Buying a car

The initial events recounted in this post took place in September. 

Some things take longer than they should. Buying a car is one of them. Even in the US, even when you know exactly what car you want and are willing to pay whatever the dealer asks, the process is not brief. The buyer talks to the salesman, who has to consult the manager before returning for more discussion. The finance person takes over to set up the payments and fill out the paperwork. If one is trading in an old car, there is more discussion. Two to three hours later, the exhausted buyer drives off the lot.

Imagine the process in a country where car lots don't exist (at least to my knowledge) and where the entire purchase price must be paid in cash. 

I would have been content to wait a while on getting a car, but Hammer thought it was a high priority, so he began the search early. As I said, there are no car lots--at least not in Vogan. To buy a car one goes to Lomé, to the port. But in my adventure, going to the port was the third or fourth step of the procedure. Step one consisted of Hammer contacting his friend who works at the port and asking him to be on the look out for a reasonably priced car that was clean and had good air conditioning and an automatic transmission. [Disclaimer: I know how to drive a stick, but decided that, considering the roads here, I would prefer an automatic. There is one paved street in town; the others are dirt and are full of bumps and potholes. You can't go fast at all, and the thought of shifting from 1st to maybe 2nd and then back again wore me out.] The friend sent some pictures, but then we would find out that the one I liked had been sold two months ago, so we would have to start all over.

In the meantime, we began to collect the cash, which took a while. See the post on living in a cash economy for further details.

Finally Hammer went to the port himself to meet his friend and visit the car lots there. He came back with pictures of a couple of vehicles that were available. 

On September 28, I became a participant in the process as well, as we went off to Lomé to choose and buy a car. We left Vogan around 9, and arrived at the port about an hour and a half later. After waiting for Augustin (Hammer's friend) for 45 minutes, we drove to a car dealer at the port.

Hammer wasn't happy with the car at the first lot, so we went to a second and then a third one, where he had already examined two different Hyundai Tucsons. One was red, the other black. As in the States, the red one was more expensive, so we opted for the black.

Once the decision was made, I was sent back to the car so that Hammer and Augustin could make the deal with the "big boss." My job was to stay out of sight so that the dealer would not raise the price once he saw who was buying it. The negotiations took thirty minutes, and then they decided to take a test drive. Some preparations were necessary:  buying a battery so it would run; backing up and going forward in the parking space; taking the rear left tire off and putting it back on. The test drive, performed by Hammer, took place in the lot--a potential buyer does not take the vehicle out on the open road. 

After the test drive, we left the lot, but some more money changed hands: some minor repairs needed to be made, and the watchman was paid to keep an eye on it. That's an interesting payment that you wouldn't have in the States. Yes, after 5 hours of working on it, I had purchased a car, but was not able to drive it off the lot (which I wouldn't have wanted to do anyway--The port area is super crowded and hard to drive in). 

 One more stop, though. Augustin left the car carrying some cash, my driver's license and the sale papers to go register the sale in preparation to getting a license plate. 

But wait--there's more! It ended up costing more, because it was imported from Canada rather than Europe. So Hammer went back the next day to take more money to the dealer. He drove the car back to Vogan some time before October 5, but decided it needed work before it would be safe to drive: brakes, shocks, tires, etc. By October 8, it was running and I drove it to school. 

Running, but not quite legal. The car was not yet licensed. Before I could get license plates, I had to get a fire extinguisher, caution triangle, and first aid kit and put them in the car. It also had to pass an inspection of some sort to get the "road-worthy certificate" and I had to have insurance. Once all those things were gathered, Hammer took them to Lomé in order to get the plates. Of course, he couldn't get them right then; the office said that they would call to let him know that they were ready and could be picked up. So that was another wait. In to the meantime, we had to be quite careful, locking the car in the garage every night. As Hammer explained, with no license plate and registration, it would be difficult to prove that the car was mine, should it be vandalized or stolen. 

Finally, at the end of November, all was finished. Hammer took the car back to Lomé, where it was properly adorned with license plates and stickers. Even Tata, the kindergarten teacher, noticed that they had arrived. Another mission accomplished, not on my timetable, but, I assume, on God's. I certainly had plenty of opportunity to work on waiting!