Grand Theft Auto. 16 April 2012

Cars in Brazil are seriously expensive. In an effort to help the local car manufacturers, import taxes on cars can be as high as 55% of the car’s value. Add to that freight and other duties and it is easy to see how the cost of an imported car can be more than double the price we would expect to pay in the United States. Also, in an effort to protect themselves, many people here have their cars made bullet proof ("Blindado" in Portuguese, in case you need to know), which can easily add upwards of another US$ 20,000 to the price.

But, notwithstanding the expense, there are over 9,500,000 cars in the greater metropolitan area of Sao Paulo. This figure is staggering, but easy to understand when we sit in traffic jams almost every day. The public transport systems are woefully inadequate, taxis, although plentiful are quite expensive and the Metro system only covers part of the city.

So cars it is. You can see every type of car that is made on this planet driving around Sao Paulo. Even the very high end luxury sports cars have made it here, which I personally find amazing given the state of the roads. I feel as though we are going “off roading” just driving up our street. The roads in most of the suburbs are really bad. The motorways are okay in terms of surface, but that is just the motorways, not the local roads. And of course, every time it rains, the roads flood which just adds to the problem. And why would you want a convertible sports car anyway? Okay the climate is great and the idea of driving around with the roof down might sound very appealing, but given the poor quality of the air and the high chance of being held up, why would you bother?

Car theft is also very prevalent. Everyone knows someone who has been held up, usually at gun point and had their car stolen. The lucky ones just get dumped on the side of the road, having handed over keys, handbag, brief case etc. Imagine how you would feel to watch your car being driven off by thieves who have also taken your wallet, cell phone, driver’s license and left you with no means of communication or ability to get home.

The unlucky ones also get to drive to the nearest ATM and are forced at gunpoint to reveal their PIN numbers and have their bank accounts emptied before being dumped on the side of the road. One really unlucky case I heard about was of a guy being shot and who was driven around the city for such a long time that he basically bled to death.

Last week, we were driving down a road and Marcelo pointed out to me a car park that had been boarded up. It was one of those areas of waste ground that someone had had the idea of making into a car park. In order to maximize the amount of cars that could be parked; everyone left their keys with the parking attendant. It seems that about 6 men held up the attendant at gun point and pointed to 6 cars demanding the keys to each of them. They then casually got into the cars and drove off. No breaking and entering, no hot-wiring. Just driven off in broad daylight.

Opposite our house is a school, and another theft occurred when two men in a car, followed a mum from her home to the school. Just as she had parked the car and was getting bags from the back, one of the men held her up at gunpoint, left her and her child on the side of the road and drove off. This is all the more staggering because the school employs at least 6 or 7 security guards to patrol that area outside the school. The place is also covered by many Close Circuit TV monitors. The good news for her was that the car had a tracking device fitted and the car was recovered after a couple of days.

Other people aren’t so lucky. Cars are often shipped over the border into Paraguay, where they are given new plates and forged papers. Alternatively they are broken up for parts.

Another person I know had just returned home from a weekend away and had parked their car in the parking space in front of their house. The house had a gate in front but the thieves saw them unloading everything and basically put a gun through the gate and demanded they open the gate. They obviously thought they were secure in their house but the thieves thought otherwise. Let’s think about this? They could open the gate and let the thieves get away with the car, or think about trying to outwit thieves with guns. Hmm – no brianer. The car and a lot of their belongings were stolen.

There was a report of a theft that is almost too improbable to believe. In the centre of Sao Paulo there is a very high end car sales show room that sells high end sports cars such as Maserati and Ferraris. It seems that the practice was to tuck the keys to the cars above the sun visor. I guess the thief did his homework, because it was reported that someone simply walked into the showroom, sat in the car, took the keys out of their hiding place and drove off. No idea whether they got away with it but the sheer audacity to walk in and drive off seems almost unreal.

It is also hard to imagine, but car insurance is a relative luxury here. Marcelo told me the story of a friend of his who had just taken delivery of a new car and had parked outside a drug store to pick something up. Whilst inside, his car was stolen. He probably hadn’t even made the first payment, and of course no insurance.

So, I am very pleased that we manage with one car and share Marcelo. It might be an inconvenience when we both have to be at different places at the same time, but we manage, and it is a whole lot better than worrying about being held up at gunpoint and dumped on the side of the road. Our garage is underground and we have a gated entrance that is opened by the security guards that sit behind bullet proof glass. And I have learned never to be blasé about security. As far as I am concerned, the more the better and it is never an inconvenience.