We've been posting updates on our car fund each month and
as you can see, we're getting closer and closer to our goal of $25,000 USD. We actually have the option of borrowing up to 25% of the cost of a car so we're now close enough that we can start looking. Today I took my first trip to local dealerships here in Dakar, Senegal.
Car shopping here can be a similar experience to the US. Sure, the language is different (we sure struggled to figure out how to ask "front wheel drive" vs "rear wheel drive") and the numbers are w-a-y different. Most of the cars I looked at cost about 12,000,000 CFA. That translates roughtly to $25,000). Still, these were new cars in dealership showrooms which, for the most part, were air conditioned and clean.
We started out at the Volkswagen dealership where I was especially interested in the
VW Suran. It's a smaller cross between a minivan and a hatchback and the price is right. I liked the car and it's on our "to-think-about list".
The next stop was the Ford dealership where the cheapest car was about $45,000. We didn't even bother opening any doors.
Next up we drove over to the Nissan dealership where I found a great car but one on the upper threshold of what's realistically in our price range. It's called the
Nissan Qashqai and is classified as an SUV comparable to the Honda CRV or Toyota RAV4 but I thought of it more as a large hatchback. It was a great car and felt the sturdiest of all the cars I looked at but at $31,000 we're about $5,000 shy of being able to think about it.
Next we walked over to the Renault dealership. That's a French brand and while I saw an interesting car in our price range it didn't seem to really meet our needs. Lastly we stopped by Toyota. There wasn't much in our price range but one van jumped out. It was great in every aspect but one (a very important one): it was rear-wheel drive. In the sandy environment here having four-wheel drive is important and failing that, front-wheel drive is a must.
So, at the end of the day I came home, tired, with my head full of thoughts to share with Amanda. We really feel that the list narrowed itself down to two cars: the VW Suran and the Nissan Qashqai. We feel the VW is a nice car and just meets our family needs and we have the funds now to make a payment (we are allowed to borrow up to 25% of the purchase price from the mission) but the Nissan better meets our family's needs, it's much sturdier, should last longer, but we're short funds. We're really praying now for direction. We so very much appreciate all the donations that have come in so far that have brought us this close to buying a car. We also thank you for your prayers for our wisdom in this. If you feel led to help us out you can find instructions
in this post and we'll keep you all posted with what we decide.
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