Steps to Buy a Car from USA and Ship Fast

Before purchasing my first car, I did hear people say, ‘that my car over there is from the US’. And I was often surprised because the distance between USA and Nigeria isn’t Nigeria to Kenya. One day, I overheard myself saying to someone, ‘that wheel shuttled in from the US’. Immediately, it occurred to me that I was now driving a self-imported car from the USA. For a second, I was a little bit proud; who wouldn’t be!
I know you want to know the steps to buy car from USA to Nigeria. And I’m also prepared to give more than enough details. I do not have anybody living in USA but I ordered and exactly what I ordered entered Nigeria.
Instead of finishing that money on just food like me, let me hastily teach you what to do. Mind you, you need every step, if you intend to successfully get that car without a scratch!

1. Store Some Cash

If you’re just going to kick-start this project, you’ll have to have some cash in store. The very reason behind this is the fact that every delay in payments incur charges. The least thing like allowing your car to exceed given time in dealer’s hands attracts charges.

2. Sign Up to a Car Auction Site
It’s actually very easy to buy car from USA to Nigeria. There are some very good auction sites out there. With your Android or Apple phone in hand, you’d just few clicks away from shipping a car to Nigeria. Some of the sites are the likes of Copart, Cars45, and Carmart.ng. Don’t wait for your children to guide you because the signup is as easy as opening a new Facebook account. As a car dealer, here is your opportunity to buy car from USA to Nigeria and burst customers’ bubble.
You do need some details on signup or registration and they’re things you can easily get. Pick an auction site, know what they want and they upload to proceed on their portal. In case you think there will be big document demands, no. A simple auction license, your Nigerian ID and few others as your chosen auction site requires. While making uploads, be honest and provide only valid ID to prevent future difficulties. In this sense, if you do not have what the auction site requires, please make them available before signup.

3. Go through the List and Make Your Car Pick
The list to buy car from USA to Nigeria is filled with a pretty good list of cars. What vehicle do you have in mind? The likes of Mack Truck? SUVs? Sport cars or motorcycles? Believe me, if there are collections other than these, you’ll still be able to ship them from the US.
As soon as you’re on course with your auction ID, bargain with dealer and you’re almost there. While some auction sites may offer premium services, others do not when attempt to buy car from USA to Nigeria. For sites with premium deals, you should expect some additional benefits to buy car from USA to Nigeria. Depending on the site, the benefit could be access to participation in ongoing vehicle bids. Also, some sites operate on annual billing for services which means free signup too.
Moreover, don’t just click ‘buy’ when you find the car you like on the auction site. Go through the car related information and know details behind it like: Damage level, Odometer, as well as if it’s a clean title car. A clean title car, in case you have no idea, is simply a car with no recorded damage. This sort of car however, would be slightly costly. Also check other important information stating whether the car has clean certificate of title, salvage car and few more. For clean certificate of title, it means that the dealer is the verified owner of the car. And salvage car? Well, if it’s salvage, the car has suffered damages and you may want to reconsider paying to ship such car.

4. Place Your Order
Placing order means you are ready to buy car from USA to Nigeria. This comes after series of inspection that you carry out on the car you want through the details. For me, it’s even easier because placing order does not require lengthy paperwork or this and that. It’s simple and straight. You can immediately proceed to buy car from USA to Nigeria or wait for negotiation date to reach. This is the case because certain cars or dealers fix a particular date for biddings to fly in. You know how this works? It can be tricky though because it’s only the highest bidder that qualifies to pay for the car. People often run from such offers because the chances of winning is often slim. Well, I’ve been a successful bidder once and I did that by not rushing into the bidding. I waited for what seemed to be the best bid and then topped something on it and won.

5. Pay for Your USA Car to Enter Nigeria
Auction sites provide seemingly same or the same payment method to buy car from USA to Nigeria. You can either opt for bank wire or a simple and quick transfer with your credit card. I do have a little bit of difficulties using my bank credit card. I’m certain this is a Nigeria-related problem as my credit card is often declined. Even though transacting with credit card makes things easier, I do switch to bank wire for the sake of time. After all, the payment will still be made and your online wallet debited. Do note that you’ll risk extra charges for payment delay.
6. It’s Shipping Time!
Concerning the steps to buy car from USA to Nigeria, this is where delay begins. I call this a necessary delay because things need to be put in place to avoid any misunderstanding. Since the negotiation is set with your car dealer, the shipping agent gets in. Agents duty, of course, is to aid in the entire process of the car’s departure from USA to Nigeria.
One of the negotiations that will take place between you and your agent is the car carriage to the seaport. For cars labelled as run and drive, it’ll save you the extra tow truck fees. If this isn’t the case, you’ll have to pay for the movement of your ca to port. The cost would be determined by the location of the dealer and the port. The agent would communicate this to you.
Another shipping process that follows is the freight booking. For the fact that the fee isn’t same at all time and for vehicles, I can’t assume it. However, you can project about 900 dollars and a little less. Once you clear this payment, viola, your shipping line sets sail.
7. Car Clearance
Soon, I mean very soon, you should become a car owner. Seriously, because there is very little to worry about here. Apart from clearance fee, all that’s left is to run your wheels on the Nigerian roads.
Custom clearance should be a matter of days. I do not know how my first ever agent did it, but he cleared my car in two days. With the state of things though, I wouldn’t say two days for clearance. Give it three careful days and your car should be free and ready. Do note that several charges await you. And also, these charges do depend on the sort of car and the release year of the car. This means that the charges become higher depending on the overall value of the car. In fact, the least thing like your car’s mileage contributes to the charges – how funny, but necessary.
Cost of Shipping a Car from USA to Nigeria
Apart from the shipping fees and be ready to settle the Customs. There are two Customs to be settled here. First are those of the US and then those of Nigeria. If you do try to play smart, things won’t look good, so don’t try to.
Beginning from the negotiation and buying stage, it will be cost upon cost. However, I can’t tell the cost of your car because it’ll be determined by the dealer and the type of car. But certainly, I’m aware of costs like dealer to port charge and freighting fee. For agent to transport the car to the shipping port, it would cost between 15o Dollars and 300 Dollars. There can’t be any certain price because your dealer’s distance from seaport determines this, especially if it’s trucking.
How Long It Takes to Ship a Car from USA to Nigeria
The reason why your car might take a bit of time to arrive is primarily due to some reasons. The first, of course, is if your exporter has to wait for an available ship to take off. Concerning this, you do not have to blame anyone, the auction site or the car exporter. It is due to the number of Nigerians having their cars on cue to ship from USA to Nigeria. This is usually the case if you’re transporting via container. It’s safe but since the cost is high, you’d want to jointly pay with other importers. And if their clearance delays, your car shipping delays same.
Another reason is the Customs clearance. Many would say in 4 weeks that your car would successfully land in Lagos. In truth, this happens strictly by chance. Expect to see your USA shipped car in about 6 weeks or even more, depending on the state of things.
Author’s Extra
If there is anything I advise people most is to be very careful. Some of the auction sites are actually avenues for fraud. But then, I’m glad that there are reputable ones out there in numbers. I have added a few to this article and you might want to consider them.
Nigerians are fun of omitting T&Cs which often land them in unbearable and annoying situations. For any auction site you pick, please go through their T&Cs because we’re discussing money in it. Anyway, this should be it as you embark on accomplishing this plan. I wish you the best and please, go for the best and not what would give you headache.