Most cars are over 15 years old

Greece has turned into Europe's junkyard for used vehicles, as the local market has been dominated by imports of used cars and vans which other countries tend to push abroad due to their high emission rates.

It isn't that unusual for vehicle imports to turn up that have been rigged to show lower mileage and which had not been inspected as should have been the case, putting passenger safety at risk.

Over the last six years, imports of used passenger vehicles in Greece have risen almost 12-fold, as from 6,280 vehicles in 2013 the number jumped to 71,095 last year, while estimates for 2020 (before the coronavirus outbreak) point to some 80,000 imports. The picture concerning used vans is similar: Data show that imports of secondhand light commercial vehicles (LCVs) amounted to 15,413 last year, against just 7,972 new ones.

Greece has one of the oldest car fleets...