This happens becauase the person who buys a new car sells their old one to someone else, who sells their old one to someone else, and so on down the chain.
The oldest cars from America go to other cheaper markets replacing the cars in use there.
With some exceptions, there’s going to be a point where a used car is not worth the trouble to ship it somewhere.
And Americans love their huge ass cars. I can’t see many cheaper markets wanting to use an American car, just for the fuel cost alone.
I bet the cars get trashed for scrap or parts.
Absolutely it does. If you live near the Mexican border of the US, it’s extremely common to see older cars being towed headed south, presumably to Mexico. It’s not particularly expensive to drive them down to the border.
> I bet the cars get trashed for scrap or parts.
Only the least valuable and oldest ones that other countries don’t work. That means you’re overall moving up the modernness of the fleet. Presumably with better fuel economy, lower emissions, and fewer problems.
Also to Belize and other parts of Central and South America. They don't all stop in Mexico.
Why are you assuming other cars are being replaced? Those other markets are not at saturation. What is being replaced could very well be a bicycle.
You can import used cars into India, but you'd generally be bringing them in from a left-hand drive market such as Japan, Australia or the UK. Plus, Indian law says import used cars have to be less than three years old, because India doesn't want to become a dumping ground for other countries old vehicles (which also undermines their local car manufacturing sector) [1]
[0] https://auto.hindustantimes.com/auto/cars/g20-summit-can-one...
[1] https://www.acko.com/car-guide/how-to-import-foreign-cars-to...
I'm about to purchase my first car, a Tesla! Whose vehicle will be retired by my purchase?