December 14, 2012
The reason we know that the supermarket in Keri Keri is thirty minutes away by car is that we now have a car!
The short story: We took the bus to Whangarei to pick up our 1998 Audi A4 Saloon (basically, station wagon).
The longer story: Most cruisers arrived in New Zealand where we did, in Opua. Most cruisers seem to buy a car from a company here called Cars for Cruisers. They sell all kinds of used cars and guarantee to buy them back when you’re done with them for between $1000 and $2000 less than you paid.
We talked to Phil, the owner of Cars for Cruisers and decided to go another route. Basically, during the course of our brief conversation, he told us that one cruiser used his car to carry diesel fuel jugs. He told us “Well, guess what? He just bought himself a car! There’s no way I’m taking that back smelling like diesel!” He also told us that we’d need to fix any dings or dents, as well as get the car “re-certified” by buying a new WOF (Warrant of Fitness). So much for a guaranteed buy-back! Also, his inventory of cheap cars was pretty low and we had our hearts set on inexpensive transportation.
We were really starting to feel the need for a car and now that Cars for Cruisers was out, we looked at a few meager offerings around the parking lot without falling for “the one.” We tried Trademe.com, the local ebay-like option, but there didn’t seem to be too many cars listed in our area (and the town names listed in the ads meant little to us).
We’d heard about a car auction in nearby Wrangarei (Turner’s Auctions) so I checked out their web site. It turned out that they had an auction that night and we wouldn’t even need to travel the hour and a half to south to Whangarei as there was a live, online version of the auction. After mucking with software for fifteen minutes, I was in and registered as a bidder. The third car that came up looked pretty nice and had no bidders so far. The auctioneer started at $4,000, dropped to 3K, to 2K, then to $1,800. I bid. Some schmuck bid $1,850 and I slammed down my bid for $1,900 – I wanted him to know I meant business and that I would have this car (yea, the one I knew little about and had never seen). The seconds ticked by with no additional bids and the hammer came down. I won!
A few minutes later some of the glow of our $1,900 deal was extinguished as we got an email explaining that the reserve on the car was $3,000. We were told if we could come up just a bit, they would try to get the seller to come down some. We told them we were at our limit.
That changed the next afternoon after some more car shopping and one test drive. Suddenly, our Audi seemed like a great deal at $2,500. After a call and an email exchange, it was ours for that price (plus $315 in fees).
We took an incredibly beautiful and huge bus to Whangarei the next day to pick up our new car and if it had an engine, hopefully drive it home to Opua. It turned out to be a great car with a strong engine, no rattles, very nice interior and a good body. I think we are really going to love this little car. So far, we do.
I need to say a few words about the WOF (Warrant of Fitness). Every car here has to have one every year. It seems like it’s a pretty major inspection, including brakes, engine, steering, suspension and much more. If there’s something wrong, it has to be fixed before the WOF is issued. Our Audi has a WOF that’s only six months old. This is the reason I felt like we could buy the car sight-unseen. It’s a big expense for NZ drivers but it sure makes for some fine used cars!
The other thing that makes for some fine used cars here is that Japan, in an effort to stimulate their auto industry, puts a limit on how long a car can be driven in Japan without paying huge registration fees. Since both countries are left-hand-driving countries, lots of Japan’s nice used cars end up in New Zealand. It seems that almost all the used cars here have about 200,000 kilometers on them (120,000 miles) just like our Audi.
In keeping with the incredibly efficient policies of New Zealand, the purchase was a breeze. The lady at the counter filled out a short form, we signed and the title was transferred. The next day, we got a ten minute call from the state-run insurance and we had the required liability insurance in place for $131 per year. When our registration expires, they’ll call us to renew. Wow.
Soon, Cyndi will give you more details about our fun trip to Whangarei. -Rich
