The Throw Away Economy meets The Frugal Economy.

..essentially yes - labor is cheap, at least in the cash economy, as opposed to going through "official" channels..

We're not comparing apples to apples when we compare this to "Western" standards...
Hundreds of years of engrained cultural and consumer differences make our economic attitudes completely different.

For hundreds of years, the world around us lived with a relative Scarcity of goods.
Just look how a WW2 Generation person treats their possessions.
They are frugal.
Goods were bought, used, maintained, repaired, handed down and used again, until their useful life was up.
After that the goods were repurposed (clothes turn into garage rags, tractor drivetrains used to power skilifts, a new engine transplanted into car chassis, etc.).

These repurposing and underground economies are a "natural" phenomenon, and active in places like Russia, China, Peru, Bangladesh, India, Cuba of course, etc..
The Rich in those countries have or are moving to the culture of Abundance, but not the population in general.

Few people can afford official labor prices or going to a dealership, so handymen like this and demand from those who can't afford better, motivate the underground economy.
Only The Rich in those countries scrap or abandon their cars. Repair shops bring them back to life - whatever that life means for the car and the next buyer.
For instance, there is (or was) an active trade in used-up Japanese sedans being shipped from US to South America because the demand for re-juvenated old Japanse cars and pickups is so high there.

We here in the US and Europe live in a culture of Abundance - cars, food, clothing, goods of all kinds - we have everything in abundance.
We use it and throw it away the moment it isn't good enough.

Over there it is completely natural to rebuild stuff.

This Is The Way.
- Art