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Best Places to Buy a Used Car - Dubai

Best Places to Buy a Used Car - Dubai

Old Mar 16th 2014, 5:14 am
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Default Best Places to Buy a Used Car - Dubai

Yes I have used the search function

Where is the best place to buy a car in Dubai? Does anyone have any good experiences or feel able to recommend anyone? Last time I went via Dubizzle which turned into something of a headache so looking at other options this time.

Cheers for any advice
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Old Mar 16th 2014, 5:50 am
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Default Re: Best Places to Buy a Used Car - Dubai

Originally Posted by Ronnie Biggs
Yes I have used the search function

Where is the best place to buy a car in Dubai? Does anyone have any good experiences or feel able to recommend anyone? Last time I went via Dubizzle which turned into something of a headache so looking at other options this time.

Cheers for any advice
Get yourself down to Ras Al Khor. The automarket there will have any car that you are even vaguely interested in.

Last edited by The_Citizen; Mar 16th 2014 at 6:16 am.
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Old Mar 16th 2014, 5:57 am
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Default Re: Best Places to Buy a Used Car - Dubai

How old a used car do you want?

Toyota offer some great deals on 6month old cars and they come with a guarantee.
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Old Mar 16th 2014, 6:07 am
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Default Re: Best Places to Buy a Used Car - Dubai

Ras Al Khor Automarket.

There are 10ish cars per forecourt and at least 75, so there are so many cars to look at it's unreal.
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Old Mar 16th 2014, 6:47 am
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Default Re: Best Places to Buy a Used Car - Dubai

Cheers chaps. I went to Ras Al Khor last time and just thought I was in the Arab version of "Minder." I didn't trust any of them. Was I being too harsh? It had been a long day....

The Toyota thing sounds good too - I'll go and have a look. It's a runaround I need really but also something safe enough to put the kids in. Budget of up to 80K and I don't want a car that has done over 80,000km.
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Old Mar 16th 2014, 6:55 am
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Default Re: Best Places to Buy a Used Car - Dubai

Originally Posted by Ronnie Biggs
Cheers chaps. I went to Ras Al Khor last time and just thought I was in the Arab version of "Minder." I didn't trust any of them. Was I being too harsh? It had been a long day....

The Toyota thing sounds good too - I'll go and have a look. It's a runaround I need really but also something safe enough to put the kids in. Budget of up to 80K and I don't want a car that has done over 80,000km.
I had the same budget and walked around the whole of RAK with my Dad when he was over.

He's about as suspicious and sceptical as they come but I ended up getting my car there. I paid 80,000 for a 2yr old Explorer with 50k on the clock. The guy we dealt with worked for about 5 garages and sorted everything out without any hassle, just told me what I needed, listened to what I told him the bank wanted and then sorted it.

We did the classic; drove around a bit and then parked up because I spotted the Explorer (it's what I wanted), had a look, talked about prices and wandered away. Spent 90-120 minutes walking round the whole place (Dad's gob wide open in amazement) and ended up buying the one we saw at the start.

If you've got the cash to buy instead of a loan like me then it's probably even easier, the insurers and banks and RTA stuff are all there so might be able to just drive it away as well?

I was a lot more comfortable buying my car there, off men in a shop who were all willing to help (obviously they were getting lots of money), than I was with my mrs meeting a bloke in a car park to look at a car that wasn't his, wasn't his cousin's as he said but was actually some random woman's that had asked him to sell it. It was all proper dodgy and I didn't like it, not one bit.
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Old Mar 16th 2014, 7:55 am
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Default Re: Best Places to Buy a Used Car - Dubai

Originally Posted by Scamp
I had the same budget and walked around the whole of RAK with my Dad when he was over.

He's about as suspicious and sceptical as they come but I ended up getting my car there. I paid 80,000 for a 2yr old Explorer with 50k on the clock. The guy we dealt with worked for about 5 garages and sorted everything out without any hassle, just told me what I needed, listened to what I told him the bank wanted and then sorted it.

