Used double cabin pickup/jeepeta recommendation

Adrian said:

I am looking to buy a second hand double cabin pickup or jeepeta, and would welcome any advice as to what would be a good buy, and where to buy one. Toyota and Mistsubishi seem to be the recommended makes in these forums, and Turin Motors and Espaillat Motors in Moca seem to come recommended (I am based in Sabaneta de Yasica).

I am not looking for anything fancy. Just something guaranteed to get me from A to B, everything works, and that I am not going to get too upset about if it gets the odd scratch or bump. It needs to be reliable, cheap to maintain and buy parts, and with a reasonable off-road capability. Size similar to a Montero Sport. It is not going to do a lot of mileage.

I don’t have a set budget. Would RD$300,000 be sufficient to get something reliable, or would I better off spending more?

Thanks for any advice.

Adrian.

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300K will bring you just to that level where you start to find an "OK" usable vehicle... narrowing down your preferences before hand may make it very difficult to find something good within that budget.
Check super-carros.com first to get an idea of current ASKING prices (don't be fooled!). Both Toyota (Hilux) and Mitsubishi (L-200) have a long history of rugged, durable and appreciated double cabin pu's here and many of all ages and mileages are on the road. 300K may just about get you into an early Millennium model of either model. At this level, general condition may be more important than actual model year. Also diesel models are generally more desirable than gasoline powered ones, for reasons of better gas mileage and longer life expectancy.

The ability to find a good one from the owner, may also give your money some better buying power... IF you know the lingo what you are doing!

Would you be better off spending more... logic would indicate that yes, but here it boils only doing to a "probably". As you may have found out already, here you don't always really get what you paid for. There's also a wide spread between intrinsic and extrinsic values.


... J-D.

Adrian said:

I am looking to buy a second hand double cabin pickup or jeepeta, and would welcome any advice as to what would be a good buy, and where to buy one. Toyota and Mistsubishi seem to be the recommended makes in these forums, and Turin Motors and Espaillat Motors in Moca seem to come recommended (I am based in Sabaneta de Yasica).

I am not looking for anything fancy. Just something guaranteed to get me from A to B, everything works, and that I am not going to get too upset about if it gets the odd scratch or bump. It needs to be reliable, cheap to maintain and buy parts, and with a reasonable off-road capability. Size similar to a Montero Sport. It is not going to do a lot of mileage.

I don?t have a set budget. Would RD$300,000 be sufficient to get something reliable, or would I better off spending more?

Thanks for any advice.

Adrian.

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All was looking good until you got to the 300,00 pesos.
That'll get you a junker.
Double that, at least.
Mitsubishi L200's are very popular and reliable.

I agree with Rocky, in that you picked excellent vehicles to go with. However, your budget will have to increase in order to buy one of those vehicles in good body and mechanical condition. Somewhere between $500K and $600K DR Pesos should do it.

Do yourself a favor and read the Classifieds in the Listin Diario or the Diario Libre..That can give you a ballpark figure for what you want.

You have to know that all of the lots set back the odometer on their vehicles. this was proved by one of the posters here on this board..The answer was "Oh yes, we do that all the time!!"

Good hunting.

HB

Hillbilly said:

You have to know that all of the lots set back the odometer on their vehicles. this was proved by one of the posters here on this board..The answer was "Oh yes, we do that all the time!!"

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100% true.

I'm curious: what generally/MOL is the spread between asking and selling price for vehicles at a reputable dealer in the Cibao area, Santiago, La Vega and Moca?

cobraboy said:

I'm curious: what generally/MOL is the spread between asking and selling price for vehicles at a reputable dealer in the Cibao area, Santiago, La Vega and Moca?

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A reputable dealer would likely give you something close to the real price from the start, but it varies greatly from dealer to dealer.
Most Dominicans would not be satisfied with their purchase, if they didn't feel that they managed to bargain the seller down, so it's a fairly standard practice to inflate the price and then negotiate it down to it's actual final price.

The Search

Adrian, when I was looking for a good second hand, manual shift double cabin diesel pickup, I could not find one.
I finally bought one new and would recommend that, too.

As far as I know used diesel pickups are not imported from the US and manual shift is also not popular with Americans.

Japanese used cars have RHD and need to be modified here which results in certain disadvantages.

m'frog

Enough of the spam!!!

hmmmm, anyone else ever thought about starting an Auto Trader here?

We have them in Santo Domingo.

Not enough expats in the DR to make target that market and be successful or should I say, make any money.

Robert said:

We have them in Santo Domingo.

Not enough expats in the DR to make target that market and be successful or should I say, make any money.

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Very valid point but shame in a way...

Adrian,

I had exactly the same problem as you face regarding buying a vehicle out here (as we all have !!) Took me around 10 months to find what I was looking for. I searched dealers in Moca and Santiago, read the Listin every day, made numerous phone calls and it got me nowhere.

A friend of mine had to go back to Germany for an operation, and he had to sell his jeep quickly as he was not returning to the DR. I managed to have the cash ready, and bought one of the best, reliable 4 wheel drive Suzuki Grand Vitara's available.

My situation has changed now, and I am in a copy-cat situation (apart from needing the operation....) so if you are interested and still lookin' - let me know. We may be able to do each other a big favour here ??!!?? Get in touch and I'll tell you more details about the jeep.....

Altrac