Car dealers would always tell you their cars are clean without a scratch or blemish. But when you prove to them the car has been resprayed, they will now change their tone and say they only sprayed the bumpers due to a scratch at Lagos port.That car is most likely accidented. It is not news that most cars which are imported into Nigeria are bought from auctions that sell a large number of damaged vehicles. This may not be a problem as some damages are minor and inconsequential.
Another guy kept complaining his car had multiple issues. We later realised the actual mileage on the car was about 500,000 kilometres.Did you just buy a car that has a mind of its own? You try to reduce the volume of the radio but the sound goes up instead. You try to turn off the radio but the AC goes off instead. The reverse camera comes up anytime you put the car in drive and your car continues to play many annoying pranks with you. The car is probably a flooded car.
Some people buy cars and they spend money fixing it for more than a year without being able to drive it.The excessive import duty in Nigeria, our porous land borders as well as high level of corruption has led to several cars being smuggled into the country. The sad news is, these cars are not seized from the dealers but they are seized from the final buyers who are not aware the vehicles were smuggled.
The good news is Nigeria Custom recently launched a custom paper verification process that allows you to confirm if duty was paid on a particular vehicle. See how to verify your custom paper hereIt is true some cars are sold at a loss especially when they have been on ground for too long. It is also true that car dealers can make between ₦200,000 to ₦700,000 on a 2006 model Toyota car. The better they are able to execute the 4 points I listed above, the higher the profit they make.