RAK Explanation required please!

RAK Explanation required please!

Author
Discussion

Fats25

Original Poster:

6,260 posts

228 months

Saturday 30th August 2014
quotequote all
So I decided to while away the day with my horrendous hangover with a trip to RAK. I am looking to buy the wifes car first ,whilst I decide what I will get, and we are looking at:-

Dodge Challenger - SRT
Dodge Charger - SRT (I don't like this one myself, but it is the most sensible)
Chevy Camaro - SS probably

So I found myself in a place in RAK selling new vehicles. Very helpful Arabian Arthur Daley type in there, and explaining to me that all the cars he sells (all new) are US imports, aside from one Dodge Challenger he has (http://tnydu.biz/DOp6T) that is GCC spec. He then tells me that the GCC specs all come in through Germany, which really confused me! Any idea what he meant?

I don't actually want a new car, I would prefer second hand, but am curious as to how the business model works in RAK. I popped into Festival City on the way back, and looked at the Dodge dealers to ask the question, but there was no-one there that was free (despite them all doing nothing!) to ask.

So how can the RAK car be 189k AED, yet the same car in dealer is 199k AED. RAK Car had 3 year of 100K warranty. No idea on main dealer car.

Guy I went with this week has had a nightmare with his Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 that he has needed a new engine in first 12 months of ownership (brand new), so the buying 2nd hand is a concern.........

TNW

536 posts

201 months

Saturday 30th August 2014
quotequote all
Best to check on carfax.com that anything from the US didn't used to be two separate cars... The warranty from the main dealer should be from the manufacturer, I'd guess the warranty from the place in RAK is 3rd party, best to check the words. There might also be a service package included in the screen price from the former.

e21jason

717 posts

218 months

Saturday 30th August 2014
quotequote all
The RAK cars will be parallel imports a bit like 10 years ago in the UK when you could go to a eurodealer and buy the same car for less than the UK dealer. Even though this country is tax and vat free stuff is not that much cheaper as the main distributors do not discount and they have a monopoly. So the RAK cars are probably bought through a US dealership and shipped here, maybe the GCC car has to come through a German dealership to get the spec.




shirt

22,508 posts

200 months

Saturday 30th August 2014
quotequote all
wot e said

grey imports. one brand = one dealer. usual route is to bring in US cars at vastly reduced prices [local market doesn;t like them, despite most modern cars being global spec]. as jase points out this is more akin to early 00's practices where people would order a RHD car cheaper on the continent.

not sure where you'd stand with servicing or warranty on the 'GCC spec' car. the dealer will likely not touch it, so the warranty is not worth a jot.

in short, 10k's not enough of a saving to warrant the hassle imo.

TomV8

387 posts

206 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
From my limited experience here I'd agree with the above - I went for brand new from Al Nabooda. I've had a nightmare used car experience in the UK recently so I didn't want to repeat it all over again here for 10x the cost and 10x the hassle. It's as close to peace of mind as I could get without buying a Toyota Corolla.

'Official' Dodge have discounts on the Charger as the new 2015 model is just round the corner. From a conversation with the dealer on SZR a couple of weeks ago the SRT was 189k. I've heard from quite a few people about the poor reliability of Dodge/Chrysler out here (KSA included) so I wasn't too keen. There's a guy in the office with a 2010 300 SRT8 (6.1) and it seems to be in the garage every other week.

I fancied keeping to V8s but ended up with a heavily turbo'd in line 4!

6th Gear

3,561 posts

193 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
How are you enjoying the car Tom?

Post pics when you can.

Thanks


TomV8

387 posts

206 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
6th Gear said:
How are you enjoying the car Tom?

Post pics when you can.

Thanks
Just got internet in the house yesterday (finally!) so I'll see if I can get some pictures up in the next day or so.

The car is a mentalist. In sport or flappy paddle modes it just wants to be ragged all the time. It's comfortable, rides really well considering it's on 19" alloys, and so far seems to handle pretty well too. Looking forward to taking it on some proper roads and maybe a trackday over the winter (not yet looked at how much the tyres cost....)