For decades, Kenyans looking to buy a new car have fallen victim to unscrupulous car brokers who, at times, end up conning them money running into millions of shillings.
Fred Daudi, a car dealer, however, spoke exclusively to Kenyans.co.ke on how Kenyans can avoid being losing money while buying a car.
He warned car buyers to do due diligence before buying a car - cautioning that the transaction could cost the buyer their hard-earned money or they may end up purchasing a stolen car.
Here are four tricks that the conmen use to outsmart unsuspecting buyers
Mileage
Daudi revealed that car brokers were using sneaky ways to fake the car mileage.
“Some brokers will lie to you that the car has a mileage of 10,000 kilometres only to realize later that it has over 200,000-kilometre mileage,” he told Kenyans.co.ke.
He explained how to determine a car's true mileage, “You can use Quality Inspection Services Japan (QISJ) to know the right mileage of the vehicle you are planning to buy.”
QISJ is a free website where you enter the chassis number of the vehicle and it provides you with the vehicle’s true mileage.
Apart from mileage, QISJ can also give you a vehicle roadworthiness inspection, vehicle history check and odometer verification.
Bill of landing
Daudi identified a new trick brokers use to sell locally used cars.
“Nowadays brokers will take a locally used car to a showroom in Mombasa and lie it has been recently imported,” he cautioned
He, therefore, advised Kenyans to always ask for the bill of landing to ascertain when the car was imported into the country.
“The bill of landing will give you comprehensive information about the type of the car, where it was imported from and the date it was cleared at the port,” he clarified.
Logbook imitation
According to Daudi, a logbook is a most commonly used document to con naïve Kenyans.
“Brokers will give you a logbook and when you scan, it gives the right description of the car as well as its owner.
“Since you have done an independent search, it increases your trust in the deal, making it easier to get scammed,” he warned
He added that some brokers will give you a cloned logbook whereas the real one has been used as a loan guarantor or is from a stolen car.
On how to avoid logbook imitation he advised, “If you are buying a car in cash, make sure that you immediately transfer the logbook to your name. Do not fall into the trap of paying first with the promise of changing the logbook later.”
When buying a car on loan, the logbook is left with the dealer but Daudi revealed ways you can avoid logbook imitation in such instances.
“Make sure that the details on the logbook tally with those on the bill of landing. Most importantly, make sure when making payment, the recipient matches the one on the two documents,” he enlightened.
Payment
Daudi explained to Kenyans.co.ke that you can do all the due diligence and still get conned at the payment stage.
“Brokers will walk into a showroom and make you believe they are the owners of the whole establishment.
“If you fall for that trap, you will end up paying money into their personal bank account and they vanish,” he warns.
Daudi advises that you should never make a payment to a car dealer if the payment details do not match that of the business establishment.
