If We Are To Build A Nigerian Car.

January 9th, 2008

The world is getting smaller.  It has become a “global village” to employ an over used phrase.  No one seems as distant, no place as foreign.  It is easy to quickly say it the advent of the Internet and improved personal communications that has propelled this but if you step back a bit you will realize private business and the entrepreneurial sprit on which it is based is the real driving force behind the emergence of our “village”.   Time and again in different industries companies gobble up each other becoming larger entities. The reason usually given is to take advantage of oppurtunites in different markets, to lower cost and thereby increasing profit.  Competitors in the industry, if only to survive have to follow suit so you have fewer and fewer distinct and independent companies.  Examples abound, Pfizer’s purchase of Pharmacia to become the largest pharmaceutical company in the world is only one example.  In the coming months similar mergers will occur in that industry.  Other examples from the oil industry will highlight Chevron’s purchase of Texaco and Exxon of Mobil.

In the Motor industry this has been going on for a long time.  This is a rough picture of the industry. 
General Motors: The world’s largest manufacturer-albeit hotly pursued by Toyota- making about 12 million cars and light trucks a year and owning among others Saab, Isuzu, Opel/ Vauxhall and Daewoo. It also has a separate Australian operation making cars like the Holden.
Toyota and Honda about the only independent Japanese car manufacturers left.  Making over 15 million cars and trucks a year between them
Ford: Apart from its extensive American and European divisions owns Jaguar, Aston Martin, Land Rover –which may soon be sold to India’s Tata- and Mazda and a few others. 
Daimler Benz after off loading Chrysler to non- industry owners, still owns the Smart brand.
Volkswagen: Apart from the Vw brand, in various ways and guises controls Seat, Skoda, Audi, Lamborghini and Bentley.   Though they have allowed Porsche buy a large stake in them to keep the company German and in my view to strengthen the control the Piech family has over things.
Fiat: Owner of Ferrari and Masarati as well as all the Italian brands such as Alfa Romeo and Lancia. 

You have “smaller” companies like BMW which makes the Mini and Rolls Royce, Renault owners of Nissan, Peugeot-Citroen, Rover that now belongs to the Chinese who just copy everybody, protect their growing market and bide their time.  We already have evidence of their invasion here with travesties like the Chery QQ.  The Koreans consisting of Kia and Hyundai, essentially having common ownership.  Daewoo is dead and buried in a Kia/ Hyundai cemetery.  Ssyooung has affiliation with Mercedes and the Chinese while GM has interests in Hyundai.  Oh, what a tangled web…….

There are about 15 companies making most of cars and light Trucks in this world!.  As is usual when a company buys another in this industry, the new owners come in to reduce costs by closing factories discontinuing marginal brands and moving production –where possible- to less costly countries.  This is why Volkswagen makes some of its engines in South America and Mercedes has east European production facilities.   It is all about numbers. A company making a million cars a year only has to increase prices by $50 to make an additional $50million!

A common way of saving costs is to design a range of cars with essentially the same chassis, the base on which the rest of the car is built.  This is called Platform Sharing.  In this way they design one car for as many brands as possible.  When Rolls Royce and Bentley were the same company they did this to the extent that aside from the bonnet mascots it was difficult to tell the difference between some of the cars.  If you own a VW Passat, Skoda Octavia, Audi A6 you are driving slightly different versions of the same car.  The engines powering them are similarly shared so that Skoda dealer can fix your Audi! 

All major manufacturers are guilty of this and make no bones about it.  It is all about the bottom line.  Another way of saving costs is by a process called decontenting.  This is the deliberate “de-engineering” of car components, not to the point of it’s being unsafe or illegal but enough for it to be cheaper to manufacture.  It invariable gives the car a cheaper feel.  A good example of this is the 1992-2000 Mercedes-Benz C class.  Although in this case, they have changed their wicked ways.  

Taking these dynamics into account, it would be a colossal waste of money to try to buy a Nigerian car for the following reasons:

1. The demand for cars is insufficient
2. The support industries are absent
3. It is not the place of government to pursue such an undertaking.
4. The car and the industry cannot be globally competitive.

Even with the coming of consumer finance, I doubt we in Nigeria buy 100000 new cars a year.  This is clearly not the kind of numbers that can sustain and industry.   With global production of about 25 million cars per annum, the Nigerian market may not figure significantly with amy major manufacturer.

Of the two motor assembly plants in the country, one has been closed for almost 10 years and the other makes 4-6000 cars a year most of which are bought by government.  The original template for the assembly plants was for them to import completely knocked down parts for assembly to start with and in time add value with local content from our steel and other industries resulting by now in a Nigerian car.  At least that was the goal in the early 70’s when these plants were conceived.  Peugeots assembled here to a limited extent has some local content.  Given the realities in the industry, the pursuit of a Nigerian car may be a misdirected effort.  The average car company has a research and development budget running into the hundreds of millions of dollars.    We cannot muster enough money to fund research into anything that hasn’t been done years ago and even if we are able to design and improvise a rudimentary car, there will not be enough potential buyers to make it a worthwhile venture.  Leaving government subsidizing the venture. 
 
