Getting a car in Canberra, tips welcome

[Nealmason1986]

PM me if you want a pre-purchase inspection? Mad if you don't get one if you buy privately or it's a 4WD

 

 

Is this what you do?

 

Would u recommend one even for a purchase from a dealer?

 

If i go private i will defo give you a shout.

 

 

How much does it cost and whats your contact details?

[Guest Ptp113]

Is this what you do?

 

Would u recommend one even for a purchase from a dealer?

 

If i go private i will defo give you a shout.

 

 

How much does it cost and whats your contact details?

Dealer has 3 mths/5,000kms warranty except if 4WD or over 10 years of age or 160,000 kms. $110.00 per hour and that should cover most. See PM for my mobile no

[Maggie2012]

I am going to hopefully get a car this weekend.

 

I have a contract and 2 pay slips so hoping that NAB will lend me some money like they said they would.

 

I believe the finance rate is better with the dealers but i highly doubt they will give me a loan off 2 weekly payslips and a contract.

 

Fingers crossed i find a gem!

 

I assume you are banking with NAB. Even so, I doubt that you'd ever get a loan in England with just two payslips!

[Maggie2012]

Dealer has 3 mths/5,000kms warranty except if 4WD or over 10 years of age or 160,000 kms. $110.00 per hour and that should cover most. See PM for my mobile no

 

since almost a lot of cars are over 160K so it means no warranty even if it is a dealer car,,good to know. What are the faults to look out for in a car in Canberra. We were told very little rust in these cars....

[Guest Ptp113]

since almost a lot of cars are over 160K so it means no warranty even if it is a dealer car,,good to know. What are the faults to look out for in a car in Canberra. We were told very little rust in these cars....

Correct, no rust to speak of. Faults are vehicle specific. All vehicles have designed in faults, check the relevant forum to be aware of them and the preventative maintenance required to avoid such.

[Maggie2012]

Correct, no rust to speak of. Faults are vehicle specific. All vehicles have designed in faults, check the relevant forum to be aware of them and the preventative maintenance required to avoid such.

 

thank you for the info. We'll keep you in mind if we decide to go for an older car. How are the aussy made cars? Holden's and Fords? Should we consider those?

[sunniecat]

my husband and I bought 2 cars, cheaply, within 6 weeks of getting here. The first cost us $1500, is a mitsubishi lancer that had just over 300,000kms on the clock and runs like a dream. We got that one from a dealer, in Phillip (I'd recommend the Phillip dealers if you're looking for a cheaper car, the ones round the back off the main road). The second we bought from gumtree, for $1750, a hyundai excel that has more like 230,000kms on the clock. Not quite as good as the mitsu but it runs fine nonetheless. We've had both cars for well over a year now with very few problems.

 

If you go to the dealers, walk in with a budget fixed in your head, and tell them you've got $1k less than that. Ignore the prices splashed over the windscreen. We told them we had $2500 and were being shown cars that said $4500 on the windscreen, that they said they could sell to us for $2500.

 

Bear in mind you will have to pay an extra $800/year for rego though!

[Guest Ptp113]

thank you for the info. We'll keep you in mind if we decide to go for an older car. How are the aussy made cars? Holden's and Fords? Should we consider those?

 

The vehicles that come in with by far the highest km's and still running reasonably are Holdens and Fords, often abused but still trucking. Euro trash is just that and failures across the board even with low kms. I much admired my E46 BMW manual coupe but some aspects were poorly engineered and I spent $10k in 6 mths getting it to what I thought was acceptable. VW, Renault, Pug, Land Rover etc don't bear thinking about, and you'd better have very deep pockets when they break. Japanese aren't what they were, particularly Toyota, and 4WD are a very mixed bag. Used Diesel is a veritable minefield, and I wouldn't own one unless under new car warranty. Australia is hard on vehicles, summer and winter, and maintenance, in particular preventative maintenance, is everything. Very very few people do preventative maintenance, but christ how they can whinge when the repairs run into multiple thousands as we had today.

[Quoll]

And don't forget Volvos! LOL we still have the 35 yr old SW going strong with over 600k on the clock!

[Maggie2012]

The vehicles that come in with by far the highest km's and still running reasonably are Holdens and Fords, often abused but still trucking. Euro trash is just that and failures across the board even with low kms. I much admired my E46 BMW manual coupe but some aspects were poorly engineered and I spent $10k in 6 mths getting it to what I thought was acceptable. VW, Renault, Pug, Land Rover etc don't bear thinking about, and you'd better have very deep pockets when they break. Japanese aren't what they were, particularly Toyota, and 4WD are a very mixed bag. Used Diesel is a veritable minefield, and I wouldn't own one unless under new car warranty. Australia is hard on vehicles, summer and winter, and maintenance, in particular preventative maintenance, is everything. Very very few people do preventative maintenance, but christ how they can whinge when the repairs run into multiple thousands as we had today.

 

I think there was a study somewhere done showing that you can forget about French cars over 100K (miles). I think the most reliable cars over 10 years trophy was taken by the Germans. Car sales is a business, which car factory would survive if the cars lasted forever?

 

Looking at the Fords and Holden's it looks like many of them have American engines. Just the thought of what fuel economy they got is scary.

[Guest Ptp113]

I think there was a study somewhere done showing that you can forget about French cars over 100K (miles). I think the most reliable cars over 10 years trophy was taken by the Germans. Car sales is a business, which car factory would survive if the cars lasted forever?

 

Looking at the Fords and Holden's it looks like many of them have American engines. Just the thought of what fuel economy they got is scary.

 

Big V8's are American but well modded here. Ford straight 6, codenamed Barra is a blinder particularly in EcoLPi form, factory direct injected gas (LPG). A G6E Falcon with 6-speed ZF slushie behind the EcoLPi engine gives performance and economy. Wish they had a wagon version but Ford killed off the wagon in 2010. Think carefully about intended vehicle use and remember, it's a bloody big country!

[Maggie2012]

Private and Commercial cars: difference to register and ensure? The reason I am asking is that hubby had this idea of getting a used van and convert it into a campervan we could use on the weekends. But most vans are sold as commercial vehicles. How would we go about it theoretically?