Mercedes taxis

[quattro]

An earlier question about diesel cars in the Lebanon got me thinking why do most of the poorer countries I have visited have Mercedes taxis when they are luxury cars over here and very rarely seen as taxis

[Moog]

On a recent visit to Copenhagen (not suggesting that Denmark is a poorer country) I was interested to find that almost all taxis were Mercedes. So I asked a driver who explained that taxi drivers received huge tax breaks on purchasing vehicles to use as taxis, once they have used them for a certain period, I think it was 3 years they are then able to sell them on, so it makes financial sense for them to buy a car such as a Mercedes with low depreciation and high desirability, it transpired that with the tax breaks involved it was possible to buy the car use it for the required period and sell it at a profit... makes sense to me

[quattro]

Thanks for your answer Moog itseems to make sense now I'm sure it would be worth getting one over there and shipping it after a few years

[bluenotes]

There are some more reasons. To continue the economic causes, Mercedes was famous for its reliable Diesel-engines. They practically never broke down and were good for several 100.000 miles!! Second, still economic, Mercedes was THE producer of Diesel-powered limousines - which means, the current costs per mile were low, even in a city. And third, if you pay for a car to get you e.g. to the opera, you don't want it to be a Yugo, do you? Especially not, if the price for the Yugo ist the same as th one for a Mercedes.

[simon_says]

Having spent quite a lot of time in Dundee, I was surprised to see that a large number of taxis were new Mercedes. Don't know why.