[denalipop]

We plan to arrive in Nelson in a couple months. One of the first things I will need to do is buy a car.

We're looking for something used (ideally under $10K) with 4WD and enough clearance to reach most trail heads. I'd love a mini-SUV like a RAV4 or CRV, but would settle for a SUV or station wagon (as long as it has good clearance).

Are there dealerships in the Nelson area that you'd recommend?
Or should we just focus on trade me?
Or should we consider looking for a car in a bigger city like Christchurch?

Thanks a bunch!

[mylesdw]

I imagine there's plenty of choice around Nelson. Use TradeMe to get an idea of how much cars are really changing hands for. Normally I would tend to buy privately but in this economic climate I reckon the bargains are with the dealers. A private seller nearly always has the option of keeping the car if it doesn't fetch a good price but a dealer has to cover his overheads each month so he HAS to sell some cars. Take your $10k along and look at cars on the forecourt at $12k-$13k. You may well find a dealer who needs the money enough for you to drive away a bargain!

[talisker]

There's a huge advantage in buying from a dealer in NZ, as I recently discovered. If you buy from a licenced dealer they have an obligation under the consumer guarantees act to sort out any significant problems with the car or give you your money back. If you buy privately it's "buyer beware" and you're out of luck if anything goes wrong.

[denalipop]

Another advantage of buying from a dealer is financing. I'd rather pay a little more NZD in the long run, spread out over multiple months (or even years) than pay one huge chunk of cash, especially given today's yucky USD/NZD exchange rate!

Is there a way to buy from individuals on trade me and still get financing? Would I have to go to a bank and ask for a loan? That could take a while, right? And since I've never bought anything in NZ, I'd have absolutely no credit history, since they don't look at our credit history in the US, right?

In general, are newcomers to NZ (with no NZ credit history) likely to get horrible interest rates? Or do they give us the benefit of the doubt?

[dilanium]

not sure about nelson, but you might want to check out Turner's car auctions too. We got our car at the Turner's in Wellington, and it's been great.

http://www.turners.co.nz/Pages/Home.aspx (and it looks like there's a turner's in Christchurch).

[newarrival]

You will definitely have a bigger variety in Christchurch.

[magcats]

Good luck getting your car! Let me know where you ended up purchasing it and what car you bought!

[willow]

Hi

we bought our honda crv from bowater honda in nelson before we arrived. we saw the car on their website and sent a few emails and it all turned out fine. they were really helpful and the car was exactly as described. hope this helps

[denalipop]

Willow, did you go to a dealer for the CRV? If so, which one?

[denalipop]

Do all the car dealerships in Nelson have good reputations? Or are there some "slimy" ones that we should avoid?

[thezorbster]

Definitely more choice in Christchurch but there are quite a few dealerships here. Main dealerships are also willing to try to source cars for you if they know what you're after - our car was brought over from Christchurch for us so they're generally quite helpful. They're basically all after business at the moment so I imagine would try to help out if they can.