Technology deranges Nigeria’s used-car market

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Technology is fast becoming a major influencer of the already thriving used-car market in Nigeria, hence disrupting the entire value chain of auto business in the country. Nigeria spends an estimated N1.2 trillion on importation of vehicles as recent statistics has shown.

PriceWaterhouseCooper (PwC), Nigeria’s professional service firm in a recent report release mentioned that more than 70 per cent of these imported vehicles are used ones, also known as Tokunbo. This trend has created a thriving used-car market, spurred more by Nigeria’s new automotive policy – a development that saw car import tariff hiked by 35 per cent.

Over the past five years, technology has proven handy in playing a vital role in the success of the used-car market. Specifically, technology has reared its head in creating online marketplaces, curating inventories of used-cars and connecting buyers with sellers.

According to Lukmon Oloidi, who is a used-car dealer in Lagos., technology has made it easy for dealers to show their inventories to people outside the main cities of Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Kaduna, and even to some cities in neighbouring countries.

In most of the cases, there is no way of ascertaining the true condition of a car or how to make the right valuations,” noted a car dealer, who would rather stay anonymous. This remained the situation until another online vehicle marketplace with a unique model- Cars45 launched in Nigeria in 2015.

According to him, the platform has been able to standardise the prices associated with used cars through a proprietary pricing algorithm.

There is also the challenge of transparency. Most buyers already believe every used car dealer in Nigeria has something to hide. Cars45 addresses this challenge through a reliable car inspection service that helps to put the minds of both buyer and seller at rest.

Source: The Guardian

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