When I got my driver's license I got my first car. My parents decided to give me a car that was already older than me and it was not older in a classic car kind of way. It was a car that had trouble running on the best of days, leaked oil, failed to start often and only had AM radio. But, I loved that car. It was big and roomy and could comfortably fit 8 of my friends and two kegs. My parents did this because they knew I might get into some minor scrapes with it which happened and because it costs a lot to insure a young driver.
Well, in Vancouver, and I am guessing these kids are from West Vancouver they have no such issues. Police just seized 13 vehicles all driven by people UNDER the age of 21. They were racing the cars on the streets. Value of the 13 cars? $2M. Yep. You read that right. Can you imagine as a teenager getting a $150K car? I can't. And if I did, I don't think I would race it down the street at 125 m.p.h. which is what these kids were doing. Oh, and because no police actually saw these kids racing, they will just get fined $196 plus the towing fee. That is great incentive to stop huh? That is probably what they paid in gas to fill up the cars after they raced.
These are the cars seized.
2007 Ferrari 599
2010 Lamborghini Gallardo
2010 Lamborghini Gallardo
2009 Lamborghini Gallardo
2009 Audi R8
2012 Nissan GT-R
2010 Nissan GT-R
2010 Nissan GT-R
2010 Maserati Turismo
2010 Maserati Turismo
2011 Mercedes SL63
2011 Mercedes SLS
2005 Aston Martin DB9
Holy crap!
ReplyDeleteI drive a 2003 Pontiac Vibe and am thrilled to have it.
WTF? Seriously? I had a 1974 Malibu Classic and was happy to get it. Two door teal blue and white. Had a big V8 Engine in it. Spoiled rotten little shits.
ReplyDeleteThis is the problem with this city. They like to proclaim how livable Vancouver is but it's not. It's full of a spoiled class of rich kids with nothing to do, while the rest of us can't even make a living wage. The income disparity here is shocking. The *median* house price is $700,000; shitty houses are still priced at over $1 million just because of the land. If you are a young person starting out, you are totally screwed unless you have wealthy parents.
ReplyDeleteOH! For fun: Crack Shack or Mansion. Can you tell the difference?
My kid is po'd I make her drive my old Ford ZX2 to college. Her room mates parents gave her room mate a 2011 Ford Mustang GT. A GT! I actually understood my kids resentment.
ReplyDelete@Miranda--Ha ha! Loved the CS vs. Mansion test. I failed.
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ReplyDeleteI'm going to go ahead and say it: Vancouver has been flooded with wealthy Asian immigrants for over 10 years now (they make up a majority of our clients here at work), and my guess is these cars belong to their progeny.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, while Vancouver housing prices are the highest in the country (average as of March 2011 was $594K), it is still the second most livable city in the world after Melbourne, Australia. I make a good wage, but then again I went to school and found a good job. It's do-able. I can't complain, or I'd move.
I remember some nitwit contestant on The Apprentice whose parents had given her a Porsche as a high school graduation present and she laughed as she related how she'd totalled it. "I'm such a bad driver, ha-ha!"
ReplyDeleteHow is it possible for real estate prices to be that astronomical in Vancouver, given the properties shown on that site? Incredible.
I grew up in Greenwich, CT and went to high school with spoiled brats like this. I was "lucky" to get my mom's old car (1984 Ford LTD Crown Vic - the same model as the ones our police dept. used for undercover cars.) Then I had to deal with a classmate who would drive his dad's Ferrari to school whenever his dad was traveling for work (which was a lot of the time.) *sigh*
ReplyDelete@Robert - there are key neighbourhoods (the British Properties, West Side, West Vancouver) that are astonishingly beautiful. I read once that West Van is the highest-earning postal code in Canada. The fact that Vancouver is surrounded by mountains and ocean on three sides means that additional building in Vancouver itself and new waterfront properties are no longer possible, so people are having to move outwards (eastward) into the suburbs if they want someplace affordable. Places in Vancouver proper are pretty coveted. You don't have to travel more than 10 min to get to a beach from most places in Vancouver, and we have three local ski mountains within half an hour. Whistler's about an hour and a half away.
ReplyDeletebtw - looking at that crackshack/mansion site, it's pretty clear that they're referring to the actual land/neighbourhoods that those "mansions" are in, not the homes themselves. I can tell from a few of those lawns that those homes are in great neighbourhoods, and if the camera panned outwards, we'd see the homes on either side are probably stunning. Land is everything here!
ReplyDeleteI got sent off to boarding school in Charlottesville,VA, which was a great educational opportunity, but a shitty social one. Nothing like being a scholarship kid rolling in with an old Volvo station wagon* when everyone is driving brand new expensive cars.
ReplyDeleteI loved that car, and I was grateful for her but it still chafed when my roommate showed up with a brand new BMW z3.
@Miranda, thank you for posting Crack Shack or Mansion---I needed that to stop bitching about C-ville housing costs.
@RQ: No wonder. Supply and demand. Sounds like you have a pretty good situation where you are, as far as recreation's concerned. And I'm sure those photos were "edited for content."
ReplyDelete@RQ, we're actually third now! It's Melbourne, Vienna, then us.
ReplyDeleteOf course, this is meaningless except to navel-gazing residents :)
Who the hell are these people?!
ReplyDeleteI got 11/16 on the crack shack test, but in Toronto it's almost the same thing.
ReplyDeletep.s Is it bad that I thought the kids with these cars must be asain?
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't mean that in a bad way. For real.
Sue Ellen - you're probably right. The money pouring in right now is in-credible and yeah, it's placing most longtime residents out of the market. The bf and I are looking to buy a 2 bedroom right now to accommodate our impending little one, and I think we're looking at North Vancouver. My bf is a bit of a snob and although I don't mind moving east into a suburb, he wants "Vancouver" on our mail ;)
ReplyDeleteHaha, I got 6 out of 16 on the crack shack vs. mansion thing. "Clearly, you fail to understand the intricacies of the Vancouver real estate market.This city is different, we are special". *LOL*
ReplyDeleteenty, what was this boat you drove? #curiosity #piqued
ReplyDeleteI got my driver's license at 16, but I had no car to drive because my family only had one car and my dad needed it for work. I still do not own a car but I can get by on public transport since I live in SF.
ReplyDeleteHell, I'm an American and I got 11 out of 16. Just lucky, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI got 14 out of 16 only because i lived in Dallas. In the Park Cities adorable little houses on small lots are bought for similar prices and then bulldozed. They're even called "Knock Downs"; people are proud to get them. The new owners then build humongous houses that hulk over the tiny footprint of the previous house.
ReplyDeleteThey are driven by young kids who's parents don't live in Canada.
ReplyDeleteThe company I work for does the inspections for these vehicles (at least a few of the ones that have been seized during this little race)they've mostly been imported from the US.
It's insane. Even if the towing fee was $20,000 these kids parents would just wire the money and continue on their merry little way.
I got my first car when I was a senior in HS, a used Honda Accord & I felt very lucky to have it. I cannot fathom getting a teen a brand new car...I just got a new car & we gave my old one to my sis so her daughter would have something to drive when she got her license. Within 2 weeks of getting her permit, she sneaks out & gets caught speeding, didn't have her permit etc. Kids that age are just so irresponsible.
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