Apples to oranges. Not everyone here has a garage--or even a car.
I watched a different overcrowded island go from a few cars to an abundance of cars. As a consequence, most of the people with cars now have debt. The fuel supply is inadequate, so many cars run out of fuel, and left where they stop. There is not enough parking at public places, so vehicles are just parked wherever, often blocking other vehicles. Their laws and customs have not kept pace with the technological advances. There aren't enough qualified mechanics. Parts are not available. The roads are always in disrepair. They can buy upgrades, but if a car breaks down, the car will likely never be fixed, meaning the owner often buys another car, and incurs more debt. Rather than parking meters, they have meter maids, who go around issuing parking tickets. If no parking space is available, they just stop where they are, in the middle of the road. Owners have no idea about maintenance, often failing to change or top off fluids, or replacing belts with a piece of rope with a knot. I saw one person fill up their brake master cylinder with engine oil. The roads are paved, but have no infrastructure. The pavement is just put down on the ground, over rock lumps and tree roots. In some cases, the space between trees was not wide enough, and pavement goes up the side of the tree trunk, often as much as 7 inches. No low spots in the road surface were leveled out, so finding places that are 6 inches lower is common. Did I mention that their vehicles are running bias-ply tires made decades ago? The vehicles are flimsy, without many of the safety features we expect. Leaning against the body of these vehicles will dent the body. In the last 20 years, things went from the occasional car at the gas station, to hour-long lines at the gas stations. Most vehicles run on diesel, because they couldn't get the gasoline clean enough to run the engine; the injectors and fuel filters are always clogged. When I go there, I bring some tools and parts, and just get a vehicle running, so I have something to drive. The last time I was there, I got 7 vehicles running in 1 day, just by performing basic maintenance.
Right now, they have many honda citys, proton tiaras, toyota sequoias, land cruisers, mr2s, toyota prados, etc, just laying around. I usually fix the sequoias and the prados, because there is more space in the engine compartments. Also, I can fund the repairs on one by fixing others. The most common repairs are bald/flat tires, out of gas, bad brakes, broken belts, and broken suspension parts. Most of the vehicles have fewer than 5,000 kilometers on them. I have pulled several vehicles out of creeks. That was all that was wrong, is the vehicle rolled into the creek (not put in park, or parking brake not set), and no one bothered to pull the vehicle back out. If the water didn't get into the interior, I just pull the vehicle out, and see if it still runs.
Be thankful for what you do have.
