T&T OFFICIAL New Vehicle Prices & Discussion Thread

[zando]

2023-VW-Amarok.jpeg

https://www.carscoops.com/2022/07/bigger-bolder-2023-volkswagen-amarok-pickup-truck-has-up-to-298-hp/

Once this is priced well ........I see this selling like hot cakes!

Good luck, the old one was the most expensive one on the market behind the hilux, if and only IF they bring this it def. Won't be priced ' well ' Al though ' priced well ' these days is turning into something subjective as it's whoever can afford to pay for it will think it's ' priced well '.

[Dizzy28]

The top end 3s are close to 241k at SS. Locally that's the one with the bigger rim (18" I think)
Based on the photos on the FU page the rims looks like its the top end version so thats a $56k difference. (Assuming a like for like on the models)

Can you screenshot and place the pics here because all I've seen are the older models not the newer ones, those 18 inch rims I wouldn't touch that, roads not good enough in Trinidad, you'll end up spending alot on tires which is why I say the mid version of the 3 (209) in either hatch back or sedan form from SS is the best version because the wheels aren't too big and you get 90 percent of the features of the fully loaded model for 45k less.

I'd only go Foreign used for that IF I'm getting the new model with at least the 2.0 engine.

Took a look at MazdaTT's page yesterday and saw the EX Mazda 3 advertised at $252,000. The other options (Core and Core+) seemed to be the same old prices.

[agent007]

16 years ago, a fully loaded Mazda 3 1.6 "Grade V" with 4AT transmission, 16" rims, mud guards, fog lights, sunroof, rear lip spoiler, IRS and 2 airbags was $155k

Today it's successor by 3 generations is giving us 18" rims, rear disc brakes, 6AT transmission, 6 airbags, rear camera, LED lights, twin exhaust outlets, push button start and a torsion beam rear suspension for $97k extra. Where's the sunroof with leather seats and bose at least? At $252k they could keep it.

[Dizzy28]

16 years ago, a fully loaded Mazda 3 1.6 "Grade V" with 4AT transmission, 16" rims, mud guards, fog lights, sunroof, rear lip spoiler, IRS and 2 airbags was $155k

Today it's successor by 3 generations is giving us 18" rims, rear disc brakes, 6AT transmission, 6 airbags, rear camera, LED lights, twin exhaust outlets, push button start and a torsion beam rear suspension for $97k extra. Where's the sunroof with leather seats and bose at least? At $252k they could keep it.

Took a visit to Mazda in PoS lunch time today.
They have no Core and Core+ Mazda 3s in stock and there was one EX. This is the one for $252k but the rep said it is different than the one they previously at $242k as this one has leather seats as standard, powered driver and passenger seats and 360° camera.

New stock of 3s supposed to be in TT in August (EX and Core+ only). The hatchback 3 basically is a no according to the rep.

[agent007]

Whilst I'm pleased to learn of the subtle equipment listing updates, SS should have configured the car to also have bose and a sunroof too.

Competition is tough out there and you must be able to offer a package that the customer would want.

https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2022 ... st-review/

In the link above, the rankings are:

1st: Honda Civic 1.5T
2nd: Hyundai Elantra 2.0
3rd: Nissan Sentra 2.0
4th: Mazda 3 2.5T AWD
5th: Kia Forte (Cerato) 1.6T
6th: Volkswagen Jetta 1.5T

A Sentra and Elantra beating a Mazda 3? Since when? Shame shame shame lol

[wing]

Whilst I'm pleased to learn of the subtle equipment listing updates, SS should have configured the car to also have bose and a sunroof too.

Competition is tough out there and you must be able to offer a package that the customer would want.

https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2022 ... st-review/

In the link above, the rankings are:

1st: Honda Civic 1.5T
2nd: Hyundai Elantra 2.0
3rd: Nissan Sentra 2.0
4th: Mazda 3 2.5T AWD
5th: Kia Forte (Cerato) 1.6T
6th: Volkswagen Jetta 1.5T

A Sentra and Elantra beating a Mazda 3? Since when? Shame shame shame lol

Hey alpha male.....is it ok to not want a sunroof? It's ok that it's not a deal-breaker?

