A clean title 2005 Toyota Highlander
Advantages :
1) They are cheaper: Yes, cheaper than clean titled cars in most cases. With this, I mean even the cost of repairs depending on the level of damage.
To further prove this, in 2013, a 2004 Toyota Rav-4 was around N1.7M to N1.8M.
In the same year, a friend of mine got an accidented one with a mileage of 90,000 miles with just the back bumper and tail light damage for N1.5m.
This N1.5M covers all expenses – buying, shipping, clearing, repairs and sending it down to Owerri, the capital city of Imo State, Nigeria.
Wondering why a difference of 200k or 300k?
That is the deal!
Nonetheless, it isn’t just the price difference but the mileage.
Yeah.
A mileage of 90,000 miles for a car that was produced 9 years ago counting from 2013. The mileage wasn’t tampered with. Hence, a very great deal for such a price.
2) Mileage: This is one of the biggest factors to consider when hunting for a used car because it’s not just the year of production that matters but the mileage also.
You can get a car produced in 2010 with a mileage of 58,000 miles and maybe another produced in 2019 with a mileage of 100,000 miles.
This hangs on the shoulders of the car’s usage.
Hence, the reason for this being listed here as an advantage is this: In some cases, accidented cars come with very low mileage.
This may be because the foreign owners decided to sell it off and get a new one instead of repairing it considering the fact that auto or car financing abroad is way better than what is obtainable here.
It’s a lot easier for them over there to change their cars than it is for us down here, considering our very poor economy.
That being said, accidented cars in most cases do have low mileage, which also is a good thing while making your choice of car.
3) Lower Custom Duty (Import Tax/Duty): Customs charge by percentage.
(Please, I’m making instances here and not the actual amount or percentage.)
For example, if Car A came in as a clean title, and had a price of $3,000, they may charge 35% of that plus other miscellaneous charges.
On the other hand, Car B which has the same year of production, specifications and model as car A, came in at a price of $1500, you’ll be paying less for the same thing.
Enough of the advantages. Let’s head over to the disadvantages.
I’m pretty sure you’ve been longing to hear the bad news, right?
Here they are.
The Disadvantages:
Tampered Chassis: In some cases, depending on the level of damage or severity of the accident the car had, the chassis of the vehicle may get spoiled or tampered with.
The truth remains that no matter how good the mechanics are, they can’t get it to the original company standard. Hence, it won’t be as strong as what it was when it was manufactured.
This also can lead to the car developing other faults due to the works done on the car by the mechanics.
2) Mechanics: I know you may be surprised to see this listed among the disadvantages.
Well, we all know we have little to no qualified mechanics with respect to international standards, and with this, when the unqualified ones handle this very delicate repairs for you, you’d spend more and of course, waste more time as their works are mostly based on trial and error.
This in turn makes you break the bank so you can foot the bills compared to what it would have cost you in acquiring a clean title car.
3) Accidents: If some things (e.g: brake discs, bearings, e.t.c) are not properly fixed, it may lead to accidents but I must say, this rarely happens.
In conclusion, I’m not advocating for more purchase of accidented cars, rather I’m educating us on some certain things that we would most likely face when buying a car.
As one of the leading Auto Dealers in Nigeria, below but not limited to those, are some of the benefits you stand to gain when you buy from us:
If you still desire to go ahead, a “NICE” is reached.
Thanks for your time.
