I have spent a good 6 months of this year car shopping in person, in the paper, through word of mouth and of course through trade me. I was recently reading that New Zealand has the highest car ownership per capita of anywhere in the world, pretty interesting!
After spending 4 years overseas, in Asia and then Canada, I just can't get over how expensive it is to buy a piece of crap car 2nd hand car in New Zealand. People are selling cars with blown head gaskets for $500, 1984 Honda Civics for $1,200 etc. It's highly laughable.
Part of the problem with these high prices is the fact that sellers feel that if they are selling something with a WOF and a rego, that they should be entitled to at least $1,000. Well in any other country people would laugh in your face. A lot of older cars have not been looked after well, and are a liability due to ongoing costs and the fact that they may die at anytime. No your car will probably not live to see 500,000 km.
The blame can't all be on the sellers, because bidders are their own worst enemies. I just looked at an auction that started with no reserve, it had reached $36 dollars, dollar by dollar, and then some goon puts down a bid for $300. Did they not see the little box to check to auto-bid! I think a lot of people using this website don't understand how good bidding works, or have too much money to spend (if this is the case, why are they bidding on such low quality cars!)
I'm a bit miffed as to why it is so expensive to buy a "cheap run about" in NZ, when we do have more vehicles per head. In Canada I bought a 2000 Pontiac Sunfire coupe for $1,000 in a private sale. It was in fantastic condition. Yet, here I'd e lucky to get a car that would be driveable for 6 months, or if it is, it'll be beat up and in horrible condition.
Anyone care to shed some light on why people pay so much for crap cars in NZ! Is it because of the economy! People can't afford newer cars, so they buy the same recycled crap - 80;s and 90's Starlets, Civics, Preludes (LOL) etc
Thanks,
Kiwi and Canuck
canuckandkiwi,
Sep 17, 11:29am
Oh, anyone want to sell me an auto 2.0L or under with a WOF and rego for $500! :D (Must be located in Otago, heck, even Southland or Canterbury)
pettal,
Sep 17, 11:48am
Sounds like you are a bit anger you cant fine something for nothing .
toyboy3,
Sep 17, 11:48am
what sort of car are you expectingWOF$40 reg $100doesn't leave much for the car purchaseif you think $500 for a car, when the scrap price for the car is $250 what planet are you on
moosie_21,
Sep 17, 11:55am
Hey my Caniwi friend, welcome to the boards! I was a bit weirded out by prices too when I moved over from our great northern country, but it just seems to be the norm now. We are used to getting nearly new cars for cheap in North America because they wear out twice as fast because of all the salt on the roads and they are all pretty much produced in our backyard. The economy here is totally different. You could have bought a WoF'd and rego'd car a few years back for $500, but not the case anymore. I think the only way you're going to get a car for that much that is still driveable is through private sale unfortunately. Hear about them all the time, so keep trying.
On another note, can't believe we beat Tonga the other night! Hope we give it to the frogs tomorrow as well. Not as enthralling as Saturday night NHL in Canada though is it!
3962,
Sep 17, 12:01pm
There are some out there but $300-$500 cars just aren't worth the cost of advertising in the paper/internet. Yes some papers are free to advertise but people just cant be bothered so cardboard & a vivid are the cheapest option. Some do have WOF & REGO & just sell on the lawn. And then there are others who just ring up a wrecker & take whatever is offered.
Think NZ is bad! Try Australia. You CANNOT get a decent car that is roadworthy for under AU$1000, and if you can then it would require work to be running properly. In Australia you HAVE to sell a car with a roadworthy certificate (WOF), unless you sell it AS IS without the plates which then makes it a larger burden on the buyer and therefore the price takes a dive.
I think in NZ perhaps the demand is exceeding the supply. From what I understood, the number of vehicles being taken off our roads daily is marginally higher than the number of vehicles being first registered on our roads, either a new car or a fresh import.
