Some practical questions... white goods and cars
 

hey y'all

ok so we're off to Auckland in July and currently there are two things on my mind... firstly shall we buy white goods and secondly what the practicalities are with buying a car

firstly, white goods... now we rent at present and so dont own any... and when we arrive we'll be renting for 12 months before possibly buying... so my question is... what proportion of rental properties have white goods in place? Its very common here, but how common is it there? I don't want to buy new, average white goods, take them half way round the world to find that white goods in rental properties are common and we wouldn't use them... buying better quality ones when we get our own place anyway.

secondly... cars. now I've bought/sold many cars privately over the years, and would like to continue doing so, but I need to know more information about the practical aspects. now here you have the v5 document, you need mot and tax. when you sell you need to fill in/send off v5 and thats about it... and obviously sort out tax/MOT as necessary, not to mention insurance. whats the process in NZ? Whats the registration document called? Is it the same type of thing as the UK? What about WOF etc... what sort of documents do you have to prove this?

also, regarding cars, we'd like to get a great big dirty 4x4 at some point, but this can wait until after we've settled. I've always wanted a cherokee! whats this I hear about paying additional costs to use a diesel? when we arrive we'll buy a cheap japanese small car for city driving... any recommendation?

ta peeps!

thanks in advance peeps.

Re: Some practical questions... white goods and cars
 

most rentals will have cookers, dishwashers and some may have a fridge/freezer. You will probably have to sort yourself out for washing machine/tumble dryer. You can rent these eg - from "Mr Rentals".

To be really honest - even if you are not likely to use the white goods for a year or more, it will still be much cheaper to buy in the UK and bring with you (and store in the garage corner for a year). Have a look on Harvey Norman, Bond & Bond, Farmers websites in order to price things up.

Cars - I've always bought from 2nd hand car/japanese import specialist - so I'll leave for someone with more experience to answer your questions regarding private sale/purchase.

Re: Some practical questions... white goods and cars
 

Look at trademe.co.nz. Re questions about WoFs etc there is a thread on about them at the moment. It is quite obvious which one it is if you have a look. Diesel cars have to have a 'extra' tax disc (or rectangle in NZ). You pay about $400ish for about 10,000klms. The 'rectangle' will clearly show how your odometer relates to how much you have paid. Woe betide you if you are stopped and your 'rectangle' and odometer do not match..ie you are driving it and the 'rectangle' has no k's left on it. re the car..buy a Toyota Corolla. The reg document system is just the same here as it is in the UK.

Re: Some practical questions... white goods and cars
 

NNOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Don't buy a Jeep!! They cost a fortune to repair, are uneconomical and unreliable. Buy a Jap 4x4, parts are cheap and they're built to last.

As Genesis has already said, the Corolla is a mainstay small car here but any Jap car is better than a European one. It's all down to the cost of parts and how to get hold of certain parts should things go seriously wrong.

Re: Some practical questions... white goods and cars
 

NNOOOOOOO!!! Don't buy a Jap car, buy a European one ;):rofl:

If you can afford to then make sure you buy NZ new cars, there are a lot (and I mean a LOT) of Japanese imports of variable quality available.

Re: Some practical questions... white goods and cars
 

Clearly not in NZ yet but as a returning kiwi...

Whitegoods - buy out there, if you take UK ones and they break no guarantees on warantees and often parts have to be ordered from UK which are expensive and take time (hotpoint known for taking 3 weeks) so if you take anything from here you would have to factor being without the appliance it if parts were needed

Cars - do shop around, we have bought ours already so it is there for our arrival, slight advantage in that when it is ready I have family to test drive it. However not overly essential if you can find a reputable dealer. For a new Jap import used car (ours is still on a boat) it is coming with a full 3 year warranty covering everything, full RAC type cover including hotel accomodation if needed, a new cambelt, water filter and all scrapes, dents etc removed. You will pay a lot more than in UK for a much older car but mileage wise should be similar to a uk newer car. There use to be big problems with jap imports with chassis' rusting so something to watch out for if you go for one thats been in the country for a while but the checks are now much more strigent. Agree on the toyota corolla, last one I drove was fab and not plasticy like the UK version (althought that may now have changed)

Re: Some practical questions... white goods and cars
 

So what are you suggesting.... buy Fisher and Paykel ??!!! The cost of the bloody things is astronomical - double the price of anything comparable.... you can get hotpoint repairs done, however they come with no warantee.

