Hong Kong offers supply of bargain-priced luxury cars

HONG KONG has become the focus for astute car dealers wanting to snap up a luxury bargain.

With an abundant supply of good late-model used cars, particularly those at the top end of the scale including Rolls- Royces, Mercedes, Porsches, BMWs and Jaguars, the pickings are ripe for foreign dealers.

According to the managing director of Hong Kong's European Motors, Paul Gross, the flood of cheap vehicles can be partly attributed to the uncertainty surrounding the return of the British colony to Chinese rule next year.

"Some of the cars on the market can be attributed to expats and Chinese moving away from Hong Kong in the run-up to the handover," Paul said.

"Then there are a lot who own more than one car who are reducing their ownership exposure for reasons, either real or imagined, in an uncertain period."

Paul specializes in used cars for local and overseas sale and said a late-1970s Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow could be had for as little as US$7,000.

If luxury limousines are not your style, then classic sports cars such as a late-1970s Porsche 911 could be bought for about $10,000 or a Mercedes 350SL convertible for about $7500.

Paul said dealers from around the world were moving in on the market because in some cases the cars could be sold in their home markets for as much as five times their Hong Kong value.

"There's several million dollars worth of secondhand cars being exported every month," Paul said.

"And they are making a pretty penny," he said, referring to the foreign dealers.

Even with shipping costs of up to $3,000 to the U.S., and similar for Australia and New Zealand, importers are snapping up an array of quality secondhand vehicles.

While new cars are expensive in Hong Kong, there is no set market value for cars more than a few years old, unlike in the U.S., Australia or Britain, where dealers have a recorded base price to work from.

-- Reuter