[RoadRunner]

We just received our passports back from NZIS with PR stamps so I am
headed to Wellington in a couple of weeks!

Any suggestions of a place to buy a used car in Wellington? I've identified a handful of car dealers but I'm not sure if that is the best place to buy one from (I seem to recall people warning about the title wrt a used car so thats why I thought a dealer might be safest?). And where do people suggest to get car insurace (AA, AMI, car dealer, bank)? Has anybody used the AA service to check a car before buying it?

If anyone has suggestions or recommendations, I'd really appreciate it!
(As well as any other helpful hints to get started in Welly!)

Cheers,
RoadRunner

[baboonworld]

There are some Auction places to try - there is one in Lower Hutt I think - you might get a deal. Or take a look on trademe.co.nz

[sarahw]

Hi Roadrunner,

Baboonworld is right - there are tons of cars on trademe.co.nz but obviously don't come with any guarantees. We were warned away from car auctions unless you have a good knowledge about cars & what to look for.

Tory Street Motors is where we bought Ian's car (Japanese Import) but there are plenty of places around - there's 2 main streets in the city with 2nd hand places (and new car dealerships), Taranaki Street & Kent Terrace.

The 3 biggest second handers are
Tory Street Motors

Shackle Motors (a dollar deposit & pay nothing until August - you'll get annoyed with all the radio advertising for it!) - most of their cars are around $10K - I'm a bit wary but my friend has a perfectly good Japanese import 4x4 that's been going strong for several years from them)

WCD (I think is the name - they're new & I believe they also have a dealership in Lower Hutt) They seemed quite good & guaranteed (whatever that's worth!) the mileage on all their Japanese imports (they had certificates on the cars to 'proove' this from some company but with Japanese imports you have to ignore the mileage really as you never know).

We had an AA check at Tory Street & they promised to put right anything that they found wrong. WCD cars come with a pre-done AA check - so the AA come & do the checks for them instead of you... :?

The above 3 are much of a muchness here & I think you've really got to get the car checked out yourself & go for whichever feels the best to drive too - Ian test-drove 4 cars exactly same model, year & almost the same mileage & only one of them was good to drive (and didn't rattle etc.!)

We spent a couple of days going around every single car place in Welly & by the end of it had quite a bit of advice & realised who were the more shady characters!

Oh and don't fall over when you see the mileometer - the readings are in KM's - I nearly had a heart attack when I looked inside the first car (gave the car dealer a good laugh though! :laugh )

Good luck! :nice1

[miep]

Hi,

Another good place to look is Esanda. Its also on the main car drag but one street back. They are a car lease company that sell off their cars several times a year. All NZ new and between 3 and 5 years old for good prices and very good service/guarantee. We bought a Ford Mondeo there and it had a couple of things wrong with it which were all fixed without any hassle. And no pushy salesmen either :clap

:cheers Miep

[RoadRunner]

Wow, thanks for such a great response, Sarah! :clap

And thanks, Miep, for that idea - I'd never heard of them so will add them to my list!
:yes

My current plan is to go to AA first (transfer AAA to them) and then try WCD. I didn't know WCD had the AA checks done first. Something to ask AA about when I go there...

Many thanks again! I owe you both a beer when I get there! :cheers
Cynthia

[Jodie]

Yep - I'd recommend WCD - they were by far the friendliest, most helpful non-pushy salesman we met when we spent a weekend going round welly looking for a car.

There was an english woman (typical eh!) from a car yard down the road from WCD (I think it was Enterprise Cars - not recommended - shabby looking, older cars highly priced) who was REALLY pushy - they had the same car as we were looking at (Subaru Legacy Grand Wagon) but 2 years older, for $3000 more than the one we bought from WCD. And it was in much worse condition too, and the boss guy wouldn't even give us an estimate for the part exchange price on our car unless we wanted to talk seriously about buying the heap of junk out on the forecourt! Cheek!! ANd then the pushy woman phoned up a few days later pressuring me to come back and take a test drive! I had great pleasure in telling her we had just bought a 2 year newer, better condition 'special edition' legacy from WCD for $3000 less! :laugh

But yeah, WCD were professional, the cars were all very tidy, and yes, they had the AA checks and mileage checks too, so pretty good.
We went to the one on TAranaki Street and the one in Lower Hutt, and ended up buying from the lower hutt branch which was fine.

Anything else, give me a shout!

Jod
:cool