Where are old vans being exported to?

waxon-waxoff

I was looking through some ads for vans on donedeal and some of the ads for older vans says ''suitable for export'' or similar. Last week i noticed a loader with two old Hino trucks on the N7, both were at least ten years old. So where are all the old vans and trucks going? Jap stuff seems particularly popular. Africa maybe? I suppose the old English colonies would drive RHD. Transport costs would be steep so there must be a decent margin on them.

andyseadog

old van heaven?

I don't know about vans but a lot of buses end up in the UK - most of the Dublin Bus RH/RA/RV fleet from 1990 to 1998 was sold to operators in the UK.

kildare.17hmr

there is a lad who has a truck with 40ft car transporter comes into the petrol station beside my old job, always loaded with wrecks of vans and jeeps all on their way to africa!! big business he reckoned

101sean

There was a thread about this over on 4x4, Tractors, Diggers & Plant forum a while back, certain makes of van, truck, machines etc are popular in parts of Africa and there's a thriving export market. They cram vans on trucks, fill the vans with spares etc to save transport costs.

alias no.9

Suitable for export loosely translates as hasn't a hope of passing next DOE test.

Nissan doctor

I know that g4 securicor had all their retired armored transits refurbed and sent to parts of Africa to be put back into service...

waxon-waxoff

alias no.9 wrote: »

Suitable for export loosely translates as hasn't a hope of passing next DOE test.

Good point. Opens open a new market for old wrecks that would be heading for the scrapyard otherwise.

CiniO

What about Central and Eastern Europe? (Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, etc)...

Vans costs way more over there, and considering relatively low labour cost, converting RHD to LHD is not that expensive.

u2gooner

Was on a ship in dublin port last week with work that was being loaded with old vans and jeeps, all heading to Nigeria. The delivery stickers on the windscreens said Lagos Tin Can Co.

Next time you buy a tin of beans you could be eating out of a HIace!!!!

bladebrew

u2gooner wrote: »

Was on a ship in dublin port last week with work that was being loaded with old vans and jeeps, all heading to Nigeria. The delivery stickers on the windscreens said Lagos Tin Can Co.

Next time you buy a tin of beans you could be eating out of a HIace!!!!

i think they mean here, tincan island
http://maps.google.ie/maps?hl=ga&biw=1362&bih=561&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=lagos+tin+can+company&fb=1&gl=ie&hq=tin+can+company&hnear=Lagos,+Nigeria&cid=0,0,14616576915438192361&ei=I-NFTYTeNIm5hAePgvmQAg&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CBUQnwIwAA

if you zoom in you can see hundreds off cars parked around the port!

Max_Damage

u2gooner wrote: »

Was on a ship in dublin port last week with work that was being loaded with old vans and jeeps, all heading to Nigeria. The delivery stickers on the windscreens said Lagos Tin Can Co.

Next time you buy a tin of beans you could be eating out of a HIace!!!!

Hmm, but Nigeria is a LHD country, unless they're been distributed to RHD countries in Africa from there.

hi5

All going to Africa,I was in a scrapyard saturday they had 4 Hiaces lined up all early 90's and stuffed with parts and also an 86 granada hearse:)

CJhaughey

Old Bedford TK series are in big demand for export, likewise 90;s and earlier Japanese stuff, corollas, sunnys,hiaces, Landcruisers and patrols.
High end larger engined stuff like Big Audis and Mercs/BMWs are also popular in Eastern Europe.
In Africa and Eastern Europe they like reliable motors that are easy to fix, and leave the complex and fragile stuff to us.