On average, passing the MOT in Spain ranges between 40 and 50 euros. If it seems expensive to you, and even more so if you spend it every year, our country is a paradise if we compare it with Japan. There, if everything goes well, passing the MOT costs around 100,000 yen, just over 600 euros. If it goes wrong, it can greatly exceed 1,000 euros.
These cars that you see in the photo, cut and stuffed in a containerare a consequence of the draconian Japanese technical inspection. And in turn swell the used market in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which is the most prolific: it is already one of the countries that exports the most second-hand cars.
Cars in pieces with a second life thanks to the Emirates
In Japan They take the safety of the cars that circulate on their roads very seriously. It is controlled thanks to the vehicle inspection registration systemo vehicle inspection simply, which in Japanese is called shaken. All vehicles with engines of 250 cc or higher have to pass it, which includes cars and also some kei cars, the minicars so popular there.
The Japanese ITV, or shaken It is much more rigorous than the Spanish one. In fact, it is considered one of the most demanding on the planet. Every new car passes this inspection before being sold and, once registered, the first inspection is three years later. From this first MOT, passenger cars must pass it every two years. This is with private cars, because company cars must pass it every year.
The terms are shorter than here, but the big gap is in the price. Only in rates a car that passes the shaken You pay around 300 euros, to which is added the price of the revision itself. In total, on average, it is usually about 100,000 yen (about 620 euros at today’s exchange rate). That’s if it happens the first time.
If not, the repairs required (and made by the inspection body itself with its fees) must be paid for. In addition to having to once again assume the entire aforementioned cost of the inspection itself. The amount, If the defects are very serious, it can cost around 2,000 euros to change..
Thus, the Japanese usually go to workshops where they carry out a pre-ITV with the same tests but more affordable, and where they already determine if the car will pass the inspection. If not, The owners usually choose to write it off and buy a new one.. This is why it is rare for cars to be kept for more than 10 years in Japan. And in this way they boost their new market and maintain a fairly young vehicle fleet. In Spain the average age is now above 14 years.
Cars frankenstein in the epicenter of used paradise: UAE. The destiny of these Japanese cars can be twofold. Or they sell them as used and export them, a Google search is enough to find dozens of results from Japanese export sitesor they become flattened.
The second case is precisely what is featured in this video: They are chopped and sent to African countries or the Arab Emirates in containers.such as Dubai, as in the case. Depending on the condition of the car, either lThey turn you into a new car using two or three different ones, joining them. From the rest they use the parts, which go to the spare parts market either to sell there or outside their borders.
While the safety of these style rebuilt cars frankenstein It is relative, in countries with less demanding standards, they have a very good market due to their low price.
Emirates is one of the countries that imports the most second-hand cars from Japan. In July 2023 alone, used cars brought from the eastern country amounted to almost 18,000 cars. And in March 2024, in more than 22,000 models.
Although most of those rebuilt cars, or sold directly there, do not stay in the UAE: Japanese cars have right-hand drive and in this Arab state only left-hand drive models are allowed to circulate. So the vast majority export them in turn.
That has allowed United Arab Emirates becoming one of the main used exporters on the planet. And it is a quite profitable business: In 2022 they exported passenger cars worth 7,000 million dollars. The Emirates are a whole hub of second-hand cars, with infinitive fields, where the models are sold and auctioned in lotsor per unit. In Dubai there are usually more luxurious models and in others like Ajman, cheaper ones, but in worse condition.
The market for imported cars that have been deregistered in other countries is not exclusive to the Emirates and Japan. For example, Ukraine is one of the states that imports the most used cars from the US. Lately, the ones with the most market are electric ones, due to how much more expensive fuel has become. They are models that are quickly considered damaged in the North American country due to their expensive repairs. And so we find real bargains like Rivian models, with very few kilometers, for up to 20,000 euros less than they cost new.
Source: www.motorpasion.com
