Buying New Vehicle Advise

[Mike S]

I'm not going to dispute or agree with anything thus far written about buying a new car here in the Philippines .... I will only give you our experience with the topic .....  

 

3 years ago we bought a used Kia Sportage because we were moving to Negros after living in Cebu city for 5+ years and needed to be able to drive over the mountains both in Cebu and Negros .... I loved my little SUV diesel 5 speed manual with 4 wheel drive .... no speed demon but she pulled the mountains just fine .....I had a lot of work done on the car as I hate break downs

 

Fast forward .... as I hit 70 I knew J needed to learn to drive for obvious reasons so I tried teaching her to drive with the Sporty ..... the clutch and shifting became an problem so we decided to buy an automatic .....we looked for several months with out finding what we wanted ..... one day while at SM she saw the dealers car show and came home all excited about one car in particular ..... an APV Suzuki Ortega GLX ..... price p680,500 .... 3yr or 100,000k ... 3yr registry at LTO .... I did a lot of research on the car and compared it to othe APV's ..... we went back and looked at it and I was impressed with the hight and leg room .....

 

The little bugger is loaded but only has a 1.4 liter gas engine but when kicked into passing gear (4speed auto) it moves out pretty good .... has dual front airbags at the time it was the only one of the 4 major brands that did one other had drivers side 3 had none ..... has ABS break system .... side impact beams .... seats 7 people and weighs 1770kg .... anyway if you want more info you can look on line under Suzuki Ertiga GLX ....

 

So why did we buy a new car ...... simple I wanted J to be secure should something happen to me ..... I'll let you know about the warranty service costs as we just had our first oil and filter change ... no labor charge for the first 3

 

Do we have any regrets with buying the Ertiga ..... nope not at all ..... especially now that I can drive it again .... :hystery: :hystery:

 

JMHO and experence ......

:cheersty:

[Thomas]

you should never be the driver of the car you purchase.

If the car is in your name, you risk to be demanded to pay anyway.

So better put the car in some Filipino's name  - and don't buy a to expensive one, because it's put in a Filipino's name  :mocking:

[RBM]

My experience buying new from Chevy Cebu was positive. No discount, just a few liters of diesel. Seat covers, and extra mats were the only extras.

From full payment to pick up was around 3 days. They even offered a free driving lesson....

The staff were keen to rope me into some rust protection deal also extended warranty which I refused.

Have traveled 18,000km and never experienced any problems as others have mentioned. Driven a lot in Cebu city, Dumaguete and all over Negros and Cebu. Pulled over once in Cebu City, I made an illegal left turn, P500 solved the problem.

So over all I would do the same again although one can save heaps buying low mileage pre owned, but check both papers and vehicle out very well.

[chris49]

Cash is best as financing is outrageous due to the high loan interest rates. As for maintenance, the forum members are correct, suscribe to their rip-off post sales oil change schemes or loose your warranty. Get prepared for a $500 service fee that is little more than the oil change itself. And, repeat until the warranty expires.   All the banks have repo cars but they should be approached with extreme caution. However, an independent inspecion MAY find you a flower in a field of onions.

 

I agree the repo cars could be a minefield and are usually transacted in cash. However I have an anecdotal case (one case only) where the buyer was able to negotiate with the bank, the lien holder, to take over the loan, with a cash settlement to the "owner" who could not make the payments. He ended up getting the base loan without the initial cash out or load.

 

As for financing. Also a minefield. But next year I will have pension from 2 sources. Plus a child allowance paid to GIna for the kids. I reckon if you calculate that out over 48-60 months, you could consider the car as free because the money is coming "free" to you. So if maybe putting down 30% and if you have cash left over, you can apply the extra cash to home improvements. Plus paying an installment is a forced savings, so that forces you to manage well I reckon get a calculator out and you might be surprised.

[Thomas]

Have traveled 18,000km and never experienced any problems as others have mentioned. Driven a lot in Cebu city, Dumaguete and all over Negros and Cebu. Pulled over once in Cebu City, I made an illegal left turn, P500 solved the problem.

Do you have tinted windows, so they don't see you are a foreigner?   :)

[Jake]

Do we have any regrets with buying the Ertiga ..... nope not at all ..... especially now that I can drive it again .... :hystery: :hystery:

 

JMHO and experence ......

:cheersty:

 

Well done Marine!  Do you want brother Jake to bless the left front wheel for ya?  

