Buying a car in Australia

It took me a while to motivate myself to write all this down, but as we probably have to rerun the process all over again, I better do it now.

In Australia you mainly have, in my opinion, Ford, Toyota and Holden. If you want other brands you generally pay more. Holden is the ‘Australian’ brand, which actually is still General Motors with a different brand name. So what you see driving around are Opel (Vauxhall) and Daewoo cars, but they are just called Holden. We bought the Opel Corsa pre-2005 version of Holden, which is called Holden Barina. From 2005 on, all Holden Barina’s are Daewoo Kalos.

The first choice one has to make is whether you want a brand new car or a second hand one. Of course brand new cars are much more expensive, but you immediately have a couple of years of warranty and this will cut down garage costs. Second hand cars are cheaper, but they can have hidden features ánd you still can pay.

If you want to buy a new car, just go to the ‘Parramatta car strip’. You won’t find it on any map as such, but if you take the Great Western Highway to Parramatta, you immediately will notice the multitude of dealerships. One long day will suffice to hop in at all dealers of the major brands, because they are all close together.

Second hand cars need a bit more research on Carsales or Drive. Lots of cars here. Better already make a decision beforehand which brand you fancy, otherwise it will be a hell of a search. Continue reading Buying a car in Australia