click2cbn: What is a Mileage? *runs away from thread*

Fhemmmy:

This business and thought me to make patience my best friend and to be so humble, cos no matter what and at the end of the day, the client is why we are in the business. . . .We have to learn not to just do what they want, but to educate some the right way.

Dereformer:

A man once asked me "what's the difference between a white man and a black man"? I said the body complexion, language,etc.

He said no It is "Conscience"

Dereformer:

A man once asked me "what's the difference between a white man and a black man"? I said the body complexion, language,etc.

He said no It is "Conscience"

ceebo1420: do you have a thread i can check ur cars and this is my mail agim_williams@yahoo.com i want a ford jeep tjat i will not be more than 1m

ukay2:




pls wchic thread should i follow to know the price of the 2006 toyota corrola...thanks.

BizBooks: In this Twitter age of 140 characters or less, most people (including myself) find it very
difficult to read long posts such as this. So if you do not have the time to read this,
here’s a summary:

1. Many Nigerian car dealers import cars with very high mileage since they are cheaper.
2. Some will not tell you that the car has very high mileage. Rather they will reduce it
drastically.
3. Do not trust the mileage of any tokunbo car you intend to buy in Nigeria. Verify the
mileage yourself via VIN check.

Here in the US, the conventional wisdom is that Nigerians don’t care about high mileage. I
have heard this from American car dealers numerous times. On one occasion, I was
negotiating price with a car dealer in New York. When I complained that the car has a very
high mileage, he asked where I was shipping it to. I replied “Nigeria” and he promptly
said: “Don’t worry. Nigerians don’t care about high mileage”. I have had similar
encounters with dealers in Chicago, Florida among others.

Now, the question is: could it be true that Nigerians don’t care about high mileage? The
answer is obviously no. Nigerians care about high mileage just as much as anybody else.
But then, how did Americans get the impression that we do not care about high mileage? The
answer lies in Nigerians that buy cars from the US for sale in Nigeria. They definitely do
not care about high mileage. In fact they seek such cars because they are much cheaper.
That’s where Americans got the impression that we do not care about high mileage.

At auctions, whenever a car with very high mileage (say 200,000 and above) comes up, the
Americans usually stand back. Nigerian dealers in attendance will then take over the
bidding especially if it is a Toyota or Honda product. I have seen Nigerian dealers buy
cars with 300,000 miles or more.

Now here comes my main reason for starting this thread. Since it has been established that
Nigerian car dealers regularly import cars with 200 or 300,000 miles, why is it that one
never sees a car for sale with 200,000 miles here and elsewhere in Nigeria? The answer is
simple. Once that car with 300,000 miles gets to Lagos, the mileage magically turns to
120,000 or less. That’s why you frequently see 1999 Toyota Camrys with 100,000 miles or
thereabout for sale in Nigeria.

The point I’m trying to make here is one I have made several times in the past. Do not
trust the mileage of any tokunbo car you see in Nigeria especially if it is an older model
car. You can only trust the mileage after you have independently done a VIN check and
verified that the stated mileage is indeed correct.

The practice of reducing the mileage on a car commonly known as odometer rollback is
illegal in the US. Doing so can land one in prison. Before selling a car to somebody, you
have to provide them with a form called Odometer Disclosure Form. On that form you will
indicate the car’s mileage and sign and swear under penalty of perjury that it is correct.
I assume that under the law, it is also illegal to roll back a car’s odometer in Nigeria.
But since that law is not enforced, nobody pays much attention to it. As a result,
odometer rollback is rampant in Nigeria.

Unfortunately, apart from running a VIN check, there is no scientific way of knowing if a
car’s odometer has been rolled back (as far as I know). A good rule of thumb is to
multiply the car’s age by 15,000 (some experts like Siena say 12,000. But let’s use 15,000
since the US is very big in land mass). So for instance to roughly estimate the mileage of
a 2000 model car, do the following:

13 (age of a 2000 model car) multiply by 15,000 = 195,000 miles (give or take a few
thousand).

Suffice it to say that this formula is not scientific. Use it as a general guide. If you
discover that the car’s mileage is much lower than the result of this formula, be cautious.

Disclosure: I also buy cars with very high mileage at auction. In fact, I have bought a
car with 180,000 miles, another with 190,000 miles and yet another with 208,000 miles.
However, I instructed my business partners back in Lagos never to reduce the mileage on my
cars. Unfortunately, I cannot guarantee that they adhere to this instruction since I am
not in Lagos. So treat every car’s mileage including mine with utmost suspicion.

Divine touch:

please what's d advantage or disadvantage of high or low mileage cars ? pls someone should educate me

Divine touch:

please what's d advantage or disadvantage of high or low mileage cars ? pls someone should educate me

JaaizTech:
I disagree, what some customers want is the truth, in fact what many customers want is just the truth, sit the guy down and tell him, in plain English, if u want XYZ this is d cost, if u want ABC, this is the cost. If you already had a honest reputation, people will believe you. Many customers whom have access to purchase cars in US, on their own, buy over 200k miles for themselves, all they do is verify the condition and take a chance on the car.

redcliff: [size=14pt]everything boils down to Nigerians living abroad who want to make money at all cost at the expense of another's. thats how wicked we are. its really sad[/size]

jaz: so how much can one get a 2005 avalon limited from US

aodey: The thing that baffles me with the whole car buying business is the failure of the Nigerian customer in doing simple research on the Internet. America is an open society with information readily available at your fingertips.
Here is my advise to car buyers. First determine what type of car you want and what equipment and features you want with it. This is something a lot of people don’t appreciate. For example the price difference between a 2013 Toyota Highlander and the Limited edition for the same car and year is over $8000. The best place to do the research is www.edmunds.com. You will see all US cars, model and prices there. Then you can check other website such as www.autotrader.com or www.cars.com to view cars for sale by dealers and owners all over the United State. Use any US zip code to do your search. This would give you an idea of what you can afford. Once you have an idea of what you want, make sure you have a few choices if your money is limited. Then contact a reputable dealer. Make sure it is someone you know or you know somebody that can vouch for him or her.
Ask the dealer/broker to give you the landing cost of the car to Lagos. Landing cost is the price of the car + his commission/profit + transportation to a US port + Shipping cost to Lagos. There might be other cost such as taxes and other fees that might have to be included also. Do the clearing your self or ask him/her to recommend a clearing agent in Lagos or for him to find out the clearing cost of the car for you. This is the actual cost of the car. Now shop around in Nigeria. See if it makes sense for you to buy the car in Nigeria or order it from the US. Remember that the whole car buying experience from America will take a minimum of 6 weeks. Average is 2 months from my experience. The whole experience is better when you have an informed buyer so do your homework 1st.