New or 2nd hand

[stevewool]

No rush at all to buy straight away, plus do i want a car when i get there like many have said, but its better to have all the knowledge from you folk who have trod the path i am trying to follow.

[Dave Hounddriver]

22 minutes ago, stevewool said:

its better to have all the knowledge from you folk who have trod the path i am trying to follow.

[davewe]

I vacillate back and forth on this issue as well, Steve. I will want a car - eventually. For my maximum budget I could buy a new car, as long as it were smallish and/or cheap. Or I could get a car I might prefer (or the wife might prefer) that's 5-6 years old. I like the idea of new, like the benefit of the insurance thrown in for a while, but don't like the knowledge that it won't look new for too long.

In the US I generally bought new cars. I had my own business for years and an unreliable car meant lost money. Then I went to work for someone else with a long commute. Again new was better.

But now I'm retired and the car will be for trips to the store; so the need will be less critical. After all there's San Miguel at the Sari Sari.

[OnMyWay]

8 minutes ago, davewe said:

I vacillate back and forth on this issue as well, Steve. I will want a car - eventually. For my maximum budget I could buy a new car, as long as it were smallish and/or cheap. Or I could get a car I might prefer (or the wife might prefer) that's 5-6 years old. I like the idea of new, like the benefit of the insurance thrown in for a while, but don't like the knowledge that it won't look new for too long.

In the US I generally bought new cars. I had my own business for years and an unreliable car meant lost money. Then I went to work for someone else with a long commute. Again new was better.

But now I'm retired and the car will be for trips to the store; so the need will be less critical. After all there's San Miguel at the Sari Sari.

One positive for buying new in the Philippines right now, for us dollar based guys, is the strength of the dollar vs. the peso.  You get a lot more for your dollar.

Yesterday we went to the Honda dealer in Angeles to take a looksee.  I have always been a Honda fan and since I was strongly considering buying a used one, I thought I should take a look at the new ones.

A brand new 2018 Honda City, top of the line, fully loaded, is about p 913,000.  When I calculated the dollars, I was pleasantly surprised! At today's rates, that is about $17,990, all in.  5 years ago when the exchange was 42 pesos, that same City would have cost  $21738.  Quite a savings!  The new City is really nice!  I was tempted!  Worth a look if you are considering a new car.

I guess the exchange rate benefit also applies to used cars too, but it was more apparent on the new ones.

[stevewool]

1 hour ago, OnMyWay said:

One positive for buying new in the Philippines right now, for us dollar based guys, is the strength of the dollar vs. the peso.  You get a lot more for your dollar.

Yesterday we went to the Honda dealer in Angeles to take a looksee.  I have always been a Honda fan and since I was strongly considering buying a used one, I thought I should take a look at the new ones.

A brand new 2018 Honda City, top of the line, fully loaded, is about p 913,000.  When I calculated the dollars, I was pleasantly surprised! At today's rates, that is about $17,990, all in.  5 years ago when the exchange was 42 pesos, that same City would have cost  $21738.  Quite a savings!  The new City is really nice!  I was tempted!  Worth a look if you are considering a new car.

I guess the exchange rate benefit also applies to used cars too, but it was more apparent on the new ones.

This is one of the best things when we work an live outside the Philippines , our cash can go a very long way, again work hard and save harder it does get you nice things when you are ready to spend that cash.

Isuzu mu-X looks good to me .

