Thread: Automobiles and Panama

Could any of you give your thoughts on purchasing a car in Panama? Probably a new vehicle. And probably a smallish SUV type car.

WHere in Panama would you purchase the vehicle? How much would you expect to pay?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

I dont know, there are alot of car dealers in Panama but SUVs down here are expensive. I'm currently shopping around for a car myself, I'm looking for a Nissan Xtrail (2005, 2006). Its about $10,000-$12,000. I'm trying to look for a Nissan Altima/Maxima, but for some reason there aren't too many of those down here. Check out Carspotpanama.com or automarketpanama.com & Good luck with your car shopping..

There's some risk with used cars, because Panamanians *tend* to not take great care of their vehicles -- and there is a lot of natural wear and tear down here (potholes, dings, scrapes, high temperatures, etc.), and there's no reliable way to get a car's history (like CarFax in the US).

If you buy new, there is only one dealer for each brand. Some have multiple stores in PC and David, but if, for example, you buy a Toyota in Panama, it will always be from the same company. Therefore, haggling is much more limited than in the US.

For small SUVs, I'd recommend Suzuki Grand Vitara (I had one and loved it), or Toyota RAV4, or the Hyundai Santa Fe. The Nissan X-Trail is also nice, but has "grown" through the years so that the new models are bigger than the GV and RAV. Honda's CRV is also great, but you pay more for that nameplate. Finally, if you want something smaller yet, there's the CrossFox from VW and the Daihatsu Terios.

Generally speaking, you want to avoid US brands down here; stick with Asian.

I've been asking some of my co-workers with cars, and they all said that for the banks down here to finance a car they require 2 full years of working. But then it occured to me, If I get myself a decent down payment of $3,000 and have my father or another relative of mines co-sign making themselves partially responsable, would It matter? Unfortuantly, none of them had an had an answer. I am desperate for a car, taking taxi's everyday are blowing through my pocket quicker than I thought. =( I keep thinking that there HAS to be a way around this "Requirement" for financing. Anybody know?