There are many indices used in measuring economic growth anything from GDP through Per Capita Income to Consumption indexes.  The accuracy or otherwise of these measures are debatable but one quick way of estimating economic prosperity is the number, type and condition of cars on our roads.  Given a list of five things, the average person, on being able to afford one, will buy a car.  This may be for any number of reasons ranging from facilitating personal mobility to acting as a status symbol.  It is therefore possible to say the increase in the number of new cars on our roads is an indication of an improved economy.   The following car manufactures currently have some form of formal representation in Lagos: Audi, BMW, Kia, Daimler Benz, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Peugeot, Skoda, Toyota, and Volkswagen all selling New Cars.  Albeit most of these cars are sold to corporate entities and this only highlights the imbalances in our economy but they are being sold here in Nigeria.  Compare this with ten years ago.  To me this serves as an indication of the general direction in which the economy is traveling in.  Slowly and in a circuitous fashion but definitely forward.

As the economy inches forward, and our demand for cars increase what may be important would be to continue to encourage assembly plants but driven by local demand for cars.  In a world that is rapidly specializing, I suggest we should look to leveraging our low cost base and any other economies of scale we enjoy and look to the production and export of car components along the lines of how South Africa has created a niche for its self in the export catalytic converters.  This can happen with the support of government through the Nigerian Automotive Council. 
 

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Driving Force

December 14th, 2007

It is sometimes difficult to wax lyrical about cars- the merits or otherwise of their design and engineering,  The overwhelming power sports cars or other seemingly esoteric aspects of their makeup when the vast majority of us may never own cars.  The few who can,  drive what in most other countries would have been ordered off the roads for aesthetic or environmental reasons.  According to one of those ubiqutious polls, Nigeria is the 26th poorest country in the world.  Or to put a positive spin on it, starting from the back of the list, we are the 26th least desirable country in the world to live in.  It is enough to make you pause and wonder, if we are this way and are 26th, it mush surely be hell for those that have to live in the country that’s last.   We are a rich country full of poor people.  It is a testament to the resilience and strength of character of the majority of Nigerians that we have not convulsed into total chaos.  It is this character and resilience that comes to the fore in acquiring and maintaining our cars.  How much of the following is strange to the average Lagos motorist?

You wake up with a start, somewhere in the deeper recess of Kosofe Local Government Area, in the same darkness you slept in.  Feeling around for the flashlight to check the time, its 4.30 am….…you are going to be late.  Quickly, you dash outside with a bucket to fetch water for a bath.  Staggering from the weight of the bucket of water, you still try to shoo away your landlord’s goats that habitually sleep on the bonnet of your car for its warmt.  Your persistent complaints to the wicked landlord, his nagging wife or their never-do –well children have so far fallen on deaf ears.    The day of your revenge will surely come and will no doubt involve goatmeat peppersoup.  These happy thoughts are thrust aside as you prepare for work.

Standing at the entrance to your “mini-flat”-a room with its own bath and kitchette- you regard the car.  This is your car, only slightly younger than yourself but still going “strong”.  Once one gets familiar with its peculiarities it’s simple enough  to drive.  With the latest overhaul of the battery, the car will only start unaided three times a day.  So it’s once in the morning to work, once for the journey home and the third held strategically in reserve.  As a result of a bug in the carburetor, the car does not idle, an aliment your mechanic colorfully refers to as “brake and quench”. The cure involving the eye watering expense is remote, you have mastered the art of simultaneously braking, accelerating and clutching to keep the car from stalling and embarrassing you in traffic.  A leaking sunroof complimented by an diabolic fuel gauge highlights some of its more endearing peculiarities.  The air-conditioner works though.

Chanting your usual incantations:

You will not disgrace me today (three times)
You will not stop inexplicably on any of our many bridges rendering me victim of the traffic authority’s roving tow vehicles (once)
You will not disgrace me.

These incantations are important.  A car this old is an idol that must be worshipped with piety and regular offerings. 

 Those goats had better watch out. 

To do otherwise is to court misfortune.  With those thoughts you enter the car and ease out onto the street.  As you drive slowly toward the street gate erected by the street resident’s association to forestall invasion by men of the underworld, you holler out to the neighborhood vigilante sleeping in an abandoned kombi bus by the side of the road to open the gate. A dangerous looking man armed as if about to reenact the some pre-colonial tribal scirmish, eventually does so but not before reminding you to get the current estate car sticker.  Mumbling a rude retort you speed off.

Curtsey of the uncooperative carburetor you have to rev the engine incessantly to get rid of its early morning grogginess.  This action of revving the engine, dipping the clutch to select a suitable gear and braking to reduce speed and avoid other cars and commercial motorcycle riders produces a kangaroo-like lurching.  As you struggle to bring the car under control, Mr. Solomon a notorious “free rider” who had been lying in wait for you suddenly jumps out from his hiding place onto the street and beckons you to give him another ride to work. 

Startled, you slam on the brakes but as you do, the car stalls.  Assuming you had indeed stopped for him Mr. Solo hops in.  Smiling furiously, he bids you good morning.  Cursing silently at the waste of your battery’s strategic reserve, you hide your irritation by acknowledging his greeting and restart the car.  The daily commute to work is a 30-kilometer route of mostly Expressway.  This should ordinarily take no more than thirty minutes though this is not accounting for appalling driving.  Bad lane discipline and indiscriminate stopping and waiting brings travel time up to about an hour and a half.  Time Mr. Solo employs talking ceaselessly.  Peddling one ignorant idea after another.  From experience you have learnt to tune him out and turn on the radio on which you can listen to that great work of fiction also know as the daily traffic report.  An amusing programme, which features a radio personality conjuring, upturned trailers and other traffic snarl ups solely from his imagination to the accompanying sound of a helicopter.

