₦airaland Forum

mammanbawa:
C450 existed alongside c400 right from 2015 sir. This I'm very sure of
C450 was renamed c43, same with the GLE
Same engine
Same displacement and power output
I don't know about the 2019 line up for w213

There's no 2015 C 450. It was used to replace the C400 back in 2016. That was when people were arguing whether it was really an AMG or just a Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes quickly renamed it to C43 again to avoid confusion.

You can check to see if you can find a 2015 Mercedes C450 or 2016 Mercedes C400

I'm not sure what argument you're trying to make with the GLE and ML but yeah the ML was officially renamed to GLE in 2016 to be similar to all Mercedes SUV line up (GL, GLK, GLC etc except for the new electric SUV EQC)

mammanbawa:
C450 existed alongside c400 right from 2015 sir. This I'm very sure of
C450 was renamed c43, same with the GLE
Same engine
Same displacement and power output
I don't know about the 2019 line up for w213

Nah! There's no 2015 C 450. It was used to replace the C400 back in 2016. That was when people were arguing whether it was really an AMG or just a Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes quickly renamed it to C43 again to avoid confusion.

You can check anywhere to see if you can find a 2015 Mercedes C450 or 2016 Mercedes C400.

I'm not sure what argument you're trying to make with the GLE and ML but yeah the ML was officially renamed to GLE in 2016 to be similar to all Mercedes SUV line up (GL, GLK, GLC etc except for the new electric SUV EQC)

You pointed out that the main things you are looking for are convenience, reliability and class. With these, I will quickly recommend the ML as it looks more classy than the GLK. Both are very convenient cars to own but the ML obviously has more spacious interior.

On reliability, buying old used mercedes is tricky. When you buy one with issues, it costs a lot to repair and most times you may always have repeated issues. Both ML and GLK are not excluded from this.

On police harassment; I had same thought of buying something that looks more intimidating to avoid being harassed by police. This led me to buying a 2014 Mercedes GL 450. On my very first day driving the car, I was pulled over by SARS official and they asked me what kind of job a small boy like me does to afford such car. We went on this for hours before I was spared, after they received tons of calls from my lawyer and my people. Buying either the GLK or the ML can not change this.

Personally, I'd recommend buying a GLK because it is wayyyy more fuel efficient compared to the ML that gets between 17 to 24 mpg. The average 2015 GLK gets about 24 - 33 mpg and this is significant difference in fuel efficiency.

Pricewise, the GLK is also significantly cheaper as an average used clean title (never been in an accident) Mercedes 2012 GLK can go for as low as $8,000 on auction and the 2012 Mercedes-Benz ML 350 (clean title) can go for as low as $14,000. Both have low resale value in both U.S and in Nigeria.

I hope these help in your decision making.

Iogobenz:
My car is really sick.
It has become so loud and slow.
Got flogged tonight too by a 08 4runner,010 honda pilot and even a corolla driven by a woman ffs(short distance though)!
The exhaust is leaking at the neck.could this be the cause?

Loud and slow? Could be the catalytic converter. Does it act like it's going into limp mode? Like does it refuse to get up to a certain speed?

First trying using a cataclean. Pour it in the fuel tank and see if it'll improve. If it doesn't, you may need to change the catalytic converter

shortgun:
Thanks for ur comment Newcomer.
I understand the attachment people have with their cars .
I think we don't have much to debate since u agree that there are E classes that have same engine n transmission with C class.
As for the E-450 u talked about, there's also a C-450 with the same engine capacity.

The E- class is one step higher than the C- class in body and interior; this is why its more expensive but when it comes to engine power, powertrain, drivetrain and transmission, they are equals.

I also just replied someone on this C-450. It's now the C-43 AMG and not a regular merz-benz ;P.

So we can compare with the AMG lines of E-class.

mammanbawa:
I meant c450
It was a typo
The Mercedes Benz w213 has e200
I don't know who told you the 300 is the lowest trim

On the W213 I was referring to, I omitted to type the 2019 which was what I sighted my example with and also corrected myself in the response to you.

My post is on the 2019 model (you can refer back to my interior feature eg) and not older W213.

So I'm still correct.

The C450 AMG sport package was used to replace the C400 and it's now C-43 AMG and you can't use it in comparison with a regular mercedes-benz. You can only compare that to the AMG line of e-class

mammanbawa:
E300 is not the lowest trim and there's c350
Get your facts right

lol this is ridiculous. The 2019 E class has 5 trim levels. They are E 300, E 300 4MATIC, E 450 MATIC, AMG E 53, and AMG E 63 S.

