Car shopping

[Ecosseven]

I’m thinking about treating myself to a new toy but I’ve never bought a car in the UAE (I’ve always had company cars). I’ll keep the company motor for the daily commute. The new car will be bought second hand for around 100-120K and will probably be a corvette or a mustang or some other V8 coupe / sportscar. A few questions……..

1. Is it worthwhile buying from a dealer and if are there any you would recommend?
2. I live in Abu Dhabi. Are there any problems associated with buying a car registered in another Emirate?
3. Any thoughts on insurance costs and which companies would you recommend?

Thanks and all the best.

[ba11bag]

Good luck with that! I had a lot of problems getting mine but that was mainly to do with the loan (which took 3 months!) I think you register your car to wherever your visa says - don't quote me on that but when I was at the license dept. an English guy who lived in Dubai but had to sort all his car stuff out in A/D because that's where his visa was.
As for dealers, I wanted a Clio 197 so only tried Renault (near Carrefour roundabout) and they were about as much use as a nun's t*ts!! However, much, much cheaper thank UK obviously, especially with the pretty good Ramadam/Eid deals. If you've got the cash waiting just check petrolheads.com every day. Stuff comes up a fair bit.
Ins. I use RSA. Their office is near the Habib Bank building in town and they were without doubt the best service I've ever had. Use them! I pay 2200 AED for fully comp' on a 207 GTI with 1 years no claims. Not bad as this is classed as a 'sports car' so the same bracket as M3s and RS4s for some reason!!!! I'm sure they have some sort of Etihad air miles thing too.

Hope this helps anyway, if I knew all of this last September I could have saved a huge amount of stress!!

Chris

...also check ADPCC web site.

[Hitch78]

1. I'd be more tempted to grab a bargain than pay a dealer's premium - Dubizzle is good for finding cars but I'm currently enduring a six month self imposed ban because it leads to me swapping cars too much
2. I believe they've changed it now, or are in the process of doing so, to allow you to register, reregister, pay fines and all the other stuff in any Emirate
3. I use Sun Insurance in the Gold and Diamond park, they use Royal Sun Alliance or Axxa and are pretty good on price - you can do it all over the phone and they'll have your docs ready and waiting (sorry, just noticed you're in AD)

100k to 120k will get you a 2010 Mustang GT or a 2006/7ish Corvette C5. 130K to 140k would get you a Camaro or a Challenger. 150k upwards and you're in a 997 Carrera. Happy shopping!

Edited by Hitch78 on Thursday 26th August 18:15

Edited by Hitch78 on Thursday 26th August 18:16

[Ecosseven]

Thanks Guys.

Very tempted by a Corvette Z06 but can't really justify the costs at the moment.

All the best.