As you make your way up the Third Mainland Bridge, a 10-kilometer bridge designed for three-lane traffic but miraculously expanding to allow for five lanes of traffic every week day morning.  The traffic inches along towards Lagos with occasional mad lunges forward as soon as cracks in the slow stream are made.  There is a break in traffic and in order to soothe your frayed nerves you switch on the air conditioner you stubbornly installed with last January’s “up-front” allowance.  Disregarding the advise of your “rewire”. 

Basking in the cool air, nothing bothers you, neither the hundreds of cars stretching out as far as the eye can see nor the semiliterate and probably seditious comments by Mr. Solo on the economy and its managers.  You have your air-conditioner.

Without warning there is a loud bang. KABWOOA!!! Turning wildly in your seat, you look across the bridge for source of the explosion.  Out of the corner of your eye you see smoke billowing out of the bonnet’s shut lines of your car.  FIRE! Quickly you jump out of the car and with the fire extinguisher the MOT inspectors froisted on you, you prepare to attack the flames.  Upon lifting the bonnet, more smoke but no flames. Upon closer inspection you realize there’s no electrical fire but it’s the second hand air-conditioner hoses that had exploded ducting copious quantities CFC gases into the early morning.  Other motorists, taking no chances give you a wide berth.

As you stand there grinning sheepishly, your ears ringing with the warning of Taiye, your rewire, waves of embarrassment wash over you as passing motorists look quizzically in your direction as still others snigger.  Mr. Solo having bolted out of the car, stands arms akimbo about 100 meters away waiting for the “flames” to subside.  You invite the “traitor” over with a wave to share in your embarrassment.  With a look and body language trying to convey calm, you reenter the car.  Luckily, you had left it running.  As part of his punishment for desertion you let Mr. Solo chase the car for a few meters.  Still smarting from the experience you snap at Mr. Solo who is still trying to enjoy the last of the cool air in the car to wind his window down.    Despite his apologies and prostrations you resolve never to give him another ride.

With all this drama you will be late for work.  At least you are better than some.  You are a car owner and aside from the annoying trickle of water from the leaky sunroof you don’t get wet when it rains.  The car is still going strong.  Your prayer now is to reach the office without further incident and that no one you know saw you attacking your car with an extinguisher in the middle of the bridge.  Maybe its punishment for your “idol” worship, maybe things will get better and time will help you forget this.  You are unshakeable in the knowledge that “that which does not kill makes us stronger”.

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Would you jump out of an aeroplane?

November 14th, 2007

There are times when faced with a barrage of seemingly innocuousquestionsfrom a child, you know, questions of the “why is there a hole in a donut?” sort. One just answers: Just because! Delivered with a stern look forbidding further interrogation and with a little luck, you would be let off the hook. The child wallows in ignorance and you get a brief respite before another onslaught of difficult questioning.

There are many questions we do not have answers for. Difficult questions, questions you do not care to answer because the answers may lead to places you do not want to go. So there are times one just does things because they feel right and leave the psychoanalysisto jobless people.

My sister called me up and in passing told me my brother had just jumped out of a plane. I went wow! Immediately, I called him up for details and it happens that there is a place in Cambridgeshire England, where for a not inconsiderable fee, you can jump in tandem with an experienced parachutist (skydiver may be better) (if there exists such a word) out of a plane.

I knew I would do it, I did not know why or when but I knew I would.

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A few weeks later, in the course of a trip out for work, I looked up the website of the North London Parachute Centre and with a deposit of £50 from my long suffering MasterCard I made a booking for two weeks later. The work now was to find a way not to tell the people I know would insist on discouraging this frankly foolhardy pursuit.

To a large extent, I succeeded but I told my wife about it…..well obliquely anyhow. She surmised I had lost my mind and predictably promised to convene a family meeting on the issue. I resorted to the time-tested stratagem of a tactical retreat. I conceded everything. “Me? Jump? See this girl. I was just testing you” I mean can you offer good reasons for jumping out of a plane three kilometers over the fields of East Anglia? Neither can I.

So my only co conspirator and enabler was my brother, Deji. We planned with precision. Consulting train timetables, one had to get there as early as possible to get a good chance of jumping on the day. Looking up weather forecasts, you can only jump in good weather. It is illegal and unsafe to jump out of the plane if you cannot see where you intend to land. Duh! So weather is a big constraint.

Set my alarm for 5.30 in the morning and went to sleep. After a three and a half hour train and taxi journey I arrived. The place did not look like much. An airfield that looked like an old farmstead surrounded by farms that were still being worked. Knowing from the brochure that it would be first come first served, I rushed to the reception to register. Alas, I was 20th on the list for the day. Well, it was just 9 am and the weather was perfect if cold. No wind and a clear blue sky.

After mispronouncing my name several times, we started off with an introduction to jumping and a short training describing jump procedure. I was out in a group with one elderly onyibo lady and a group of Polish friends. As we were led into the briefing room, I could not feel any apprehension or anxiety. Maybe a little misgiving. when faced with the
cost of this lark. All told, along with the optional DVD recording of your jump
it would come to an amount I knew I would have to keep secret.