[agent007]

What I want, beta, is for you to buy a car and share your experience with us. If you can't do so, make a solid contribution without trolling.
How's the special ordered CX-30 coming along?

[zando]

16 years ago, a fully loaded Mazda 3 1.6 "Grade V" with 4AT transmission, 16" rims, mud guards, fog lights, sunroof, rear lip spoiler, IRS and 2 airbags was $155k

Today it's successor by 3 generations is giving us 18" rims, rear disc brakes, 6AT transmission, 6 airbags, rear camera, LED lights, twin exhaust outlets, push button start and a torsion beam rear suspension for $97k extra. Where's the sunroof with leather seats and bose at least? At $252k they could keep it.

Took a visit to Mazda in PoS lunch time today.
They have no Core and Core+ Mazda 3s in stock and there was one EX. This is the one for $252k but the rep said it is different than the one they previously at $242k as this one has leather seats as standard, powered driver and passenger seats and 360° camera.

New stock of 3s supposed to be in TT in August (EX and Core+ only). The hatchback 3 basically is a no according to the rep.

That's disappointing, I really loved that hatch, took a pic of on in grand Bazaar, it looked real Bess, they said no more hatches at all? Or just for this shipment?

[Dizzy28]

^ Rep said best case is 2 might come just like last shipment.
Its not something they bring in any significant numbers of.

[supercharged turbo]

Saw an ad for the new Isuzu Traviz priced at $160 000.Factory a/c,turbocharged engine,1.4t payload.Will this be replacing the NHR?

[agent007]

Dizzy, I hope the leather version is not a kit that was installed after, but rather, straight from the factory!

See accompanying pics with the leather kit for reference which looks out of place in a Mazda but right at home in a Nissan.

[agent007]

I forgot to mention guys but the refreshed 2022 Mazda CX-5 has finally arrived and we now have a more expensive model than the 360k version. Get prepared to dish out those certified cheques.

[tmack]

I forgot to mention guys but the refreshed 2022 Mazda CX-5 has finally arrived and we now have a more expensive model than the 360k version. Get prepared to dish out those certified cheques.

Hey Agent, what kind of price range are they supposed to be going for now?

[agent007]

Top spec is now around $400k. The few they got are all sold!

[tmack]

Top spec is now around $400k. The few they got are all sold!

Damn, now that's very interesting! Who would think we're in a recession

[SLVR1]

Top spec is now around $400k. The few they got are all sold!

Same 2.0L engine? Other than the facelift it's not that big a deal imo. I guess they see how the competition is priced and decided to up the profit margin since the CRV, Forester + RAV top specs. all cross 400k.

[agent007]

Yup, same 2L engine!

[drchaos]

Top spec is now around $400k. The few they got are all sold!

Same 2.0L engine? Other than the facelift it's not that big a deal imo. I guess they see how the competition is priced and decided to up the profit margin since the CRV, Forester + RAV top specs. all cross 400k.

There is a new car dealer association, which means they all collude and set prices on the various vehicle segments prices.

The wolves realized they hunt better when they work together against the sheeple.

This even has a ripple effect on the foreign new and used vehicles. Since they look at the new car market when setting prices.

[agent007]

Business/corporate collusion is an illegal practice in many countries. Is it the same here? What is T&T's equivalent to the Federal Trade Commission? What antitrust laws do we have?

As a small community of enthusiasts, we should come together and form an association to lobby for the reduction of automotive prices and ensure that each represented automaker in our market are aware of what is taking place and perhaps they should step in and ensure that these authorized dealers are not putting their brands in an unfair market position.

We should also lobby for the total eradication of the roro market in an effort to save our nation from unnecessary forex depletion (including the importation of foreign used tyres).

Babwah and Fields got their chance. It's our turn now.

