Occasionally in the United States you might see a new car that still has the dealer sticker on the window. Maybe some people leave it on there to impress people that they have a new car. Sometimes on a new car you also see a piece of blue plastic under the door handles. That is to protect the paint from scratches when someone with a key in hand goes to pull open the car door.
A few months ago I started noticing the blue plastic protectors on car door handles on a few cars in Phnom Penh. The first time I thought “Hmmm, a new car,” and didn’t pay much attention. But then I started seeing more and more of the blue plastic on car doors. And still more and more. Now I see them every time I go out on the street. I see at least one car with the blue protectors in every mile.
Keep watching. There will be more about this.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Car Door Protectors: Part 2There are many, many cars with the blue plastic protectors under the door handles. There are also many vans and trucks so equipped. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Car Door Protectors: Part 3About 44,000 cars are imported into Cambodia every year. 40,000 of them are secondhand cars illegally imported to avoid customs duties and taxes. That means there are very few new cars sporting the blue protective plastic stickers on their doors–and elsewhere. The stickers are just decorations, mainly just to personalize a major purchase by someone who has saved long and hard to buy a car. One car dealer noted that the cars getting the stickers are never new. At first the stickers were just under the door handles. Then they became accessory stripes and splotches of color on any part of the car, especially the front or rear bumpers. |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Car Door Protectors: Part 4When I first started taking these photos and commenting on the increasing numbers of what would be in the US “new car” stickers, I suggested that I saw maybe one a mile. Now I would say it’s more like one or two every block. They’re everywhere. And they’re gone from the original blue to just about any color of plastic sheeting. |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |