chiebube: Good day Nairalanders,

I believe its time i share this burden. I wanted to share it sometime last week but things cropped up and i relaxed. I feel its more that necesary to do so now.

What led to this is because (Dr Joe)fell for a victim cos he bought a very faulty car (Peugeot 307). By the way, I want to share this real life experience I had.

One Nairalander who does not reside here in Abuja saw a car i put up for sale here on Nairaland and called me. I arranged for inspection and took the car to someone he trusted here in Abuja. To the best of my knowledge, the car is very sound. No vibrations in d engine, moves very well etc.

The guy saw the car, said it was ok. We took the car to a mechanic friend of his and the mechanic certified that the car is very ok.

...Now the issue...

The wahala now started when the mechanic said we must give him some money if not he will tell the owner that the car is in a bad condition and that will discourage him from buying. After much argument, we agreed to give the mechanic N20,000. I thought it was all over, that the deal was sealed. Then the man's trusted friend started behaving funny. He said we must give both of them (him and the mechanic) N50,000. We refused totally (I and my friends). He said he will tell the man not to buy the car because the man is his IN-LAW. After much talking, we told them that we will give both of them only N30,000. Since it was business.

Now, my major concern was this: what if the car had issues. I mean real issues. Thats how this car would have been sold.

Please my advice to everyone buying a car from a far place is this: Travel and check the car yourself. If its not possible, send someone that you trust his judgment whether he collects his commission or not. But I tell you, most people you send will ask for their commission.

Pls dont mind my grammar.

Regards.

Emperoh: Very useful and insightful.

Often times, our desire to make money clouds the need for sincerity and honesty.
As a dealer, priority will continue to be that i sell cars without issues thereafter and to the glory of God, this has been the case.

I think the idea will be to set up a list of Nairaland certified vehicle inspector in most cities where people buy and sell cars. So that if a buyer likes a car, he can contact of the certified inspector, pays a little token, say N5k if the deal doesn't fly and N15k if the deal flies to the inspector.

The risk with this is that assuming the inspector certifies all ok and payment is made and issues are discovered later, he loses his position. For Abuja based resident, I can nominate Ikenna, Chiebube and my humble self. For Lagos, any credible dealer or auto savvy person can indicate interest to handle. I can also appoint my partner who is also an inspector in Lagos to stand in.

Ikenna351:

Am not sure am comfortable with this your suggestion o! I have done it for people for free. But am begining to be discouraged, especially for Nigeria used cars. I once helped someone bought a Peugeot 406 D9 Nigeria used. Weeks later after the purchase, i crawed under the car to replace oxygen sensor for the fellow, only to realise that some wires were disconnected, folded and hidden directly under the engine/gearbox. At a point, the electrical abuse started to affect the BSI unit, such that it one time lock the engine ECU and stopped it from sending ground pulse to the injectors until it was unlock with PP2000. Since then, i stopped inspecting Nigerian used cars for people. Because no matter how good one is, some abuse or issues may be hidden , considering how Nigerian clowns love abusing EFI systems.

Ikenna.