We did the classic; drove around a bit and then parked up because I spotted the Explorer (it's what I wanted), had a look, talked about prices and wandered away. Spent 90-120 minutes walking round the whole place (Dad's gob wide open in amazement) and ended up buying the one we saw at the start.

If you've got the cash to buy instead of a loan like me then it's probably even easier, the insurers and banks and RTA stuff are all there so might be able to just drive it away as well?

I was a lot more comfortable buying my car there, off men in a shop who were all willing to help (obviously they were getting lots of money), than I was with my mrs meeting a bloke in a car park to look at a car that wasn't his, wasn't his cousin's as he said but was actually some random woman's that had asked him to sell it. It was all proper dodgy and I didn't like it, not one bit.
I quite enjoy going RAK to be honest. I like how on some forecourts you have massive diversity and is common to see a Lancer parked next to a Ferrari. The formula garage is always good for a wander as well.
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Old Mar 16th 2014, 9:03 am
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Default Re: Best Places to Buy a Used Car - Dubai

Originally Posted by The_Citizen
I quite enjoy going RAK to be honest. I like how on some forecourts you have massive diversity and is common to see a Lancer parked next to a Ferrari. The formula garage is always good for a wander as well.
I enjoy wandering around it too. Whenever a mate wants a car I offer to go with them just to stroll about.
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Old Mar 16th 2014, 11:22 am
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Default Re: Best Places to Buy a Used Car - Dubai

Originally Posted by Scamp
I had the same budget and walked around the whole of RAK with my Dad when he was over.

He's about as suspicious and sceptical as they come but I ended up getting my car there. I paid 80,000 for a 2yr old Explorer with 50k on the clock. The guy we dealt with worked for about 5 garages and sorted everything out without any hassle, just told me what I needed, listened to what I told him the bank wanted and then sorted it.

We did the classic; drove around a bit and then parked up because I spotted the Explorer (it's what I wanted), had a look, talked about prices and wandered away. Spent 90-120 minutes walking round the whole place (Dad's gob wide open in amazement) and ended up buying the one we saw at the start.

If you've got the cash to buy instead of a loan like me then it's probably even easier, the insurers and banks and RTA stuff are all there so might be able to just drive it away as well?

I was a lot more comfortable buying my car there, off men in a shop who were all willing to help (obviously they were getting lots of money), than I was with my mrs meeting a bloke in a car park to look at a car that wasn't his, wasn't his cousin's as he said but was actually some random woman's that had asked him to sell it. It was all proper dodgy and I didn't like it, not one bit.
Thanks Scamp, you've convinced me to give it another try. Did you finance through a bank or the car showroom?
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Old Mar 16th 2014, 11:58 am
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Default Re: Best Places to Buy a Used Car - Dubai

Originally Posted by Ronnie Biggs
Thanks Scamp, you've convinced me to give it another try. Did you finance through a bank or the car showroom?
Did it with the bank directly.

Talked to bank, got an idea of what they'd lend and how much it would be monthly - settled on 80,000 as I could afford the 20% cash contribution / deposit and the repayment amount is identical to what I was paying for my Lancerghini (1500 a month).

Went to Ral Al Helmet to car hunt, found the one (as explained). Talked to them about the fact it was a loan or I couldn't buy it. They said that all I needed to do was give a deposit of 5% to secure it...now this is where I'm fuzzy remembering... I don't think i'd have handed that over without confirmation that I could have the loan, UNLESS the garage agreed that this was just a holding deposit and refundable if I didn't get loan within a week - I honestly can't remember.

Then I went away and talked to the bank more, they wanted it checked over and valued by someone independent - the garage 'sorted' this

Then I went to the bank with the guy from the garage as it was registered in the business name, they had to bring trade licenses and all sorts, got the loan agreed, paid my 20% to HSBC, they paid the whole amount to the garage. Then I went with guy from garage (probably a couple of days later) to RTA, got plates put on it, had insurance sorted already (through HSBC) and then drove it home.

