Dirt cheap motoring

OK . . . . you've lobbed up on Australia's shores and you need a set of wheels to get you and/or the family mobile.

You can think English / Scots / Welsh / Irish on this one . . . . .and pay through the nose for your vehicle and weekly motoring costs . . . . . OR you can do what loads of Australians do!

Firstly, if you buy from a second hand car yard, you pay an extra 10% G.S.T. on the vehicle price. If the car is worth $20,000 you part with $22,000 worth of your hard earnt cash.

If you buy brand new, you pay a "dealer delivery fee" of $1,300 to $1,600 depending on which State you buy in. . . . on top of your brand new car price, plus of course the 10% G.S.T.

OK . . . how do you get around this one???

The State governments around Australia buy fleets of vehicles at bargain basement prices and sell them before the 3 year warranty is over.

If you trot along to any State gov't auction, you'll see '00's of cars, 4WDs, trucks etc. going for a good bid. . . . no 10% G.S.T.

You can get a perfectly good 2 yr old car with about 30,000 kms (18,000 miles) on the clock for about half price.

If there's anything at all wrong with the vehicle in the 6 to 12 months you're driving it around before the 3 years warranty period expires, you simply drive it to the local dealer, toss the car keys on the desk and say "fix it!". They'll call you once it's done . . . . free of charge.

Check out the South Australian gov't auction website for a look. Click on "Prices" to get an idea of what vehicles over the past eight weeks have sold for, along with all their relevant info such as mileage, etc.

http://www.auctions.sa.gov.au

Being a government vehicle, they are all regularly serviced and maintained . . . . no skipping oil changes here!

Secondly . . . . would you sooner pay $1.30 (52p) for a litre OR 55c (22p) a litre??

Think about it . . . . this isn't a trick question.

I run a vehicle on L.P.G. costing 55c a litre. . . . have done so now for many a year.

About 30% of vehicles on South Australian roads run on L.P.G.

How do I know that??

Because you have a special sticker put on your number plate back and front when L.P.G. is fitted, in case of an accident and the fire brigade or police need to know what danger is involved in dealing with your vehicle.

About 30% of number plates in Adelaide have these stickers on them.

They are on all kinds of cars and 4WDs. . . . .and they fill up at about half the cost of a petrol car / 4WD

Those drivers are smiling all the way to the bank each time they fill up over the course of that vehicle's lifetime.

The motto is, unless you settling in a remote Outback township without an L.P.G. filling staion nearby, then think about getting hold of a vehicle that is "dedicated" to run on L.P.G.

South Australia has L.P.G. reserves in the north of the State estimated to last the next seventy years at current demand . . . . no shortage of fuel on the world market will stop you from getting to work, etc.!!!

. . . . . just my humble advice after living 33 years in Australia.

You can either buy a petrol car . . . . like in the U.K. . . . . or buy L.P.G. like loads of Aussies who have spare cash in the back pocket for an extra carton of beer or game of golf!

It's your money.