Vehicles & Servicing Best Posts in Thread: automobile

I hope, you will be happy with your purchase. However should anybody else be reading this, then I strongly advice against buying used cars in the lower end of the market.

The problem is, that at 100k or even 150k you are looking at units, which are at least 15 years old. And while cars can certainly last longer than 15 years, with such old units you will find, that you will be spending quite a lot of time visiting the various auto part shops in Dumaguete. And not only is that annoying, it is also quite expensive in the long run.

If you are a bit risk willing, one of the best ways to get affordable motoring in the Philippines is to buy a repurchased car from one of the banks.

As an example a budget of around 200k is enough to get you into a 2011 Hyundai Getz with 50-60k on the clock. With a bit of luck such a unit will provide cheap and hasslefree transportation for a number of years, and then you can still pass it on to someone else and get maybe half your investment back.

 

Having just returned from car shopping on Cebu, l can recommend the process with a few caveats.

Virtually all the vehicles that met my needs that l was shown had some form of engine damage. This should not automatically disqualify a vehicle if it iisn't a huge problem. Example, one vehicle l looked at had a flat camshat lobe, the fix would have been a used head and camshaft, about 10k php parts and labor. Car was excellent otherwise and priced appropriately, the only reason l did not buy it was because the putative owner could not show me the complete paperwork. In my opinion, if you are mechanically savvy, there are somewhat impaired vehicles available on Cebu for 65-70k where 20-30k worth of work would make them decent and reliable cars, but nobody is going to mistake them for late model.

I made the error of"accepting" " help" from my girlfriends family. It took 12 days to find a suitable vehicle because their priority was meet family and mine was buy a vehicle. As l could not get them voluntarily to step out the front door with intent to buy a car before 10-11 AM, l finally had to put my foot down, lodging and taxi fees were mounting. If l had it to do over again, l would go alone, stay at the Cebu city Sogo (instead of with GF's family in Danao) and probably find something that included repairs for under 100k, registered and ready to drive after it's repaired/ spruced up in about 3 days.

To find the best deals l think you are going to need someone who speaks Cebuano to assist you.

Remember that to most Filipinos, running condition and even good running condition can mean that the vehicle will start with great effort, possibly involving pushing it and popping the clutch.

All nonfunctional aircons "only need refrigerant". Santa will bring the refrigerant if you are patient, also. Lol.

I recommend buying from a dealer to ease the transfer hassles but if the paperwork is complete and up to date, you can buy from an individual.

If you can find what you want for 65-70k with a good mechanic much can be repaired for 23k parts and 7k labor.

I would not go to Cebu to buy a multicab. Buy one on Negros and use the trip money saved to spruce it up.

From what l have seen, Negros is where used cars go to die. It looks like the cars on Cebu are generally in better shape and they are priced lower. If the GF progresses to wife, we might make a business of buying and bringing cars from Cebu to Negros. This is how the low price car situation looks to me. I will probably have 110k in my truck by the time l get the front and rear air fixed and the paint done. It still won't look great and that is by design, l don't want anyone to think l will protect my paint at all costs, it might lead to them doing something more stupid than usual.