cars in Dar

Most people buy cars by wandering down to a dealer and either purchasing a bright, shiny, new one or looking at a used one. Of course if the car is used, you order a vehicle history report and find out all the sordid things the car did in its past. That’s not exactly how cars are bought and sold here.

There are two types of cars in Dar: old and really old. The “new” vs. “used” doesn’t really apply. Occasionally you see a new car, but chances are that is 1- the person who will be investigated next month for the purchase of some unnecessary radar system for the airport/port/local dala dala stand or 2- an embassy car. There just isn’t enough wealth here (and import taxes are 50% of the price of a car) for people to be able to afford new cars. Also since cars are truly luxury items there isn’t a large enough market to sustain numerous car dealerships.

There are a few dealerships in Dar- and when I say a few, I really do mean 3 or 4. And they each have a handful of cars (10-20) rather than the scores you would find on a typical American car lot. There is however a vibrant car market in dar- expats are constantly arriving and leaving so there is usually a handful of quality cars (mainly suvs) for sale at any moment. When you’re selling a car, you post an advertisement at the local supermarkets and if it’s priced reasonably it usually sells in a matter of weeks.

What I found fascinating was the years of the cars for sale here. Expats tend to own SUVs, which are more expensive but well worth the extra money seeing as a lot of the roads aren’t paved. (And getting stuck in mud up to your doors is not a fun experience in a city with two tow trucks.) Most of the smaller SUVs were models from the mid-90s. 95 and 96 were pretty common, with 97 being considered newer while 98 and more recent models are relatively rare. The model years of larger SUVs goes back even farther, with early to mid 90s being common. (There’s even one car from ‘81 on the market for sale, in shockingly good condition for a car that’s nearly as old as I am.)

When you see these cars and compare them to similarly aged vehicles in the US it’s pretty surprising. On the one hand, people don’t drive their cars long distances here, so two cars may be the same age, but the Dar version only has half the miles on it. The weather is also less brutal on a car here- there are no cold winters, no need for anti-freeze, no salt to corrode the undercarriage. (The opposite problem exists here- cars frequently overheat from the, shall we say, occasional heat.) Yet when something breaks here, the mechanic doesn’t open up a shiny new package with a new part and install it. Chances are you may be getting a part that is as old as you and your car combined. The other thing about Dar that wrecks havoc on cars is the roads- cars, even SUVs with high clearance, bottom out on some of the roads here- and it’s not simply a matter of avoiding the potholes. When a road is one big series of dirt potholes, there is no avoidance.

So sometimes when you buy a car that has braved life in Dar you get lucky. But unfortunately, sometimes that ’97 (that’s really a ’95) is a leemon.