katiesel

Hi All
We would very much appreciate any thoughts/ experiences on buying, firstly a car (dealer or private etc...) and secondly, who is doing the best car insurance at present. We moved out a week ago and my head is spinning with stuff to do - TFN, medicare, work, dentists,insurances, car, house, cant wait to get it all sorted and get to the beach! But now this forum is really being so much help, I can find most of what i need in the advanced searches.
Thanks
Katie

NewJerseyToOz

Check out CHOICE's car insurance report (subscription needed):
http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle...nsurance+guide

They have a good side-by-side comparison tool in the report. Incidentally, we've been CHOICE members since we got here and have found the reports and advice to be well worth the annual sub. They also have a shopping service that is useful for getting baseline prices when shopping for appliances (don't know if the service extends to cars).

Note that insurance companies differ greatly in their rates from area to area so it helps to shop around (online or via phone) in order to get the best deal. Also, you can get package discounts if you bundle car/health/home/contents iinsurance with one company.

You can research your vehicle on the NRMA's website (www.nrma.com.au) - I'm in Sydney so I'm guessing that your local auto club will have a similar service. As for buying a car, I bought a dealer used car (4 year old) and had an extended warranty thrown into the deal. I wouldn't advise buying from the private market (unless you know cars well) since there have been a couple of reports over the past year about a high proportion of used cars being privately sold with faults of varying severity.

Hope this helps,
NJ2OZ

iPom

Hi Katie -

There's a thread... let me see if I can locate it...

Here you go:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...t=373976&pp=15

HTH
x

PS - Hope that you take a little time out for yourselves too in the madness of the first few weeks.

noonard

For insurance I did exactly the same as I used to in the UK - spent a while getting a whole load of quotes! In the end I usewd a company called Budget Direct (or Insurer's Hotline - they seem to have 2 names for some odd reason) who were very competitive but did make us take our car to the local garage for a 30 second "inspection" to make sure we hadn't already crashed it! That seemed really odd to me but wasn't really a hassle, the place was just down the road and it took no time at all.

Buying cars (second hand anyway) is another issue. Ultimately it's same game as in the UK, but there are subtle differences. For a start you have to pay stamp duty (tax) on any car you buy, including used ones (in WA anyway). Depreciation is lower than in the UK so used cars cost more here too. Private sellers (in my experience) are less honest about describing their vehicles in small ads. Because Aussies are petrified by paying 50p/litre of petrol, there is a premium on small cars at the moment, and as a result, bigger cars are cheaper.

In Western Australia (not so in other states) there is no thing like a regular MOT test, so if you buy a currently unlicensed (think tax disc) car you have to get it government tested before you can license it again - so best to avoid unlicensed older cars.

I actually went through all this myself just a couple of weeks ago and wrote an article about it on my blog which might help you: http://www.edinoz.com/2006/10/13/buy...-in-australia/

Anyway, good luck!

Cheers,
Ed

neil.b

We went with credit union Australia. You have to buy a share in them at $10 to get an account and then take out the insurance. It all took around 40 minutes and we shaved nearly $300 off our insurance for 2 vehicles.

Neil.

katiesel

Thanks. it seems AAMI and Vero are very popular, so i will definately get a quote from them, bur firstly we have to buy a car - what a mine field, off we go again, second day down at the magic mile, being kaboozled by car dealers!
Best wishes Kate

iPom

AAMI was much more expensive than Budget Direct. I didn't find anyone to beat them. Excellent service too - must be all the sun they get up there as they're always so happy on the phone.