What their brochure did not say but was plastered conspicuously around the
facility was that you really had no real idea when you would jump. My brother had warned me that it would be a whole day affair but I thought I would have it done and dusted by 3pm.

I was very wrong. By 3pm I had seen about 5 sets of jumps and it was really a thing to see but neither my new friend, one onyibo chap who was given the jump as a birthday gift by his girlfriend nor I, had jumped and the weather had now changed. Very dark clouds had come in from the east and the wind had picked up. The jumps were suspended.

The frustrating part of the day had begun in earnest. The sky was covered with thick dark clouds and there was no silver lining anywhere. Maybe this was my wife’s doing. I was sure she had conspired with the forces of nature to deny me my jump. 4pm……5pm……..…nothing. The sky was even darker. Although, one had the option of rebooking and jumping another day the cost of getting there and other unseen forces seemed to me to mean that I may not jump again. I was getting desperate. I went to meet their Oga to ask for a prognosis for jumping that day or my money back…..babas on both counts. I quickly played my Nigerian card. “Oga, see I don’t live here and as you don’t jump in winter, my money may be lost” I protested.

People started leaving. There were just a few of us desperados left. The Oga comes back to me and says I would lose £75 from my fee if the jump did not happen today and I still wanted my money back. ‘Hmmm….you never hala’ I thought.

This is not how I had seen it O! I called my brother in resignation. He offered some comfort. It was 6 pm and I had not jumped. I was 120 miles from London and it was getting dark…..and cold. Na wah for this British weather. I went in to the see the Oga to make arrangements for a transfer of my ticket and then leave when he said wait. Wait ke! Abi we will still jump.

YES! We will.

So it begins, rapid fire, the instructors come in to give a quick refresh of the jump procedure, I am introduced to Gary my tandem jump guide. A chap in his early 40’s I guess. He tells me later he has jumped 7200 times! I think to myself his mother must have had him in a plane and tossed him out with a parachute to have done so many. I suit up. Sky blue overalls, headgear, goggles and gloves. I fancied myself looking like Tom Cruise in “Top Gun” We stand in line next to our guides, there about 6 of us waiting for tandem Jumps. If you want the jump filmed an extra jumper comes along with a camera on his helmet. The twin engine prop-plane starts up and taxis menacingly towards us. The smell of kerosene fills the air.

Gary checks my kit again and goes over the instructions. Remember. Banana shaped is how you want to be. Face up into the camera. Back arched. Legs within his and bent backwards and whatever you do DO NOT grab the guide’s hands. We march towards the plane. I can’t think. The engines are incredibly loud and the harness digs into my thighs and shoulders. We are set to jump second. Gary ordered me to sit between his legs then he attached his harness to mine. Other people clamber in. The cabin is bare.

We sit on the floor in two rows with the person in front sitting between your legs. The way you would in a police cell in Lagos….at least that’s what they tell me.

We are set for take off. The plane’s door is still open. The camera guys take shots of the ground as we take off then the door is shut. I put on a brave face but I’m I sure look glum. My camera guy takes a few more shots of me. We start a steep climb to 12000 feet. More instructions. I am to sit on Gary’s lap when the time comes. He would then inch towards
the door.

I will stretch my legs out of the plane and bend them backwards. Gary tightens my goggles. We break the clouds. Sunset. The cabin floods with light. Are you alright? Gary asks for the third time. I shout yes, over the din from the engines, for the third time, a little unconvincingly this time though. I manage a double thumbs up. I still can’t think. I try to run the jump procedure through my mind again.

Buzzer ring. You know like those World War Two films. The plane banks to the left. Gary taps my shoulder. The show is on. The door is flung open. Air rushes in. The camera jumpers position. The tandem jumper in front of us creeps forward. His camera man jumps. They jump. Whoosh!

Our turn. We creep forward. Banana shape Banana shape. Remember! I see the lights of the video camera come on. Smile for the camera. The wind roar is deafening. My legs are out of the plane. The plane buffets. I am not sure anymore o! We jump! Even now, as I write this the adrenaline comes rushing back. I feel some panic. Banana shape! We plummet headlong at 200kph. DO NOT grab his hands! I scream with all my might. Don’t forget to breathe. The screaming helps. The panic subsides. Gary taps me. Head back, he indicates. Smile for the camera. Stretch out your hands. Wind roar! Gary starts a spin. Vertigo. Smile for the camera! Thumbs up. How does this camera jumper keep pace with us. Spin again. I am touching clouds. Clouds! Camera guy disappears towards the ground. Gary taps me. The wind roar is deafening. Gary releases the main chute. We jerk violently upwards. The harness digs deeper into me. Canopy deploys. Silence. I stop screaming. Silence. Not a sound. I start to whoop! I can hear myself for the first time since leaving the plane. Very strange this silence.

We break through the clouds. We can see the ground. Daylight is fading. I have never felt this kind of exhilaration. My mind is reeling. Still 5000 feet up. Gary asks if I want to do a few spirals. He works the directional controls of the canopy so we spin sharply giving a 360 degree view of the countryside and inducing strong feelings of nausea. Imagine me depositing my lunch of pounded yam and banga soup all over the English countryside.

