How to Buy Your First Car in Australia

Woohoo, it’s time to buy your first car! Just think of the possibilities – coming and going to places as you please, having weekends away, going on road trips. There is a whole new world ready to explore.

It’s all very exciting to think about but first you need the car. That means you need to begin your search. Whether you have a car model in mind or not, the first place most people begin a car search is on the internet. It will allow you to have a look at lots of cars and get a good idea of what types of cars are within your budget. Plus, searching online will let you find cars listed by dealers as well as private sellers.

Another advantage of beginning your search online is being able to compare both prices and vehicle history. In this day and age, some people are willing to buy a car without physically seeing and inspecting it first because car sale websites occasionally offer some assurance to you as the buyer that you will get what is described.
However, the preference for most buyers is to make a pre-purchase inspection, assuming that the car is in your area or you are willing to travel.

Once you have done some preliminary research online you may also want to visit a car dealer to see some of your preferred models up close. If this is your first time buying a car, you will discover that it takes up several successive weekends just to go and inspect car lots in your local area. One way to expedite the process is to narrow down a list of cars you would consider purchasing from your online search, and then make an itinerary of car yards you want to visit on your weekends. To make your experience even better, you can find the prices of other dealerships, print them out and take them with you. This way, if the prices of the dealership you are visiting are higher than the prices of other dealerships, you can ask the dealer to lower the price. It is not certain to work, but it at least gives you a good reason to begin price negotiations.

Things You Need To Know To Decide Whether To Buy From Individual Or Dealer

It is a common belief among many people that you can find a better deal by buying your first car through a private seller, rather than a dealer. While it’s true that given enough time to search you may be able to find a lower price this way, there are advantages in buying your first car from a certified dealer. For example, a dealer can help you save time by taking care of registration and other paperwork for you. Perhaps more importantly though, it’s common to get a vehicle warranty from a dealer, even on used cars. That has the potential to save you money on repairs in the long run as well as the time and hassle of having a vehicle that’s out of action if the warranty includes a replacement vehicle. These are benefits of buying from a dealer that are not available through a private seller.

Nevertheless, buying a first car from an individual can be cheaper than buying it from a certified car dealer which can be tempting, especially on your first car. You may even discover that you are able to afford a vehicle you would not be able to afford if you searched only for deals from certified car dealers. While lower prices are tempting it also makes a lot of sense to get a car inspected by someone with mechanical expertise before you hand over your hard earned money.

Buying cars from private sellers can be an especially good option if you are a car enthusiast who is actually looking for a car that you can repair and enhance yourself. This said, keep in mind that buying from a private seller means that you will have to do all the necessary paperwork, such as active registration and receipt of sale, as well as obtaining a roadworthy certificate. If you decide to go down this path be sure to check the vehicle identification number online. There are lots of sites that do this. Just type “vehicle identification number lookup” into Google and you will find sites like nvsr.com.au that can do this for you. This way you can save yourself from some risk of buying a vehicle that may have been in an accident or other incident that was not specified by the seller.

When browsing car ads, always try and locate the information regarding the roadworthy certificate. Those ads that do not provide a roadworthy certificate along with the car may not be trustworthy. However, the simple fact that it is not mentioned in the ad does not mean the owner does not have it. So if the ad does not mention it, call and ask. This is important because without a roadworthy certificate you may incur additional fees when trying to make your vehicle comply with regulations.

Buying My First Car: Registering It

As a first time car buyer, you are probably wondering about what steps you should take after buying a vehicle from a private seller. Firstly, you need to register it. This is easy to do but you do need to have certain documents to do so.

Another important thing you should remember is that each state in Australia has its own unique vehicle regulations. You can easily find out your state’s regulations here. Though these regulations are for the most part similar to each other, it is still worth checking up on the latest regulations if you buy a vehicle from outside of your home state. It is also important to keep in mind that you can register your car in any state, not only the one in which you bought it, though this will require extra steps.

The common documents you will need when registering your new vehicle are a receipt of sale, an identification document, a roadworthiness certificate, and a driver’s license. If you are a recent arrival to Australia, make sure you have a version of your driver’s licence that is acceptable in Australia. If your original driver’s licence is not in English you may need a formal translation of your licence into English.

How To Buy Your First Car With The Help Of A Car Broker

If you are a first time car buyer, you should know that there is another way you can buy your first car without having to approach a car dealer or private seller yourself. You can buy it through the services of a reputable car broker like Car Search Brokers. We have many years of expertise at searching, inspecting and negotiating the purchase of quality cars on behalf of buyers.

By using a car broker, a lot of the time and hassles involved with searching, inspection, negotiation, registration and paperwork regulations can be taken care of for you. Also, the assistance that a car broker offers in this kind of situation eliminates the need for you to worry about roadworthy certificates as that will be checked by your car broker.

Buying your first car is a really exciting time in life. You may want to go through the process yourself and that can even be fun if you have the time and interest. However, if you would rather worry about other things, then an expert car broker who knows how to find and identify a good value offer for you, can save you a huge amount of time, limit risk, and often save money for you when it’s time to buy your first car.