Nisadas

Morris Minor, by James & Vilija

I was among many others who celebrated the possibility of a better car when the taxes were brought down. Sadly, I am now among a handful of people who’ve sold their cars for the same price they bought them (despite a couple of years’ use) and are now pondering what to buy.

With all due respect to the Indian car makers, a Maruti is not in my list of possibles. Like many other Sri Lankans in the mid-sized car category, I would prefer a Japanese car – even reconditioned – over a Maruti. Then again, the purported four month waiting list for Maruti – which is supposedly going for less than a million rupees  – means there’s plenty of demand for that as well.

I certainly can’t afford the more expensive options. There are brand new cars above the 3.5Mn mark, with the KIA Sportage running in the 4Mn range, but coming with a 4 year warranty (!)

So, that puts me in the middle – the 1Mn-3Mn crowd. The crowd that finds itself in a fix. Check out any of the local classifieds, or the oldest online car sale – Autolanka - and you will find that cars over 10 years old are still expected to sell for their original purchase value. Some for even more. I know people who’ve sold their cars for more than what they bought them for and judging by the prices being quoted online and in the Hit Ad, they’re not the only ones.

Cars with more than 100,000km on the odometer are going for prices that are much higher than I think they should. The people importing direct from Japan keep varying margins – anything between 300k-900k. I know a car that was advertised for USD 7,600 in Japan (on a site), which was quoted for LKR3.1Mn (USD30,000) – a margin of over LKR 900k(!) after taxes. I almost bought it, but couldn’t reconcile myself to paying so much over what it was worth.

I mean, how much is one of these cars actually worth? Take them to a valuer and you’ll find the Seller’s expected price on the final valuation. But that’s just crazy. Take a look at any of the japanese exporter sites – Tradecarview, Goo-Net Exchange (a terrible name, if ever read in Sinhala), RamaDbk (has local connections) – and cars that don’t qualify for import to Sri Lanka (more than 3 and a half years old) are so much cheaper. A 2004 Allion costs around USD 8k in Japan – even if you had to pay double as duty that’s USD24k, but the rates quoted in the papers for the same thing tend to be around USD 34k (minimum).

So it works out that if you’ve got access to less than 3Mn, then you’ve got to buy an old car, for the same price (or sometimes more) than what the owner paid for it. If you’re in the 2-3Mn range and actually have cash, then you can try importing a car yourself. If like me, you’re looking to make use of a car loan then you’re in trouble. A direct import has to land in the country for you to take out the loan, so you’re at the mercy of the importers and their crazy margins. Or else, if you’ve got around LKR 1.5Mn in cash, you could possibly get the vehicle imported and take out a loan to cover the difference. Again, not that kind of money available to yours truly.

So all in all, the middle class car buyer is stuck. The budget buyer benefits, while the same applies for the luxury category – for the price of a Honda Civic not so long ago, you could get an Audi

Demand has increased and I guess people must be paying these amounts, or else prices should be dropping. Add to that the news that Sri Lankan buyers drive up prices in Japanese car Auctions and a volatile exchange rate and heaven only knows where this will lead.

My only hope is that the mad rush for importing cars causes a shift in the market, where supply exceeds demand and the prices drop. Until then, I’ll be running on Tuks and the generosity of friends and family.

So today a friend and I were waiting for a friend to pick us up, when we were approached by two young ladies from a foreign country. They wanted to know how to get some place in a bus, possibly because the three wheeler guys charge too much. Reminded me of reading somewhere that during the Amazing Race in Sri Lanka, the three wheelers had charged exhorbitant rates all while on camera.

With the most popular page (uh… of course, that’s relative term, since my blog isn’t very popular) on my blog being the story of the three wheeler and the meter, I thought I might as well share the contact details of some Metered Three Wheeler taxis you may find in Sri Lanka. Indi’s got a more readable take on the Meter Tuks, which reminded me that this was still in my drafts…

These three wheelers charge a Rs. 50 call-up fee (which also includes one kilometer of travel) and Rs. 30 per kilometer thereafter, charged per every 100 meters. There is a 15% surcharge between 10pm and 5am. While waiting – whether in traffic, or parked – costs another Rs. 1.50 per minute.

I’ve also found that using a metered taxi, or at least their fare calculation is a great way of deciding the ideal fare when taking a non-metered taxi. Of course, since the non-metered taxi doesn’t get the benefit of someone calling and directing to the next fare, they’d expect a small premium as well. So for instance if I’ve paid 150 bucks to get some place in a meter taxi, I’m armed with the ideal negotiating tool – “but I went for only 150 in a meter taxi. I’ll give you 200″ (they generally ask for some more, but agree since it’s a reasonable rate). Works for me.

Link Lanka (0772 770277) apparently produces a 100% locally produced taxi meter for three wheelers. I got a flyer from them via email detailing the following Taxi services, which have proved to be a cheap way of getting about.

• Budget Taxi (also known as 3Wheel Lanka – whom I wrote about earlier) – 0772 299299 or 0712500800
• Romaka Taxi – 0112 836000, 0777 773898, 0713 836000, 0727 836000
• Fair Taxi – 0772 588588, 0777 750777
• Sanway Taxi – 0772 297003, 0777 535343, 0772 386356
• Necessary Taxi – 0773 480680
• Apple Taxi – 0775 559594 or 0775 559584

I’ve only travelled with taxis from the first three services mentioned above, so can’t really recommend the others. I’d suggest calling at least half an hour in advance to make sure you have a taxi. Understandably, peak hours will prove difficult for taxi hunting.

The process involves calling the Taxi people and asking for a taxi. Once they get down your number, the driver will call you direct. You will then need to tell them where exactly to come to, which may not be feasible for a tourist. And like Indi says, most of these guys don’t know the roads, so you need to have a good idea of where you’re going. But they’ve generally been very reasonable and polite people. Especially the former Tour Guide who drives for Romaka Taxi. I forget his name, but that one ride was full of anecdotes and advertising for Romaka.

You can also flag them down off the road, but that’s rare since they’re almost always heading to pick up a hire.

With the establishment of the Gas conversion workshop/outlet (?) in Narahenpita (next to CIMA library), there may cleaner (and possibly cheaper) metered three wheelers on the road soon.