Hello down under dopers (and dopers that have been down under),
My wife and I are going to spend a month in Australia traveling from Sydney to Cairns. Initially we thought about getting a hop-on-hop-off bus pass, or train pass, but those tend to cost about $400 per person.
Instead, it occurred to me that we could buy a car in Sydney and sell it when we’re done. If the car cost $1000 it should be worth at least $500 a month later.
So what I need to know are some of the requirements and processes involved in buying a car, such as:
How does registration work? What is the department called? Is it something the dealership takes care of?
What are the insurance requirements?
Will I need an Australian driver’s licence?
Any help will be greatly appreciated, even if it’s just to suggest not doing this.
Why buy if you are only spending a month? The only rationale I can see if you are going to be doing something that rental or lease companies officially frown on such as off-road activities, racing, or smuggling.
With renting, you don’t have to worry about having to sell the car, staying around in Oz or appointing an agent, or dealing with storage costs if you have to leave the car there because you can’t find a buyer.
I rented a car from Hertz in Canada using a US state issued driver’s license and USD credit card, and they didn’t bat an eye - I got the car no problem and gave it back at the end.
As in the US, motor vehicle registration is carried out by the states. It’s been a while since I bought a car in Australia, but I’m sure that a car dealer can help with the process. You probably need to be able to supply an address in the state where you register the car.
Generally, you need third-party insurance by law, i.e., insurance that will pay for the injuries of people. You won’t be able to register without it.
I don’t think so. You can drive in Australia for a period of time with a foreign licence. Note again that drivers’ licences are issued by the states, and you’d need to pass a test to get one.
I think he is saying that renting it for an entire month would cost more than $500.
The recent thread by JohnClay had a comment from an Aussie doper that used cars cost more in Australia than in the U.S. If that is true, the OP might have to invest more than $1000 to get a reliable car, making his proposal that much riskier.
This seems a high risk low benefit strategy. I’d look into renting a car myself, even if it cost more than $500.
You are assuming you will be able to sell the car quickly at the end. What is the plan if you haven’t sold it by the time you leave? This could become quite tricky to manage. Also on both the buying and selling side you are putting yourself in the worst negotiating position: someone who needs to get the deal done quickly. And then there is the fact that you likely have an older more unreliable car for your long distance travel. A late model rental is likely to be far more reliable.
I may be more risk adverse than you but this whole thing would stress me out and ruin my vacation! I’d definitely stick to rentals
I would suggest not doing it. While the on-off pass sounds expensive, I think it’s actually a pretty good deal considering the length of time you’ll be able to use it, the flexibility it will give you, and the fact that won’t have to worry about buying and selling a car.
How does it compare to buying separate tickets to a few locations along the way and using those locations as a base for a few days at a time? You may find that it doesn’t take many one-way tickets working your way up the coast to reach $400. Also, keep in mind that in some stops you’ll still need to arrange for transportation because things you’ll want to see won’t be right outside the bus station doors. That said, it may not be hard to arrange other transportation, and many attractions may include shuttle transportation.
When I was in Australia, I bussed from Sydney to Cairns (and then flew back) getting on and off a couple times over the course of the several-day journey. I got off to visit the Australian Zoo (unfortunately Steve Erwin was not there at the time) and at some town near the coast to explore a national park. To get to the park we rented a car for the day (there was a rental office near the bus station) and for the zoo I think we called them from a restaurant and they sent a shuttle to pick us up.
As others have mentioned, renting a car may be cheaper and even if it’s not, you’ll have more freedom (at the expense of hours of driving). Rental may also be complicated if it’s a one-way. I would check out the Lonely Planet ThornTree forum. It attracts a pretty knowledgeable traveller/backpacker crowd and they’ll probably have some good advice. Who knows, what you want to do might actually be pretty common.
I don’t know if I’d trust a used car. Remember Australia is not very population. The poulation is in a few dense clusters, then when you drive out of those areas, there’s nothing for a long time, till you get to the next dense cluster.