I remember when you could pick up a $500 car with a WOF & reg no worries, but I think those days are gone. This 'global financial crisis' as made many people hang onto their existing sh*tboxes rather than upgrade to something newer. There are still PLENTY of vehicles for sale in NZ, but I think that the demand has SHIFTED from newer and more expensive vehicles to just cheaper and older bangers which the supply could not keep up with, therefore the prices have increased. Combine this with tougher new importation rules which is blocking the supply of cheaper older vehicles coming into the country.
Yes I too find it uncanny that an 80s crapper can be $1000 yet something from the mid 90s can be a mere $500 more.
I still maintain that vehicle ownership in NZ is very cheap compared to most of the world. We have such a large range of vehicles coming from all continents and vehicles designated for specific markets which make their way here (ie Jap imports but also cars from Singapore, UK, Australia, South Africa etc).
PS I wouldn't have paid more than $1000 for a Pontiac Sunfire either. They're just a sh*t car, I would almost take the $1200 1984 Civic instead. It would no doubt be more reliable and probably even more interesting to drive than that plastic laden american hunk of sh*t which completely represents the throw away culture they have. At 10 years old it would have been worn out already.
canuckandkiwi,
Sep 17, 12:05pm
$40 for WOF - $100 for rego. people shouldn't factor these into the price, you need to have them to have a legal car! Just a bit sick of seeing crap cars go for crazy prices. Just wanted something to last me until the end of the year, but looking at what's out there, I'll stick to the bus.
Moosie, not an NHL fan. I was stuck with the Mapleleafs, but went to a few Raptor games when Celtics and other decent teams came to town, great vibe in the ACC.
canuckandkiwi,
Sep 17, 12:09pm
Hi Phillip, the Sunfire was a great car, I used it for a year and then got rid of it. Rust being the factor (like Moosie mentioned). I'd rather own an American made car than some of the horrid Japanese imports we're getting (though Toyota and Honda do remain solid). 2nd hand Mitsubishis and Subarusshould not be allowed to be sold for more than $500, haha
phillip.weston,
Sep 17, 12:13pm
I think the title of this thread should actually be "stupidity of unrealistic buyers who have come from a completely different economy and expect something for nothing".
You said it yourself, the cars over there rust out before they are 10 years old. You don't really see that happening here until 20-30 years old. Why throw away a completely functioning car because it's getting older! Keeping an older car on the road actually pollutes LESS than manufacturing a new car. And looking at most of the new cars on sale today (especially from America), I would gladly take a used Japanese, European or Australian car over them.
kcf,
Sep 17, 12:21pm
I'm puzzled.Typically any running car with a WOF will fetch at least a grand, that has been the case for probably the last ten years.Sure, there's the odd bargain well under that, however on average if it ain totally poked, it's worth a grand.
Do you also hop into cars on the left hand side, and become enraged that unlike in Canada, there is no steering wheel there!This would be equally unrealistic an expectation.Different countries, different market.
quickstitch,
Sep 17, 12:22pm
canuckandkiwi wrote: $40 for WOF - $100 for rego. people shouldn't factor these into the price, you need to have them to have a legal car!
Of course they should factor these into the price. It is what make their car more desirable than a non wof'd and rego'd car.If you spend $50000 on putting in a swimming pool are you going to sell your house at the same price as your neighbours house without a swimming pool. Get real
johnnyrotten3,
Sep 17, 12:24pm
In the 6 months you have spent shopping how many vehicles have you bought!
canuckandkiwi,
Sep 17, 12:48pm
I have bought no cars, and I'm a New Zealander by the way. I never had a problem with the cost of cars here until I saw what others were paying.
