has reached the stage where it would be unprofitable to keep buying parts to repair it … had been half-heartedly scouting around for a replacement.

Came across the rules from the ‘70’s that cars are considered ‘luxury goods’ and as a way to limit the number of vehicles on the roads--- high import duties were imposed. England, on whose legal system our Laws are based and whose road space is limited also imposes high Road Taxes and Insurances premiums and puts the onus of responsibility for Road-worthiness on the mechanics issuing a Certificate of Fitness. – leaving the Police free to impose harsh penalties in the event of car-unroadworthiness.

So I discovered to my surprise that higher duties are imposed on vehicles less than 5 years and those 10years or less are charged much less, resulting in Guyana being inundated with reconditioned vehicles over ten years old --- mmm which bright spark thought of THAT loophole? Also, apparently until recently the oversized fuel inefficient vehicles way too big for our roads had a flat rate of import duty way below the regular vehicles. So Guyana is a dumping ground for old inefficient vehicles! But no worries as we have virgin forests belching out oxygen – never mind the illegal mining and unregulated forest harvesting!

I thought the oversized vehicles were for interior travels until a mechanic told me that the Tundras have a poor something (-suspension?) which make them unsuitable for the rough interior roads. It seems the main use is for rich parents to give their inexperienced children a big vehicle to drive – the logic being that they will incur less injuries in the event of an accident and as for the other people involved in the accident --- well sod them- that’s their problem.

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