“I’m not a crook”. Those were the infamous words of Richard Milhouse Nixon,
ex-president of the United States at the height of the water-gate scandal.
With the way things are going in the auto section, unless you are a car dealer
named Inspired, Fhemmmy, Viperman etc, you may have to preface your sales pitch
with those words “I’m not a Crook” before anybody will do business with you.

The unpleasant experiences of a few buyers have accelerated the downward spiral
of the image of the auto section. You now frequently hear potential buyers saying
things such as “car dealers on Nairaland are touts and thieves”. Others swear they
will never give a penny to any Nairaland car dealer even at the pain of death.
Recently, I reached an agreement to pre-order a car from the US for a client. When
I asked him for a deposit, he replied “Do you think I’m a fool? I will not give you
any money until the car is at my doorstep”. Needless to say I lost that business.
This is a true story.

It is highly discouraging to note that while other countries are enjoying the ease
and convenience of internet commerce, Nigerians are left with no better alternative
than to do commerce the way it was done 50 years ago. If we had taken the steps
needed to standardize the auto section as some of us tried to do a few years ago,
there will be no good reason for any car buyer to choose Berger over Nairaland.

Though we tried and failed in our efforts to make the auto section better, it
is encouraging to see that the newer generation are coming up with their own
suggestions. Remarkably, some of their suggestions are strikingly similar to the
ones we made 2 years ago. For instance, somebody recently suggested that the auto
section be split into two. One section for discussions and the other for sales.
It is a very good idea and we have been saying that for years.

Finally, the auto section will never achieve it’s potential until buyers' confidence
in it is re-kindled. We were unable to do that in our time. Let’s see if the newer generation can.

@Inspired,

I believe your call for suggestion applies to everybody, both buyers and sellers.

Very good, You honest dealers you have to save yourself.

And also make sure we can verify the character of guys here ie the dealers. I don't want to see people like that greedy Kaymed guy here. If not, I'll also find it difficult to deal with the acclaimed genuine dealers, cos like the popular saying goes 'show me who your friends are ......' U can complete the rest

@ Inspired: I didn't mean that literarily. Am sure that if we here certify someone as trustworthy and the guy ends up a con man, we are gonna get blamed despite the fact that we may not know this person as a 'friend'. Am sure ur aware of the recent issues involving that guy. Such guys are bad for online business as the whole thing is based on trust. I buy the idea of verifying offices. I also would want people who have been found to be dubious blacklisted and if possible, expelled from here. We could create a blacklist thread and make sure these people are made known to the auto section.

Will make sure I list more....need to get back to work

Really, a lot need to be done. I can authoritatively tell you that millions if not billions is being lost because of lack of trust. Besides touting and criminality is more prevalent among our Cotonuo guys. Some of them do not know price of commodities but they will definitely quote instead of making equiries at the market first. When u finally agree at their said price and come over they will start playing their gimic.
A new list of auto dealers who will contribute 30 or 40k each so that one day, they come together in lagos, have a meeting then dispatch to wherever they have offices to see the office or point of operation of each person is not a bad idea. Try to know family members and a reasonable guarantor who will sign on his or her behalf. He or she will be known as satified car dealer and can easily be tracked if misbehaved.
Members will be trained on how to write agreement with clients (very important). If this is done, anybody coming here to say buy car or whatever without being on the satified list is not in business. By this I and many others can conviniently send money and have email agreement and wait for our order to be delivered.
Please I feel concerned.

Oh, I know Seun's deeply interested in the trajectory of this conversation.
Interesting days ahead.

Its standard procedure in Nigeria to rent a house and pay 1 to 3 years rent before moving in and paying for a car before it is on site for a test drive and so on...In USA this is not the normal way of business...normal way of business is for customer to have his money ready and the seller to have his or her product ready,while the seller makes effort to show the appeal of the offering....Internet site unseen transactions in USA are filled with security measures as in a fully traceable credit system in the country that requires all participants to register with well established identification markers such as SS numbers and other IDs which are linked to each other and birth certification and last official address and character references e.c.t. nigeria has so little of these measures and weak measures where they do exist..above all,in USA when fraud is notified,it is immediately forwarded to security measures and when it is comfirmed,there are so many well equipped agencies to tackle the matter...Nigeria is a very different story where even an effective tax collection system for business being done there -is lacking...people are able to get away with organizeing elaborate shcemes of fraud by paying off the very security measure officers placed to help....In USA its not so easy...People get away with crime in USA,but not the level of crime that would shut down the market or damage its reputation so severely....I expect that if i ship a car to Nigeria,i do so with money i already have and then i arrive there to meet whoever will buy it to see the car and drive it with me,i expect to meet face to face with the car/documentation after test drive ,before making any agreement for deposit or full payment..buyer must have money at hand and seller must have viable product on hand to call it a good deal...Even in USA ;land of hieghtened security,we rent month to month,we buy face to face..Why is Nigeria so loose in its transaction security? Also there is more risk in face to face deal in Nigeria where any high value item brought out to show and sell,is at risk of being lured into a hijacking scheme e.t.c Insurance is good in USA,law enforcement for bad auto purchase(lemon law) is good in USA.....Nigeria struggles to well handle its national government administration and that trickles down to evrybody who tries to manage/administer any business in nigeria........there is so much needed, that no one can expect to do much about it anytime soon...Slow process of development...

I have sold few cars on this forum and I have never had a single complaint from any of the customers who have bought a car from me. As a matter of fact, some of the customers have introduced me to friends and family members. Some of these customers have become friends with me.

I don't call myself a car dealer. Selling car is not my occupation, it is just a passion I developed the first time I had the opprtunity to go to car auction in U.S.

If I post a car for sale, I will give you my all to give you the utmost honesty about the car. So, I am not a crook.

For those of you who need to pre-order a car or two, I will do it by bringing the car to Nigeria without you paying exorbitant amount. All I need from you is to give me 5000 naira only to show that you are serious about the car. I promise to bring the car to Nigeria wthin 65 days.

"I AM NOT A CROOK"