The lowest in this 5 trim levels is the E300.

My comment was also for the 2019 Mercedes and there is no C350 for that.

The C350 you're referring to is from 08-2015.

Next time, before you ask someone to get his facts right, maybe you should make sure you get yours right so as not to sound ridiculous.

shortgun:
This ur post shows u know nothing about Benz cars.
E classes of the same year comes with the same engine as C class....same horsepower, same toque, sometimes even same transmission.
Just that the E class is bigger in size...which many don't even fancy.
C class even shares same engine with some Mercedes SUVs.

I'm late and new to this forum. This is very hilarious.

You are comparing the C300 with the least/base trim of the E-Class which people don't really go for?

Let's use the W213 E class for example.

The lowest trim is the E300 and yeah it has same 2.0L 4 cylinder engine and same 9 speed transmission with the C class. From the best of my knowledge, not a lot of people favour this trim. The E-450, however, have 362-hp twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 which the Merz-Benz c class doesn't have.

Engine aside, this e-class comes with more interior features including active multicontour front seats that come massage, which the c-class doesn't have.

You pointed out that the main things you are looking for are convenience, reliability and class. With these, I will quickly recommend the ML as it looks more classy than the GLK. Both are very convenient cars to own but the ML obviously has more spacious interior.

On reliability, buying old used mercedes is tricky. When you buy one with issues, it costs a lot to repair and most times you may always have repeated issues. Both ML and GLK are not excluded from this.

On police harassment; I had same thought of buying something that looks more intimidating to avoid being harassed by police. This led me to buying a 2014 Mercedes GL 450. On my very first day driving the car, I was pulled over by SARS official and they asked me what kind of job a small boy like me does to afford such car. We went on this for hours before I was spared, after they received tons of calls from my lawyer and my people. Buying either the GLK or the ML can not change this.

Personally, I'd recommend buying a GLK because it is wayyyy more fuel efficient compared to the ML that gets between 17 to 24 mpg. The average 2015 GLK gets about 24 - 33 mpg and this is significant difference in fuel efficiency.

Pricewise, the GLK is also significantly cheaper as an average used clean title (never been in an accident) Mercedes 2012 GLK can go for as low as $8,000 on auction and the 2012 Mercedes-Benz ML 350 (clean title) can go for as low as $14,000. Both have low resale value in both U.S and in Nigeria.

I hope these help in your decision making.

I'm Tochukwu Obikwere. The Founder/CEO of MAYNARD DB AUTOS LIMITED.

If you have any more question, feel free to let me know and I'll be glad to assist!

Kindly follow me on twitter www.twitter.com/valobikwere and my business page www.twitter.com/directbelgiumng

Instagram: www.instagram.com/valobikwere and business page www.instagram.com/directbelgium

Facebook: Tochukwu Valentine Obikwere and business page www.facebook.com/directbelgium

Thank you! I am thinking of the realistic frequency to which I can update the thread with lessons! Any suggestion?

Lordwheez:
Interesting..... Make I carry Mat Abeg...

Thank you! I am thinking of the realistic frequency to which I can update the thread with lessons! Any suggestion?

polimaf:
I'm following this thread

Sure I will!

paroh137:
Nice one. I hope you touch on financial implications of adopting this as a business.

I created a topic for everyone looking to learn the importation of cars from U.S

I will be creating nairaland threads on that.

You can find that first topic by clicking this link

https://www.nairaland.com/5503560/learn-how-buy-import-cars#83631952

Thank you and I will keep them coming!

Trustme2:
Good one. I am in. Waiting for updates

Hi Guys!

I started this class on a telegram group but didn't continue it due to some time related issues. I figured I should share some of the lectures here and also help interested dealers looking to go into the importation of cars!

This is the first class on this and I’m excited to have everyone one of you guys here. I truly appreciate your interest in this class and I’m very positive that this class will be very insightful.

Some of you guys here might be wondering why you should learn more about car importation. Well, it’s a very profitable industry once you’re experienced and once you have established a client base of buyers. Both are actually possible to achieve in the long run, as long as you’re consistent and don’t give up.

To shed more light on how profitable the market is; Nigeria received a total of 1,216,131 used and new vehicles that were imported into the country between 2012 to 2017, bringing us to an average of 243,226 cars yearly , I don’t have the data for 2018 yet. However, in financial amount, it is believed that about $8 Billion worth of cars are imported yearly.