We are coming down slowly now. Gary and I are chatting. We go through the procedure for landing again. This is the most dangerous part of the jump. Raise your legs up and land gliding on your bum otherwise you could snap your ankles like a twig. And that’s what we do. Land. With very little drama. The camera guy is down waiting on the ground. Wow! Gary releases the harness. I jump up. Screaming again. Hugging Gary. Shaking camera guy’s hand. Pose for pics.

I am awash with adrenaline. We get off the airfield. I change back into my clothes. I still feel wonderful. From take off to landing it took all of 30 minutes. Its 7pm. I got here at 9 in the morning. Call up my brother. He says I told you. I say you did.

What is the moral of the story? That’s it. There is no moral. There is nothing to explain. The people that will debate it will. Could the money have been better spent? Probably. Is it a risk-free proposition? No. Would I do it again? That’s a trick question, abi?

Why did I do it? Just because.

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How To Buy A Used Car

November 14th, 2007

It is a testament to our times that the average Nigerian cannot afford a car. By car, I refer not to a brand new car but rather to some ageing relic of a bygone decade.  These would range from the really old and pointless like a 1981 Toyota Starlet to a 5-year-old BMW car for the more “affluent”.

Regardless of the car we can afford, we prize them and show them off.  We take them over to our parents/pastors/elders to be blessed and prayed over because they represent our yearnings to achieve, to be better. That is why the government’s assumption that we covet old dilapidated cars and should therefore be saved from ourselves is patronizing.  I doubt you will find many people who will agree that given a choice, they would prefer to purchase a used car.  It is more an indictment on how our country has been run that there is any kind of debate over used cars.  We do not buy used cars out of choice.  Having said that, with elections coming up soon, I am sure that the powers that be will soon find it in their hearts to indulge us.

Imported Used Cars are better because they are generally are better looked after.  This in not because Joe Foreigner is a more caring owner, but because, firstly his government enforced car upkeep regulations like the MoT in Great Britain and TuV in Germany ensure that it is difficult to keep a badly maintained car on the road.  Secondly, the portion of their income employed in car upkeep is relatively less.  This allows them to purchase new replacement parts.

I have not bothered with cars brought across the land borders in the north or from our other French-speaking neighbors, as it is illegal to import across these borders. So you will be taking a chance if you go that route.  Anyway, depending on the cost of the car you rarely save 15% on the average.  This is without factoring in the inherent risks which range from outright seizure by the customs to the no less painful use of your pride and joy as surrogate rally car in remote jungles tracts of Aflawo and Idi Iroko.

I guess the best way of giving any kind of insight is to locate and describe the various car markets in Lagos. You will find the greatest variety at the seaport car parks of Tin Can Island.  With the deluge of car imports in recent months and the ensuing congestion, several new car parks have opened in the Tin Can port area.  Unfortunately, the seaports car parks is really the bottom of the barrel, here you will find anything from the merely bad to down right awful.  The only real attractions here are the prices and the assurance that your import papers will be genuine and you will have little trouble with the police.  It will be your responsibility to clear these cars so you will need a clearing agent. Car import “moguls” literally buy whatever they can put on ship, knowing that no matter the cars condition, it can be explained away as the wickedness of the handling company’s drivers or the depravity wharf rats. This market is not for the faint hearted, as you will find cars in various states of dilapidation.  Sale here is strictly on an “as is where is” basis so what you see is generally what you get.

In deciding to buy here you need to wary of the following; 1. Meet the owner and ensure he has original papers before parting with any money.  2. The exact amount of port dues and demurrage (demurrage, because some of these cars have been there in the port for months so what seem like little sums can amount to quite a lot).  3. The cost of remedial bodywork.   If you are on a very tight budget and have the time, then the port’s car parks may be for you. But remember that you will friendly terms with your mechanic and panel beater. Ah yes, your chances of getting any kind of warranty are NIL.

Next in attractiveness, at least in terms of price is the Berger/Sunrise car market axis along the Apapa/Oshodi expressway. Here you will find great variety.  These cars are either from the port (because the importers decides he can make a greater margin on the car outside the port) or from across the border, though they will deny it on “pain of death”.  Their own area of expertise is repairing the more obvious aesthetic flaws, fit air conditioners where absent but desirable and try to convince you there is no “cleaner” example in the market.  Never settle for the first car you see. If you don’t find what you want, never fear, cars come into the market for sale everyday.

Do not let the market touts “assist” you in your search as they do little good and (with the tacit knowledge of the seller) add “their” premium to the price. To be fair, despite its chaotic appearance, this market is fairly well organized.  There is a strong union who enforce a buyer’s fee. This means in addition to the cost of the car a certain amount is paid to the union. Get the seller to pay this levy if you can. The chances of meeting the seller of car after the sale are not good but much better than at the ports. So confirm alternate addresses outside the market.  Sellers can also arrange registration if you wish but I would pass on that if I were you.  As a result of the nature of the market, I would not advice going there on a rainy day at least not without knee high rain boots. Neither will I suggest paying cash for the car at the market. It is better to pay at some mutually agreeable other place.

