Hello Nairaland family,

I had in the past imported some cars through Belgium to Lagos. For some of them I had the opportunity to have landed in Nigeria before the clearing at the port. I must say I am no longer looking forward to going through that much stress and such humongous level of bribery perpetrated by the custom officers. You literally cannot move from one office or through one gate to the next at the clearing office in Lagos without being made to pay bribe. The clearing agents here know what I speak of. And it is not 1k bribe either.
So, I will need a car soon in Nigeria and I have the option of buying directly in Europe and then shipping to Nigeria and having a clearing agent clear it, or simply buying a Tokunbo off the dealer's shop in Nigeria. For some reason I am beginning to think the second option might even be cheaper while it avoids all the stress associated with buying in Europe, shipping and clearing... This is because I think most dealers get their cars from US which appears to be a much bigger auto market than where I live, and so the Tokunbo might even be cheaper than what I will get from Europe.

I need the expert in the house to tell me what they think. Thanks.

pmoye:
Hello Nairaland family,

I had in the past imported some cars through Belgium to Lagos. For some of them I had the opportunity to have landed in Nigeria before the clearing at the port. I must say I am no longer looking forward to going through that much stress and such humongous level of bribery perpetrated by the custom officers. You literally cannot move from one office or through one gate to the next at the clearing office in Lagos without being made to pay bribe. The clearing agents here know what I speak of. And it is not 1k bribe either.
So, I will need a car soon in Nigeria and I have the option of buying directly in Europe and then shipping to Nigeria and having a clearing agent clear it, or simply buying a Tokunbo off the dealer's shop in Nigeria. For some reason I am beginning to think the second option might even be cheaper while it avoids all the stress associated with buying in Europe, shipping and clearing... This is because I think most dealers get their cars from US which appears to be a much bigger auto market than where I live, and so the Tokunbo might even be cheaper than what I will get from Europe.

I need the expert in the house to tell me what they think. Thanks.

Buy and ship.
The one you're buying here,80% chance it's a heavily accidented car which will give the user wahala sooner or later or the mileage has been rolled back.

Buy and ship yourself, but dont involve yourself in clearing process in Nigeria, just look for a fair clearing agent to do the dirty Job.

The custom deliberately made the clearing process unfriendly for the purpose of filling there own pocket with bribes, its better just get a quotation from a fair clearing agent ( they are all thieves as well) just to safe your own sanity . Bast of luck.