Today I completed my first car purchase. It has been a stressful two days for me and I am here to share my experience.
First, cars are not cheap. I don't know how to emphasize this any further. I had $3818 (2,100,000 naira) and I could not purchase a decent foreign used car--which is the best value you can get for a second hand car.
The first dealer I met yesterday who promised that his vehicle was a foreign used car turned out to be a liar. Thankfully my mechanic friend was able to spot it.
Most of the cars in the market below $4727 (2,600,000) are Nigerian used cars or accidental cars. These dealers lie about selling used foreign cars and if you do not have a good mechanic you might fall victim to their scam.
After I left the first dealer who stayed around Ikeja, I decided to look around with my dealer. The cheapest foreign car I could find was around $5454 (3,000,000 naira). I could not wrap my head around it. So I decided to visit the Lagos port at Papa where most cars come into the country.
The Apapa port wasn't any different. The best I could get for the car I wanted was $5090 (2,800,000 naira). I still couldn't believe that two million naira could not get one a foreign used car in Nigeria. I did not want to buy a Nigerian used car but I had no opinion at this point.
My mechanic and I were referred to a seller at another location who wanted to sell his 2009 Camry. It seemed like a good buy at first and I almost paid for the car but my mechanic spotted issues with the car's brake. Plus, it had so many dents.
We decided to go back to one of the dealers to purchase a corolla we priced at $3090 (1,700,000 naira). I did not like it but it seemed like the best deal. On our way to the dealer shop my mechanic spotted another dealer. He decided to check and then we saw the car I purchased
I purchased a lexus ES330. The car was in good condition--the best we had seen so far and was going for $3636 (2,000,000). After test running it my mechanic told me I could pay and so I did. I thought that was the end of it all but I was dead wrong.
About 30minutes after the transfer of funds the seller isn't credited. We all became panicky. At some point, the dealers thought I was a scam. But the money had left my account.
I could not leave with my car yesterday and had to sleep in a hotel. The funds reached the seller's around 10 pm, almost 6 hours after the transfer but it was too late to conclude on anything.
I woke up this morning hoping to leave with my car but encountered another challenge. The seller wasn't around to give me the change of ownership or consent letter and his agent wanted to collect his plate number which I refused.
We had a lot of back and forth and at some point I just wanted to collect my money. I was done with the stress and my mechanic was already acting up. I knew he was fighting for my own interest but he went overboard.
When the owner showed up, my mechanic insisted that we conclude our agreement at the police station. I was skeptical about that given how silly the Nigerian police were but followed through with it.
The police charge us $181 (100,000 naira) for a report. A report costs $3.6 (2,000 naira)--that's the standard fee. They wanted to exploit us but I was having none of it. So we went on to conclude our gentleman agreement without that.
The long and short of it all is that I have my vehicle in my possession. I haven't been able to enjoy the feeling of owning a car--my first car. Maybe later but now I am just tired and need to rest. Cheers.