[PariaMan]

The only thing that keeping the new car dealers from charging even higher prices is the roll on roll off dealers

I got my b14 for 60000 in 2000 as one of the first few RR in Trinidad

Massy at the time was charging almost double that for new brand

I remember the days of only new car dealers in the 80s. You had to pay a bribe to get your name on a waiting list

Long live Roll on Roll off

Waiting patiently for the next UNC government to make 6 year old vehicles available to bring down ,the prices of all cars including new will fall

PNM would have never introduced RR cars they are too tied up with the 1 percent

The only thing that will force new car dealers to drop prices is competition

Imagine Toyota offering 40000 off the price of their vehicles. This could only be if it was over priced in the first place

[PariaMan]

Imagine for a minute Trinidad with no Foreign used on the road

No Aquas , or vezels or fielders

No opposition to very high prices from dealers

People would be fighting to keep B11 on the road

The country would basically be looking like Cuba

The average man would not be able to afford a car

The lines for maxi and buses will be huge

The traveling public would be under immense pressure

Pollution will be a lot worse because of the amount of 20 years and older vehicles on the road

The only happy people would be the 1 percenters

[agent007]

Good points admittedly!

Unfortunately, the roro market is in itself not a very sustainable model for a few reasons:

1. It still takes precious US to import them
2. How do we treat with the issue of rolled back/tampered odometers?
3. Vehicles imported into our market which were not specifically designed for our conditions including the fuels we use.
4. What about access to service and warranty, you know the typical after sale support?
5. Let’s be real here, if we do aspire to be a developed nation, we all know that we can’t continue to import used vehicles into this country.

We need a certain level of standardization in that industry. Eg. A particular roro dealer in Couva brought in a small crossover/cuv known as the Suzuki Vitara Brezza as well as a new Tata forward single cab pickups (amongst many other examples). Buyers should have a reasonable expectation that these won’t be one-off sales because the argument for the ease of access to parts such as windscreen and warranty support should be there. One-off sales also affect resale value too.

Purchasing a new roro vehicle is a gamble because up to now, I/we were not given a proper explanation as to how these grey market dealers are going to treat with warranty issues and legitimate manufacturer recalls, TSB’s and software updates.

So whilst it’s nice that a larger segment of society can purchase a vehicle whether it’s cash or via loan, one of the issues I have is having to witness people on a personal basis who purchased a roro vehicle say via loan for 5 years and they expect a certain level of reliability, yet they are only covered for a month according to Ministry guidelines?

What if the transmission fails or a stone crack the windshield and no one has any in stock or a headlight is cracked and no one has it? So the vehicle is down for repairs but the loan installment is still required. What about those who have coolant mixing with oil? But the odometer saying 25,000kms yet people suffering from head gasket failure, valve cover seal failure, pcv failure and timing belt failure etc? And their loans still have to be paid?

Who protects the ‘poor’ roro owners in these instances? But I’m willing to accept that these challenges probably weigh less than the overall benefit of going roro and the number of people who actually buy and end up with a trouble free car for years, despite the engine having more than 200,000kms.

The common denominator here is that we need better consumer protection laws for both sides.

Now, the market is speaking louder than words can express. There seems to be a resale value enhancement when one is selling a vehicle and has advertised it as “local used”, am I right or wrong?

Eg.

1999 Nissan Sunny Super Saloon (B14) vs
1999 Nissan Sentra Super Saloon (B14)

2005 Nissan Sunny Super Saloon (N16) vs
2005 Nissan Almera SG-L (N16)

2019 Nissan Sylphy (B17) vs
2019 Nissan Sentra (B17)

2015 Mitsubishi Galant Fortis (CY) vs
2015 Mitsubishi Lancer EX GT (CY)

2018 Mazda Axela vs
2018 Mazda 3

2015 Toyota Corolla Altis/Axio vs
2015 Toyota Corolla

2017 Toyota Vios vs
2017 Toyota Yaris


Watch those examples above closely and tell me if I lie when I say that the resale of the local equivalent would be more then the roro equivalent.

Food for thought!

***edited***

[Gladiator]

Business/corporate collusion is an illegal practice in many countries. Is it the same here? What is T&T's equivalent to the Federal Trade Commission? What antitrust laws do we have?

