Buying a car and other frustrations

cheekylady
By cheekylady

Buying a car in Qatar is the biggest gamble I ever took in my life. With people driving like maniacs (hence most of the cars would have been in an accident by the time you buy it!), car checking places cheating and taking bribes from sellers, car sellers having no decency and fixing major problems just to cover enough to take the car through sale, and mechanics doing everything to again... rip you off. Not to mention the insurance companies only offering full cover for brand new cars (another rip off!)

How on earth can one buy a good used car? Is buying a brand new car the only option? If we all keep buying only new cars this country is going to sink under a pile of rubbish (no, the country does not recycle of course).
But of course, no reason to worry... we have enough money to send our rubbish to some poor country that of course will take it because they're desperate for money (and that of course is not going to affect us, because the earth is divided by walls that protect countries with lots of money from global climate change).
What is wrong with this place? Do people really have no more decency left?

By 24Tango• 2 Nov 2011 10:48
Rating: 5/5
24Tango

why don't you try Factory Inspected - Pre-Owned Car with 1 year warrantee.

I think you can get a good deal for NBK (mercedes),AlFardan(BMW), Volvo, Toyota & Honda pre-owned vehicles; whereas you can also get a track a service history, genuine check for defects, under-warrantee or extended warrantee as well as peace of mine.

expensive though, however you get what you pay for

2 centx

By Miss Mimi• 2 Nov 2011 08:27
Miss Mimi

We're looking for a used car right now to, and we make sure that we take any car we're looking at to at least two independent mechanics for a once over. We pay for it ourselves, but a couple hundred riyals for checks now could save us thousands later.

By parksbrian• 2 Nov 2011 05:18
Rating: 4/5
parksbrian

Yes!petergrifin has a point..That will last..Just try and try..everythings will be alright..

By anonymous• 28 Oct 2011 14:55
anonymous

Rule number 1: Never buy from a Local.

Rule number 2: NEVER BUY FROM A LOCAL!!!

Rule number 3: Never let the car owner take his car for inspection to give you that worthless piece of paper with all check marks everywhere.

Rule number 4: Little things in the car shows you how the car was treated.

By marycatherine• 28 Oct 2011 14:35
marycatherine

Texas A&M, North Western, Weill Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Virginia Commonwealth, etc. You could try googling them and asking if they have a buy/sale listing for staff/faculty. A lot of universities and colleges do that in the GCC as there are so many people arriving and leaving.

By Mike Rotch• 28 Oct 2011 10:46
Mike Rotch

"Western Unis" is probably a reference to western universities in Doha, and not a particular establishment.

By cheekylady• 28 Oct 2011 10:32
cheekylady

thanks Mary, do you know contact details of Western Unis or where to find it? Never heard of them before.

By marycatherine• 27 Oct 2011 18:46
marycatherine

Make some contacts at the Western Unis - the vehicles there are mostly owned by people from North America who (a) take care of the vehicles as prescribed in the car manual and (b) are less likely to behave like idiots on the road and with their cars. Will there be ones with dents/dings/fender benders - more often than not, but not usually the owner's fault and the repairs would have been carried out properly.

Are some of these people liars and cheats? Most certainly, but less so in my experience in 10+ years in the GCC. For myself, I always buy a used car that has been maintained at the dealership (they do not have a horse in the race) and make a personal inquiry at the maintenance shop to see if there has been anything not divulged in my discussions with the seller.

By Mark24• 27 Oct 2011 18:46
Mark24

Guy, u need to try again. dnt give up. U might be lucky this time.

Chheers!

Good luck!!!!!!!

By shayan• 27 Oct 2011 18:28
Rating: 4/5
shayan

It all depends what type of car you want to buy.

Al Fardan automobiles gives u guarantee and service for their used car premium selection.

By cheekylady• 27 Oct 2011 18:14
cheekylady

thanks for advice Shez and Captain! :o) have a good weekend

By shez• 27 Oct 2011 17:59
Rating: 2/5
shez

cheekylady..its not like that .the cars what they get will be maintained from the showroom itself. sometimes they give warranty for short period. it also depends on the mileage of car. dont go for used cars done above 50k kms for less headache.anyways enjoy the vkend..:)

By Captain_Lost• 27 Oct 2011 17:51
Rating: 2/5
Captain_Lost

hey!! buy it from any used car showroom... they'll give u car warranty for a specific time period as well.. dealer's like BMW used car showroom wud even given u free service packages although the price of the car wud b bit higher than the market value

By cheekylady• 27 Oct 2011 17:51
cheekylady

thanks Sunny - you're probably right, a beer may just sort this out :o)

Shez - used car showrooms apparently also don't give you guarantee / check the quality of cars you get from them. I checked with Nissan showroom and they say they just sell what people bring to them!

By shez• 27 Oct 2011 17:43
shez

Go to used car showroom( direct from dealers) if everyone is ripping u off!!

By sunnydays_qa• 27 Oct 2011 17:43
sunnydays_qa

You know what you need right now? Loads of beer! Yeah that’s right! Get drunk and have fun and have a nice weekend!

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