But the problem is more so with trade me and what people expect for a car, and how people use the bidding function. Bidders should save to watch list before putting stupid bids on just to appear in the lead. All it does is drive up the cost of the car to the winner
phillip.weston,
Sep 17, 12:51pm
No it doesn't. Do you really think that a car worth $5000 is going to sell for $2000-3000 because people are placing little bids $1 at a time! No. It's going to sell for what the car is worth (and that's what someone is prepared to pay for it). In fact I do the opposite, if I see a car on auction and I know it's worth say $5000, I will place a bid of $4000 straight away because I know that it's very unlikely it will sell for under that amount and there's no real point in pissing around placing earlier bids. It also has the added benefit of scaring away the other bidders who think they're going to get the car for $2000-3000 by bidding $1 at a time.
bopbargains,
Sep 17, 12:53pm
think the quote "I have spent a good 6 months of this year car shopping" says it all.
canuckandkiwi,
Sep 17, 12:56pm
No a $5,000 car will not sell for that, but a $1,000 car may sell for $200-300 less, which is a good chunk of money to someone that values $100.
I didn't expect a positive response from NZers for making this post, because most sellers in NZ have a sense of entitlement, and no one is prepared to fight for anything, basically why we have pitiful turnouts for protests and why the people have no power here. A bunch of lazy conformists.
canuckandkiwi,
Sep 17, 12:58pm
Anyone would think that if you buy a car for $1,000 you would probably get $800 for it when you sell it again, but in NZ you've got good odds of making money on it, even though the kms are higher, and nothing has been done to it except it's had a new WOF and rego put on it. Sad state of affairs. Looking forward to leaving NZ for a bigger pond.
phillip.weston,
Sep 17, 1:00pm
You must really be a jew or something. Really, complaining about $50! That fact is that car is not a $200 car. It is a $1500-2000 car. He's not driving up the price by placing a $250 bid as opposed to a $201 bid because the top bidder and winner will ultimately only place a bit what the car is worth to them, and a $250 bid as opposed to a $201 bid early on in the auction process is going to make NO FU*KING DIFFERENCE.
phillip.weston,
Sep 17, 1:03pm
Christ. Go cry a river or something. If NZ is so bad why the hell are you here! Nothing grinds my gears more than people from another country complaining about living in NZ. Why are they not living in their home country! Oh I know. because it has a higher crime rate, or because the temperatures are so miserable year round etc.
canuckandkiwi,
Sep 17, 1:04pm
I know it's not a $200 car, but it is not a $1500-2000 car. And 21 replies in and we have our first racist comment. No surprise, it is NZ.
I don't think you get what I'm saying, so you must be thick. If I put a $200 autobid on so early on, why start placing bids $50 higher than the bid. Now someone else will come along and do the same, thus driving the auction up towards the $500-600 mark, way before the auction is to expire. There is no need to try outbidding each other at such an early stage.
canuckandkiwi,
Sep 17, 1:07pm
Phil, I am a New Zealander! I'm here finishing my post grad, then taking off to make real money instead of living in a rugby-obsessed country that houses small-minded racists like yourself.
Temperatures being miserable in Canada! LOL Real snowfalls at Christmas, a white Christmas and 30 degrees almost everyday over summer. Try living in Dunedin. worst weather ever. Cold and wet all year round, even summer!
You definitely sound like someone that has never traveled.
phillip.weston,
Sep 17, 1:08pm
For the record, I am a NZer living in Australia. Car ownership here is terrible if you want something other than a Falcon, Commodore, Magna or Camry. Used cars here are more expensive than NZ, they generally have higher kms too because they do more travelling, there is a really poor range of vehicles here thanks to a heavily taxed and limited quota of imports in order to support their domestic offerings and costs of rego, insurance and inspections are far more expensive too! Am I complaining! No. Because it's something I put up with in order to have a better quality of life in Australia with nicer weather and better job prospects.
canuckandkiwi,
Sep 17, 1:14pm
Good for you. Maybe you want to refrain from calling people "Jews" and to refrain from defending New Zealand as a viable place to live when you don't actually live here. I love Australia, and the prices of cars seemed fine to me when I was there, due to the wages being much higher, though the rent and house prices are insane.
Sorry for the moan, just read back over it all, and it seems very petty. All the best in Oz, and I'll move my car search to the wreckers! haha
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