When I first moved to Australia, I thought I wouldn’t need a car - I’d lived in plenty of big cities and survived just fine with public transport, so surely Melbourne would be no different. I lasted less than a month.
Don’t get me wrong: Melbourne, like other Australian cities, has a good public transport system. However, since the city is so sprawling, getting from one end to the other can take a long time and involve several connections, compared to a short zip across town in a car. On top of that, the many beaches, trails, forests and bays are much easier to explore when you’ve got your own wheels.
When you start shopping around, the first thing you’ll notice is that Australian car prices are quite expensive, so buying second hand can save you a lot of cash. You might find miles of basic cars on sites like Gumtree, but more car-focused sites list just about every make and model, even for brands like Infiniti or Skoda that are quite rare in Australia. It’s also very easy to search and buy used cars online a major website like carsales.com.au.
Once you’re ready to start test-driving and making offers, check out redbook.com.au . It provides a comprehensive guide of how much a specific car should cost depending on the make, model, year and mileage. This can serve as good leverage when negotiating prices. You’ll also learn if there are any known manufacturing faults you should ask about.
With the money you save on a used car, you can afford to take a road trip to explore the country – whether you are going surfing or hiking, touring the wine country, or visiting friends and family. Best of all, you still get the ‘new car’ feeling – it might have been used by someone else, but it’s still new for me.