Osaro Didn’t Remove the Nylon on a Used Car He Bought…

To clarify, I’ve never understood why old, used cars displayed for sale have nylon wrapped around the seats, tranny lever, and steering wheel.

Thus, whenever I buy a used vehicle at the used car lot, the first thing I do is remove the annoying nylon and leave it behind at the stand. Osaro, however, thinks otherwise, he keeps the nylon for months on his vehicle, allowing it to eventually wear off on its own (which can take as long as 12 months or more). Any attempt to remove the nylon before it ‘packs’ out on its own is met with stiff resistance.

It is what it is.

Tired of attempting to convince him how childish this act is, I’ve decided, today, to vent my frustrations here. I hope that he’ll somehow read this entry (yes, I’ll send him the link once I publish) and have a rethink, anytime he considers not removing the nylon of a used car that comes his way…any used car.

Since he’s not alone in this practice, I also hope others who read this will become the better and wiser, after.

First things first: where does the concept of nylon on old vehicles come from in the first place?

Why Do Local Auto Dealers Wrap Nylon Around Used Cars?

Before completely blaming Osaro, I’ll be fair with him: he doesn’t go out of his way to wrap the used cars he buys with nylon all around. Instead, the nylon already adorns the seats, tranny lever etc. when he decides on a used vehicle to buy so he doesn’t exactly take all the blame.

The used car dealers are the folks who go to extreme ends to ‘decorate’ their used vehicles on the lots in nylons. Clearly strange, the important question is ‘why’?

Here are three attempts at explanation: responsible jointly or severally.

1. To Maintain the Interior Integrity and Keep Dust Off

Used cars, like everything else that needs to be sold, often need to be presented in the best possible light. This is why, used vehicles are thoroughly washed and prepped before hitting the car lot.

Unfortunately, unlike new vehicles, used vehicles need to be test driven, for prospective buyers to make up their minds on them. This process means, getting in, driving, and generally, spending time in/or around the car.

This type of interaction is likely to bring forth unwanted dirt and stains into an already-cleaned interior, awaiting a new owner.

To avoid this manner of challenge, nylon comes to the rescue – and the integrity of the vehicle’s interior is preserved, for the final buyer who no doubt, is impressed.

Minus folks who need to come into the vehicle for the purpose of testing it, there’s also the issue of dust – especially when such used cars are sold in the tropics where a cleaned interior can be ruined in a matter of hours, even without any human or physical intervention.

2. To Sneakly Hide Imperfections and Tears

Now, used cars on the sales lot aren’t always perfectly tied up in nylon for the best reasons (dirt and dust) as explained above. Sometimes, the reason(s) are hideous and plain sneaky – such as to hide tears and imperfections in the leather or general upholstery work.

A torn seat (or leather upholstery with a tear) is simply wrapped up in nylon, covering the challenge the vehicle’s interior has (when a prospective buyer comes around for inspection).

The twist in this story is that, even when the vehicle is inspected, bought, and taken home, the final purchaser is highly unlikely to see the challenge in the upholstery (or leather work) as they are likely to have the nylon on the seats, indefinitely.

Now, when the nylon wears off and the rip(s)/tear(s) become manifest, it appears to be an issue that developed subsequently, and not one that was there, ab initio.

Sneaky, hideous way of doing business!

3. To Create a False Sense of Superiority

The third reason why used car dealers cover old vehicles with nylon all over is to create a sense of superiority. Though clearly false, this is perhaps the biggest reason why the nylons are even there in the first place.

You see, in developing countries, vehicles aren’t simply classed as ‘new’ or ‘used’. Instead, there’s ‘new’, then, ‘foreign used’, and finally, ‘locally used’.

New cars are what they are: brand new unused specimens. Foreign-used vehicles are vehicles used in the developed world and shipped to the developing world for whatever reason. Locally used vehicles are as implied by the name.