I guess it’d be cool if you stay within say, Melbourne to Sydney area.
As long as you are prepared to waste a bit of time, I think you’re fine as long as you stick to the main roads. I recently had a long drive in the Riverina region of New South Wales, and counted the cars (and trucks) that we passed. It was of the order of 40 to 50 cars and trucks on a 100 km road. That means there might be times when you won’t see another car between the horizon in front of you and the horizon behind you – but it also means that if you break down or hit an emu/kangaroo/sheep, another car will come past in the next 10 to 15 minutes – and out there, they’ll stop and help if they see someone in trouble.
Having a car (instead of taking the bus which will cost min $800) means we can buy surfboards and keep them with us. We can take a bit more gear such as tents and sleeping bags. And we can sleep in it if we need to. It also means we don’t have to ALSO rent when we get some where that might require it.
A rental car for 30 days could cost as much as $900, plus it’s a one way trip which usually costs extra.
So what it means it that I can technically “lose” $1000 on the transaction from buying to selling. If I get a $2000 car that I sell for $1000 I pretty much break even, but also get the benefit of having a car while we’re traveling.
It’s quite a common thing to do, from what I’ve heard, but usually by people who are staying longer than a month. $2000 would be a minimum to get a car reliable enough to drive that distance. Even then, it wouldn’t be a very good car.
The insurance required for registration will be included in the cost of the car. That covers third party personal damage. Up to you whether you buy 3rd party property insurance on top of that. When you buy the car, it will already be registered ( don’t buy an unregistered car). They will fill in a form, to register the change of owner. You would have to take the form, with ID, and maybe some other forms, to Queensland Department of Transport and Motor Vehicles, or to the Roads and Traffic Authority in New South Wales, depending where you bought the car. You also have to pay a transfer fee, and stamp duty.
Because this is a common thing to do, if you go to say King’s Cross, or Bondi, in Sydney (where the travellers hang out), sellers will be quite familiar with the process. Some will be helpful, some will be looking to take advantage. It should be an easy thing to do, but definitely buyer beware.
I think having your own car would give you a lot of flexibility. The downside is an unreliable car could give you a lot of hassle. Also, be aware of the huge driving times between places.
Does a rental have to be one way, or are your flights already set? It sounds like you are planning to fly into Sydney and fly home from Cairns. If you fly in and out of Sydney, the rental wouldn’t have to be one-way. The drive is long, of course, but it would give you a chance to see things you might have missed on the way up and/or take the more inland route. Are you planning any travel south of Sydney? I recommend the Great Ocean Road if you can get down there.
I would want to do some more checking. Best if you can find someone who has actually done it - and more importantly done it in the states you intend.
Licensing of cars is done by state. As indicated above, you are required legally to have 3rd party insurance, however the admin of this is different from state to state. Comprehensive insurance on a junker is probably a waste of time, but 2nd party property probably insane not to have. The issue I would want careful clarification of are the rules on registration.
You must register the car, and the registration is not about who owns the car, but who is legally responsible for it. From the registering state’s point of view - to whom and where, do we send the fines and summonses? Most states will not register a car to someone who does not live in that state. This is where (I suspect) the longer stay tourists can mange it. They can establish a notional base and postal address.
Expectations about what you get for your money with a secondhand car might be a bit high too. Cars are generally significantly more expensive in Oz, and the price of older cars quite a bit higher too. $1000 will get you something that, to be perfectly honest, I would not be prepared to trust my life in. Most certainly not a car with any hope of reliability. You could have a look at carsales.com.au to get some sort of an idea.
