Why I might sell my car

Torn between forking out a ton of money for repairs or disposing of the car at a loss. ILLUSTRATION| NYAGAHNYAGAH

What you need to know:

  • I went there one morning when Ali was not around. I sat a distance away and observed things. I could see Ali’s boys removing parts from my car.
  • “Nipe ufunguo nichukue Number 12,” I heard one of the boys ask another.
  • After he was given the keys to my car, he took a spanner, then locked the door and left. I confronted Ali later that evening.

When Ali, Mwisho wa Lami’s revered mechanic and jack of all trades towed my state-of-the-art Nissan Unny to his makeshift workshop in June, I was sure the car would be back and in great shape before the World Cup ended. However, days turned into a weeks, and a month was gone — just like that.

Initially, I would pass by his workshop after school to inspect the repair works. Everyday, he would say he was buying a new part, or he needed to fix the oil filter, and the next day he would have another story

“Parts za Nissan ni Ngumu sana kupata,” Ali told me, “Ungeniuliza ungenunua Toyota.” I told him I am unique, and I don’t do what everyone else does.

But with time, it became clear to me that once Ali knew my schedule, he started working on the car in the evenings when I would be passing by. He would spend the day doing other work but at 4pm, he would open the bonnet of my car so that when I arrived, I would find him busy on it.

Sometime in late July, someone told me Ali was removing parts from my car to sell to other motorists. “Usipochukua gari yako hautapata hata mabati,” the anonymous person told me. I decided to investigate.

I went there one morning when Ali was not around. I sat a distance away and observed things. I could see Ali’s boys removing parts from my car.

“Nipe ufunguo nichukue Number 12,” I heard one of the boys ask another. After he was given the keys to my car, he took a spanner, then locked the door and left. I confronted Ali later that evening.

“Why are you taking parts from my car for use on other cars?” I angrily asked.

“No one is taking anything from your car, he answered calmly, as all mechanics do. The car, he said, was being used as a store for tools and equipment.“I brought my car here to be repaired, not to be a store,” I told him.

“Your car is not a store, that was not the right word,” he said. “We have just kept tools there temporarily,” he said. “There is a big difference between keeping and storing,” he added without elaborating.

“You are lucky because that means your car is opened every now and then, meaning it can’t rust. If we left it, by now it would have rusted and weeds would be growing around it,” he added, showing me other cars surrounded by weeds and shrubs. “Is that what you want?” he asked. I did not respond.

I only asked how soon I would get my car back. He said there was a part he had ordered from Nairobi “and if it arrives, your car will move. It’s the only thing remaining”

“But if you can’t wait, there is no problem,” he said. “You can take it away.”

I was keen on taking the car away until I realised it would be costly to tow it. So I left it there. Over this school holidays, I visited Ali twice, but the part had not arrived.

“Hizi vitu hutafutwa Dre,” he said. “Ningekuwa mwenyewe ningekuwa nishapata,” he told me. He gave me an alternative, which was to pay for him fare to Nairobi so he could buy the part himself. I did not have such money. I forgot all about the car for my own peace, until last Wednesday at Hitler’s. When I arrived, everyone wanted me to buy them a drink, I did not understand why.

“Kwani pesa umepeleka wapi na uliuzia gari Ali?” Asked Nyayo.

BOUGHT THE CAR

From what I gathered, Ali had been using the car for over a week, and when asked, he said he had bought the car from me. I instantly got sober and went to his workshop.

He was missing, and so was the car. I called him several times, but he disconnected my calls. I went there first on Thursday morning. His boys must have informed him because he arrived much later, without the car. I asked him why he had been using my car, and telling people that he had bought it from me.

“Who said so?” he asked me. “I have never used your car, I have only been road testing it.” “That spare part I was telling you... Someone gave it to me to test if it will work on your car, and I have been testing it for the last few days,” he said.

“And why didn’t you tell me?” I asked him. He said he wanted to be sure the part works.

“You don’t know how cars are road tested. Ungejua hungeniuliza.”

He said he had not come with the car as it had ran out of fuel. We took a boda boda, bought some petrol and went to his home, and came back driving the car. The car was in a fantastic shape, and I liked how it roared, leaving dust behind. All I needed was a thorough wash. I thought I would go with the car home on that day.

“The problem is that the person who gave me this part is asking for a lot of money, Sh40, 000,” Ali said when we arrived. I told him that was not possible.

NISSANS ARE RARE

“I can call him you negotiate. Nissans are very rare Dre,” he said. He added that his labour was Sh7,000 and that I had a balance of Sh13,000 for other parts. I therefore needed Sh60,000 to drive the car away.

Ali made some calls and a man arrived driving a very old Nissan. “I have driven Nissans all my life,” said the man who introduced himself as Juma. Ali asked me to speak to him and negotiate.

To my surprise, Juma insisted that he had told Ali the part cost Sh50,000, but he would reduce it to Sh45,000. I outrightly rejected this. He had another alternative.

“If you can’t afford this, why don’t you sell me the car?” Given what I had gone through, I considered this and asked him how much he would buy it.

“Sh100,000,” he said. “I will use it to get parts for my two other Nissans, hii ni mkebe itakusumbua mpaka mwisho.”

I talked to Ali, who also offered to buy the car but at Sh 110,000, calling it “the best price I can ever get”. I told him to give me a week to think about it.

Should I sell the car and count my losses, or should I spend 60,000 on repairs and enjoy cruising on the roads of Mwisho wa Lami?