As a small community of enthusiasts, we should come together and form an association to lobby for the reduction of automotive prices and ensure that each represented automaker in our market are aware of what is taking place and perhaps they should step in and ensure that these authorized dealers are not putting their brands in an unfair market position.

We should also lobby for the total eradication of the roro market in an effort to save our nation from unnecessary forex depletion (including the importation of foreign used tyres).

Babwah and Fields got their chance. It's our turn now.

Nah dred, yuh loss points and showing yuh colours with that statement. Explain the "unnecessary forex depletion" by the roro market? If the market can fill a void with roro cars that cost 3-4 times less than the brand new vehicles, wont the new vehicles be a bigger drain on forex?

[agent007]

But of course it will but new vehicles are a necessity. We can’t stop that importation in favor of used. Cause consider fleet sales and corporate leases etc. those entities will always favor new over used. We can’t get away from new at all but we can get away from the roro. Contentious topic but it better be me to throw it out there than anyone else. Of course, I here to be given a good schooling too so by all means, I encourage feedback on the same. Just don’t be disrespectful but rather, come across more constructively.

[zando]

Good points admittedly!

Unfortunately, the roro market is in itself not a very sustainable model for a few reasons:

1. It still takes precious US to import them
2. How do we treat with the issue of rolled back/tampered odometers?
3. Vehicles imported into our market which were not specifically designed for our conditions including the fuels we use.
4. What about access to service and warranty, you know the typical after sale support?
5. Let’s be real here, if we do aspire to be a developed nation, we all know that we can’t continue to import used vehicles into this country.

We need a certain level of standardization in that industry. Eg. A particular roro dealer in Couva brought in a small crossover/cuv known as the Suzuki Vitara Brezza as well as a new Tata forward single cab pickups (amongst many other examples). Buyers should have a reasonable expectation that these won’t be one-off sales because the argument for the ease of access to parts such as windscreen and warranty support should be there. One-off sales also affect resale value too.

Purchasing a new roro vehicle is a gamble because up to now, I/we were not given a proper explanation as to how these grey market dealers are going to treat with warranty issues and legitimate manufacturer recalls, TSB’s and software updates.

So whilst it’s nice that a larger segment of society can purchase a vehicle whether it’s cash or via loan, one of the issues I have is having to witness people on a personal basis who purchased a roro vehicle say via loan for 5 years and they expect a certain level of reliability, yet they are only covered for a month according to Ministry guidelines?

What if the transmission fails or a stone crack the windshield and no one has any in stock or a headlight is cracked and no one has it? So the vehicle is down for repairs but the loan installment is still required. What about those who have coolant mixing with oil? But the odometer saying 25,000kms yet people suffering from head gasket failure, valve cover seal failure, pcv failure and timing belt failure etc? And their loans still have to be paid?

Who protects the ‘poor’ roro owners in these instances? But I’m willing to accept that these challenges probably weigh less than the overall benefit of going roro and the number of people who actually buy and end up with a trouble free car for years, despite the engine having more than 200,000kms.

The common denominator here is that we need better consumer protection laws for both sides.

Now, the market is speaking louder than words can express. There seems to be a resale value enhancement when one is selling a vehicle and has advertised it as “local used”, am I right or wrong?

Eg.

1999 Nissan Sunny Super Saloon (B14) vs
1999 Nissan Sentra Super Saloon (B14)

2005 Nissan Sunny Super Saloon (N16) vs
2005 Nissan Almera SG-L (N16)

2019 Nissan Sylphy (B17) vs
2019 Nissan Sentra (B17)

2015 Mitsubishi Galant Fortis (CY) vs
2015 Mitsubishi Lancer EX GT (CY)

2018 Mazda Axela vs
2018 Mazda 3

2015 Toyota Corolla Altis/Axio vs
2015 Toyota Corolla

2017 Toyota Vios vs
2017 Toyota Yaris


Watch those examples above closely and tell me if I lie when I say that the resale of the local equivalent would be more then the roro equivalent.

