Buying a car in OZ , rego etc . few Q's !!

NIALL D

hi all

jus wondering what exactly is involved in buying a car in australia ?

do you pay tax & insurance seperate ? what way does there nct equivelant work ?

what exactly is rego / regestration ?

or is rego "tax and insurance" all in one ?

and would i be best off buying private or from a garage ?

any other advice would be much appreciated !!
goin to sydney next week so ill be buying something fairly soon

Ta ..

also i have full licence and 27 , so i should be grand that way.
not planning on spending a fortune jus yet either , just something to get me started !!

hussey

I can give you what you need for NSW not sure what other states are like, but should be similar

Every car needs a thing called CTP (or green slip) this is Compulsory Third Party, so this means if you crash you cover the third party for injury (not damage to the car)
http://www.greenslips.nsw.gov.au/

Next if the car is over 5 years you need an e-safety check (used to be pink slip) this is the equivalent of NCT.
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/index.cgi?fuseaction=esafetycheck.form

Then last you need rego/registration, which is tax.
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/myrta/rego/renew-transfer-rego.html?riwid=renew

Now you are ready to drive, but since CTP only covers injury, insurance (3rd party, 3rd party fire.theft etc) is also available.

Up to you private vs garage, same risks and rewards as would be buying at home, garage obviously has a come back, while private would be generally cheaper

kdevitt

Its expensive business to buy a car over here -

Anyway - firstly insurance. You need a CTP policy (green slip) which covers medical injuries to any third parties you might crash into. This is compulsory - my renewal came through last week at $556, yours will be the same. You will want an additional insurance policy to cover damage to third parties vehicles / property, or youw own car as well. This is similar to the car insurance you'd get at home - so can be third party / comprehensive. My comprehensive policy is roughly $700 with an additional $1500 excess through AAMI. It would have been $1100 or so with the standard excess.

Your pink slip is the equivalent of the NCT, you'll need it to renew your rego if the car is over 6 years of age. Its not that expensive (think its less than $100, its done at most garages - my last one was free) for the actual slip, but can work out expensive if they find a defect. Any faults are logged on a central database and the car won't be cleared for rego renewal until the fault is fixed.

Your rego is the equivalent of motor tax at home, its based on type of vehicle and weight - will be between $250 and $470 dependent on how heavy the car is.

If the car has over 150k on the clock, or it more than 10 years old (I think) garages won't supply any kind of warranty - and you'll be on your own if the engine pops as you drive away. For that reason, I wouldn't be too hung up on going through a garage or a provate buyer on an older (cheaper) car.

NIALL D

great , thanks for the advice guys !!
i will price the fully comp anyway i would prefer to have it just incase ! thats if it doesnt cost a small fortune..

lg123

It's a lot cheaper in vic to have a car. When you buy one you get a ROad worthiness cert, maybe $100 depending if you need work done. Then you pay rego, $600 ish per year and that's it. Insurance is much cheaper than nsw and optional (I think)

None of the coloured slip crap down there. Note there are different rules to owning a car in the various states.

Also, second hand cars are very expensive here. $2k will still only get you a pile of crap.

Cooperspale

In VIC
The vehicle you drive must be registered with VicRoads. The cost of the registration of a car will vary according to the cost of the car and where you live. All registered vehicles in Victoria must have a roadworthy certificate. Visit the VicRoads website.

When you register your car, part of the cost is the Transport Accident Charge (TAC charge or TAC Premium). This is Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance. Transport accident charges are used to pay for treatment and support services for people injured in transport accidents but does not cover damage to cars. For more information on the transport accident charge, visit the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) website.
BUT

It is recommended that you purchase car insurance. There are many different insurers in Victoria that offer insurance across three levels:

• third party property - basic cover for the costs of damage you cause to other people, vehicles or property (does not cover cost of damage to your own vehicle)
• third party fire and theft - third party property insurance plus coverage if your vehicle is damaged by fire or if it is stolen
• comprehensive - covers all costs of repair or replacing all vehicles involved in a collision, regardless of who is at fault.

My first car here was an 18yr old heap of junk so I drove for 2 yrs with only that CTP and was lucky not to have any incidents.
Now I have a new car and it's around $850 to insure fully comp
Rego is almost $700 a year.
Buying second hand, you need the roadworthy cert to get your registration, it's once off thing, to drive the car. Usually the seller organises it or if you're buying and work has to be done, it can be part of your negotiating price. It's about $100 and if any work is needed on car they usually take it into account and knock it off the final bill. It can be done at most garages.

irishmover

In Queensland you need a RWC when selling a car if it's over 5 years old. The person buying doesn't have anything to do with the RWC.

lg123

Is extra insurance compulsary in Queensland?

irishmover

lg123 wrote: »

Is extra insurance compulsary in Queensland?

CTP is enough but it's not worth taking the risk.. Pay for fully comp!

Xavi6

For my car in Perth all I pay is about $350-$400 a year rego then $900-ish for fully comp insurance.

I'm also 27 with a full licence.

lg123

Xavi6 wrote: »

For my car in Perth all I pay is about $350-$400 a year rego then $900-ish for fully comp insurance.

I'm also 27 with a full licence.

No RWC in WA? I have some recollection of that but not sure.

Xavi6

lg123 wrote: »

No RWC in WA? I have some recollection of that but not sure.

I've had three cars and never had anything to do with an RWC. AFAIK they aren't compulsory in WA if the vehicle's already registered in the state and the sale is private.

Plug

If your car gets 'yellowed stickered' it will have to go over the 'pits'. Yes WA is a bit old fashioned, if your caught with dodgy tyres, blown bulbs, no rego or a general sh!t box etc it may get a yellow sticker. But if you keep it rego'd and roadworthy you'll never have to go over the dreaded 'pits'.

Plug

BTW the pits are like the NCT minus emissions.

NIALL D

thanks for the advice everyone , ill start lookin a few days after i get out there.. suppose its just like home really , if you have fully comp your fairly well covered from all angles if something wer to happen !!

stefan idiot jones

If you are buying a car privately do a check on it. We were looking at a car recently. had a credit/crash etc check on it cost just $3.50 to find out that the car had been written off due to flood damage. The car was perfect however the write off would always remain on the cars history so we gave it a big miss. This was in Queensland last month. Dealers by law have to do these checks and have a clean bill of health but its well worth the $3.50 for peace of mind.

NIALL D

stefan idiot jones wrote: »

If you are buying a car privately do a check on it. We were looking at a car recently. had a credit/crash etc check on it cost just $3.50 to find out that the car had been written off due to flood damage. The car was perfect however the write off would always remain on the cars history so we gave it a big miss. This was in Queensland last month. Dealers by law have to do these checks and have a clean bill of health but its well worth the $3.50 for peace of mind.

good idea mate , will check that out before i purchase so !!
say your glad so , you could have ended up with nothing but trouble down the road !!

buffalo909

If you're buying a car in Sydney be wary of the sellers on the Parramatta rd., some are ok but lots of them are selling lemons, it's worth spending a bit more and getting those checks done like the other posters said. You can also get a vehicle inspector to go and check out the car before you buy (think it costs about $150) but they'll give you a good rundown on the state of it.