Competition, currency driving Japanese used-car prices

Rising demand in the emerging markets of Europe and Asia, com-bined with fluctuations in the currency markets, is driving up the price of pre-owned vehicles in Japan and having a direct impact on the pocket of Jamaican consumers who are in the market for second-hand cars, dealers here say.

In recent months, the price of used cars are risen by as much as 20 per cent, they say.

"We have a lot of emerging markets and they have been taking the lion's share (of the export of pre-owned cars from Japan) and are paying premium prices for the high-end vehicles," says Kenneth Shaw, the president of the Used Car Dealers Association of Jamaica.

Markets such as Russia and Dubai, said Shaw, are particularly active.

"They go for the three- or four- year-old cars and are competing directly with us," says Shaw. READ MORE...