Arriving and driving

Having a car in the UAE isn't essential, especially if you're lording it up in a nice hotel in the Marina and work in JLT. But if like myself you're a car guy and life doesn't feel quite right without some wheels, you're going to need to do something about it pretty soon after touching down.

When you first arrive you can't actually own a car as in order to register a car here you need :-

• Residency visa in passport
• UAE driving license, or at least a GCC license
• Emirates ID

So the first option for most people is to rent something, you can rent a Yaris for about 1,600 per month or something larger like a Kia Sonata will run to about 2,600 per month, and a Pajero will be between 4,200 and 5,500 depending on where you go. A lot of people seem to get caught up in an endless rental cycle and it just doesn't make sense financially, many expats have a fear of buying and owning a car in a strange country.

          "I'm scared of being shafted " - British Expat exiting Al Awir.

Renting just doesn't make sense, if you're willing to fork out 5k a month to smoke about in a Pajero why don't you just buy one or better yet use that money to get something you really like. Lets say you rent a Pajero for a year and a half which is extremely common, I've met people who've been renting for 3 years or more.

You pay 5k per month that's 90,000 dirhams over the course of the 18 months. Excessive.

Financing

UAE Central Bank stipulates a minimum 20% down payment when financing a vehicle, and whilst there are a couple of ways to avoid this I don't advise doing so as it generally keeps you out of negative equity so you can always get out of the car quickly if you find yourself in a 'shit just got real' situation and want to exit quickly.

At the moment you can pick up a 6 months old Pajero GLS 5Dr with less than 10,000km for about 110,000 AED or even a little less if you're willing to settle for the 3.5 engine, but don't as it's under powered especially if you want to take it onto the sand.

So down payment will be 22,000 and the  payment works out to about 2,000 a month (based on a 2.5% bank rate) run the car for 18 months and you will owe circa 57,000 and the vehicle is approximately worth 80,000. The residual value does depend heavily on how you've treated it and how many times a moron in an ancient Camry has tried to reshape it for you. 

Combining 18 monthly payments and the initial down payment it has cost you 58,000 and you've got 22,000 worth of equity too. Which in this example is the same as your initial deposit, so no reason why you can't sell the car and go out and replace it with another 6 month old one and your monthly payment wouldn't change but you keep yourself in a new car all the time.

Maintenance

Keeping a car on the road here is relatively low cost compared to Western countries, quality of service is rather hit and miss though, some are good and some are pretty shabby. Japanese cars for some reason apparently require servicing every 5,000km which is frankly ridiculous but best to do what they say. American cars are generally every 10,000km, the Germans are usually every 15,000km or 20,000km, and the others? Well if you've got an Italian or French car just take it to a workshop every week to play it safe.

Most main dealer workshops are actually pretty good these days, the front of house i.e the reception and service advisers are often poor but what you don't see behind the scenes is usually very good. There are many excellent independent workshops here that will do a fantastic job for less money. Just make sure they use genuine parts.

A basic oil change on a Prado will be about 800 dirhams, a full service on a Camaro will be about 1,600 and a major service on a Mercedes C200 is about 2,500. That's dealer prices you can find cheaper by going elsewhere. 

The small workshop areas at petrol stations have their uses too, good for checking your oil, washer fluid, or reattaching the vehicle under tray as you inevitably smash it off after daring to go over an enormous speed bump at any speed greater than glacial.

Buying/Selling

The easiest way to find cars for sale is Dubizzle.com or visit the numerous showrooms dotted around the place, or slow cruise through Al Awir obviously you can't stop moving for fear of being accosted by sales guys. Buying a car on finance is a lot easier if you do it through a dealer, it can be done through a private seller but as I found out from my personal experience it is additional headache and does help if the seller is patient, hence you will find many adverts on Dubizzle asking for cash only buyers.

The same goes for selling. Selling to a dealer is the easiest but you do pay for the convenience, selling privately can be well worthwhile as you will get more sometimes significantly more than going direct to a dealer. Selling a car with finance outstanding is a hassle, it is much better if you can clear the finance yourself and then find a buyer as you will have to wait for the bank to let RTA know that the car is no longer any interest to them. Although I was lucky recently and sold a car that I had financed through Emirates Islamic Bank and managed to convince the man in their head office to print me out a letter for RTA there and then.

Fines

Yep, you'll get them.

Driving in UAE

Carmageddon. 80% of the time it's just a free for all with seemingly the only rule being that there are no rules. On a typical 60 minute commute on a weekday morning I can expect to be treated to three totally avoidable smashes each of which the traffic must become stationary to allow everyone to have a good look as the population it seems, has never seen a cop car before or an accident. Seeing a car shiny side down next to an arrow straight 5 lane super highway no longer surprises me.

Karama on a Thursday afternoon

Then other times it does seem to work, I drove back from Abu Dhabi a few days ago at 5pm and it's just a stream of cars driving at 160kph, slowing to 140kph for the cameras and then back to to 160kph. All adhering to lane discipline and indicating correctly. I couldn't believe how quickly I got back to Dubai, once I got as far as Jebel Ali that all changed, as an ancient Camry wobbled and dithered its way from the slip road to the fourth lane without reason or indication at about 90kph causing all manner of rage.

The best advice for driving here is just to pay attention and treat everyone like they've come from a village in the 19th century, and don't let the red mist set in too much.