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How to Buy a Used Vehicle in Nigeria
If you are not a mechanical engineer or an auto mechanic or somehow do not have a good knowledge of how automobiles work, please do not go to buy a motor vehicle – car, SUV, van, lorry, truck, trailer, with three legs, with four legs, with fourteen legs or with a million legs – without going along with an adviser who has an excellent technical knowledge of motor vehicles, especially if you are going to buy a used vehicle.
Used vehicles, beautifully painted and neatly parked and looking good from afar, are not as good as they look. Even the paint work that looked so good before you came close suddenly does not look so good anymore. At close range, you start seeing physical defects and signs of repair and patch work, even when they are hidden under good looking paint, and those are just the visible defects. What about the invisible problems, the mechanical and electrical and electronic ones the vehicle must have had before the owner finally said, ‘I’ve had enough. Time to fling this thing’?
Before the original owner of a vehicle decides to sell it, in 99% of the cases, something wrong or many things wrong happened to the vehicle. A vehicle can have one or more things wrong with it and it is still going and coming everyday without breaking down. Maybe the tyres are all worn but the wires are not sticking out yet. Maybe the radiator is leaking so little you do not notice any water on the ground. Maybe the top cylinder gasket is so flat its a matter of days before you have a burnt gasket and it’s time to open the engine for some work. Maybe the oil pump is just one week to failing and causing the engine to knock. Maybe the airbags are expired and will explode in your face at the next fairly heavy gallop. Maybe the kick starter bushings and solenoid are so tired the vehicle has only two or three starts to go. Maybe the fuel gauge is so crazy it is showing a full tank when the thing is empty, for some unlucky driver to get stranded in the middle of nowhere. A nice looking vehicle can have all these things wrong with it and still be moving everyday. That is why you need an expert eye to go with you to be able to detect all or some of these hidden problems before you buy, because if you are not an expert, you do not see what the expert sees, what you see is only the superficial beauty of the vehicle, but the expert is seeing things that could save your life.
And it is not always that used vehicle sellers tell the truth about their ware. All over the world, used vehicle sellers tell you as little truth as possible so as not to discourage you from patronising them. That is why it is a refreshing feeling to know that there is a number of transparent and reliable systems that have been set up to bring used vehicle sellers and buyers together and make sure that both parties do business in a truthful and mutually beneficial way. Nigeria Product Review is here to guide you to them.
VIDEO: Watch this short video and see what the experts tell you about buying a used vehicle.
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