[RBM]

Have traveled 18,000km and never experienced any problems as others have mentioned. Driven a lot in Cebu city, Dumaguete and all over Negros and Cebu. Pulled over once in Cebu City, I made an illegal left turn, P500 solved the problem.

Do you have tinted windows, so they don't see you are a foreigner?   :)

Yes how ever from my not inconsiderable hands on experience living here, I consider this BECAUSE I AM A FOREIGNER a little over done. For sure there are plenty of examples of price gauging and perhaps some of people in power taking advantage but when buying a new car it is not evident. At least not in my case or any I have heard of.

[scott h]

Any other advise is welcome of course.(please)

 

We bought an older Vios from my brother in law so ill stay away from financing etc. etc. etc. Here are my thoughts though.

 

Buying a new or used car, large or small, car or SUV will depend on several factors in my opinion.

 

1. Where will you be located? City or Provence?

2. What do you expect to use the car for? Errands? Touring the country? (remember the larger the car, the more relatives can ride with you :hystery: )

3. Your level of car driving confidence? What I mean by this, your profile says your an east coaster? Drive in NYC or Philly a lot? Or countryside driver?

 

 

Us Yanks come from a car culture. We love to drive and accept it as part of manhood. IMO if a person lives in a city (me) and uses it for shopping, runs to the casino and occasional runs out to the country side (all me again) Buying a new car would not really be cost effective (for me). I pretty much replaced all the normal things on our car (tires, shocks, brakes, all that jazz) I found that parts are reasonable but where we really save the money is on the labor.

 

I have never been in an accident here, but we call our car bumpy (because of all the dings in the fenders and doors) and they were all caused by me because of our driving "culture". All trying caused while trying to hurry and finish a Y or U turn so as not to inconvenience my fellow drivers. Once I figured out that little driving courtesy is given or expected here, haven't had a new ding in 2 years.

 

About Driving While White, well I might just be fortunate, in three years of driving I have had two tickets, both of them I was in the wrong. I turned over my license, went to city hall 3 days later, paid the published fine, received my license back and carried on. I personally have never been pulled over by PNP, Metro Manila Traffic Enforcers, City Enforcer, Barangay Enforcers or by Enforcer int he Provinces and extorted because I am a "Kano". I have never had anyone jump in front of me or ram me in an attempt to "win the lottery" (and no, my windows are not fully tinted). But I am fully, up to the hilt ensured seven ways to Sunday. Maybe I am pushing my luck, maybe I am just asking for trouble, but frankly I for one am not going to lower what I think as "MY standard of living" just on the possibility that someday, someone just might possibly try to take advantage of me. If someone tries in the future I will deal with it then. In the mean time I am going to enjoy my life. (jumps off the soap box :tiphat: )

 

Back to your choice of car. Here is my free advice (worth exactly what its costing you). Once your here, buy a beater (flooded or not, dented or not, just make sure the aircon works :hystery: ) and get all the insurance your can. Once you get your feet wet about driving here, if it turns out you really drive that much to justify the expense, look into buying a new vehicle. By that time you will know a lot of the ropes in your area and can proceed with confidence.

 

Good luck :cheersty:

[chris49]

 

you should never be the driver of the car you purchase.

If the car is in your name, you risk to be demanded to pay anyway.

So better put the car in some Filipino's name  - and don't buy a to expensive one, because it's put in a Filipino's name  :mocking:

 

 

 

I do the driving. As I have since age 18. And I deal with the risk factors. I'm an experienced driver, have driven in the Middle East and have considerable experience here. I trust myself in the driver's seat more than I would a 3rd party.

 

One risk factor I would not undertake is putting the car under someone's else's name.  All they would need is access to the key's and if ever they decided to sell the vehicle, which they probably would, there is nothing you can do.

[Dave Hounddriver]

I'm an experienced driver

 

I understand how many feel that way,  although very, very few have ever said they were 'bad' drivers.  When I drove as a professional driver for 30 years, we professionals learned that accidents happen to any person and any time. 

 

While I respect your decision to take the risks, I see WAY too many foreigners getting into accidents in Philippines that are "not their fault" to ever recommend that anyone else buy a car and take those risks.  I say "do whatever you feel is right" but I surely don't recommend it.  What do I recommend?  Just like all the rich Filipinos do, buy a friggin tank of an SUV and hire a very professional driver to drive you around.  I suspect the SUV is registered to a company that the rich Filipino owns, but what do I know?  I'm just a driver.  :hystery:

Edited September 27, 2015 by Dave Hounddriver