Car owners must disclose basic things (like doors or windows that don’t open). Or holes in windows, worn down tires, spewing exhaust pipes, jammed locks, missing gas caps…
Car lots tend to keep their cars clean and filled with sufficient gas for test drives. Or at least to turn them on to check that the engine starts! (No kidding, there was a car I was interested in that they would not put petrol in so I could check that the engine worked before buying it. I was told they would retrieve gas “after I agree to buy it.”)
Paperwork is clear (or more-so) and traceable. A dealer checks to make sure proper transfer forms exist. And they certainly don’t bring you a completely different car at work without asking (that is “better” of course, with proper documentation) rather than drive across town to get the original papers.
Car vendors have working telephone numbers that do not change every day. Now is that too much to ask for?
You are not usually forced to cough up thousands of dollars of cash on the spot.
When you finally buy a car and it is delivered, car dealers always ensure you have enough gas to get to a petrol station before refilling!!! Nothing like filling my new car tank through a funnel made from a water bottle in order to take my first drive as its owner.
*****
Alas, even with all these hurdles, I successfully bought a car this weekend. My new 1995 RAV4 was delivered to me on Tuesday. Today I took my first solo drive into town and successfully navigated through the traffic, potholes, pedestrians, goats, bodas, cows, etc. Driving here is going to be a new challenge, that’s for sure. However, I am stoked for the new freedom I am sure this car will afford. And I am slowly adjusting to driving on the left hand side of the road from the right side of the car.
That’s right, people, I am now an official Ugandan driver.
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