Foreign used Cars in 2024 – See How To Buy Any Car From the U.S.A and Ship To Nigeria

The procedure for purchasing a car in Nigeria could be rather time-consuming. In order to find the required car to purchase, you may occasionally need to go from Port Harcourt to Lagos or even Cotonou. When you can’t find the car you want, you can come back disappointed.

However, online car auctions let you browse through more than 150,000 vehicles without leaving your house or place of business.

You can save hundreds of thousands of Naira by purchasing your car via an online car auction or car listing website rather than from a dealer here in Nigeria, which is another advantage.

These are a few intriguing aspects of Internet automobile sales. We will walk you through simple steps in this article so you can buy a car from the USA and have it shipped to Nigeria without ever leaving your bed.

These procedures are essentially followed by every car dealer in Nigeria while purchasing and importing the vehicles they sell to you.

Sign up with a website for auto auctions or conduct a search on one for used cars

You must first choose whether you want to purchase a car through an online car auction website (such as copart.com and iaai.com, etc.) or from a website that lists automobiles for sale.

If you decide to purchase a car from a car-listing website, search for one there. All you have to do is look for the car of your choice there.

A word of caution is that If you do not have a reliable person on the ground who will check, pay for, and pick up the automobile on your behalf, do not purchase a car from a private seller on a website.

We urge you to purchase from the dealership, especially from LLC dealerships (limited liability companies). Make sure the dealerships have positive reviews by checking as well. Additionally, be sure to phone them to ask questions and close the purchase.  

A safer and more dependable option to purchase an automobile from the USA is through an online auto auction website. This approach is especially advised if you do not have a reliable friend or relative present.

Some of these auction companies allow registration at no cost, while others demand an initial registration fee of $200 and an annual subscription.

They can deliver to your local representatives or to you in Lagos or in any other city. To boost your eligibility for bidding, you will also need to send your identification card along with a few other documents. Before sending money to a dealer, do your research on them. Additionally, avoid sending money to unreliable friends or family in the US. Some of them also need to find solutions to their financial issues.

Learn and comprehend the lingo used at car auctions.

It’s crucial that you familiarise yourself with the lingo utilised on these sites to make purchasing judgments. You should, for instance, become familiar with terminology like “salvage title,” “clean title,” “purchase it now,” “pure sale,” “improved car,” “engine start program,” and “run.”

You also need to have a fundamental understanding of where the different states in the US are. This is required to prevent you from purchasing a vehicle in an area that is far from the East Coast or seaports. If the state is far from the ports or the East Coast, the cost of transporting the car may be significantly higher.

A vehicle from the US cannot be exported if its title is invalid. Only bid on a car if the title document for the vehicle is a “clean title,” “certificate of title,” or “salvage title.”

Look for and choose the car you want to purchase

This phase necessitates alertness. At this stage, many poor judgment calls or decisions are made. At this point, a person can choose an automobile without recognizing it has a flaw just because the exterior looks nice in the picture.

A purchaser, for instance, can disregard the vehicle’s mention of a front-end collision in the narration. Alternatively, the front damage might not be visible in the photo since the insurance company may have only partially restored the vehicle before putting it up for auction.

This is why it is crucial to pay close attention to every single detail and avoid simply superficially inspecting an automobile.

It’s interesting that many vehicle sellers in Nigeria don’t care about such information. They favour purchasing the shoddy “accidented” vehicles. These are by far less expensive. After that, they send them to Nigeria. When they get there, they remedy the problem and list the vehicle for sale.

Before buying a car, make sure to check the vehicle history and VIN. You might therefore make a more informed decision regarding whether to buy a car after seeing the vehicle’s history.

Additionally, you have the option of hiring impartial inspectors to thoroughly examine the vehicle on your behalf. The cost of this inspection service is approximately $90. 

Obtain a vehicle

Some vehicles are listed as “buy it now” on websites that host online auto auctions. This implies that you can purchase them for the listed price as soon as you see them.

Other vehicles, however, can only be bought on a specific date. You must therefore wait until that day and hour to enter the bid room.

Make automobile payments

Bank wire transfers and debit/credit cards are the two basic ways to pay for an automobile you are purchasing at an online auction.

It is quicker to pay using a debit or credit card. You will, however, be constrained by maximum card usage limitations and declined transactions on the majority of Nigerian cards.

You may occasionally only have the choice of a bank wire transfer. Purchase dollars on the underground market, then transfer them through your bank’s domiciliary dollar account.

You must send the money as quickly as possible, so beware. This is required to prevent the dealer from selling the car to a different buyer. You must also make sure your payment goes into their business account. Additionally, if the auction company does not receive your payment within 2–3 business days, they will charge you a penalty of $50–$100.

They immediately credit your account with the same amount after receiving the payment to do so. As a result, your payment for the car is processed, and presto! You now own the vehicle.

Ship your car to Nigeria from the USA

At this stage, a tow truck or flatbed truck will be required to pick up the vehicle and transfer it to the nearest US harbour. You or your American shipping agent can arrange for this.

A tow truck or flatbed truck can be used to move the car for as little as $100. If your car was purchased in a place in the USA that is far from the seaports on the East Coast, it might be as expensive as $2,500.

Your shipping agent has the car approved for export by US customs. Your car will then be travelling toward Nigeria across the Atlantic. RoRo (Roll On, Roll Off) shipping is more popular than container shipping. This is due to the container shipping method’s slightly higher cost.

Additionally, you might need to collaborate with others in order to split the cost of the container.

The difficulty with the pairing is that some of the people you share the container with might put off presenting their shipping documents or paying their import duty in Nigeria, which could result in you having to pay demurrage at the Lagos port.

Within five working days of the bid date, your car must leave the auction company’s grounds or yard. Otherwise, a $20 daily storage fee will be applied.

Have Nigerian Customs clear your vehicle

You can do this step on your own if you have the time and energy to do so. An alternative is to use a reputable clearing agent who will clear your car in 2 to 3 days.

Again, if you have the time and energy, you can accomplish this yourself. The surface duty equals 35% of the car’s appraised value. You will also be responsible for paying the fee, VAT, shipping, terminal, and any supplemental costs.

Vehicles built in 2016 and 2017 with fewer than 3,000 kilometres on the odometer will be subject to a 70% surface duty.

Conclusion 

To sum up: It typically takes 6 weeks to transport a car from the auction site to Lagos. Make sure you are aware of the car’s price in Nigeria before bidding on or importing one. Only then should you proceed with the purchase.