Buying a Used Car in the UAE: The Complete Checklist

Buying a used car in the UAE is quick when it goes well and painful when it does not. Most of the pain comes from steps people skip because the seller seemed decent. Work through this in order.

Before you see the car

• Ask for the chassis number (VIN) and the Mulkiya (registration card) by photo. A seller who will not send these is wasting your time.
• Check the VIN against the registration card. They must match exactly.
• Ask whether the car is under finance. A financed car cannot transfer until the loan is cleared, and that is the seller's problem to solve before you pay anything.
• Ask for service records. Not a promise of records, the actual photographs.
• Run the plate through the RTA or relevant emirate's system for outstanding fines. They follow the car, not the seller.

At the viewing

Go in daylight. Never in the evening, never in rain, never at a car wash where the car is still wet. Water hides panel defects better than anything else on earth.

1. Walk the car from ten paces and look down each side for ripples in the reflection.
2. Check every panel gap with your finger.
3. Open and close every door, the bonnet and the boot. Listen for anything that catches.
4. Start the engine from cold. A seller who has warmed the car up before you arrive may be hiding a cold start rattle.
5. Turn the air conditioning to maximum and leave it running for the whole viewing. In the UAE this is not a convenience check, it is a major cost item.
6. Look at the tyre date codes. Four tyres over five years old need replacing whatever the tread looks like, because the heat here kills rubber before the tread wears out.

The inspection

Book an independent inspection before you commit to anything. Not the seller's mechanic, not the garage next to the showroom. Someone you are paying, who has no relationship with the person selling the car.

Our packages start at AED 239 and the inspector comes to wherever the car is. The report arrives the same day with a photograph attached to every fault.

Negotiating

Go in with the report and a repair cost for each item on it. Ask for the money, not a vague discount. "The rear tyres are at 2mm and need replacing, that is AED 1,400, I will pay AED 1,400 less" works. "Can you do better on the price" does not.

Paying and transferring

• Never pay a deposit before the inspection. If you already have, get it in writing that it is refundable.
• Pay by bank transfer, not cash. You need a record.
• Both parties must attend the transfer at an RTA centre or approved typing centre in Dubai, or the equivalent in other emirates.
• The car needs a valid passing test certificate before transfer. The seller pays for this unless you have agreed otherwise.
• Insurance must be in place in your name before you drive away.
• Confirm the fines are cleared on the day of transfer, not a week before.

The three mistakes that cost the most

1. Paying a deposit to "hold" a car before any inspection. You have handed over your negotiating position.
2. Accepting the seller's mechanic. He is not working for you.
3. Buying in a hurry because someone else is supposedly coming to see it at six. There is always another car.