joninoxford

Well, its now less than 10 days till I leave for Melbourne with my Aussie girl on my de facto visa, it is really surreal. My parents have gone off on a P&O cruise around the world, so there will be no more goodbyes either which is actually quite a relief - I hate long goodbyes! My boxes are all backed and they are being picked up next Wednesday and taken to the shipping port. I am busy contacting everyone I met whilst out on a Working Holiday in OZ in 1999-2000 and seeing if anybody is still in Melbourne and up for a few beers on arrival!

Anyway, I have been looking on the excellent exchange and mart type website:
www.tradingpost.com.au
at furniture, jobs, things to kit out a house and cars.

I have a very meagre budget for a car, but my choice of career (Environmental Scientist) more or less means you have to have one as you are travelling around various sites out in the middle of nowhere, and it is one more string to your bow at a job interview I feel. I have about $3000 and was looking at old Alfa Romeos believe it or not. But there is method in my madness - I have had lots of old Alfas over here in the UK and know them inside and out and so can fix the smaller things myself. They also have bags of character that Fords and Holdens lack. Lots of cheaper cars have no RWC (some say "very close to Roadworthy" etc), and these seem the best bargains ($800 sometimes). Is it very unwise to by a car without a Roadworthy Certificate? Is it legal? I would not by anything with lots of rust, and would get underneath checked before I parted with my cash. How much is the RWC test in Victoria, and is it as strict as the English MOT? I have been to the Victoria Roads website, and there is so much info there I can't see what I am looking for. Cheers

hevs

Apparently you need a permit to go get it checked and a permit if you need to move the car to get the repairs done (they like their permits here)
You can still get bargins in road worthy condition, which is obviously the best way forward, especially to get insurance

Where in Melb are you headed? I was born in Oxford!

Lots of luck with the next few weeks

hevs

PS. Congrats on finding the trading post, bit of an event in any Melb house on a thursday morning! BARGIN!

Stormz

I think the car testing in Aus is tougher than the MOT here.... because they really go to town on your car (you`ll think they`re trying to break it.... which I suppose they are), because Oz doesn`t have a yearly car check like in the UK. The police will just stop you and if they think your car looks dodgy they`ll slap a yellow (you can drive it for a couple of weeks) or a red (can`t drive it at all until it`s passed the test) sticker on the windscreen.

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Certainly VIC and NSW (which appear to be the strictest 'driving' states have an annual RWC. Not to be confused with rego which is another matter entirely. In NSW, I know you canot sell a car without a RWC. If you buy a used motor from a dealer he will show you the pink slip (RWC).

WA doesn't have a RWC - not sure about QLD, SA or NT. Heck, even NT doesn't have speed limits. Wish I'd known..

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HiddenPaw

Vic doesn't have an annual roadworthy inspection
You only need a Certificate of roadworthiness when buying or re-registering a vehicle, or if it's been slapped with an unroadworthy notice
But if you keep the car longer than a year, you won't need an annual inspection