MagpieAndPoppy

Can anyone help with advice on buying a car.

Where is the best places to buy a quality used car in Wellington?

And what are the basics, tax, insurance etc, is it the same as the UK?

Thanks, any help would be much appreciated.

Browner_

Insurance much the same , but its no compulsory so few of the local hoons have it.

Tax is much the same, have to have a current Warrant of Fitness to get it.
Can be bought on line.

Warrant of fitnesses have to be undertaken every 6 months, consists of a mechanic having a look at your car from the other side of the garage and charging you $45.

Browner_

www.trademe.co.nz is the place to look for cars as loads of companies advertise on there, but there are the usual risks with buying second hand cars as with anywhere else.

Genesis

Browner has said it all. Whilst you do not have to have ins here you are a mug if you don't. Its cheap here and the AA do good quotes. I would go for trademe like Browner said. If you buy private go for a car someone has owned for a few years.

Next thing, unless you are willing to spend big on repairs avoid a european car. If you want a nice liitle run around Toyota Corrola or a Nissan March (a Micra in the UK) are great little cars. If you need a people carrier the Honda Odyssey is awesome. If you go for the latter get the V6 rather than the 4 cyl 2,400 cc. I have a V6 Odyssey and it is great, 13 years old, had it over 4 years and it is brilliant. And trouble free

Mrs Pointer

I got a nearly new Ford Fiesta at Capital City Ford. Good service. But then I wanted what I had in the UK.

I got a better spec for a good few grand less than it would cost in the UK.

DC10

Another fact worth pointing out is that your options will be very restricted if you favour a manual gearbox. It seems like at least 80-90% of NZ cars for sale are automatics.

On this subject, is it just me or do cars (esp. used) in NZ seem to cost 2-3 times as much as the equivalent models in the UK?

You can pick up a used 5-10 year old Japanese model at the corner yards in London for around £1k-£2k, whereas in NZ the same type of runabout seems to fetch the best part of $10k+. Perhaps this explains why the average car in NZ seems to be about five years older than in Europe.

cru

Hello,

I am making a trip from Boston to Auckland - Wellington to see if it makes sense to move. I expect that things will be more expensive anywhere outside of the US.

I was wondering is it possible to import a car in NZ duty free? How much an A4 would cost in NZ?

Regards.

Debbie2NZ

I purchased a 2001 Mazda Familia 1.5 for $9,400 from a motor dealer in Wanganui that imports low mileage vehicles from Japan. It had 22,000kms on the clock (about 13,000 miles). Sale included a WOF and registration (both have to be renewed regularly as has been previously stated). Don't really know what one would cost in the UK as I don't know if that model is sold there. The nearest body shape is a Mazda 323. After years buying a 'pocket money' car in Britain, I decided we had better spend real money (well for me anyway) on a car. I don't think around £4,500 for the car is that bad.

johnht

Yes it is possible, have a read of the customs and NZTA factsheets which are on their websites (the factsheets have more detail than the general info on the webpages), generally if you're a new immigrant with residency visa for a year+ then you don't pay if the car has been owned by you for over a year and meets emissions and crash standards (though there are exceptions). You can't sell the car for a certain period of time if you import this way.
I'm not sure on the rules about left hand drive though as the steering wheel on my car is on the right side
John.