₦airaland Forum

On June 26, I travelled to Lagos & proceeded to Cotonou the following day. I got to Seme about 7.00pm and SaintJoel was on hand to receive me. Immediately, we took a bike across the border and boarded a vehicle to Cotonou.

SaintJoel had already arranged two other agents in Cotonou who took us to the hotel where I lodged.

Good evening Nairalanders,

I decided to share my experience of buying a car from Cotonou with Gbenga (SaintJoel; Jelad ventures). I share this experience so that intending buyers & members can learn from my experience & avoid my mistakes. It was indeed my first time to buy a car in Cotonou.

Do you remember this thread https://www.nairaland.com/3137468/useful-advice-buying-paying-required
When I sought to know if I could buy a car in Cotonou & proceed to make Custom duty payment by myself. I recall a few people commented on it. Please read through to get the crux of the matter.

To be continued....

Please kindly check this vin:

4T4BF3EK9BR166680

Thank you.

Please kindly check this vin for me

1HGCP2F7XAA047011


Thank you so much.

Please kindly run a check on the following vin number & send to bravolad@yahoo.com

1HGCP2F7XAA047011


Thank you sir.

1. A - though grammatically incorrect.
2. A - "campaign manager of the PDP"
3. B
4. B
5. B
6. A
7. B
8. B - Her baby (daddy) has too many baggage.
9. B
10. A

Please kindly check these ones as well.

1hgcp2f15ba144103


4t1bk46k6au055104

1hgcp26818a039141


Thank you.

Please kindly check these ones as well.


5kbcp3f86ab5 01521

4t1bk46k6au055104

1hgcp26818a039141


Thank you.

vali1000:
Tnx guy's will go for the camry, not a family man yet but has always loved the car + i plan on using it for @least six yrs nd could'nt aford the belgiun. was also stigmatised with the negative perception of Nigerian used cars which promt my cosideration of the corrola. I just hope it's as relliable as the corrola and the older camry models cause that's my major concern. All my collegues who own the corrola enjoys the relliability but non could afford the muscle so the camry fans go for the 01 model which is relliable aswell. i dont hv a close friend who own the muscle so could'nt say for same.

Reliability goes with some degree of maintenance. Of course, Camry is a reliable car but a preventive maintenance will prolong the life of your car. Most Nigerians use substandard spare parts & wrong engine oil & transmission fluid at their cars and expect it to be durable. Yet some others wait until the car is broken down before attempting to fix it. Get a well maintained Camry & ensure you stick with the maintenance schedule which guarantees happy motoring.

vali1000:
Pls guys can you also advice me on purchasing either a nigerian used toyota muscle or a belgiun 03-07corrola, since they cost almost same. Am sorry for digressing tho, i like the experience of the members in the forum and would like to tap from it. pls may i know your prefrence b/w both cars. tnx.

Both cars cannot necessarily be compared; Corolla is a compact car while Toyota Camry is a family size sedan. Camry has three engine variants; 2.4, 2.5 and 3.5l V6 whereas the Corolla has 1.6. 1.8 & 2.0l engine. So you know, fuel consumption certainly can't be the same as well as cost of spare parts.

If you 've got a family, the Camry will be ideal. But comparatively, both cars are relatively cost effective to run.

Readonee35L:
sent

You are too kind. Thank you very much.

I must acknowledge that you have really saved me a huge cost on vin report.

Once again, God bless you.

Please kindly check this

4t1bf3ek1au530163

Thank you.

Readonee35L:
Is it a valid VIN? Valid vehicle identification numbers:
Have exactly 17 characters
Come from a vehicle manufactured after 1980
Do not contain letters I, O, or Q

Please, can you check this in place of the invalid vin

4t1bf3ek1au530163

Thank you.

Thanks a lot @Export1.


1HGCP2F6XCA184699

Thank you so very immensely.

Please kindly check these ones for me.