The other question you would want to ask yourself is this: “what is my time worth?” You are in Oz for a month. I’ll assume 28 days. I don’t know what the airfare you got is, but more than $1,000 each. Plus accomodation. Plus you will have taken holiday time to do the trip - so you are effectively buring though time that is worth what you are paid. Then add some margin for loss of oppurtunity to have fun. Realisticly your time is probably worth at least a couple of hundred dollars a day to you. You will burn minimally a day buying a car, and the same at least selling it. Lost value to you in your holiday could be priced as being worth at least $500. Then there is the risk factor, where on a short holiday you burn a day with a dead car. On an extended multi-month holiday the economics will turn around. But four weeks - is too short a time.
Somthing an old friend and mentor taught me. When travelling every day cost a significant aount of money to manage to be where you are. Make the best use of it you can. (In particular, for us, every less than stellar meal is a forever lost opportunity. ) Hunting around the boonies buying and selling a clunker is not my idea of making use of opportunity.
In terms of the trip plan: We are flying in and out of Sydney, will drive/bus/train one way to Cairns, then fly back to Sydney.
Currently the cheapest car rental is about $1200, and there is an extra $2 per day because of the one way trip.
So I don’t need a $1000 car, I just need to be able to sell it without losing more than $1200. I have no problem buying a $10,000 car if it will be worth $9000 at the other end.
And to be clear, I have no intention of buying a car that isn’t safe or won’t make it.
I’m also aware of the risk in terms of time. But frankly, I’ve wasted a LOT of time on vacations dealing with rental car companies and their vehicles. I’ve also wasted a lot of time because of delayed flights, and broken down buses. So there are very few guarantees in life. I think in the end having a car (bought or rented) will save time vs taking the bus. Which is also why I posted here, allowing me to get as much info as possible to properly evaluate the pros and cons.
Lot of backpackers do this, you can also buy Station Wagon’s or Van which are on the cheap campervan conversions, eg bed in back and storage space but no poptop fridge etc. In Australia there are lots of free places you can park up to sleep in you vehicle.
However I wold spend a minimum of $3500 to get a realiable used vehicle, you should get $3000 for it when selling if you sell it to another traveller.
Breaking down in the middle of nowhere is not an issue on the East coast, theres mobile reception the entire way up the pacific highway from Sydney to Cairns. Just make sure you take out NRMA coverage (road breakdown cover) and they will tow you to the nearest town if anything happens.
www.gumtree.com.au is probably the best place to look, check the prices there.
Yeah backpackers do it all the time and it is a bit of a lottery. $2,000 will buy you a complete shitbox most of the time and IMO not really worth the hassle. Backpackers tend to be on open and flexible schedules so if the car breaks down and they need to wait 4 days for a part, it is no hassle. It sounds like a 4 day delay may be a pain for you guys.
Look there are some really good deals on rental cars.
Not completely. There are some big patches with no coverage either side of Rockhampton. And south of Mackay has some big dead spots too.
However from an ‘in contact’ perspective - the Bruce Highway is heavily travelled, and there would be plenty of passing traffic, so no real worries there.
And to the OP, I wouldn’t be surprised if you had an issue with selling a NSW registered car in Cairns. I’ve only ever bought and sold cars in Qld, so not sure how that would work, but you might need a roadworthy issued in Queensland to do the sale. (?) something to check on.
thats why I suggested getting a car for lat least $3500. I’ve done this many times, if you know how to spot engine leaks, smoke and compression problems you can easily pick out the clunkers. Getting a car that will last 1 month 3000 kms and be saleable after is really pretty easy.
To all those saying “bad idea”, lighten up!! breaking down in a small town in AU might be a nice adventure, and its really unlikely to take 4 days to fix, especially if you buy a common model like a Toyota parts are likely to be available same day.
I have a HiAce backpacker van, bought for $4000 3 years ago, it’s still running strong, its been up and down the east coast about 6 times, around Tasmania, and have slept next to crystal clear streams in state forests many times (thats legal over here).
One of the best investments I’ve made and I’d probably still get over $3000 if I sold it. Have had muffler replaced, cam belt and had it serviced but no major expenditure.
