Hi all and thanks for your suggestions for our road trip, we drove our motorhome all the way from Sydney to Cape Trib then back down a bit inland, we went to most of your suggestions but 2 months just wasn't enough time to see everything!!!!

Back to reality now, we are heading back to Canberra(where we have state sponsorship)to settle down before planning our next road trip from Exmouth to Perth.

Firstly can anyone recommend a reputable letting agent/website for homes in Canberra and secondly, despite the fact that we have been driving for the last 2 months, we have no idea how the car situation works in Australia. We've checked online and there seems to be a registration fee linked to the value of the car but no road tax as in the UK. If anyone can throw us a few snippets of advice RE motoring it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanking you in advance.....

When you get your car you will need rego and a green slip (3rd party insurance), which are compulsory. Any insurance after that is up to you. There is no raod tax, but the rego is more than expensive enough as it is. Both rego and green slip need renewal each year, and can be up to $1000!!!

Thamks Caroline, how is rego calculated?Green slip sounds just like UK car insurance so that seems very similar and is there an annual vehicle inspection?

After 5 years from new you need a pink slip- it is a lot cheaper than the MOT, I think mine cost about $34.

Not sure how rego is calculated, but think it is to do with the type and price of the car when new.

For rental properties try http://www.realestate.com.au/rent and Canberra Properties for Rent | allhomes.

Before I can help you with your car question, you'll first need to explain what is your current situation car-wise and what you want to do. Do you already have one in Australia?

No, we sold our cars in the UK, emigrated and rented a motorhome for 2 months whilst our belongings caught up, this will be our first car hence the, seemingly obvious, questions!!First car, UK no claims bonus, paying cash/debit from savings acc.

Ah, okay. It was confusing because you referred to "our motorhome".

If you are coming to Canberra, I suggest you buy one in Canberra - that'll save you the hassle of bringing it inter-state and having to roadworthy test, pay interstate import duties and re-register it in the ACT. What worked well for us was we hired a one way rental car for a week in Sydney for drop off in Canberra and spent the week getting ourselves set up here. Good places to look for cars can be found in Belconnen, Fyshwick and Phillip. There could be other areas but those are the more concentrated areas. Which reminds me, along with a printer (which I mentioned in an earlier post) one of the first things we bought was a Sat Nav. Harvey Norman usually has good deals on them. It's since paid for itself many times over!

The good thing about buying a car in a used car sales outlet is they'll get all the paperwork in order and will give you a couple of months guarantee on it. We got our car at Cheaper Cars in Belconnen and got a pretty good deal there but watch out for deceptively calm Angry Angus!

Rego? Don't worry about all the pink, green, and white slips, etc. The car sales outlet that you buy if from must sort all that when they transfer the car into your name. A good thing to bear in mind with cars in the ACT is you don't have to have an annual roadworthy/MOT check. The only checks are done at change of ownership (done by the car sales outlet, as mentioned above). Annually or six monthly (your choice), you need to renew the rego - which effectively is a combo of road tax and third party personal injury insurance. If you want to insure your car (which I recommend you at least get third party car insurance) you'll need to do that separately - I do that through comparison websites. The rego rates can be found here: http://www.rego.act.gov.au/assets/PD...0no%20ITCE.pdf. Note how they are all in the $800 to $1000 per year range so not much point in worrying about it really. Just choose the car that you like

Happy to help if you have any more questions

thanks for all that, we already got a sat nav,first thing we bought too!!!

So does CTPI mean that whether you are 17 and just passed your test or 40 with 10 years no claims bonus it costs the same to insure a car third party only? Also is top up insurance cheaper as TPO is already covered and is my no claims bonus now irrelevant or is it applied to the top up section? Excuse my ignorance in this but its a bit confusing and I'm amazed there's extra bureaucracy for buying a car in NSW and living in ACT. Government Departments are all just as bad globally I suppose

Thanks again for the save(we were going to buy a car in Sydney tomorrow!!!)

I had a feeling that you might already have a satnav. For my wife and I it was a choice between one of those or a marriage guidance counselor.

Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance is personal injury insurance that is mandatory for every motor vehicle registered in Australia. CTP insurance indemnifies vehicle owners and drivers who are legally liable for personal injury caused to any other party in the event of a motor vehicle accident. It doesn't cover the motor vehicle in any way (you need to get separate motor insurance for that). You are not compelled to take motor insurance but if you are involved in an accident and it's your fault you'll be expected to pay for the other car owners' repairs if you don't have motor insurance. So to recap: CTPI is compulsory personal injury liability insurance. You must get it together with your rego (road tax) - they come bundled together. Motor insurance is is the same as we understand it in the UK, the only difference being it's not legally compulsory to have - though it's very high risk not to. Expect to pay around $350 per year for motor insurance.

There is a thread here about UK no claims bonus.

I usually get my motor insurance here.

The amount of bureaucracy in Australia will astound you. Every state has it's own sets of laws - including vehicle licencing laws.

Good luck with your car search.

Your help has been awesome, thankyou so much, let us know if you're a member of an RSL...we owe you a beer!!!!!!

I'm glad to be a help.

Oops, just noticed I didn't answer your question about whether age and no claims, etc make any difference with the CTP insurance premiums. The answer is no, one size fits all personal circumstances.

Please let us know what car you buy.

My personal choice would be a Chrysler 300 but theres only 1 we can find for sale in ACT and its overpriced so we'll probably end up with a Camry like everyone else!!! We'll let you know....

Or a Ford Falcon!

Good luck!

I like that car too

The 3.0l diesel is great

In the end we bought a white Corrolla direct from the Toyota garage in Bellcollen.Not my ideal car but it'll do 'til we find our feet!!!!

The main problem we're having now is finding a house to rent, the real estate agents are so unmotivated its unbelievable!!!We're willing to pay 3 or 6 months rent upfront plus a bond and they just don't care!!!!