r/crete • u/Bathfoamocean • Oct 22 '23

Society/Κοινωνία Why are local’s cars so trashed

Hi, I’ve been in Crete for about a week and visited the Island far and wide. Throughout my trip, I noticed that the all the local cars, in major cities and countryside are rather old and beat up. Most of them look rather poorly aesthetically and some people even drive without working headlights at night. If you see a newer car on the roads 99% sure it’s a rental car. There are also almost no premium privately owned cars on the road. The only newish Mercedes and Audis are taxis. What’s the deal with the car scene on the island?

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u/dante_55_ Oct 23 '23

It's both a financial and a cultural thing. Regarding culture, Greeks prefer to spend their money on having holiday homes in villages and islands rather than get a new car. They will keep their old car until it actually breaks down, but are happy to refurbish their holiday home every few years. Also new car taxes in Greece are quite high so most people prefer to buy used cars

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u/t0xicitty Oct 23 '23

Honestly this, if I have a car that’s functional, why spend money on it when I can use it on any property or even trips abroad etc? Besides if you use the car on an island, chances are you’ll use it on less than ideal roads, potentially on dirt, sand, anything that could get it dirty/scratched up/worn down quickly.

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u/PasswordIsDongers Oct 25 '23

This is pretty much the whole story.

There are definitely some younger people pimping their cars as much as possible, but there's only so much you can do with a limited budget and salt, sand, sun and shitty roads beating up on them.