It is also a good idea to take a mechanic along but remember the seller is not above offering an inducement to your mechanic to eliminate his objectivity.  I once bought a car there and found the cylinder head cracked.  After expensive repairs costing about N50, 000, a week of tracking down the seller and then complaining bitterly, he offered to pay N5000 towards the cost of the repairs.  I refused, indignantly, to accept the money. Privately hoping this will spur him into offering more.  In hindsight, I should have swallowed my pride and taken the money.  There are better odds achieving world peace.   I refer to this only as an illustration of a successful warranty claim.

Next, I will suggest a quick look at the Western Avenue car dealers.  There you will find car dealers, suffering from delusions of grandeur occasioned by their close proximity to car shops offering late model low mileage cars, who slap on a ridiculous premium on cars available in the ports or in Berger and so are best ignored.

I will just lump together car dealers on Ikorodu Road and the Ikeja area. You will find a varied collection of shops offering really good examples of cars found in Berger but in better condition hence their premium. Others offer late model, low mileage cars.  Here, one has to be careful not to buy a used car as new but as these dealers are more established they offer some measure of after sales services. I would rather just buy a new car- but that’s just me.

There is little recourse to the seller after one has paid for the car, it is incumbent on you the buyer to conduct what will amount to due diligence on the car and its papers.  Some of the seller’s shenanigans are easy to detect for example the retrofit of an air conditioner.  Others are more difficult to catch.  Nevertheless, I will give a rundown of some of the more common things to look out for.

Regard unusually low mileage in your prospective car with suspicion.  On average a car clocks 20-25000 kilometers per annum so with an idea of the age of the car, the odometer reading should check out.  If it doesn’t, walk away, as you don’t know what else he may be hiding.  That the mileage is displayed electronically is no assurance that it has not been tampered with.  With the right tools it hardly take 20 minutes to bestow youth on these cars.

Look out for accident damage and the repair thereof.  Proper repair should not be apparent.  In places like the port car parks, where most of the cars have some damage and the chance of repair there is remote, shouting eureka at the discovery of accident damage is a bit redundant.  Though, in Berger and beyond, you need to keep a keen eye out for the resulting over spray, ill-fitting body panels or evidence of shoddy chassis repair in the engine bay. Checking for chassis damage is especially important, as proper remedial work is expensive.

With the help of your mechanic, the more difficult to discover faults like cylinder head damage can be found.  Before paying for your car, go for as long a test drive as the seller will tolerate visiting as many traffic jams and rough roads to discover over heating and suspension problems.  Another problem area is drive shaft end damage, at least on front wheel drive cars.  A clucking sound coming from the wheels on turning is usually evidence of it.  Its repair is fairly straightforward.

Have someone rev the car hard and listen for any untoward metallic noise, this may indicate engine wear or damage.  Cars that seem to have been “warmed” in preparation for your inspection are to be viewed with suspicion.  A cold engine that lets out blue smoke from the exhaust on start up but stops when warms may hide valve seal wear. It is important to pay attention to the exhaust, as clues to most of the engine’s aliments are present in or around the exhaust.  Pay attention to any kind of visible smoke from the exhaust.  Colors will range from white (indicating steam and possible head gasket damage) through black (fuel over supply) to the most worrisome blue (oil burning). A common misconception is that an exhaust that drips water on idle indicates a sound engine.  This is not necessarily the case as I have seen very many cars with the former but with damaged engines.  From experience, the surest way of checking engine condition aside from striping it, is performing a compression or and leak down test but as this is expensive and difficult to conduct, sticking a finger or other suitable object into the exhaust and have it come away clean is a quick and inexpensive way of checking engine condition. This assumes the seller has not cleaned out the exhaust ends before hand.  If you suspect come cleaning, check it before and after the test drive

Cylinder head damage is another fault that is difficult to detect but on return from the test drive, check the oil cap and dipstick for evidence of foaming or traces of water.  Also check the radiator or its reservoir where there should be no traces of oil as this could mean either relatively inexpensive head gasket damage or the more serious cylinder head problems.

Owing to the poor quality of used cars that come to Nigeria, it may not be easy to walk away every time you find something potentially wrong with your prospective car so finding these faults and using them as bargaining chips is important.  Knowing the estimated cost of the repair is important so you know roughly what it will cost to put the car right and there is always something to put right.  The cost of repairs the sellers professes is more a figment of his imagination so I would accept them with a large helping of salt.

These tips are by no means exhaustive, they just offer the most rewarding results for time, effort and money expended.  With a little luck and planning you could come away with a steal. In my experience, for a car that will be a daily driver, you should look to replacing it after two year’s use.  This is the ideal time to sell up and buy another because by this time, you put in more that you get out.  Cars that cost one million and above are best bought directly abroad, if you have the time and can take trouble as you will easily make a 25 – 30% saving but that is another story.

COMMENTS:

 1.  Hi Lanre, I just read your blog dated 14th nov 2007 on “How to
buy a used car” and found it really interesting.
Please where would you suggest I go in Lagos to buy a
car with a budget of N300,000 naira.
Just an everyday car with 4 doors, medium sized car.
Thanks.

Patrick.

Hi Patrick,  Thank you for visiting our site.  May I ask who refered you to the blog. It helps us to know.

I am also able to respond quicker if you sent questions to losoetan@individualize.biz

To your question,  to find a reliable, four door car for N300K will not be an easy proposition.

I am also assuming that you would want low costs of running the car?

