I went on a travel with my family recently in the remote town of Ternate, Cavite in the Philippines. And while on the road, I spotted some nefty-cheapy goods, and they are beautiful. I am talking about the cheap cars for sale in the province that I don't usually see in the metros. There is this one car shop near a gasoline station in Gen. Trias, Cavite where we stopped to refuel. I visited the shop very quick but saw that their price range is also different. A used Toyota Camry in the city will cost you around 300-500k while its price in the province is only 260k. Its a fixed price. A 1995 Mitsubishi Lancer cost around 100-200k in the city while it is only priced 90k in that shop. (Divide by about 42 to get US Dollars)
As we went on to our journey, a traffic jam stopped us for about 2 minutes in the middle of the highway. Along the highway is a motor shop, not really a car for sales store, but I saw that they are selling used SUV's and other cars. The huge Hyundai Starex Van in the metro is 300-400k but they are selling it for the low price of 150k! Wow that really was cheap. I wonder how they arrived at this prices. All cars mentioned comes in with a warranty to avoid being tricked into having your car damaged or replaced with bad parts.
Having said that, I now conclude that provincial rates for cars for sale is obviously cheaper than those in the bustling cities. However, if you are living in the city, particularly in Manila, it will not be convenient for you to buy a car from a store that is 3-4 hours of travel away. If the car has a problem, it will be a pain in the ass to travel back to the car shop. But if you are one of those highly motivated person with a lot of perseverance in their pocket, I believe buying cars in the province is best for you.
In the end, the car quality is still the best criteria for cars sold both in the province and even in the metros. Cars are always beautiful. But looks can be deceiving.
Automobile Blog April Archive
