₦airaland Forum

One thing in this thread needs correcting because it decides the whole question.

China's domestic market is left-hand drive. Every car sold new in China is LHD, same side as Nigeria. RHD only exists there as export production for Kenya, Tanzania, Pakistan and similar. So if you are buying out of the Chinese domestic market, RHD is not the obstacle people assume it is.

The real reason a Chinese car looks expensive next to an American one is that you are comparing two different goods.

Most tokunbo coming from the US is salvage: accident, flood, theft recovery, bought at Copart or IAAI and rebuilt. That is why those numbers look so low. A clean-title, non-accident car in America is not cheap either.

Cars sold inside China are overwhelmingly clean title. A total-loss vehicle there is legally required to be scrapped, not rebuilt and resold, and inspection plus emission-standard upgrades push older cars off the road earlier. The average car sitting in a Chinese lot is younger and lower-mileage than what Europe or America exports.

So the comparison is not China expensive versus US cheap. It is a damaged car quoted against a clean one.

Parts is the honest weak point: Japanese badges are everywhere in Ladipo, Chinese domestic brands are still thin. If you are buying a Japanese badge out of China, confirm which market it was built for before assuming the parts will match.