Because of your price constraints, there isn’t any particular place where cars of that range are sold.  I can suggest types of cars though.  You may have to consider a MKII Golf, a Toyota Corolla circ.1992, Nissan Sunny of roughly the same vintage.  They will probably all have been used in Nigeria previously.  If you can afford higher running costs, you can consider the following, 3 and 5 series BMWs and  190 and “V Boot” Mecedes cars.

It would not be a bad idea to increase your budget if you can.  I hope this helps.

Lanre.

Thank you Lanre,
 Your advise really helps, I actually just did a
 google search about “tin can island” and got your blog
and it was really a nice article.
 Please how much do i need to increase my budget in
 order to have a primera or a toyota carina or
somthing  decent in similar range?
 
 Thank you once again.
 
 Patrick.

 You are welcome sir.  In answer to your question,
 I always advise buying a car unused in Nigeria.
 They are generally less trouble.  You may find cars of
 the range you are looking for in ‘Berger’ but my
 doing. As to price, I can only give a rough guide.
  600-900k depending on condition. Please spread the
 word about our blog.
 
 Dear Lanre,
I really appreciate your valuable time which you
 have
 taken to answer my question. I am asking you this
 last question out of curiousity and to educate myself on
 this.
 what would be the total cost of sending/ clearing a
 car in nigeria, if i buy a car in UK, france or
 germany? And would this cost depend on the age of
car
 I will definitely spread word about your blog.
 
 Thank you once again for your help. 

 Patrick.
 

Hi Patrick,
 
 Costs vary.  Cars from the UK are generrally right
 hand drive and should be
 avoided.  There are no RORO services to Nigeria from
 France and as to
 Germany, shipping cost will vary with the vehicle.
 You must remember you
 cannot ship a car into Nigeria if its more than 8
 years old.
 
 I will need more detail to give a definate answer.
 
 
 Lanre.
 

Hi Lanre
thanks very much for educating me on this.

Patrick.

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A Road Less Traveled

November 4th, 2007

“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverge in a wood, and I –
I took the road less traveled by
And that has made all the difference”

“The Road Not Taken” the title of a poem by Robert Frost about the difficulties of choice and the rewards that may accrue following one’s beliefs and convictions. A path though potentially fraught with loneliness, may fulfill like no other. In this oblique way I ease in to this theme. To most people who own one, a car is a means to an end. A mundane tool. A way of getting to work on time and given to the wrong mechanic, a source of unending sorrow.

To those people who fall into this category, I am sure that they will have something they are passionate about, maybe football or perhaps loud and ostentatious street parties. But here in Lagos, if you look you will find a few people who see cars as an end in its self. I speak not of the “hey look at me I got a shiny new car” people but those who view cars in a deeper almost reverential way. They enthuse…they enthuse about the way it sounds, is a deep bellow or a snarling rasp? The way it delivers it’s power, in sharp spurts like a constricted hosepipe or sinuous unrelenting urge like a river bursting forth from its source. Even its appearance though with this there is rarely wide consensus. Take the hideous abomination that is the Toyota Echo. A car that must have been designed by a visually impaired and hearing challenged person. Blind to its unremitting ugliness and deaf to the howls of pain it extracts from innocent onlookers.

By far the most common reason for becoming a car enthusiast is acceleration. Not top speed. That is largely academic given our roads, but as my old physics master Mr. Chuntai used to define it: Acceleration. The rate of change of distance with time. This is all the reason you need for buying, owning and loving a fast car. It is unexplainable, if you have not experienced you will not understand but if you have, welcome take a seat.

I have followed this quest for a long time but unfortunately for me my quest has for a time been tempered by a fundamental imbalance in means. I had had to make do with cars more suited to commercial pursuits like the Renault 18ts I once briefly owned. A car that would go fast only if gravity was deeply involved! I wanted a fast car and knowing I would not find one here in Nigeria, I made up my mind early that I would have to buy it myself abroad. On this journey, I was faced with these problems, what car to buy, where to buy it and how to get it here, to Lagos, without having everything useful in it stolen.

You will be surprised to learn that for any car selling in Lagos for N700000 and above, there is a minimum profit margin of about N150000. Case in point any Five series e34 BMW, made between 1988-1995, bought for a maximum of $2500 dollars, shipped for $500-700 dollars, cleared for N150000-N180000, a total investment of about N630000.00 (using N140/$1) and sold for and average of N800000.00. As they say, do the math. Now if you have taken a look at any used car guide and checked the type of cars you will find in this price range, you will discover why so many of the cars we buy need repairs as soon as they are bought. We are sold the very bottom of the barrel!

If for reasons of potential saving or unavailability you decide to buy a car abroad, it is important to take note of the following:

1. Do your research. What type of car do you want? Where will it be found cheapest? What are its common faults? Remember you will be buying this car yourself. The Internet is bursting with sites offering helpful information.
2. Unless you are traveling abroad anyway, you will need to add the cost of the trip to that of the car and compare it with the equivalent in Lagos. The car needs to cost about N 1, 500,000 in Lagos for you to travel for this reason alone.
3. I advise you restrict yourself to franchised dealers. They may offer marginally dearer cars but these are much better examples.
4. Make a shortlist of cars you are interested in and note their location; this becomes especially important in the larger European countries.
5. Details like shipper and transport to the port of export are best prearranged to ensure prompt shipping.

