Vash the Stampede

Hiring would be cheaper in the long run, and you'd get a reliable car with breakdown service. I'd go for that.

I did the trip in a 1994 Mazda 323F and it coped very well until the last stage of the last trip, when the gearbox chucked a wobbly and I lost 5th gear. Still had quite a few hundred kms to go, and it's no fun when your top gear is 4th!

chris and farideh

I moved from Qld to NSW recently and I wished I did what Vash has already suggested to you, to let the rego runs & a day after or a day before go & get your new rego done.
in Qld I paid around to $370 for 6 months. ( I'm still waiting for Qld in refund me on my rego which was used fully).

But when you move State you cant buy rego for 6 months it has to be for 12 months, around $500 I paid but before I can get the rego done, the car had to be fully serviced in NSW at $700, change of number plate I think it was close to $500.


( note different States has different prices for rego by the way, this is just to give you an idea.)

Petrol can be more expensive in more remote parts of Australia than cities, something to budgeted for.

Dont forget to get to a town before 5pm to get place to sleep as night time is pitch black & its very hard to drive, most small places have just small inns or something with not that many rooms so first one in basis.

we drove from Adelaide to GC & I thought that was boring, & we got done for speeding in middle of nowhere so do watchout for that too.

All I can say good luck.

Vash the Stampede

Great advice. I slept in the back seat of my car, but that was years ago when I was young and flexible. .

Driving at night is difficult, not just because it is very dark but also because it's when you're most likely to hit an animal, since most of them are nocturnal.

Oh yes, and... mobile phones. You won't get anything between towns on the Nullarbor.

This is Telstra's coverage map:

toodlepip

Little different but we drove from Melbourne to Perth this July before coming to the UK in our 10 year old Mazda Tribute that was worth a lot less than 10k - it had 305000km on the clock!- you can buy same car in Perth for about 6-7k. It was an absolute dream to drive that distance in it - no problems whatsoever, those cars are made for distance driving. Interestingly I couldn't drive it to work for 30 mins in our last few weeks in Melbourne without the oil light coming on (garage couldn't find leak) yet it didn't come on at all during the trip to Perth!

We practically gave ours away to an auction place in Perth to sell - might be a good place to buy a car from? Can't remember the name of it but can ask the OH if you're interested.

I was dreading the whole trip as so many people told us we were mad to do it with our 2 children (aged 8 & 10) but it really was one of the easiest things we've done. We bought an iPad for the kids & downloaded movies for them to watch and had CDs for us. Easy

Sammi T

Thanks for the info, we might very well decide to do that, sounds like it might be less stressful too, thanks again.

Sammi T

Sounds like you had a great time, thank you for the info, so much to think about. We are not afraid to take a chance with cars etc it pretty much comes down to costs.

Sammi T

Cheers for that, some things to take on board and factor in, thanks.

itigo

Just another thing that occurred to me - end of January/beginning of February is going to be scorching so you'll want reliable aircon and slip slap slop!

Oooh, and if you're thinking of hiring, try these guys.........
standbyrelocs.com A friend of a friend has used them. I think there are probably a few companies out there...........found one that may be suitable for you guys even if it is for now!

From Drop Off Location Earliest Pick Up Date Latest Drop Off Date
Perth Adelaide City NOW 5 Oct

Vehicle Type Days Allowed Cost Inclusions
2B ST 6 days $1/day $150 fuel, 3200km allowance

If you don't mind having the restrictions it's a cheaper way of doing it.......

billymacker

the cheapest way is buy a car with adelaide reg in perth nobody wants them, then register it in your name when you get to adelaide. i bought a car registered in west australia when i was in sydney then traveled up to townsville across to darwin then down to perth. sold car 4 months later for $1500 more than i paid for it.

or as itigo said try, http://www.standbyrelocs.com/

HelenTD

I have visions of Sammi T and OH madly running after cars or stalking at shopping centres, trying to make offers to drivers with SA numberplates.

Darren-Debbie

Just a Thought, have you thought about driving a campervan/motorhome from Perth to Addie. The larger companies such as Apollo or Britz will actually pay you or your fuel or both to drive the campers back from one depot to another depot.

Sammi T

Your comment did make us laugh, prob true though x

Sammi T

Hi there,

Yes we had thought about it, but didn't know they might pay you to do the drop off, will definitely look into that one, thanks for the info x

Darren-Debbie

try here

http://www.apollocamper.com/reloc.aspx

http://www.drivenow.com.au/onewayrentals.jspc

http://www.britz.com.au/relocatevehicles

Sammi T

Thank you