scottt1

Where is the best place to look at second hand cars? Is there an equivalent to our Arnold Clark in Christchurch? I'd be coming over in may it would just give me a look at some websites?

cheers!

chc4me

Trademe is the New Zealand equivalent to Ebay and is a good place to get a feel for prices. In terms of car dealers, Paul Kelly seems to have a good reputation, Turners Auctions is popular, and Value Cars Warehouse are frequent advertisers. There are a huge number of car dealers in Christchurch, along with the Manufacturer dealerships (Toyota,Ford, Holden, Mitsubishi, Mazda etc etc). Hope that helps.

scottt1

thats brilliant i'll have a look into these, thanks very much!

snaps

Stick to Japanese or Korean and you will not normally have problems.

bellebellec1

Agree with comments above, however we bought 2 x cars from hire car companies (they often sell off second hand cars) I highly recommend this tactic as we ended up with 2 brilliant cars, never had any issues, had full service history etc. Only draw back is you dont have the finance options. Having said that we got amazing deals on cars that were double the price on second hand forecourts.

We have bought from USAVE and another one nearby on Roydvale road.

We also bought a newer second hand car from Indy Cars on Moorhouse, they can be a little pricey but the aftercare was very good.

scottt1

if you don't mind me asking what cars you got from the hire companies and roughly what you paid? not wanting to go get a 20 year old car for $1500 an have problems every week and i end up costing me more in the long run!

thanks, i'll get on to looking at USAVE, cheers!

bellebellec1

Well ok, prepare yourself for the cost of cars here!!! They are daylight robbery.

We bought a 14 year old Toyota Estima for $4500, that is an amazing car! we still have it, perfect for when people visit and we drove all around south island it in (would never have bought that in a million years in UK!!!). Its still going strong and our local garage said we got absolute bargain (that was car hire company next door to USAVE, cant remember the name). Same car on secondhand dealer forecourt, same age, kms etc was between 8-10k.

and also small run around honda logo (that was 10 years old I think) for $3000 (that was manual, they dont like manuals here so cheap) also USAVE.

In the UK we both had brand new cars, when we came here we went looking for similar cars which were more than double the price we paid in UK. If I had my time again I would have imported at least one of our cars.

We also bought a Subaru Outback, which was 7 years old and fairly low kms. That was $15k and in my opinion, whilst a great car that was a stupid price for it.

Good luck, there are hundreds of dealers. If you want something less than 10 years old be prepared to pay over $15k ish.

PS re car hire companies selling off stock, they often advertise on trade me.

Mark Smith

Has this place been mentioned yet? Quality Japanese Used Cars for Sale | 2 Cheap Cars | Christchurch | New Zealand NZ

scottt1

thats not half a reality check!! i sure wasn't expecting those prices for age of cars! are there a lot of older cars in NZ still going strong? not going to say in the UK everyone drives brand new cars but theres more people with newer cars, like you said yourself! they do sound really expensive, but whats the cost like of insurance roughly? i'll have a look into the ex hire cars, sounds like a good route to go down, thanks!

im preparing myself for an easy 15-20 year old car haha

do you need to get an equivalent of an MOT every 6 months when your car is older than 6 years? and if so rough price please?

moving2NZ2013

I'd go down south timaru way cars are a lot cheaper

moving2NZ2013

We paid $50 for mot that's every 6 months. They aren't nearly as strict.
Our car would have failed in the uk but passed here.
We have a ford estate 1997 and insurance isn't compulsory but we pay $90 a year!

cappuccino

Just don't go to VTNZ for your WOF (warrant of fitness = MOT) cos they are very strict and fail a lot of vehicles!

scottt1

thanks very much, sounds quite reasonable!