[robert k]

Steve, some cars in the Philippines cost new about what I would pay for a used car in the US. I personally am looking to get a Suzuki GA van, single aircon for 588k pesos. Also in the running were the commercial panel van @565 which is the same thing without carpet and only the front two seats [you can still add seats later if you like just go to one of the chop chop rebuilders]. The same thing as a pickup truck costs 475k pesos. All are 1.6L engine and manual transmission. It's about the length of a modern full sized sedan in the US, but slightly narrower. It looks like about the most New car I can get for the least amount of money. The top of the line van with auto trans, power windows and front and rear air is about 840k pesos. In comparison, a Suzuki Alto 800cc costs 398K - 429k [with dual airbags] pesos. In this segment I would probably prefer the Toyota Wigo @ 564k for manual transmission and 599k automatic transmission. This also includes 100k Km warranty 3 years registration and possibly peace of mind. I don't want electric windows as I doubt they will be down often enough to matter because of the pollution you encounter while driving in the Philippines and if you leave the windows down a couple of inches, the interior of your car will be dusty in a couple days.

Unless you live in a big metro area with lots of second hand cars to choose from, it's tough car shopping in the Philippines if you don't already have transportation. I hired a cab for about 4 days on Cebu and I wasn't being that picky but most of the used vehicles I looked at were so overpriced I deemed it not worth haggling and many were in such poor shape they weren't worth the repairs and that was the reason they were selling.

These days, new cars come with synthetic oil and even if they didn't change the oil for 15k km there is unlikely to be any damage. Most everything under a car these days is sealed and there is nothing to lubricate, barring a transaxle or rear axle that has a breather on it which if submerged in water will become full of water contaminating the oil and will be damaged quite quickly if the oil is not drained and replaced. You can find vehicles that are 5 years old with little more than 30k km. Question is, can you find one 5 years old in the Philippines that hasn't been driven through deep water? If you are going to go bargain hunting, I would restrict myself to 1-2 year old vehicles. I'm a car guy and I found a couple older diamonds in the rough that needed some work and I put the work in, Girlfriend wrapped my Tamaraw around a pole so I bought a WW2 jeep which I enjoyed working on until I got it to the point of being able to drive it anywhere but I wouldn't enjoy working on a newer vehicle, I would expect it to drive with a minimum of attention.

I might buy a used imported KIA 1-1/4 ton truck one day, they were RT hand drive so not converted from LH like Japanese vehicles. Being a commercial vehicle, they did not have to be chopped up and reassembled in the Philippines to be legal. They are just 4-5 year old commercial delivery vehicles off lease and wholesaled off and shipped to the Philippines. Being a mechanic I could put on old clothes and look at a lot full of them and when I pick the one I'm interested in I could crawl under and lay there for an hour contemplating the cosmic all and looking for anything that might not have been noticed in the first lookover/drive. Most people don't care to commune with their machines though.

[Nickleback99]

Curious....Is there any bargaining wheeling dealing on new cars there, or is the list price The price?   

[Jack Peterson]

1 hour ago, Nickleback99 said:

Curious....Is there any bargaining wheeling dealing on new cars there, or is the list price The price?   

As with most major Items "How will you pay Sir?")

[sonjack2847]

12 hours ago, AlwaysRt said:

Much harder to accomplish as a new arrival in need of transportation. Many things become easier and cheaper once you have been here a while, not in a hurry to purchase, willing to look around, and ready to buy when the opportunity appears.

That is how I feel,I will be looking at getting a multicab soon but I will be patient and tell all the people I know here what I am looking for.I know some expats who have bought cars or other vehicles from expats who are leaving,they got good deals and the vehicles are usually looked far better than a local would have done. I personally would not buy a new car here as it is going to be bumped and kicked about by idiots who cannot drive. But at the end of the day each to their own the choice is your own.

[OnMyWay]

2 hours ago, Nickleback99 said:

Curious....Is there any bargaining wheeling dealing on new cars there, or is the list price The price?   

Based on recent experience, there is, but very small if you are talking about a current model year vehicle.  Most of their "sale" promos are financing deals.  Usually they include tint and some accessories.  You might be able to get them to add more for free.

When they have older stock, you should be able to get a decent discount.  At the Honda dealer they had at 2016 Jazz that probably had not sold because of the yucky mustard yellow color that nobody likes except my wife.  We inquired about it and it had just sold for p50,000 off of the list price.