David Shapshak in Tokyo
So you live in an African country and you want to buy a good reconditioned second- hand car.
With not much to find in the local yellow pages, nor much variety in the pricey domestic market, what do you do?
Simple, you buy and import a foreign car. The success of this scheme is shown in the number of cars in Africa bearing the stickers of their countries of origin – France, Belgium, not to mention South Africa.
But in a modern twist you can now buy a reasonable second-hand car from a Japanese dealership on the Internet.
Even if you add the shipping costs, it’s much cheaper than anything you could possibly buy in-country, and of much better quality, say the satisfied customers.
One Kenyan buyer in Tokyo told the Mail & Guardian that for just $3 500 (about R20 000) she had bought a 1991 Toyota Corrolla and had it shipped back home.
Through this system you can get a five- year-old car to Mombasa, where you’ll pay about half that again in tax.
“That’s not a bad deal for a car in Kenya, considering a locally assembled car, which is second-hand, would cost you twice that amount, or roughly $8 000,” she says.
And as Kenyan roads are notoriously rough compared to the smooth tar of Japan’s sophisticated transport infrastructure, a six-year-old Japanese car is likely to be in better nick than a three-year-old vehicle that has been subjected to Kenya’s infamous and numerous potholes.
“It’s the best way to buy a car,” says a Zambian journalist in Tokyo.
This online system also removes the middle- men – agents who charge faxing and processing fees, as well as charges for getting the car’s documents and clearing it from the port. Such fees would typically cost you anywhere between $400 and $500.
And, if you’re lucky enough to get to Tokyo to do it, as the Kenyan buyer was, the yellow pages are filled with numerous pages of large display adverts, some even boasting “we speak English”.
There are added touches of finesse to importing cars. Vehicles, new and second- hand, landed in Mombasa carry a $440 inspection charge.
This fee was introduced in July this year, seemingly as a means to deter the dumping of second-hand vehicles and prevent the stifling of the market for new locally assembled cars.
But Uganda, and many other countries, do not have the surcharge. Some entrepreneurs “import” the cars to Uganda, technically taking them straight through Kenya.
Buying such a car “from” Uganda makes it nearly $1 000 cheaper, although a bit more tricky to satisfy the customs officials and to make sure you get the right car.
Japan is not the only “single use” consumer country that has spotted hungry Africa as an open market. Dubai is also shipping its reconditioned cars to East Africa, with the advantage that because it is closer, the shipping charges are less.
However, buyers say the disadvantage with Dubai cars is that they are not reconditioned as well as the Japanese ones.
“Because of this the cars from Japan are still more popular,” says the Kenyan buyer.
Auto Galaxy Motors, a large dealership just outside Tokyo, claims to have dealt in this market with Africa for more than 10 years, especially in four-wheel drives.
Of the vehicles on show when the M&G visited this lot, about 20 were already sold with their destination paperwork reading “Mombasa”.
The firm was reluctant to reveal figures for its sales, but boasted it sold thousands of cars each year.
There are hitches to importing cars. One buyer from Botswana says the car dealerships in his country are resisting the trend by refusing to service second- hand cars bought in this way.
But it is an innovative solution for buyers who use the digital age’s communications backbone to solve their lack of domestic purchase choices.