Hi folks,

Seems to be a lot of posts etc about where to get the best deals on buying cars so I thought it might be quite helpful to have a thread on this for some newbies. Hope this can help those when they first arrive.

Cheers for your help..Ginny

What car did you buy and where did you go?

Ours was a mitsubishi pajero (rather old for $10K) bought in Birkdale, Brisbane.

Good idea Ginny.

We have bought two cars since being here.

The first was my OH's car, it's a 1998 Ford Falcoln and cost us $10k. We got that on Main North Road in Adelaide (hundreds of car dealers on that road)

My car, a 1992 Holden Barina we bought for $4k from Adelaide Small Cars on North East Road (Also quite a few car dealers on there).

How old exactly is the pajero?
I was under the impression second-hand cars go for only a few K.

Second hand cars hold their value pretty well. Take mine for instance, a brand new Barina cost around $13k to $15 on the road. Mine is 15 years old and was $4k (and I got it $1k cheaper than they normally sell for at that age!). So it's lost only 2/3rds of it's value over all that time.

It's also in great condition - there was no work to be done on it at all when I bought it.

And it even had an engine under the bonnet

Here's the "bible" of book prices.....
http://www.redbookasiapacific.com/au/home.php

Red book is used by all the dealers.

I know this isn't relevant, but I can't help but grin when I see a Pajero. I speak Spanish... and it's a rude word in Spanish. Try Googling for "Pajero in Spanish".

Is there any particular reason why second-hand vehicles hold their value better in Oz than in the UK? Is there less pressure for people to own the latest model?

She certainly does She's my baby and hopefully I'll get my P plates and be able to drive her soon

Why wait ?
You haven't settled fully yet have you ?

Hi, ours is C reg (1993). Has over 300K on the clock! Still going although not as strong.

Cheers

Ginny

Answers to these questions would be helpful:-

What's a Rego? How do you get one? Why do I want one? How much does it cost?

Cheers,

Matt

Got my test on Sunday

I'd never drive it on my own without the proper licence - even though I was brought up on a really crappy UK estate

Thanks so far......keep em coming

Cheers

Ginny

We bought a 1991 Toyota Camry for £2K, spotted it on the autotrader website. We've only had it for a couple of months but it's been great so far (apart from the aircon, which needs regassing)

Rego - Rego is Oz equiv. of UK tax disc (price dependant on weight of car and whether private/business - see here for NSW http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/registrati...ees/index.html)

Pink Slip - cars over certain age need a pink slip. Equiv of UK MOT but only checks things like brakes, lights, indicators and wipers - AUD 30

Stamp Duty - when you register the car you need to pay stamp duty approx. 3% of the value of the car - only pay this once

Green slip - compulsory third party insurance and needs to be in place before getting rego (for us AUD 260)

Ours is a 2000 Holden Commodore, cost $13,500 (78K on the clock)

Ann