4t4bf3ek9ar030578

1hgcp26469a184528

JHMCP26708C200761

Send to bravolad@yahoo.com

Thank you.

Please check this as well.

4t4bf3ek9ar030578

1hgcp26469a184528

JHMCP26708C200761

1HGCP2F6XCA184699

Send to bravolad@yahoo.com

Thanks a lot.

@Readonee35L hope you won't get tired of this request. Until we get what we want in a vin report, we will keep requesting.

Kindly run another report on 4T1BF3EKXAU005375

Send to bravolad@yahoo.com

Thanks.

Readonee35L:
ALL SENT.
Have a nice day

You are the best man. Thank you so very immensely.

I have two golf 3 manual transmission with Ac for hirer purchase in Abuja. If you are interested, you must provide a guarantor & a minimum deposit of ₦40,000.

Sent a mail to bravolad@yahoo.com

Please check this as well. 1hgcp26449a102070 and send to bravolad@yahoo.com

Thank you.

Readonee35L:
SENT


vin sent,
But the 2nd vin is incorrect.



You're welcome bro
vin sent,
But the 2nd vin is incorrect.

incorrect vin,

incorrect

God bless you Readonee35l.

Kindly check this for me & send to bravolad@yahoo.com

1HGCP26469A033396

JTMCP26338C063382
Thank you.

Piyke:
Thanks mate. Is this route through Auchi?

Definitely yes.

GAZZUZZ:
I like this route, very familiar territory, and you get to pass through my village.

What's the name of your village? I like this route a lot.

I do Owerri to Abuja regularly but I go through Owerri to Onitsha - Onicha Ugbo - Uromi to Ewu junction to Okene to Lokoja and then Abuja. I spend less hours via this route because the roads are relatively ok. However, I have peeps who do the Enugu route but each time we take off together, I usually get to Abuja before them.

They also complain that the Enugu route is lonely. The Ajeokuta stretch of the route is very bad so you need to be careful there.

Safe trip.

aieromon:
No customs officer will waste time stopping a 16 year old vehicle.

You still need to get a licensed clearing agent as NCS will avoid dealing directly with a private individual.

Custom Officials stop all vehicles they assume have just been cleared irrespective of the age of the vehicle.

@autojoshng that's part of the major challenge. Why would an agent choose to under pay for a vehicle for which the owner has paid him in order to ensure full duty payment? NCS holds car owners responsible for any compromise arising from duty payment when indeed, it should be the other way.

As a punitive measure, NCS should implement a policy of license withdrawal from such erring agents to serve as a caution to other intending offenders rather than punish an innocent car owner who desires an honest service. In addition, such agents should be made to face the full wrath of the law.

This measure will drastically reduce fraud if not outright elimination of such.

sultaan:
Your idea is actually how the system is meant to work, but our people made a simply process impossible.

There was a pdf on customs website on the process but not sure if the site still exists I'd anyone can pull it off this process should be sticky on top of page

Thanks @Sultaan. They do not want to respond. Typical Nigerian way of life. Once people observe that you want to pay for a service by yourself without going through them, every effort will be made to frustrate it.

Waiting for your responses.

I seek information concerning purchasing a car from Cotonou and paying the required duty by myself. Is it possible for me to purchase a car & pay for the duty of the said car without going through a middleman/agent. This becomes necessary as most dealers are unscrupulous and would not pay the required duty for a car & choose other dubious means to bring the vehicle to Nigeria in order to make outrageous profit from the transaction.

Don't get me wrong, there are some sincere & genuine dealers but they are difficult to come by. Recently on Nairaland, we read stories of pre-Order deals going sour and none payment of duties by some conscienceless dealers. I have seen folks who paid some agents to deliver cars on their behalf from Cotonou but ended up regretting such decisions.