Food for thought!

***edited***

I have a friend going through this with a Nissan note e-power, it's popular roll on roll off company who always has videos on fb, they told her they have parts for it so they can get the sale but now that the car needs parts they don't carry any now as the car too ' new ' Al thought by now it would have been a few years, smh she also can't find a good hybrid mechanic to fix any issues and the ' good ' ones charging a pound and a crown lol

[agent007]

You see that’s the thing. Thanks for the example btw! Many of the JDM imports are coming with additional safety features which is not a bad thing, so don’t get me wrong but consider superficial damage to say the front bumper, rear bumper or wing mirrors.

Some of these bumpers have the parking sensors supplied straight from the factory. If you damage that, can you get an exact replacement for it? What about the wing mirrors with the heater function, camera and blind spot light. If that gets swiped away, can you get the exact copy for replacement?

I know someone who purchased the roro Swift which came with some nice safety features, you name it, it has it (like crash mitigation and warning, lane change alert and assist etc.)

Her front bumper got damaged and her windshield got cracked. Straightener and painter could not get the exact replacement bumper skin from the bamboo but he did manage to get a replacement skin which does not have the sensors. In addition, the forward facing crash/lane watch camera mounted on top the windshield has a particular spot it must go in. The windshield replacement company did not have the proper windshield to accommodate the camera so they installed the glass which fits.

Thing is, the camera got stuck back on but it is out of alignment and is impeded by the dark band that runs across. As a result, there is a permanent warning light indicating a malfunction with the system and of course she lost the forward sensors feedback.

What about roro vehicles coming with fancy headlights with auto leveling and cornering functions etc. in a frontal impact, when it comes to replacement, are we guaranteed an exact replacement to it? The answer is no. I know of a Mazda Axela owner with the front auto leveling function and after a frontal collision, he couldn’t get the exact replacement in the bamboo, instead he ended up getting the regular projectors.

Lastly, what about them Xtrail Hybrid Autech owners with the rear bumper that accommodates dual exhaust outlets. There’s one from the west where someone ran into the back of him and today he installed a regular non Autech T32 rear bumper on his vehicle which looks awkward I might add.

It shouldn’t be this way. The only thing left for these people to do is to go to the respective authorized dealerships armed with their VIN and hope that they would special order the part/s. They probably would ask, but why satisfy a roro customer who did not patronize us when we could take that same USD and order replacement parts for our genuine customers?

Again, the feedback is welcomed.

[wing]

You see that’s the thing. Thanks for the example btw! Many of the JDM imports are coming with additional safety features which is not a bad thing, so don’t get me wrong but consider superficial damage to say the front bumper, rear bumper or wing mirrors.

Some of these bumpers have the parking sensors supplied straight from the factory. If you damage that, can you get an exact replacement for it? What about the wing mirrors with the heater function, camera and blind spot light. If that gets swiped away, can you get the exact copy for replacement?

I know someone who purchased the roro Swift which came with some nice safety features, you name it, it has it (like crash mitigation and warning, lane change alert and assist etc.)

Her front bumper got damaged and her windshield got cracked. Straightener and painter could not get the exact replacement bumper skin from the bamboo but he did manage to get a replacement skin which does not have the sensors. In addition, the forward facing crash/lane watch camera mounted on top the windshield has a particular spot it must go in. The windshield replacement company did not have the proper windshield to accommodate the camera so they installed the glass which fits.

Thing is, the camera got stuck back on but it is out of alignment and is impeded by the dark band that runs across. As a result, there is a permanent warning light indicating a malfunction with the system and of course she lost the forward sensors feedback.

What about roro vehicles coming with fancy headlights with auto leveling and cornering functions etc. in a frontal impact, when it comes to replacement, are we guaranteed an exact replacement to it? The answer is no. I know of a Mazda Axela owner with the front auto leveling function and after a frontal collision, he couldn’t get the exact replacement in the bamboo, instead he ended up getting the regular projectors.

