Should I Buy a Left Hand Drive Used Japanese Car?

Should I buy a left hand drive used Japanese car? I was recently going through the diesel car stock list on Be Forward and came across a number of interesting cars. Diesel cars are, for reasons that I outline in this article, in great demand in Zimbabwe and other African countries. Indeed, so big is the demand that it can be difficult to find a good RHD car on the platform. Imagine my happiness, therefore, when I stumbled upon a couple of midsize SUVs that had diesel engines.

Left Hand Drive Vehicles in Zimbabwe

That happiness got deflated a few seconds later, when I realized that the vehicles were all left hand drive (LHD). That was probably the reason why people were not stampeding to get them. See, Zimbabwe is a right hand drive country, which would make buying a left hand drive car rather tricky.

Are left hand drive cars allowed in Zimbabwe?

Not that there is any law against left hand drive vehicles in Zimbabwe. Indeed, you will find a number of trucks on the road today that are left hand drive.

The lady in the left hand drive car

A couple of months ago, I came upon a lady who was driving a really huge LHD SUV on the streets of Harare. So, these vehicles do exist. But, should you buy a left hand drive used Japanese Car for Zimbabwe, even if you find one that is really cheap?

Why you should not buy a left hand drive used Japanese car for Zimbabwean roads

Driving a left hand drive car in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana or any other right hand drive country is easy enough when the road is straight. Things get trick when you try to overtake. You won’t really see what’s coming towards you till you have a good part of the car in the other lane. That, in any case, can be rather blood curdling. So, for the sake of your blood pressure, you probably should not buy a left hand drive used Japanese Car for Zimbabwe’s roads.

What you can do to limit the danger

The good thing, if you are the dare-devilish type and you decide to go ahead and buy a left hand drive used Japanese Car for Zimbabwe’s roads, is that there are a number of things that you can do to reduce the danger, both to yourself and to others;

• Install a camera on the far right side of your car. The camera should be facing forward. This will give you a view of the front without you having to have the whole car in the right lane.
• There are also mirrors that have been specifically designed to help solve this problem. In fact, you can buy them off Amazon, eBay or any other online retailers. They work the same way as the camera, by allowing you to have a view of the front of your car, which enables you to see oncoming cars without having to fully encroach into the right hand lane.

Models that come with left hand drive

The reason why it can be so tempting to buy a left hand drive used Japanese Car for use in Zimbabwe is because some of the LHD cars that are available on Beforward look good. Just carry out a search on the platform, and you will realize what we are talking about here. Here are some of the left hand drive diesel cars that are currently available on Be Forward;

• Hyundai Terracan
• Kia Sorento
• Toyota Land Cruiser
• Toyota Prado
• Toyota Hilux
• Hyundai Tucson

Summary

Anyway, as said earlier, we don’t encourage you to buy a left hand drive used Japanese Car for use in Zimbabwe, though it’s not against the law to do so.’