Rip-off Britain

I have mentioned before the discrepancy in price for Harleys sold in America and Britain when taking into account the current exchange rate, However, why are Japanese sports bikes so much cheaper as well?
I understand that a new Kawasaki Ninja 6R will cost £4,533.00 otr in the states when taking into account exchange rates.
I know that you have got to look at the value of the Dollar in the USA and general cost of living there, but the discrepancy does not look right imo.
Any comments from our friends 'over the pond'?

and what would a Harley set you back over there?

Meh, I dunno, it's easy to see things in isolation, yes, things are cheaper in the US, it's a bigger country and economies of scale come into play, plus as you say, with the exchange rate being what it is, you could buy the state of Nebraska with a couple of hundred quid.

However... we recently sold an old banger - a 1990 BMW 316i - think we got £300 for it. A friend in Belgium was bemoaning "rip off Belgium" and pointed out that the same car would go for about £2000 over there.

Got relatives over the pond and from what I gather, food and housing are both way cheaper relative to incomes and the like, but motors are only slightly so. Gas is obviously waaaay cheaper though.

Alot of americans don't get paid anywhere near as much as we do. They have a minimum wage of around $6, I believe (may vary from state to state, but you get the idea).

[BoltonSte]

Minimum wage is shocking, that's also to do with the service industry as it makes staff work for tips - Service is a hell of a lot better than here.
Although for a comparison it pretty much goes £1 = $1, if it costs a quid it costs a dollar, the cheapest I saw a new Harley - and this was the bog standard model in a very reputible dealer near work was $16,000. The next cheapest $26,000.

I did see a used chromed to death one for $14,000.

And no-one could understand why I never wanted one, not even like I had a Red Neck to go with it.

Ste

Why a you wanna to buy a Harley inna the firsta place. For sure. We say they harley go rounda the corners.

Our prices are usually OTR (or close to), theirs don't include tax. They're still a lot cheaper though. When I was in Canada, I was amazed at how much cheaper cars were. I inquired about bike prices at a Triumph dealer and discovered that a Speed Triple there was slightly more expensive than over here.

Yeah, consider something like the starting wage for even a responsible job like customs and immigration at an international airport is $7.50. Reckon you'd get someone prepared to work at a 'proper' job like that for £3.25 here? You'd be lucky to get a spotty oik who cannot string two words together...

I agree in the service industry, their tips system works wonders- service is vastly better than here. So much so, that for the first few weeks back here after my trip to america I actually thought waiting staff were being intentionally rude.

Better paying jobs do seem to be much better paying though. I was chatting with a chap who makes about £100K a year here (pro rata, but he has about 15 weeks off and gets £70-80K) who had been living in America the past 10 years. He reckoned he made about twice as much out there, like for like (in terms of what he could buy with his pay, not in terms of the exchange rate).

Originally Posted by The Doctor

Why a you wanna to buy a Harley inna the firsta place. For sure. We say they harley go rounda the corners.

To give to you, oh great one, so that it makes MotoGP fairer to your competitors.

For sure. Maybe forra my nexta race I take a harley anda I go backwards.