Buy cars from locals
When purchasing a car it's going to be one of the biggest investments in your working holiday in Australia. Making a careful selection is going be this.For this reason there is a number of pitfalls to know about and try to avoid.
Cars being sold by backpackers
When you buy a car from another backpacker there's a couple of things you know for sure. It hasn't received the love, attention and regular servicing that it should have. Nor will have it been treated kindly. For these reasons one of the first things to avoid is to buy a car off another backpacker. It may be hard to resist because the pricing will be extremely good and in some circumstances the price is so low that is probably ok to go ahead and buy the car. You should know that it is highly likely that the car will require substantial works for to meet safety standards for the transfer of the registration to your name.
Second hand car yards and car traders
Another thing to avoid if possible is a low cost professional second hand car sellers. this may be a car yard or it might be someone selling cars on Gumtree in a semi professional manner full stop in both these cases the person selling the car is trying to make a profit margin on the price. they may be able to sweeten the deal with the promise of extended warranty other guarantees but the truth is that if you're in the middle of nowhere with a broken down car that cost you too much will have very little money left to solve the problems and received very little assistance from the car seller or from the extended warranty provider. This is not the case in every circumstance but there are plenty of stories of holiday plans spoilt by an unreliable overpriced second hand car.
Hippie and surfie vans
Another type of vehicle and group of people your best to avoid is surfies are hippies selling the van. surface has spent their life at the beach along with a van and their surfboard this means that the van they're selling is more than likely to have too much rust to get a safety check past so the registration can be transferred to your name. similarly hippies with vans adorned with flowers and rainbows might look the part but underneath that layer paint will be more trouble than it's worth. if your working holiday Spirit of Australia is based around the desire to have a brightly coloured van or a van with a hippie style fitout then you'll find much more adventure, pleasure and happiness by doing it yourself.
So where do you buy the best used cars feel working holiday travels in Australia?
Knowledge gathered from speaking to lots of travellers backpackers and watching how the used car market works has identified that quite literally you're best to try and find older gentleman or older lady that is selling a car privately as they have already upgraded to a new car.
It is in this circumstance and others like it that you're likely to find a car that has been well kept well, driven carefully, has low kilometres on the odometer and is being sold at a genuine bargain price. even though the prices already attractive you are best to ensure that you treat the seller nicely and create a friendship as best you can. In this situation that you're fine there will be more genuine and more likely to give you a better price. Do this properly and you might find yourself invited to dinner or welcome to stay some nights for free.
