It is a sign or progress so I WELCOME China to the first world joy and pain of private automobile transportation.
Hmm, maybe not quite yet, at least for everybody who maybe able to afford a car. Seems garnering the yuan for that brand new car is the easy part. Next is getting a license so to be able to legally drive that vehicle in any major city in itself is a daunting task.
No surprise when faced with an obstacle, there are those determined to rise to the challenge.
Imagine the frustration once all is done trying to actually drive that vehicle anywhere?
Beijing Plates Harder to Win Than Roulette Spur Loopholes: Cars
Raising the money was once the big obstacle to auto ownership in China. Now it’s getting the right license plates.
Small wonder then that resourceful motorists are finding ways around the rules. An entire industry has sprung up to help them, from services that register cars in other towns, to brokers of surplus licenses to thieves and counterfeiters of plates.
“We can’t do business without a car in such a huge city,” Beijing-based fruit importer Jason Chi said, explaining that after two years of failing at the lottery he registered his Buick Excelle for 100 yuan ($16) about an hour’s drive away in Langfang, Hebei province. Applying twice a year for permission - - with restrictions -- to drive in Beijing is a worthwhile hassle, he said. “What other choice do I have?”
China’s regional patchwork of vehicle registration rules mean loopholes big enough to drive 1.5 million cars through. That’s the estimated number of autos in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou that are registered elsewhere, according to JSC Automotive Consulting. The problem will only grow as more cities plan quotas in a country where car ownership is only about 1/14th of U.S. levels.
“Policy makers know they cannot kill the demand for cars,” said Lin Huaibin, a Shanghai-based analyst at auto researcher IHS Automotive. “If people really want to buy a vehicle, these policies won’t stand in their way.”