Given the above scenario, can I obtain valuation from the customs office & proceed to the bank for onward payment & in return obtain all necessary genuine documents regarding the particular vehicle from the Nigerian Customs Service. I also plan to drive the vehicle by myself to Lagos & consequently, to my destination. As part of the plan, I will to set out two weeks of my time for this purpose.

This thread aims to elicit contributions from devout & trustworthy dealers and Nairalanders who have gone this route so we can learn from them. In your response, kindly answer the following questions:

1. What are the stages of buying a car in Cotonou?
2. What are the challenges & issues to be encountered?
3. How would they be mitigated?
4. After payment of duty where can it be verified to ensure that all payments are valid?


Thank you so very immensely for your anticipated response.

Truth be told; most of the technicians claiming to understand & fix hybrid cars in Nigeria do that by trial & error. Owners of such hybrid cars spend more money than they anticipated searching for solution.

Majority of spare parts dealers don't stock hybrid spare parts. To source for their parts in Nigeria, you have to expend an enormous amount of energy to get them. Not everyone has the capacity to import spare parts. To import the parts implies that you must have other cars to use while waiting for the parts to arrive. When the parts eventually arrive, the machanic who will fix the parts will charge a leg & an arm because it's a specialised vehicle.

In the event that the inverter systems requires an overhaul, the gains in fuel will be eroded completely.

Are hybrid cars good? Yes but currently, the system in Nigeria does not support their use. I could own one as part of a fleet but not as a lone car. A few owners may have been lucky to use theirs for a few years with no hitch but once the system starts to fail, they will tell a horrifying stories of hybrid ownership.

Again, nobody has discouraged anybody from the ownership of a hybrid but you need to weigh your options against the realities of ownership of regular cars in terms of spare parts availability, technical know-how etc. Fuel consumption is not the only yardstick when purchasing a car.

saintjoel:
I'm going to ask some question,which I hope you'll also be ready to answer cos this will help us unravel the mystery.....

1. Can you please state the year of manufacture,all we can see is "camry muscle"....

2. Which border did the car come out from,did it come in through seme/idiroko and where did you meet this "custom officer",can you also write out the C-Number and A-number of the vehicle,so that checks can be ran through the NCS database cos the even the duty charges you paid is kind of confusing....

What i'll advice you to do is this,run a comprehensive VIN check on the vehicle to ascertain it's movement from America/Canada to Benin/Nigeria.

Hope you've thrown away the papers you were given in cotonou cos there's no way the dealer can accept the car back,you can't drive across the border without registering the car and once it's registered,it becomes a used car ,so if you have the cotonou papers with you,go back to the place and obtain a receipt and written document from dealer to prove that he sold the car when the original man that paid the deposit didn't show up.

After you've gotten this papers,you can walk into any court and swear and affidavit or get to produce one and present all of this to the officers at the licensing office. If all of this doesn't work out,meet the dealer and pay him to do a transfer of ownership....

It seemed the man paid a deposit and also starting the registration with the belief that he will pay the balance later but the lebanese sold the car when he didn't show up again....

Also a parting shot,always make sure you give your jobs to a licensed agent,custom officers aren't allowed to process duty papers for some reasons,they'll deduct their own share and later give agents to short-pay, while they use their connections to deliver the car but at the end of the day,if you're caught for short-payment,the officer might just be transferred to another command but you'll still pay the fine but a registered agent can be arrested/forced to make amends.... A man has his 2012 BMW X6 with customs in abeokuta because of this mistake,it was seized because the officer pay N500,000+ which is short-payment.......

How do you identify a genuine clearing agent at the border or anywhere? Especially, where everyone of them claims to do the right thing. Please share; it will help a lot of folks. Thanks.

Readonee35L:
Yes i did sir,
I checked the profile of the everyone, But the first 3 regular members to post are the eligible ones,
Do you understand sir




Keep calm sir ,
There is more around the corner. Soon

I hope those of us using IOS will get the opportunity of winning too.

This plot is not for sale, beware of swindlers.