Only Military Officers Buying Cars – Abuja Car Dealers Lament Low Patronage

The Abuja car market has started witnessing a lull in sales following weeks of lockdown occasioned by the Coronavirus pandemic.

THE WHISTLER went out on Monday following the easing of the lockdown by the federal government and the Federal Capital Territory Administration, to find out what was happening with the car business in the city and spoke with some car dealers and marketers along Kubwa road and inside Area 11, Garki.

Some of the dealers who were sitting idly in their offices or under the tree shade said the pandemic had affected their business, saying specifically that they would no longer be able to sell their cars at the “normal price,” meaning the actual selling prices of the cars.

A dealer close to the Auto Plaza opposite Gwarimpa, Usman Umaru, said the lockdown did not allow people to come out and buy cars.

“Only military officers have been showing up to buy cars. This morning, two officers came here to buy Toyota Highlander and they paid cash,” he told the reporter, but said he had to slash the price because they were not willing to buy at the selling price.

Also, Usman Sani, a dealer beside New Engineering, along Kubwa road said car sales have been low since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country.

“I have been coming out for the last 53 days but people are not buying cars like before, only some military officers come around. I don’t know whether they have paid them some money, but they’re the ones that have been buying cars of recent,” he revealed.

Richard Alade, a car marketer at the Federal Housing Gate, Gwarimpa, also lamented low sales.

“People are not coming out, and if they don’t come out nobody would buy cars. We only see some soldiers (military officers) who come to buy. My colleagues too have the same experience,” he said, adding however that he was confident that things would pick up.

Some other dealers who did not disclose their names confirmed that military men constitute the largest group of car buyers in recent times.

“And they pay cash; they will pay you cash, they don’t do transfer,” said one of the dealers who disclosed that he sold a N2.7 million car to an officer on Monday morning.