A floor, a workshop and a bucket of fresh water
Twelve years of selling machines in a place that is very hard on machines, which shapes everything about how we do it.
Why the salt decides how we sell
Thila Motors started in 2014 with eleven bikes and a workshop borrowed from a friend. What we sell has changed, and the thing that shapes the business has not moved at all: everything on this island lives within a few hundred metres of the sea, and salt air is the reason a machine here dies at six years old while the same machine somewhere inland is still working at fifteen.
That single fact runs through the whole shop. It is why we inspect a used bike from underneath rather than looking at the paint, because paint is the last thing salt ruins and the wiring, the bearings, the chain and the brake discs are the first. It is why we sell a chain and a can of spray to almost everybody and explain the weekly rinse, which takes four minutes and roughly doubles how long a bike stays pleasant to ride. It is why we keep parts on the shelf for what we sell instead of ordering them when somebody arrives with a problem, since a bike waiting five weeks for a bearing is somebody walking to work in the rain.
The second thing that shapes us is the price. A vehicle costs what it costs here because of duty, clearing, transport and the paperwork, and a customer looking at a foreign listing on their telephone can be forgiven for thinking a Malé showroom is helping itself. What we decided early was to put one number on the board with all of that inside it and never produce a second number at the counter. We lose a few sales to a shop quoting a lower figure and finding the rest later. We are content with that trade.
The third is the honest conversation about whether you need a car at all. This island is about two square kilometres. For most families a 125cc automatic does everything a car does, costs a fifth as much to buy and a tenth as much to keep, and does not need somewhere to be parked. We say so even when there is a car on the floor, because the alternative is selling somebody a monthly problem.
There are five of us: three on the floor and two in the workshop, and the two in the workshop are the ones who decide whether a used machine gets a ticket.
The people on the floor
Mohamed Nihad
Opened the floor in 2014 with eleven bikes. Writes the instalment breakdowns himself and is the reason there is no calculator on this websit...
Ali Shifaz
On the floor most evenings. He will ask whether you can put both feet down before he tells you anything about the engine.
Ibrahim Zahir
Decides whether a used machine gets a ticket. Looks at wiring, bearings and exhaust bolts long before he looks at the paint.
Aminath Rishma
Handles the registration and transfer work and checks every frame number against every book. Two minutes that has saved a dozen sales from g...
What a machine costs after you buy it
What does a bike cost to run in Malé?
Less than most people guess. On ordinary daily use in Malé and Hulhumalé, expect roughly 150 to 250 rufiyaa a week in petrol, a service every four months from 450 rufiyaa, a chain and sprocket set every eighteen months or so, and a rear tyre about as often.
On top of that there is the annual cost of keeping a vehicle registered and roadworthy, which depends on the machine rather than being one figure we can print, so ask us about the one you are looking at. Insurance you arrange yourself, and we take nothing from any insurer. Put all of that in your monthly figure before you decide what you can afford, not after.
How often does a machine need servicing with the salt?
Every three thousand kilometres or every four months, whichever comes first, and the months matter as much as the kilometres because a machine standing still in this air is still corroding.
The free half of the answer is the weekly rinse. Fresh water over the whole machine including underneath and the chain, dried, then spray the chain. Four minutes, once a week, and it roughly doubles how long a bike stays pleasant to own. Check the brake caliper bolts and the exhaust mountings twice a year, because that is where corrosion stops being cosmetic. We will show anybody this at the counter whether they bought the machine here or not.
Come and sit on a few of them
Boduthakurufaanu Magu, showroom 3. Mornings are quietest and that is when you can actually take one out.