Lastly, what about them Xtrail Hybrid Autech owners with the rear bumper that accommodates dual exhaust outlets. There’s one from the west where someone ran into the back of him and today he installed a regular non Autech T32 rear bumper on his vehicle which looks awkward I might add.

It shouldn’t be this way. The only thing left for these people to do is to go to the respective authorized dealerships armed with their VIN and hope that they would special order the part/s. They probably would ask, but why satisfy a roro customer who did not patronize us when we could take that same USD and order replacement parts for our genuine customers?

Again, the feedback is welcomed.

So we are left to the mercy of the dealership with third world vehicles and pricey service. You are comfortable with persons being forced to buy the very same vehicles u love to hate on with substandard safety features and build quality, while the few models that are assembled in Japan, Korea and Europe/USA are priced out of the reach of the average person. I will agree that the RORO industry is full of scamps, but there needs to be the understanding of what going RORO entails wrt warranty support, service and resale. However, the new car dealers also engage in unscrupulous scampish behaviour that u like to not mention. Also you seem to have a lot of examples of malfunctioning RORO vehicles. As for me, I personally have owned 4 RORO vehicles and will estimate that between friends and family, the ownership rate of RORO is about 75%. And they mostly have had good experiences. My advice to any prospective RORO buyer is to assume that the mileage has been tampered with, but this can be mitigated by choosing a vehicle that is also available in the USA or Europe where hard to find parts locally can be sourced. RORO can and has worked for the most part. Your argument for abolishment sounds eerily similar to the finance minister tbh.

[carluva]

When one speaks of RORO, there should be a distinction to what one is referring to. IMO, RORO actually refers to grey market car dealers and these can fall into one of three categories.

1 - Reputable Grey Market dealers who sell second hand vehicles from an overseas market (RORO).
2- Scamp Grey Market dealers who sell second hand vehicles from an overseas market.
3 - Grey Market dealers who sell new vehicles from and overseas market.

There is actually a fourth category called knock down which is where the vehicle was basically disassembled at source country and then reassembled in T&T. I will not chat about these in my post as these were long since banned by the GORTT, perhaps 20+ years ago.

From the factory, a second hand vehicle from an overseas market was never meant for the T&T market, which is why there were great differences in standard features available on these vehicles versus their new counterparts sold in T&T. Some of the standard features were better while some posed issues for persons as described by agent007.

Now, for the first category, there would be a few dealers who built a reputation for importing vehicles which were "true to form". In other words, when that dealer says that the vehicle has 29,000 km on the odometer, you could've been confident that the odometer reading was legitimate and that there was no tampering of chassis number or engine number and you could have been pretty confident of the age of the vehicle. Thus, the vehicle will be priced accordingly and for this reason some models were more expensive than others.

These dealers catered to many persons in T&T and also encouraged the foreign used parts market. For the most part, many persons would have good experiences with these vehicles and this caused many to swear by RORO vehicles. Unfortunately, T&T became a dumping ground for many older vehicles. Due to laws in the source country, these types of vehicles needed to pay either very high taxes and run through very costly inspections to keep on the road or be removed from the roads. Hence they became destined for markets as ours with no such regulations.

Over time, the GORTT sought to phase out certain ages of RORO vehicles. However, this could well have been due to lobbying by the new car dealers to reduce competition and to maintain their monopoly.

For the second category, these were similar to the first, but these were the dealers who would roll back odometers, falsify chassis numbers, engine numbers or falsely state that the vehicle was not involved in any accident knowing fully well that this was not the case. These were the scamps who charged same price as category 1 but who sold inferior vehicles to unwitting customers.

These are the persons who gave the foreign used dealers a real bad name. Personally, while there were many good stories of persons owning RORO vehicles, the horror stories I heard from others were enough to warrant me never buying a RORO vehicle, not to mention some of the terrible accidents involving knock downs. Hence, I stuck to the local used market or the new market. One could argue that the former could be just as dishonest as the RORO scamps, but to me, the likelihood was lower. More so however, I knew I was purchasing a vehicle meant for a T&T market which meant that parts, service, updates and recalls would still apply to the vehicle.

