"CAR_IS_MI" (car-is-mi)
01/02/2014 at 13:45 • Filed to: None
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"CAR_IS_MI" (car-is-mi)
01/02/2014 at 13:45 • Filed to: None | 4
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Lets get that changed.
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! post about the first legally imported R32 really got my gears turning. Why? Is it my love for the R32? My desire to import something that just turned 25 and is now outdated technology with the power equivalent to your average new beige appliance? Or how about my life long quest to confuse Americans by piloting a car from the "passenger seat"?
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None of the above.
My gears were turning as I slowly realized all of the cars which will slowly become legal to import to the states over the next few years. It was then, Victorious Secret who
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that our northern friends can import 15 year old vehicles now; a fact I had so casually pushed aside.
I know that, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , there was a petition going around to remove this 25 year ban and change it to 15 years. It got very few signatures. Why it failed was due in part to minimal buzz about it. It was not made well known until it was almost too late to sign.
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The 25 year ban was enacted to insure the profits of manufactures when the exchange rates were favorable to US markets. This is no longer the case. Doug DeMuro wrote a good !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! about the law and the prior petition to change this law, in where he brought up a good point that even if the petition made it, the manufacturers may just send their lobbyists to push back against the change.
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So I ask here, to one of the greatest, most diverse car communities I have come across, what ideas do you have on how we can get this silly blue law changed from 25 to 15 years?
RaymondStantz
> CAR_IS_MI
01/02/2014 at 13:53 |
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We tried ages ago. We failed. The amount of mainstream support needed just isn't there, I'm afraid.
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CAR_IS_MI
> RaymondStantz
01/02/2014 at 13:55 |
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Is that because people just don't care or is it because they are unaware?
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RaymondStantz
> CAR_IS_MI
01/02/2014 at 13:56 |
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When watching Duck Dynasty and stuffing your face with McD's are important aspects of your day, a law about importing some obscure car doesn't really matter.
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CAR_IS_MI
> RaymondStantz
01/02/2014 at 14:06 |
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But I feel like the number of people who are 'low key' auto enthusiasts would be enough if there was enough PR around it.
505Turbeaux
> CAR_IS_MI
01/02/2014 at 14:08 |
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PR = money usually. But there should be enough support for it if you really rallied the troops.
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CAR_IS_MI
> 505Turbeaux
01/02/2014 at 14:11 |
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Right, like instead of creating the petition and then telling everyone about it, tell everyone that it will be coming so the word spreads, then create it.
Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW.
> CAR_IS_MI
01/02/2014 at 14:19 |
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How about importing things as parts?
My friends here in Indonesia already been doing that for years, to pass the hefty import tax.
It's much cheaper than import those as a fully assembled car. In here, the NSX cost somewhere arround 150k. Parted out from japan, it's just 33k.
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CAR_IS_MI
> Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW.
01/02/2014 at 14:28 |
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Wouldn't be able to register it.
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RaymondStantz
> CAR_IS_MI
01/02/2014 at 15:05 |
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The issue is, we can barely pass any meaningful and widely supported legislation in this country. Think gun control, gay marriage, legalization of marijuana, and so on. Very widely supported topics, but barely any legislation making it through federally.
ihm96
> 505Turbeaux
01/02/2014 at 15:35 |
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There are some very wealthy car enthusiasts and even opponauts, although I can't blame them for not spending their own money for such a cause
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505Turbeaux
> ihm96
01/02/2014 at 15:39 |
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yeah there isnt enough momentum. If you dump even 20K into beating the system, then you in effect are paying 20K more for your whip you want to bring over (when and if you can), and then of course it will be worth less because anyone else can bring one over too. Vicious cycle
PS9
> CAR_IS_MI
01/02/2014 at 15:40 |
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National laws take national momentum to create/overturn. For the import law, it's just not there. It only really affects a handful of cars most people either a) don't know about or b) can't afford anyway. "Can't you just buy something else?" will be the standard go-to response after you explain to non-jalops what the law is and why it affects you, personally. Argument won't cause them to budge from that stance either, because they aren't going to be as passionate about that Holden Maloo CSV as you are.
And we haven't even discussed the massive amount of momentum for the law that must exist in the automotive industry for it to have happened in the first place. MB benefited the most at the time of writing, but many more manufacturers also profit in tiny ways from it. Wouldn't it be great if a RWD commodore was available for the same price as a loaded Impala? Not so much if you are/work for GM. One of the reasons Nissan was able to jack up the price of the new GT-R was because it had no internal competition from a grey market swelled with previous-gen models. I'm sure some of those Silverado buyers might opt for a Maloo if given the opportunity to choose one, and so on, and so on.
Even without corporate support, overturning this without national prolonged momentum to do so would be like trying to overturn a continental shelf by yourself. All the effort to overturn it comes exclusively from the tiny amount of people it affects, which is why said effort is still dead in the water.
