Five to 10-year-old car imports from Asia are among the cheapest in the world, but new cars in New Zealand can be more than $20,000 more than drivers pay in the US.

Earlier this year, a retired builder in France bought a new Hyundai car, usually valued at $20,000, for just €1 (NZ$1.70).

Reuters reported he paid the heavily discounted sum for an i10 minicar as part of a package deal for buying another Hyundai car.

He essentially drove away from the showroom with two cars for the price of one, saving 25 per cent on the retail price of the two cars.

Such deals are typical of Europe's cut-price car market, where manufacturers were discounting prices by an average $5000 in May.

While New Zealand vehicle registrations have had a bumper 2013, breaking records month after month, Europe's market has been stuck in reverse.

At the other end of the global scale, consumers in Singapore need to front with $70,000 just for the right to buy a new car, to curb congestion and pollution.

Consumers in New Zealand cannot yet buy a new car for the price of a chocolate bar, but nor do they face $70,000 licence fees.

Clive Matthew-Wilson, editor of car review website dogandlemon.com, said at the top end of the market, New Zealanders were spoiled for choice, but at the bottom, life was tough.

"Ten or 15 years ago, when a cheap car failed a warrant of fitness (WOF), the owner would often simply dump it and buy a really good replacement car for under $5000.

"Now you'd often need to pay at least twice that to get a reliable second-hand car."

Japanese imports had slowed, because of the earthquake in Japan in 2011, new emissions regulations in New Zealand and increased competition.

In the first six months of this year, about 48,000 used cars were imported from Japan.

The new emissions standards were enforced from January 2012, and effectively meant most Japanese cars manufactured before 2005 could not be imported.

Matthew-Wilson said the regulation was having the opposite effect to that intended, as people could not afford to replace their "old bombs", meaning they stayed on the road for longer.

"At the bottom end of the market, prices have, in fact, increased dramatically due to a lack of cheap Japanese imports.

"A 20-year-old Toyota Corolla with a WOF often sold for about $500 a decade ago - the same vehicle now sells for $1500 to $2000."

Compared with Australia, New Zealand consumers were getting a "very good deal" on second-hand prices, but, paled against United Kingdom prices.

In Wellington, a "park and sell" car yard, called PandA, provides an area for private sellers to advertise their cars in the countdown to the conclusion of its auction on Trade Me.

Owner Graeme Farr said Japanese cars were miles cheaper in New Zealand than Australia.

There were limits on the number of Japanese imports allowed into Australia to protect the local industry, though only Holden was left after Ford announced in May this year it would close down its Australian operations.

Farr said he had recently spoken to a car agent in Japan, who said ships were very busy at the moment, bringing cars to New Zealand.

Relatively new, used Japanese cars were exported because of Japan's WOF equivalent, "shaken", which basically meant it was cheaper to buy a new car after a few years than pay the cost of meeting stringent car standards.

"It's like a 2006 car being worth $500 to us," Farr said. "Would you spend $500 to fix it up? Probably not, so that's what drives it."

He said Japanese cars newer than 2008 or 2009 models were not cheap enough to import, as margins were tight for importers.

"Put it this way, if a car cost $1, it would cost you $2501, plus GST, to land it here."

Overall, however, Farr said, used cars from Japan were quite competitively priced.

"For about five- to 10-year-old Japanese used cars we probably have some of the cheapest prices in the world."

New Zealanders were starting to see more used car imports from Europe, he said, as the car market there continued to struggle.

A private importer would pay about $3500 to import a car directly from England, he said, but dealers might pay about $2800.

"‘It's only about $1000 more to bring one from the UK despite it being a lot further away than Japan."

Imports from Britain were only about 300 a month, he said, minuscule compared to Japanese imports.

Further, the UK imports were mostly at the luxury end. "From England the average price is about $40,000 and the average price from Japan is $8000, so it gives you an idea of the type of vehicle coming in.

Farr said he believed UK imports were contributing to cheaper luxury car prices in New Zealand.

Armstrong Motor Group managing director Rick Armstrong recently said he had seen strong demand for luxury vehicles.

The strong dollar and manufacturers reducing pricing to compete with imported vehicles had helped push the price down, he said.

"What's really driven [demand] is there have been significant price reductions across the board in the luxury sector," he said.

Dogandlemon.com's Matthew-Wilson, however, said dealers still preferred Japanese cars because they were vastly more reliable.

"European cars, especially once they have left warranty, are notorious for giving expensive problems."

When it comes to buying a new car in New Zealand, however, consumers are not so blessed.

Farr said he had recently compared new car prices in New Zealand with those in America.

In some cases, New Zealand consumers would pay up to $22,000 more for a new car.

According to Hyundai's website, a new Hyundai Santa Fe was priced at about $46,500 in the United States.

A comparative model sold for $67,990 in New Zealand.

Farr said the difference could be because New Zealand was a tiny market.

"All our costs here are spread over a very few number of cars.

"You've probably got lots of dealers in New Zealand that don't do big volumes so they need to take bigger margins."

One man in California used to run a car yard which sold more cars than all of New Zealand. "They just treat them like commodities."

Matthew-Wilson suggested New Zealanders also paid more for new cars than English or Australian customers because the versions sold here often had more add-on features than cars sold overseas.

"The fact remains, however, that many new cars cost significantly more in this country compared to Australia and the UK."

BUYER IMPORTS OWN CAR FROM JAPAN

Importing a car directly from Japan saved a Wellington man about $4000.

William Findlay, 23, recently imported a 2005 Mazda Axela Sport he bought off a Japanese website for a total cost of about $8000.

He said the car had an insurable valuable of $12,000 in New Zealand, and Auto Trader's website has a comparable vehicle listed for $11,500.

Findlay, a graduate lawyer, said he began researching how to import the car himself a few months ago, after his grandfather did the same in 2005. "My philosophy was, basically, if he can do it, so can I."

He said after looking on the internet and around various dealerships domestically, he concluded he would not be "getting a great car" for $8000.

As such, he went to Google Japan's homepage and searched "quite literally" for "car exporters".

"There are some agents that do it, so you pay them a set fee and they'll import a car for you, but I just thought I'd try to do it myself."

He said there was a big difference in price between Japanese dealers, with some requiring a US$1000 (NZ$1286) deposit just to bid on the auctions.

Eventually, he found a website called BeForward, which "seemed a bit cheaper than everything else".

Findlay said he paid about $5000 in total to the Japanese company for the car, which included shipping.

His Mazda arrived in July. Overall, it took about six weeks to arrive from the day he clicked the "buy" button.

"There's a lot of hoops to jump through and there's nowhere that you can go to that outlines what those hoops are."

Other costs in getting the car to New Zealand included a fee for the shipping agent, GST, hiring a truck to deliver the car, and various vehicle checks before the car was cleared for New Zealand roads.

The 2005 car had arrived with about 100,000 kilometres on the clock and Findlay said he was very happy with his purchase.

"It's a nice modern car. I certainly wouldn't be able to afford a car like that in New Zealand."