There were two cars at the top of my list, a 1989-1993 Mercedes 500E and a BMW M5. I considered and discarded the Mercedes 500E for the following reasons.

1. It was an automatic
2. It would only go fast in a straight line
3. I would pay more duty on it over a similar BMW
4. I would know no peace with constant harassment from neighborhood car trim thieves and itinerant car jackers.

To be fair the 500E never had a chance. I had always liked the BMW e34 M5. With only about 13000 hand-assembled cars, there are two main models, built between 1988 and 1995, the 3.6 and 3.8 developing 315bhp and 340bhp respectively. I had to have a 340bhp model in Daytona Violet- that’s purple to everyone else. 340bhp, that is about twice the engine power of a Mercedes 300E to put it in perspective. And since it is a German car it only made sense to look for it in Germany. There is a very helpful website www.mobile.de where you will find a large listing of virtually any type of car offered for sale in Europe. After poring through its offerings in the M5 category I made a list of possibles. I toyed briefly with the idea having a friend make the purchase but this would only work if you can find someone knowledgeable about the particular car or if it’s a more “normal” car. This would not work in my case.

Months passed. In the course of work, I had to make a trip out into Europe for “CeBit” a Technology fair in Hanover, Germany. Like most things in life, its all about time and chance. I dusted up my list of possible M5s and started calling their owners. Not surprisingly most of the ones I had earlier penciled down had been sold. We were going to be in Germany for about a week so I had my work cut out for me. As soon as we got into Germany, I bought a sim card for my phone, which I took along. This is much cheaper than roaming your Nigerian phone. I could now call my new list of possibles.

Trolling through this list it dawned on me that there were not that many good cars about and more importantly it was a big country. There were examples that seemed promising but where as far away from where I was staying as Kano is from Lagos and so were not viable options for my purposes. In between developing new and existing business at the Hanover fair I traversed the countryside looking for my M5. Finding none, I was losing hope. Finally, two days before we were to leave, I found it! I found my M5, in a small dealership in a town called Osterholz-Shembeck. A town as foreign to me as the name sounds. It was about 150 kilometers from where I was staying, a smaller town called Bad-Salzuflen. Undaunted, (I had decided earlier only to buy from a dealer because though it would cost a bit more you will get a better example). So I called up the sales chap who picks me up from the station in his BMW Z3 and off we go to inspect the M5.

Now this is the hard part, the more you know about the car the better a car you will get. After checking the papers and logbook, I found out the car was due for an extensive service called an Inspection 2. There were some other checks I asked to be carried out like a compression test on the engine. After promising to get the workshop people to sort the car out and call me the next day, I left. Back to the train station for what should have been a one-hour train ride to Bad-Salzuflen. The time was 7.30pm. I got on a train, which should have been going south. This one was going north. Yes, the simple remedy would be discovering your mistake, get off at the next stop but the point is you first have to discover your mistake. An hour and a few hundred kilometers later, when it seemed I was the last one on the train I found a middle-aged man who I asked if I was near Bad-Salzuflen. He finally composed himself after laughing hysterically for several minutes and informed me I had gone 300 kilometers in the wrong direction and that the next stop was the North Sea! This M5 will not kill me. In fairness to him he brought out a railway guide and explained how I would get “home”. It was 8.45 pm.

Got off the train at the next stop unto a deserted open-air station in a hamlet called Bremen-und-something, where its 17 inhabitants probably had never seen a blackman in the flesh. Half-expecting a group of young neo-nazis to jump out of the bushes and give me a good beating, I made frantic calls to my partner in our hotel and a friend in England- If you guys don’t see me again…. I had to wait about 25 minutes for the next train. It was bitterly cold. After a convoluted journey and a very expensive taxi ride for the last 100 kilometers I arrived at my hotel at about 2 am. This M5 will not kill me.

The rest of the story is not as dramatic. Got Steven the salesman’s call the next day saying they had put the car right and that they had changed a faulty water pump among other things. I zipped over for a final inspection and test drive. It was our last day in Germany and I was pressed for time but as I had arranged with a shipper who was waiting in Hamburg about 130kilometers away I was not worried. I had brought my International Drivers license so I could go on a test drive, during which I was determined to get back at Germans and their whole transport system for my folly the night before. During my eventful test drive we conducted our final negotiations finally agreeing on a price which included transporting the car to my shippers in Hamburg.

There, I saw the car off to the port but as is usually with cars coming to Nigeria, we had to cannibalize the car so that the wharf rats that reside in our ports don’t get at the car. It’s such a shame. Oh well, my work in Germany was done all I had to do was get back to my hotel pack and get to the airport in time for my flight back home. Anyone thinking that’s all it takes to import a car will be looking for trouble. The next thing to do, after getting you bill of lading, which done properly should arrive before the ship does is find out from your clearing agent which gang of workers will handle the ship your car is on. With some coaxing they will ensure your car is handled carefully and once off the ship is parked in a conspicuous and therefore relatively safe place. These guaranties are only valid for a few days, as you must clear your car with dispatch to increase your chances of finding it intact. It is never-the-less possible import the car in a container; it costs $3-5000 dollars depending on where it is shipped. So you will do what you will.

I was lucky the car was untouched and in my possession two days after it came off the ship. What is like to own, to drive, where will I find replacement parts? These questions do not concern me right now. I am traveling my road.

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