Daz,Tam & Jake

Hello All

Just a bit of advice on car's if you all dont mind.

We are looking to move to Perth in September, is it safer to buy a car from dealer rather than private?

What would be good manufactures, ease of parts servicing etc?

Rego- I believe this is bought as either a 6 month or 12 month licence, is this correct? How do you renew it?

Insurance - If you wanted fully comp, does this cost the earth? Our first car will probably be around the size of a Ford Focus/Toyota Corrola.

Also are there any dealers that you would recommend?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks Daz

Amazulu

If it is a cheap car then private is ok, if spending a lot then dealer is the way to go.
Jap models are the most reliable: Toyota, Mazda, Nissan are all good. Avoid the yank models like Holden & Ford.
Rego is 6 or 12 months. Pay it at licencing services in West Perth or other offices or by post.
Fully comp is good value, probably 30-40% less then UK. They will honour your UK no claims bonus.
John Hughes is Victoria Park seems to have a good rep. Morley City Nissan were good too. I think most of the main dealers would be ok. Remember to bargain hard, they are flexible. Push them.

Tumbleweed

You can pay the RAC to do a check over of a vehicle which Id recommend if you want to buy private.

h2oskineil

Hi there

Just be careful about the make and model you buy, as already said the Jap models are reliable and easy to get spares. I work for the RAC and so know how hard it is to get spares at times, often we have to order the spares from the East (Sydney) or and you wont belive this.... we had to once get an exhaust from Singapore as this was the quickest!

Always knock them down on price, we got them down $3000 with no problem on the dealer and $1000 from the private sale.

There are some good web sites to research prices.
http://www.carsales.com.au/
http://www.autotrader.com.au/
http://www.drive.com.au/

One of the big dealers in Perth is John Huges. There prices are good and cheaper than a lot of dealers, but won't come down in price if you try and haggle.
www.johnhughes.com.au/

We bought one car through a private sale and one car through a dealer, here's the link to the Mazda dealership we used.
http://www.melvillemazda.com.au/

As well as Rego you will have to pay GST on the purchase price. There is no way out of it, when you but the car and register it in your name, you get a tax bill, about $450 on a $16,000 car, it's on a sliding scale so the higher the purchase price the more tax you pay!

If you buy private and not sure what your looking for, recommend the RAC to check it for you.
Also a good tip..... make a note of the VIN number (also called the chassis number) write it down and ring the dealer and ask if the vehicle has had any warrenty work done, they should tell you with any hassle, then you'll get an idea of the vehicles history. Look for a FULL service history.

Be prepared to spend more on a 2nd hand car than you would in the UK, they are much dearer (in my opinion) and the cheaper ones will have high mileage.
Many of the models will have big engines, Holden Commodore for example V6 engine 3.6 litre, Ford Falcon, straight 6 cylider engine, 4 litres. Ask your self, would you buy a 4 litre car in the UK?

Hope this help.
Good luck

Neil.

Daz,Tam & Jake

Cheers Neil, there are some great tips there, you are right about buying a 4 litre car in the Uk, I wont be bothering with one over there either

Thanks everybody for there advice, its been a great help.

Take care, Daz