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CAR_IS_MI
> PS9
01/02/2014 at 16:09 |
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The law was created decades ago when the exchange rate could have provided massive profits to an importer over the manufacturer, now, its quite the opposite, therefore I don't think the manufacturers would have too much of a push back excuse. It is also just a change in the law from 25 year limit to 15. Meaning right now the newest car you could import would be a 1999 in stead of a 1989. I realize the number of people who truly care about this is minimal, but if we generate enough buzz I think its possible.
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PS9
> CAR_IS_MI
01/02/2014 at 16:49 |
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'The exchange rate' is neither static nor universal across all currencies. It also side steps the point; since even with exchange rates, a hypothetical grey market could leave GM and others competing with their own products even more so than they already do now, which is why there is no effort amongst those in the auto industry to overturn the US market protectionism they asked the congress critters to put in play all those years ago in the first place.
Scaling back your goals for the law doesn't really mean you get to scale back the amount of effort and political momentum/capital you would need to see the changes you want to happen. It doesn't matter whether you want a full overturn or a minor modification; in both cases, you still need the relevant committee members to draft the modification and discuss the changes. Assuming it doesn't die in committee, then you need it to come to a vote on the house floor, a thing that won't happen if the speaker doesn't believe he/she has the votes to pass the legislation. If there are difficulties, you need the speaker to be willing to sacrifice valuable political capital and the nations time and energy on repeated discussions on the law, and repeated votes until success is reached.
Assuming it survives all of that , you need the exact same process with a duplicate bill in the senate, a place where bills are easy to kill. As they are structured today, the rules allow for just one senator to kill a bill. There are one hundred senators, all looking for campaign donations, all willing to hear from your neighborhood lobbyist on why MrTheEngineers' new import regulations are bad for america.
Assuming it can survive that, then you need to send the bill back to house to vote on whatever changes the senate agreed to (and there will be changes), which is another opportunity for it to stall, another opportunity for it to die on the house floor, and more political capital spent from Mr./Mrs. Speaker. Finally, you need a president who does not veto the law when it hits his desk, and failing that 2/3rds of both houses to overturn the veto if it happens.
Since you don't have any corporate momentum (read: Lobbying $$$) to...'encourage' discussion of the bill, you need national consensus among a plurality of voters - sixty million people - that the law must be changed. Also (No, that alone is not enough), you need them to be willing to put their money where there mouth is when it appears congress isn't willing to vote in the correct direction. You need people willing to sit out key elections and threaten the careers of their favorite congress critter if they don't get what they want from them.
For this stuff to happen, you need the import law to have the kind of national awareness and significance to voters it simply doesn't. You need an ocean of money to burn on a national advertising campaigns to not just raise the profile of the law, but to explain to your average prius and camry buyer why not being able to get an R33 or Lancia Delta Legally in america is important. You need to make those people care about this issue in a way they don't and aren't likely too, even with the ad campaign.
"Buzz"? Buzz is what you need when you want your new flavor of Coke zero, or your new popstar's album to sell. Laws that impact the nation at the federal level require much, much, more than that.
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CAR_IS_MI
> PS9
01/02/2014 at 17:00 |
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And you have just pointed out EVERYTHING that is wrong with the "Democratic" process of a "free" country. But I wont get into politics here other than to say the process should not be based off of money, and if people fail to see that, then they are a larger problem than the corrupt officials.
It would also appear that we have a lot of work to do if we are to get 60,000,000 people behind the cause. Lets get to work.
Saracen
> CAR_IS_MI
01/03/2014 at 03:11 |
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We need a Jalop lobbyist.
cuts_off_prius
> CAR_IS_MI
01/04/2014 at 02:02 |
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First off, let's populate this facebook group to keep things organized. Not mine, but I joined it as it was mentioned on an importing forum (JDMVIP.com).
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1561582…
Leader of the group made this site (sponsored by the owner of JDMVIP.com). I made the banner for now. Not that active atm, but he's alive lol
We also need to get in touch with the SEMA Action Network, an automotive/aftermarket lobby that actually gets stuff done. The guy who ran the group mentioned that.
https://www.facebook.com/SEMAActionNetw…
mozart
> CAR_IS_MI
04/13/2014 at 23:15 |
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http://wh.gov/lvJWG plz sign guys spread it all over the place take dis to the moon!!!
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mozart
> CAR_IS_MI
04/13/2014 at 23:15 |
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http://wh.gov/lvJWG plz sign guys spread it all over the place take dis to the moon!!!
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mozart
> CAR_IS_MI
04/13/2014 at 23:15 |
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http://wh.gov/lvJWG plz sign guys spread it all over the place take dis to the moon!!!
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mozart
> CAR_IS_MI
04/13/2014 at 23:15 |
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http://wh.gov/lvJWG plz sign guys spread it all over the place take dis to the moon!!!