This is how it all pans out: many folks in the developing world, for lack of cash and limited access to credit, can’t afford brand-new cars.

The next best thing most of these folks can afford is a foreign-used vehicle, which sits up the ladder closer to its elder ‘new’ sibling than to its younger, ‘locally-used’ relative.

With access to OEM parts, good aftermarket, better roads, and generally, more able hands, the foreign used vehicles arrive at their destinations looking very similar to the brand-new options.

The above reality has made both car dealers and prospective buyers of foreign used vehicles class them, both physically and mentally as ‘new’. Covering the interior of the vehicle with nylon (and sometimes, the exterior with stickers) reinforces this notion and caters to this deeply seated (false) sense of superiority.

The Thinking of Most Used Car Buyers…

The challenge, however, isn’t only the used car dealer’s; the used car buyers share a chunk of the blame and are a potent reason why nylons end up on the interior of 20-year-old used vehicles.

There’s a silent battle of superiority and a sense of ‘achievement’ when one buys a car, especially in environments where poverty is rife. The applause is biggest when the vehicle is a brand new one; the foreign used ones takes the second loudest ovation and the locally used options take the least (with many generally agreeing that one may likely have bought another person’s ‘problems’).

Unfortunately, it isn’t always easy to differentiate a locally used vehicle from a foreign-used one. For instance, I recently sold my 2006 Lexus ES330, and it was in better condition than 99% of the foreign-used options since I maintained it directly and made sure it took only the best it needed.

However, it retailed for less than a similar foreign used unit – and didn’t clearly have ‘the nylon appeal’.

With the nylon (and funny stickers) in place, the foreign-used copies are differentiated from the locally used examples on the stands. And, all thanks to (still) the nylon and external stickers, these copies are easy for friends and neighbors to understand that what X bought was a foreign used (‘new’) vehicle and not a locally used option!

We, generally, are the problem to ourselves!

The Challenge Goes Beyond Used Cars…

If you’re now nodding your head and thinking you understand, hold on, it gets more interesting and I can assure you that comprehension will likely leave the conversation very soon.

I was once driving around the locale where I lived, about seven years ago and found that there was a mounted (and functional) power transformer, all wrapped with nylon and huming softly, indicating it was connected and working!

I was shocked; paused and took a photo (I doubt if you would have believed me, today, otherwise).

Now, if you think the ‘nylon madness’, as displayed with the power transformer above was a once off, isolated event, hold your beer tight.

About a year after I came across the first instance shared above, I also came across another nylon wrapped power transformer, humming, working and doing its thing while all the time, being tightly wrapped in nylon for whatever reason!

Here again, if there was no photo, I doubt if you would have believed me!

Besides the two incidences of functional, working power transformers wrapped in nylon above (and caught on camera), I’ve come across many other incidences of tightly wrapped power transformers (in nylons) which time and situation didn’t permit me to take a photo.

It appears, truly, to be a nylon inspired world!

Nylon on a Used Car: The Milk Maids and the Vehicle Buyers Are the Same…

Growing up, the normadic milk maids common in West Africa supplied us with fresh milk – which was then, one of the best treats we all looked forward to.

However, there was something unique about these light skinned, slim, graceful milkmaids: they never considered removing the labels off articles of clothing that they bought, especially wrappers.

It was bizarre – but we excused them and life went on.

As an adult today, my friend Osaro (and all folks who buy, not a new vehicle but an old one and insist on driving around town with stickers and nylon all over it) remind me of the normadic milk maids that used their wrappers (and other clothing articles) with the labels still on it (in the 70s and 80s).

If you look carefully too, you’ll also see that there’s no difference between these persons and acts – even though the milk maids were largely illiterate and the modern ‘nylon folks’ largely college ‘certified’.

It’s even more strange when it’s factored that new cars aren’t wrapped up in such a manner and even for the selective wrapping, new car owners generally remove them, once they take delivery.

Grand irony.

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