Why ‘DIY’ your Car in Nigeria?

So why bother? Nigeria’s quite a peculiar place to own and manage a vehicle. Paucity of Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) parts, an abundance of counterfeits ones, expensive dealer quotes, and  an avalanche of mechanics who claim to know more than engineers at Mercedes (if you know what I mean); are some of the challenges to contend with, to keep your car’s sanity in Nigeria! As though these are not enough, throw in the fact that a lot of mechanics are given to pulling a fast one on you once you drop your guard and it becomes quite a quagmire.

Although I had always had a knack for DIY, starting it on my car was more out of frustration than for the want of a new adventure. I had just got a 2003 Accord 6 years ago and of course used our family mechanic for maintenance. Being someone that gave close attention to factory manuals, it soon dawned on me that something  was amiss. I was getting only oil and filter changes as maintenance! I was even warned not to consider doing an ATF drain and fill. Emma my mechanic simply said “Your gear go burn o, if you try am, better leave am as e dey”

Wanting more, I switched to a dealer (not Honda). They sold brand new cars and had loads of equipment. Won’t forget the VIP treatment clients got in a nice chilly lounge while the engineers worked on your vehicle. Cut the long story short, I was duped! First, I had my crankcase massively over-filled after an oil change. Again, down the line when I needed new front brake pads, I was billed NGN10,000 minus labor for supposed OEM Honda blanks, only for me to later find out they had installed the cheapest brake pad in the market; Autoboss. The part sold for NGN1000 or less at the time!

I was back to Emma again. But slowly and surely, I started reading and watching DIY videos for tasks around routine maintenance and the occasional faults my car developed. My first breakthrough was with a power steering whine for which I was told to get a new pump (was to cost NGN30,000 then). Some quick clicks on the internet and voila! I solved the problem by replacing a very cheap o-ring (NGN100) in less than 5 minutes!

Informed auto DIY  saves you funny fixes from quack mechanics, builds your knowledge of cars, cuts repair costs and brings fulfillment. It’s indeed a very rewarding experience.