The third category of grey market dealers is the category I have great issue with. These are the dealers who are willfully selling vehicles not destined for T&T.

These are the dealers who offer a "warranty" and not a warranty... New car dealers in T&T are authorised by the manufacturer they represent to sell that particular brand of vehicle. Therefore, they access the models DESIGNED FOR THE T&T MARKET, and by extension will be able to honour warranty, offer exact replacement parts, address technical issues per manufacturer recommendations for that vehicle, honour recalls and a host of other benefits meant for that vehicle being sold.

AFAIK, these grey market dealers selling the new vehicles do not have the authorisation of the particular brand to sell that vehicle. Rather, they would purchase from the authorised dealer of another country, load the vehicle on a boat and sell it here as new. Yes, the vehicle is new and has better features. Some have the same engine, but a better tune. This is potentially damaging especially for a diesel vehicle as the better engine tune requires better diesel which we all know is not available here. So for the purchasers of Hilux GR Sport, Frontier 2.3TT and perhaps even the Ranger 2.0 TT, keep your fingers crossed that the $hitty diesel does not wreck your engine.

When that stupid driver passes too close to you and knocks off your wing mirror and the 360 camera goes out of whack, how is this fixed back to the manufacturers spec?

When the windshield is cracked because that truck kicks up a pebble and the Lane Departure Assist or AEB begins to fault and you cannot get the correct windscreen replacement, what is the position.

If the vehicle gets into a fender bender, where will you access that fender flare?

If any of those happen, can the Grey Market dealer actually remedy this issue? Nope. They do not have access to the manufacturer because they are not authorised by the manufacturer to sell that vehicle here.

What about Teslas which do not get software updates? EGCs which cannot access software updates as the local dealer is not yet authorised to sell this vehicle here... Does this grey market dealer access these? Unlikely to no.

These dealer sell Hybrids, but haw many actually know how to repair/maintain a hybrid and can also access the parts/batteries for the same? I have heard many bad stories of persons buying grey market hybrids only to have battery faults that cannot be repaired and the vehicle is down for sometime until they purchase the part or fight up to find someone to fix the same.

The third category of dealer is the one which is willfully selling a vehicle that is not meant for here and knows fully well that the warranty offered is simply a joke and that after sales support is substandard compared to the authorised new vehicle seller.

IMO, these are the dealers who need to be regulated to stop their willful deception, thieving and skullduggery. Customers are being cheated with these dealers and will have little to no recourse in the event of major vehicle issues.

[mtec]

A lot of factors most have to take into consideration when purchasing a new or used vehicle. I think your budget or what can be financed is where most start. New, local used, roro or "new roro" options add to the confusion unless you know exactly what you want or your financial situation allows for anything. My personal experience here. Many years ago I purchased a vehicle from a popular roro dealer in south. I was not educated on roro vehicles or the dealers, I didn't shop around, I did not consider new because of my finances and I didn't take a mechanic to check out the car. The odo ready 23000k at purchase. I'm not the almighty but I knew 4 months after purchasing that the original mileage at purchase was not really 23k. When I went to do service I had at least 2 oil leaks, one being the cylinder head gasket and the spark plugs looked like they were slow cooking in a smoker for a couple years. As my experience with this car grew over time, I realized how much of a sheit box I purchased. I didn't buy a fully loaded model as I was told, kit was added locally and prettied up. On the contrary this vehicle was always reliable and I never faltered on servicing and always used original parts. There are people who believe in roro, I have to say that's your personal preference. After my experience I still do not regret my purchase, I loved the vehicle, I learnt more about cars and the brand and most importantly about the roro and new dealer industry. Would I buy another foreign used? Knowing what I know now about these dealers and the industry, probably never.

[PariaMan]

Like everything else buying foreign used is all about due diligence

1. Reputable dealer
2. Vehicle model sold in large amounts in Trinidad
3. Assume roll back so do high milage service

Problems with unavailable parts in new vehickes also occurs in dealerships

Poor service also prevalent as well