Contrary to popular opinion , because I’ve heard a lot of people say they need millions of naira to start auto importation (cars or parts), Another good thing you’d learn from this group is that within a short time you’d see how to start with as low as 500k and be a major auto importer in a few short years! Sounds impossible yeah ? Oh well please stay tuned . ��

Today, I will be going through the overview of the course. Simply introducing the processes of importing cars. Each new week, we will talk in detail on each of the processes. This course will also share personal stories / experiences to give more insight on why most of the things I’ll talk about is important.

PROPER REGISTRATION AND SETUP
Okay so I’d be sharing this personal experience of mine moving back to April 2018, I had finished the clearance of 2014 Mercedes-Benz GL 450 and I was inside the car and waiting for the vulcanizer to put in air on my car tyres. While I was there, a mobile policeman in mufti came and knocked at the window of my car and I rolled down to know what he wanted. He asked me for my drivers license and car papers which I showed him. He complained that the car wasn’t registered and I told him that it was still a brand new car in transit to the car lot where it will be sold. Being a crooked policeman looking for a way to extort me, he demanded that I should provide paperworks to show that I’m a registered auto dealer. Soon, I got to know that they were SARS officials and that they were ready to waste my time and extort me. They kept telling me how I had committed offence by trading a car without being a licensed auto dealer. The whole scenario was annoying and was a complete waste of my time. I quickly learned a lot from it.

While doing business in Nigeria, you have to be properly armed to the teeth. Everyone and everything will be working against you and people will be looking for loopholes to use to beat your system and take advantage of you. You can’t let your CAC registration or any local government fee or any document be what they can use to extort you. In this course, we will elaborate more on all forms of registration you need to take care of.

SEARCHING FOR AUTOMOBILES
Once you’re fully set up and ready to start the business, you have to start searching for the cars or junk cars you intend to dismantle. This depends on what your focus is; this can be either dealing on cars or dealing on parts.

In this course, you will learn about where and how you can find cars that you want, things to look out for before buying a car to avoid making costly mistakes that can possibly wreck you.

You will also learn more about how car auction works ,when we treat this material, This will be our longest material and we might use 3 or more saturdays to treat it. This is the most important part of the course, Hence why nothing should be left out


BUY/BID ON CARS.
After you have chosen the car you like, you may go ahead with buying the car. However, before doing so, you will have to know how to properly estimate the entire landing cost of car. Here we will show you how to do this, introduce the various payment options of buying cars in the U.S. How to transfer ownership to make sure the car is yours before you are allowed to ship Etc

TRUCKING TO THE SEA-PORT OR THE LOADING YARD
Cars don’t magically appear at the port! So yes, in this material, I will show you how to perform this magic.

SHIPPING
Shipping is a very important and another crucial part of the process too. Here, we will talk about how to find the right shipping agency, what ports to ship from, things to know about shipping and how they will affect your decision in searching for a car to purchase. We will also talk about the 2 major types of shipping and which one is right for you. You will equally learn about the documents to fill out when you’re shipping a car. If there is anything more you wanna know about shipping, feel free to bring it up so I can work on that against the day we will address this. Alternatively, you can ask questions on that day.

CLEARING
Most dealers run into issues with clearing and it could be as result of them trying to outsmart the system to reduce their total landing cost and make more profit or it could be the cause of greedy clearing agents. After this course, you will know what to look out for before working with a clearing agent, how to ensure the agents doesn’t play a smart one on you or maybe the system. You will understand basically how the entire process of clearing cars work. This will be to your advantage


MARKETING
I will drop surface based lecture on how to market your car and find buyers. I am not a marketer so it might not be as good as what a marketer would teach. If I’m able to get a marketing person to share more knowledge, I will be happy to do that.

SALES AND CONTRACTS
Lots of times, customers have threatened dealers with police over a car that was sold to them in poor condition. With this course, I can show you how not to be that dealer that might end up spending a night in a police jail. I’ll share more with you on the importance of having contracts signed with your customers during a purchase. If possible too, I might be including a guest speaker, a lawyer who can handle this part.

Thank you guys once again for joining today!

I am Tochukwu Obikwere. The Founder/CEO of MAYNARD DB AUTOS LIMITED.

If you have any question regarding this class or what I have talked about today, feel free to ask it here!

Kindly follow me on twitter www.twitter.com/valobikwere and my business page www.twitter.com/directbelgiumng

Instagram: www.instagram.com/valobikwere and business page www.instagram.com/directbelgium

Facebook: Tochukwu Valentine Obikwere and business page www.facebook.com/directbelgium