Rollin', rollin', rollin'

I have just exited the car purchasing experience in Dubai and have found myself to be a fairly happy customer. It is quite different from the UK - the main one being the lack of any real "salesmanship" from the dealers here. Car loans are cheap here and the horror stories I have heard about people buying second hand cars made me chose to buy new.

Typically in the UK if you are interested in a vehicle and if you leave a car dealer your mobile number they hound you to death. Here in Dubai there is more or less a monopoly on a any one car brand i.e. only one official dealer. So they have a really lax attitude - I find it kind of refreshing. I could go to all the brands I was interested in - leave them my details safe in the knowledge that I won't get harassed. Kudos though to the Jeep dealer, who actually followed up a couple of times.

Once you select the vehicle, one most negotiate finance. I chose to go with the red triangles as they had a reasonable rate. I simply gave the regular passport photocopies, license copy and salary certificate to the dealer and he applied for the loan on my behalf. The following day a chap from the HSBC turned up at my office (he wanted me to go to Deira and I work in DIC - it wasn't going to happen) and I signed the paperwork.

Once done - the dealer registered and insured the car for me. It was well worth bringing my No Claims certificate from the UK as that reduced 1200 Dirhams from the price. Two days later I was rollin'

All in all - quite easy.