From all indications, automobile dealers at Africa’s largest automobile market; the Berger automobile market located in Apapa, Lagos are warming up to buy most of the vehicles that were affected by the recent Hurricanes Harvey and Irma that ravaged some parts of the United States of America.
Nigeria’s auto industry depends on imports from overseas. According to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistic, more than 70% of these vehicle imports comes from the United States.
Some of the dealers at Berger, who spoke to Shipping Position Daily last week in Lagos, disclosed that storm-ravaged vehicles are always very cheap and do not require much work.
They explained that, dealers only need to spend money on electrical repair of the affected vehicles.
One of the dealers, who simply identified himself as Onye Ozi, said that this is not the first time he is buying such vehicles.
“This is not my first time of buying such vehicles I have done that before. The first vehicles I bought like that was a Honda pilot jeep. The hurricane then was more serious because it entered into the engines of the vehicles”
“The only thing I did was to remove the water from the engine and allowed it to dry and the vehicles started. That was the only work I did on the vehicles and sold them off and the buyer has not called me since then to complain” he said.
Another dealer who pleaded anonymity said vehicles like that are always very neat and cheap.
“The cars are always very cheap, you can get a car of 6,000 Dollars at 3,500 Dollars and the cars are always very neat. I have called my agent there and he said that they have not started selling. As soon as they start selling I will buy in a very large quantity. This time around I am very sure the major work to be done to these ones will be mainly electrical works because the flood entered in it”, he said.
It will be recalled that between August and September 2017, violent tropical storm; Huricanes Harvey and Irma, caused havoc inTexas, Louisiana, amongst others, damaging cars and properties.
The four days heavy storm destroyed between 300,000 and 500,000 vehicles. However, there is fear about the state of those vehicles after the storm.
The fear of vehicles from Hurricane Harvey finding their way into Nigeria is more so because, Texas, the main spot of the Hurricane Harvey, hosts a huge percentage of Nigerian Americans, most of them relying on businesses of used vehicle export to their home country. Statistics show that the city of Houston, Fort Bend, Tarrant, Dallas, and Travis counties have some of the largest Nigerian populations in America.
This is in addition to the fact that the Houston port tops the list of shipping ports in the US for shipping of cars that cannot move.
But flood-damaged cars are not only dangerous to the environment; they can also cost more than money.
Buttressing the fears, Chinedu Okwuosa, Director Operations at Cars45.com said, “ it will not be entirely surprising to start seeing some of the flood-damaged vehicles entering Nigeria before the end of this month and unsuspecting buyers may find themselves assuming the liability of owning one of them”.
“In today’s hi-tech vehicles, a car submerged in flood does not only compromise its engine, both electrical and electronic systems are also destroyed. This is beside the corrosion that would have started affecting the body,” said
“Just imagine what will happen after you have subjected such vehicle to the Nigeria terrain with all the bad roads and hot weather condition,” he added.
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