Know These Facts Before Buying a Car in Ecuador (2022)

For various reasons, buying a car in Ecuador presents challenges that are different from car-buying in North America.

Dom Buonamici, the U.S.A.-to-Quito Expat, has bought and sold several cars in his nine or so years in Ecuador.

In my nine years in Ecuador I have bought one car -- a 2016 Chevrolet Sail, purchased new at a dealership here in Quito.  It's operative and currently parked in the 'estacionamiento' at my condo 'conjunto'.

Dom discusses car purchasing in this country in an excellent video just posted at his YouTube site...

Search at YouTube.com....
    16 things you need to know before buying a car in Ecuador

In the ensuing posts, I will present some of Dom's concepts and recommendations (bolded) and in some cases I discuss my own experiences relevant to the car buying process here.

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Dom's rule:  In Ecuador, do not buy a car with an automatic transmission.

Ecuadorians, by a huge majority, buy and drive cars with a standard transmission.

These cars cost less than the automatics .. and parts are more readily available.

According to Dom...

   -- Due to costs and lack of parts availability, automatic-transmission cars are far harder to re-sell in Ecuador.

   -- Replacing an automatic transmission in Ecuador typically costs thousands of dollars, where as replacing a "stick" transmission costs a few hundred.
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I bought my Chevy Sail choosing the 'stick' option, thereby saving myself $8,000 on the purchase price in 2016.

I had driven a stick -- the family Volkswagen -- as a teenager in Westchester County, New York.

At first I had trouble with the Sail because of the clutch -- or 'embrague' -- not because it was defective, but because I had forgotten how to use it properly during the intervening decades since the VW.

In fact, after about ten days of driving, I burned the thing out.  The Chevy had to be towed back to the Quito dealership.

Their repair team replaced the clutch under warranty, but warned me that if it was damaged in that way again, the cost would be at my expense.  I corrected my use of the clutch and have not had a problem with it since.

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Dom's rule:  Don't buy a Chinese-made, Chinese-branded car in Ecuador.

Reasons to resist the good-looking Chinese cars include difficulty in getting parts, and difficulty in re-selling the vehicle.  Also, drivers may have to go long distances to a dealership if it is ordering the parts from far away.

Dom doesn't trust it if a Chinese car is advertised with a Mitsubishi engine.  Is that engine really made by Mitsubishi?
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Dom's rule:  don't buy using a contrato en blanco or blank contract.

Dom says it's common practice for private sellers to present the purchaser with such a contract.

Problems arise later related to the registration, for instance the real buyer's name not listed in the government's system as the registered buyer of record.

---

By buying at a branded Chevrolet dealership, I avoided some of this type of registration pitfall.

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Dom's rule:  You must have patience if you buy a European-made car.

Again, it's the issue of parts.  If parts are needed, they may have to be ordered from the original factory in Europe .. putting an Expat driver off the roads for two months.

The same goes for extremely expensive cars, which are rare in Ecuador .. and thus parts may not be readily available.
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Dom's rule:  Disclosure laws for used cars are not fully enforced in Ecuador.

This comes into play in odometer-rollbacks and the non-disclosure of past accidents involving a for-sale vehicle.

Dom recommends having an expert check out the proposed purchase, including raising the car and checking the undercarriage for signs of past collision damage.
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Dom's rule:  the license plate matters.

A used car with a plate starting with P for Pichincha, the Quito area province, is generally worth more than a car that was originally purchased/used/offered for re-sale on the Pacific Coast.

The coastal cars are subject to salt air, which over the years has damaging effects.

---

My car has a license plate starting with PCR (pretty cool ride?) and has shown no signs of rust or salt-air-related damage six years after purchase.

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Dom's rule:  Know which brands TO BUY.

Dom recommends Chevrolet and the Korean cars branded Kia and Hyundai.

He says they are relatively inexpensive and parts are readily available.  Also, they are readily re-sellable, often for close to the price paid by the original buyer.

---

I purchased my Chevrolet Sail after noticing how many Sails were motoring around the city streets.  This was a sign that this type of car was priced for the general motoring public .. and would not normally be targeted by envious 'delincuentes'.

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What are your feelings on the older Landcruisers in Ecuador? Thanks in advance for your reply.
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