Why The Price Hike

Ever since I started this blog, it’s been difficult trying to get the right pricing for brand new cars in Nigeria. I initially sort to browsing the vehicle’s official website, checking the brochure and converting the online price value to Naira, but I found this method to be very misleading as online prices and prices in Nigeria can vary by as much as 60%. This is really surprising and one can’t help but wonder why the huge gap. Experts say the change in price is due to extra expenses (shipment costs, import duties, custom fees etc). They also explained that by the time the company adds their own profits to the price, it would naturally go higher; but I wonder; is that really enough to rake the cars price up by up to 50%.

I just put up a post on a Christmas promo from Toyota Nigeria but on checking the new discounted prices, I realized they were still rather high. Toyota Nigeria put the discounted 2012 RAV4s starting price at N4.9Million ‘maybe about 10-20% off’ which you might think is reasonable till you see the online prices. 

 That’s $23000-‘N3.7Million’ for the base model and $26000-N4.2Million for the most expensive limited edition. So basically the discounted RAV4 base model in Nigeria is more expensive than the limited edition Rav-4 overseas. Please join me and shout ‘HABAAAA’. And it’s the same with virtually every brand of car you buy here.

Anyway I’ve been made to understand that given the current state of Nigeria’s economy, that’s how things work and no one can change it, but I believe that if people can come together and talks things out, something can happen.

I really don’t know how to end this article so I’ve decided to use this medium to ask all my readers to comment and share your views, suggestions and ideas on why exactly this pricing thing works this way and if there is anything one can do to bring the costs down. Thanks

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