How to choose a car on Be Forward

Choosing a car on Beforward can be tricky, to say the least. With so many types of vehicles available, deciding on the one that meets all your needs tends to be rather challenging. Should you, as an example, go for an SUV that’s best suited for Zimbabwe’s roads? Or should you choose a sedan whose fuel consumption is a bit more pocket friendly? And, what type of engine should you opt for at the end of the day, between a diesel and a petrol? These are all questions that you will be confronted with while trying to make your choice. Here, in any case, is how to choose a car on Be Forward.

How to choose between different models of used Japanese cars

I am, in this article, going to be rather brutal, so you may want to forgive me beforehand. The points below show you how to choose a car on Be Forward;

1. Choose a car that you can afford to buy

This may seem like an obvious piece of advice, but we have seen, on many occasions, people deciding to buy vehicles that they could hardly afford. You know what your budget is before you have even opened the Beforward website. The car that you end up buying is going to have to be dictated by the amount of money that you have at your disposal. Just remember the following point, which applies when importing an exjap to an African country like Zimbabwe;

Shipping and duty for used Japanese vehicles

• You will have to factor in shipping and duty expenses when calculating the total amount that you will need when purchasing that used car of your dream. Let’s assume that you have hit the jackpot and have found a car costing $1 on Be Forward.
• Your total costs to have the car land at Plumtree or Beitbridge border post come up to something like $1500. You then need to factor in duty, which, roughly speaking, can add another $1500 to the cost of buying your dream vehicle. The total to have your car land on your doorstep would thus be around $3000.

2. Choose a car that you can afford to run

Choosing a car that you can afford to buy is only part of the challenge when it comes to used Japanese Vehicles. In most instances, people make the cardinal mistakes of deciding to buy vehicles that they cannot afford to run.

That is particularly the case when it comes to first time buyers. You may, in your excitement, choose to go for that Land Rover V8 or that 5 liter petrol Jaguar. There is no better way to announce your arrival than by doing that right?

Well, the simple truth of the matter is that a vehicle is meant to be a mode of transportation, apart from its other role as a status symbol. If your choice means that you will have to park your car for the better part of a month, then you would have made the wrong purchasing decision.

This is something that I have witnessed with a number of colleagues. Their BMWs and Jaguars are only taken from the garage a few days per month, while my own faithful 1.5 litre Toyota Corolla gets driven every day of the month. 

3. Choose a car that you are happy with

All the advice that we have just been giving above? Well, it’s all bull-crap, of course, largely due to the fact that you actually need to choose, when buying a car on Be Forward, one that you are happy with. If you are happy with a V6, and your wallet permits it, then, by all means, go for it!

4. Go for a Toyota

I have a brother who swears by Toyota, and though I would like to argue with him for the sake of arguing, I do have to say I agree with him on that one. My first car was a Mazda 3, which I loved at the beginning, but it got temperamental on me after a little while. Now, though the Mazda is a thing of beauty compared to the Corolla Bubble that I drive, I wouldn’t go back there for anything in the world.

One of the reasons why so many people swear by Toyota is the fact that it’s so easy to access spares. Well, I haven’t actually had to do that because in the three years that I have had my car, it has never given me any trouble.

5. Resale Value

The issue of resale value on used Japanese cars is, in my view, something that is overstated. The fact of the matter, and this is what I usually tell anyone that cares to listen, is that the moment your car arrives on your doorstep from Japan and you put number plates on it, it’s value effectively falls by half.

What it means is that a car that arrives at Plumtree or any other port at an amount of $3000, minus duty, will probably get you around $3000 should you try to sell it after a week. That’s notwithstanding the fact that you would have paid another $3000 for duty and number plates.

So, if you want to know the value of your used Japanese car? Well, it’s what you got it for (the landing price), divided by 2. Of course, its all going to be different, depending on whether or not you decide to sell the car before having the number plates fitted. If that is the case, you would probably get a small profit, but cars are notoriously difficult to sell anyway.

The one takeout from this is that you should buy a car that you intend to keep. You don’t own a car sale company. So why are you thinking about the resale value of the car that you are buying. I actually wish I had bought a Toyota Progress instead of the Corolla that I have. That’s because I don’t intend to sell my car any time soon and the Progress, which sometimes can be found for a dollar on Be Forward, would have been suitable for my needs.

Summary

That’s how to choose a card on Beforward. The long and short of it, when it comes to How to choose a car on Be Forward, is that you should take your time. Used Japanese cars are going nowhere, and you need to carry out proper research to avoid falling prey to the first time buyer’s curse. If you don’t know what that is, well, just consider the fact that most of the cars in car sales belong to first time buyers who have since wised up to the lack of wisdom in their purchases.