Used Car Market in Trinidad

[anthonemorris]

A topic that hurts me to post but the truth has to come out. I find it highly disgusting that the used car market in Trinidad has no form of regulation or control measure to prevent price gouging on older vehicles. To be honest I've been one of those persons who would have been looking through newspapers and checking some people who deal in buying and selling of used cars. As of late with the inclusion of electronic medium many sites pop up with used cars for sale.

My issue is that we have been made to believe that buying newer cars is out of our league e.g. given prices of new model cars are usually 200k and up the average man can't afford it. Actually we are quite wrong. If we wait on the model to become "obsolete" for lack of a better term then we in fact pay a depreciated price for the same vehicle. But it seems to be the other way around here. I always wonder why the Nissan b14 still sells for 35-50k and it is in fact close to 20 years old but a 5-6 year old car bought through a dealership is the same price. Ridiculous. Who here agrees? What do u think we can do as a community here to try to stem the price gouging on used cars of certain age? What legislation can we clamor for?

 

[Steven Ramadar]

Reason being same as the reason for high firm prices....people paying the price lol. My uncle brings down cars as he is the sole local rep for a Japanese company. We paid $65,000 on the road for a 1800cc tiida and sold it for around $85,000. I was actually surprised we got that much. People are na?ve...too na?ve.

 

[Sky22]

Is trini people again..We are really naive and really don't stand up if we find prices are too outrageous..what we do instead? We buy the darn thing! Also people are selling their older vehicles with too much emotion, studying what they went thru and how much time they put into it . This causes them to sell their cars at a higher price than it actually worth. I think when buying foreign used vehicles we should bring them down ourselves. Alot of people are doing this now by attaining permits and it's costing really cheap..Dealers are making 100% and more out of these cars .

 

[Steven Ramadar]

Exactly...my family doesn't buy any firm vehicles due to this because the firms themselves make a hefty profit off of us

 

[anthonemorris]

Ok. But for those of us who can't get financing or any sort of financial help, and basically can't afford a foreign used car ( either by a dealer or even bringing one in personally) or even to go to nealco or southern sales, etc there isn't much choice on the outside of such. We have to put up with the emotional seller and the scam artist and the people who buy and sell cars. I personally think that there should be some sort of regulation there

 

[LadyDeath]

True we have to put up with the emotional overpriced sellers.. Sometimes getting an evaluation of the car before buying it is great, however, if its devalued than the original price the seller might reject the offer . Hmm that leaves us in the wind again

 

[Steven Ramadar]

The way I see it is as the saying goes money makes the world go round. Always look around before making a purchase. Make the choice using your discretion and always carry a certified mechanic when viewing the vehicle. Check EVERYTHING. And if the car was repaired be sure to ask how bad the damages were and ensure there was no engine damage. The slightest thing the owner fails to mention scratch that car off the list....again using your discretion

 

[LadyDeath]

Sometimes i wish that we were like the US to have car fax which is a history of a car before you buy it ..e.g paint , accident or mechanical/electrical problems. This would help us greatly in trinidad

 

[Steven Ramadar]

Really would be helpful. At least the cc is of some help. Not much but it is of some use

 

[anthonemorris]

Has anyone heard about financial institutions no longer doing financing for vehicles originating from Singapore? Found this out today while at lifestyle motors. Anyone know exactly why?

 

[Steven Ramadar]

Heard that but I also don't know why. Probably they not making enough money off of interest ?

 

[anthonemorris]

Could be part availability. I've noticed Singaporean parts harder to get than others.

 

[Sky22]

Hmm first time hearing this.. would like to know too

 

[Mad racer]

Nice to know about the used car market in Trinidad and suggestion about it.Its really very helpful for everyone as a informative stuff about the market.

 

[nirtime]

Steven had the right idea. The forces of demand and supply govern prices. If these emotional sellers and scam artists could not sell their cars as nobody wanted to pay their high price, then they have no choice but to reduce their price. We can have an impact on this by education. Often times people purchase a car but they don't consider the fine details. I'm not saying we won't miss one or two when examining but people need to be aware of what a ratch looks like and they also need to look around before buying so they get a good idea of value and prices within a certain range, without considering outliers.

Yes carfax and all these things are nice in the usa but many times those things are faked and the buyer doesn't know. they only realise when they buy the car and get attached and then begin to see the finer details. A vin can be reproduced and vin packages are sold, the history sometimes faked and you only know when you stab the area around the vin with a screw driver or knock it and realise its hollow with filler.

 

[Mad racer]

Yeah i am also agree with Steven,s point on this used car market sellers and dealers.So try it with carefully and you have to experience and learn about the vehicles deeply.