7 Reasons Why It Sucks to Be a Car Guy in Israel

Until you’ve read the headline, you probably didn’t even know there was a car scene in Israel. As a matter of fact, there is, sometimes, as I’ll explain. As probably the only Israeli CTzen (if not, hooray! Holla at me), I might as well bring my fellow car guys up to date with the situation here as a way to share knowledge and rant a bit. Who doesn’t need that every once in a while? So, let’s get started.

1. The Law

The government hates the car scene. Period. We have some of the finest roads, but the limits are low - and this comes to play with the cars themselves, too. Modding is strictly forbidden unless you get special authorization for every mod - including wheel size changing. Could you imagine asking for permission (and paying tolls at that, too) for swapping a set of wheels? Plus, sports cars are haunted by the police, and if they see an Impreza with a wind and a big exhaust, you can bet he’ll get pulled over.

2. The Prices

For some unknown reason, unclear to the smartest of economists, customs take 100% tax for every imported car. That’s right - we pay more than double - the car’s cost, the 100% tax, shipping and handling and the dealer’s commission and you end up with a price that could be up to three times on regular cars and even four and five times on sports cars and supercars. For example, a brand new BMW M3 costs around 56k GBP in the UK, while the same car costs here around 125k GBP. That’s four and a half times the price for absolutely no reason. And to add insult to injury, the gas prices are among the highest - 60% taxation doesn’t let the prices fall even with oil at a decade-low price.

3. Small Market

As I said, you probably didn’t know there was a car scene in Israel, as you probably should - the 8-million-citizens country’s car market is almost neglectable compared to nearby European countries. With new cars being so pricey, the second-hand market is thriving, reducing the import numbers even more. Such a small market has almost no interest for car manufacturers, and so some models aren’t sold at all, while some are at very low numbers with very high price tags. For example, there are, as far as I know, three Audi R8 V10’s in the entire country. Yep. That’s less then one R8 for every two and half million people. Needless to say Car Spotting is almost inexistent with numbers that low.

4. The Servicing and Maintenance

This kinda links back to the second subject, but not quite. While the prices or cars themselves are high, the DMV requires you to test your car’s driving capabilities once a year, like many countries do. Problem is, most garage owners are, to be kind, scumbags, and will try to sweep as much money possible for ridiculous reasons like “the license plate is not yellow enough”. They have the power to do so - since they can simple send you home with a stamp-free maintenance sheet and wishing you good luck on your next encounter with a cop.

5. Good Luck Modding Anything

While on the subject of auto shops, it’s worth pointing out that a majority of them are oriented towards your regular commuter and doesn’t offer modding services of any kind, even if you have the proper permissions. Even if you find a place that will swap your exhaust system, it’s probably run by cousins of that ricer kid from across the block who only learned how to do it from a friend that read those instructions in that place and surely knows what he’s doing (not). Adding turbos to a car is as rare as it gets here, and taking care of them is even harder.

6. Clueless Teens Have Taken Over the Scene

When you think about car culture, you mostly think about people with a passion and love for everything auto. These are people who respect others, are responsible and can be counted on, mostly. Not here though. Here, crazy ricer kids use up any cent they can get their hands on on getting something that looks “sporty” (90% of the time a 15-year-old Impreza with a busted door or two) and hit the gas whenever possible with the radio blasting. These guys drive double the speed limit on Dad’s Mazda 6 and make everyone who loves automobiles just look bad and be hated. If you drive on a street with a nice car, most people won’t think “oh, that guy loves cars, good for him”. Oh no, they’ll think “oh great, this guy is here to ruin everyone’s day“. That’s not the kind of attitude any community should sustain, especially the actually good, normal car lovers, who end up just giving up on the whole thing.

7. No Recognition as a Sport

Sure, there are annual rally races in the desert. And yea, there’s a motor sport association, but not everyone’s into rally or motorcross racing. In fact, the association themselves say they aren’t dealing with automotive track racing because of the legislation, which won’t change unless a serious shift in people perspective will take place. As a matter of fact, the only racing track in the entire 21 thousand square kilometer country was closed in order to transform it into an airstrip for model airplanes and drones. Yea.

Conclusion

This post may seem a bit cranky and annoyed, and well, it is. But I wrote it for a good couple of reasons - my love for automobiles and everything related, faced against the disappointment I feel with the local car community. Plus, it may help you guys feel a little better with the scene in your countries, and may start a discussion about the different approaches different governments and people have with cars and car guys.
Have something to say? Think I’m overreacting and it’s actually not that bad? Be sure to leave a comment down below letting me know.
Thanks for reading! Drive safe :)