Hello,
My wife and I are doing the initial grunt work in deciding whether or not to retire to Boquete. Just want to get a basic out of the way. Is it practical to expect to buy, rent or get repaired a car with automatic transmission in Panama?
Thanks.
Steven Harvey
Replies
Japanese or Korean cars. No problem.
I agree! Just wish we could find an affordable SUV since our truck is still being held hostage by the insurance company - it’s only been THREE months!
Now I understand that this is somewhat typical. Since neither my husband nor I had an auto accident in over 30 years in the US, we really don’t know how it works there but doubt it takes that long since really it’s all body work.
We had an accident (no other parties involved) and we were fine - that’s the most important thing. The accident occurred on a dark road turning a curve where there was a cow - my husband swerved to miss it and we ended up in a deep ditch - even the airbags didn’t deploy so speed was not the issue. However, the truck had to be towed due to flat tires and ? Not sure what else.
We kept hearing two more weeks. Well after a $1200 deductible, an insurance company that “generously” paid for a two week rental, we are out quite a bit of money but are close to buying a used second vehicle which in retrospect, if we would have known, we would have done 2 mos. ago.
That’s one of the gotchas after 6 1/2 yrs. that I wouldn’t have thought about. Bottom line - we will never carry collision insurance again (thanks Judy). We have a trusted mechanic that could have fixed it for less than we have already paid!
Thank you Ellen.
Hey gang . . . transmission repair can be a problem in our area, but thanks to Panama Transmissions, and the owner Guillermo Valencia, you have a solution. We have a Nissan Xterra that historically had a bad tranny. Ran it down to Guillermo in David on the highway, (across from that big auto center) and he had it done in four working days at an extremely reasonable price too! Four year or four thousand mile warranty. In the States you get three years! Guillermo speaks great English and does what he says! Nice man to do business with!
The best automatics I have driven here are the German made triptronics, great transmissions for the steep and windy roads here. They 5-6 speed with ability to shift manually. They put them in the VW's, Audi's and Porsches. VW & Audi have a dealer in David.
And thank you Steve.
We bought a used 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe over eight years ago, and its automatic transmission has never given us any problem at all.
OK. Thanks again all. Any opinions on the maintainability of US as apposed to other SUVs in Panama? Sound like I'll have my auto-trany, but is it a Subaru or a GMC?
Toyota, Honda, Nissan are the preferred brands for reliability, availability of parts and service, and resale,
After Toyota, Hyundai is the second most popular car sold in Panama, followed by Kia, Nissan, and Suzuki.
https://elcapitalfinanciero.com/top-5-de-marcas-lideres-en-venta-de...