I really suggest having a look online at what you can get in NZ versus your local electrical hypermarket, do the conversion and see if it makes financial sense to bring stuff over.

Re: Some practical questions... white goods and cars
 

There are brands other than F&P on the market, you can also buy refurbished which is exactly what we are doing... my mother works for an appliance repair and frequently has very upset expats at the time delays for replacement parts so my advice was based on a wee bit of knowledge in that area. Having experienced a 3 week delay here in the UK for a hotpoint repair on a brand new washing machine I can assure you it is no fun on this side of the world without having to deal with it on the other. If you already have appliance then the decision is definitely a more difficult one.

Re: Some practical questions... white goods and cars
 

We bought a bog-standard microwave from Curry's before we left (6 years ago) - cost 25GBP, not long ago we had to replace the microwave (didn't even try to get it fixed), cost $90 for a similar warehouse bog-standard microwave. You have to weigh up the cost of the items, versus the possible cost of breakdowns, versus the ridiculously high price of items here - which point taken you'll get fixed with more ease - but what is the shelf-life of these goods anyway?

Warantees are a waste of money anyway - take the cost of them and place into your own separate bank account, then whenever something breaks down you can withdraw from said account.

Re: Some practical questions... white goods and cars
 

I agree stay away from Fisher & Paykel. I bought one new & it was the biggest load of rubbish sold it after couple of years replacing it with a 2nd hand Bosch fridge off Trademe for $400 & resold it 4 years later for $300.
Best value is 2nd hand off Trademe.

Re: Some practical questions... white goods and cars
 

Also bear in mind when looking around that prices can be very negotiable here.

I've bought quite a few appliances since arriving here and I've easily got at least 20% off the shop prices on almost everything I've bought. I'm a terrible haggler, so goodness knows how much you could get knocked off if you're good at it!

In the UK I tended to buy on-line to get the best bargains, but I've found it's far better to go in to the shops here and ask for their best price. Be prepared to walk away and go to the next shop if they only offer you some lame free gift. Many of the big shops seem desperate for sales here at the moment.

Re: Some practical questions... white goods and cars
 

we have a n 8 year old washing machine a Zanussi which has been to NZ and back twice still going strong and had no issues we bought a Dyson in Uk before we left in August straight away the warranty is no valid the moment it leaves Uk soil and its broken down here yesterday its pot luck
It depends if you want a top loader washing machine cmmon here or a front loader I prefer a front loader and will pay more when this one breaks, We have a mitshubishi fridge bought here and I am happy with that there are deals to be had every week and you can play one store off against the other, I do not find Harvey Norman cheap and when they have their sales they only reduce to competitors prices.

Re: Some practical questions... white goods and cars
 

My advice is to buy in the UK & ship out, it's much cheaper & you have a greater choice of products. I would go for Bosch or Miele products if you can afford them. If you are buying a number of goods at once in the UK, then you can have a field day haggling :lol: & get yourself some great bargains. I only used to takeout a warranty on a product if it got me a further discount. I would then cancel it within the cancellation period ;). I think it's 28 days.

I never pay the price asked for white goods etc. here. I will talk to the various retailers, find out their 'best price' & then haggle. Got a kettle for 45% less than it's ticket price not so long ago. Usually manage to get 20-30% off larger goods.

We bought F&P fridge/freezer & a double dish-drawer when we moved into our house 4 years ago. I'm not impressed, wish I had got Bosch goods instead. (Got my Home Economist hat on!).

If you do bring new goods out with you, you'll need to unpack them from their original packaging & then let the shippers re-wrap them. Otherwise customs will want GST off you for products under 12 months old!