BackpackingInAustralia.com
   Brisbane
   Byron Bay
   Cairns
   Darwin
   Fraser Island
   Gold Coast
   Melbourne
   Sunshine Coast
   Whitsundays

Buying a Car in Australia

Buying a car in Australia is really quite a easy thing to achieve. There are many ways and doing this and Backpackingin.com will point out a few hints on how to achieve the best buy.

The first tip when buying a car in Australia is that used cars need a certificate of roadworthiness before they can be sold – don't buy a car without one as you’ll need to show it when you transfer the registration. You will also need to get a certificate of roadworthiness before you sell the car at the end of your trip. Any motor mechanic can issue this certificate. It is advised to go to a local mechanic for your road worthy certificate as they are not a strict as the government run mechanics.

After you have brought a car and you have a roadworthiness certificate, take it along with the receipt, your driver's license and passport to the local department of transport; this department is known by different names in different states. You will need to pay a fee, which is calculated according to the value of the car. It is a small percentage of the value of the car. The biggest key when buying a car in Australia is buying a car with plenty of registration. This is the plate’s front and back on the vehicle, and a sticker in the windscreen that denotes how long the registration has remaining. This is like a tax on your car and is required to be renewed every 6 or 12 months and cost anywhere between 200 and 1000 dollars depending on the state you are in and length of time you register it for. If you buy a car and the registration will run out before you sell it you will need to purchase a new registration sticker.

Like any country in the world, there are many car yards in any city, all over Australia. Also check the local papers, especially Saturday's paper. Also check out the notice boards at the backpacker's hostels and internet cafes. There are always backpackers trying to sell their vehicles at the end of their Australian adventures but remember Australia is a very big country so if the vehicle has been driven around this vast dusty land once, it may not be is the best condition. Get it checked out by a mechanic.