My comments are as follows (if taking bank loan):

Try to get a personal loan - then you don't need to involve the bank when buying the car, i got a 'car loan' which meant there was a shit ton of paperwork and lots of trips out to bank, calling the garage etc etc.

Fundamentally, the garage don't care because they have a sale BUT, a cash sale is obviously more appealing.

The mrs did hers through Dubizzle with a personal loan and it was much more straight forward.

Now, the upside may be that my loan is a better rate? I don't know?

Downside - I can't sell it until I pay if off, or clear it in one go. Not a major issue but I still owe about 29k on it and have had it just over two years, I might want to change it later this year but will need to pay it all off. Obviously I would get some of that money back from selling it but a pain nonetheless.

I might try and dig out the guy's number at the AutoMarket, he tried to find my mrs a car, my mate a car and sold me mine. He tells you what you can get, told my Dad and I he was wrong (politely) about the price range and what we thought I could buy etc...nice, straight talking and knows ****ing everything. Helped with bank loan stuff like someone who genuinely knew what to do. Which - obviously meant he got his bonus or whatever, but he was really good.

Automarket top tip: Go in, take the right turn, follow it round to left and park, get out and just start walking. Talk to a few of the guys floating about (generally Lebanese type rather than Indian), they might work for several dealers and know lots of cars, this guy I dealt with had a 10-A4-Page booklet of the cars he was flogging, how much, km's, etc.

writing this, I think I got a bit lucky to get someone decent who was willing to help and answer my questions and tell me what to do. I know he stood to gain, but touch wood, the car's been great and he was genuinely useful.

Go down there, put some leg work in, talk to people, look at lots (if you're not sure what you want, in fact, even if you are. I wanted an Explorer, nearly got an Armada, nearly got an old X5, looked at everything and just confirmed I wanted the Ford).
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Old Mar 16th 2014, 11:58 am
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Default Re: Best Places to Buy a Used Car - Dubai

^ **** me. Work's slow today eh ^
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Old Mar 16th 2014, 12:40 pm
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Default Re: Best Places to Buy a Used Car - Dubai

Originally Posted by Scamp
^ **** me. Work's slow today eh ^
All very useful though, cheers pal. Will give AutoMarket a go and see what happens...
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Old Mar 16th 2014, 12:42 pm
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Default Re: Best Places to Buy a Used Car - Dubai

Originally Posted by Ronnie Biggs
All very useful though, cheers pal. Will give AutoMarket a go and see what happens...
If you come back having hated it and thinking it's shit don't blame me.
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Old Mar 16th 2014, 2:21 pm
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Default Re: Best Places to Buy a Used Car - Dubai

Don't forget that Ras Al Khor has plenty of nice-looking cars that were actually written off in other countries, then shipped here and rebuilt (most often in Sharjah) - America is a big source of these.

At the risk of stating the bleedin' obvious, always make a note of the VIN of any car you're seriously interested in, and get the relevant dealership here to look it up on their system. If they can't find it, clearly that should ring alarm bells. If you determine that it's an import rather than something originally bought from a UAE dealership, pay to use one of the online services that look up the VIN in the country of origin so you can find out what its real accident history is.
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Old Mar 16th 2014, 2:26 pm
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Default Re: Best Places to Buy a Used Car - Dubai

Originally Posted by Eeyore
Don't forget that Ras Al Khor has plenty of nice-looking cars that were actually written off in other countries, then shipped here and rebuilt (most often in Sharjah) - America is a big source of these.

At the risk of stating the bleedin' obvious, always make a note of the VIN of any car you're seriously interested in, and get the relevant dealership here to look it up on their system. If they can't find it, clearly that should ring alarm bells. If you determine that it's an import rather than something originally bought from a UAE dealership, pay to use one of the online services that look up the VIN in the country of origin so you can find out what its real accident history is.
Gulp. Didn't do that. Is a yank import. Assume that having had it serviced at Ford several times that it's alright?
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