It took me a while to motivate myself to write all this down, but as we probably have to rerun the process all over again, I better do it now.

In Australia you mainly have, in my opinion, Ford, Toyota and Holden. If you want other brands you generally pay more. Holden is the ‘Australian’ brand, which actually is still General Motors with a different brand name. So what you see driving around are Opel (Vauxhall) and Daewoo cars, but they are just called Holden. We bought the Opel Corsa pre-2005 version of Holden, which is called Holden Barina. From 2005 on, all Holden Barina’s are Daewoo Kalos.

The first choice one has to make is whether you want a brand new car or a second hand one. Of course brand new cars are much more expensive, but you immediately have a couple of years of warranty and this will cut down garage costs. Second hand cars are cheaper, but they can have hidden features ánd you still can pay.

If you want to buy a new car, just go to the ‘Parramatta car strip’. You won’t find it on any map as such, but if you take the Great Western Highway to Parramatta, you immediately will notice the multitude of dealerships. One long day will suffice to hop in at all dealers of the major brands, because they are all close together.

Second hand cars need a bit more research on Carsales or Drive. Lots of cars here. Better already make a decision beforehand which brand you fancy, otherwise it will be a hell of a search. The websites allow you to contact the dealers for information. Replies are swift, as cars come and go fast enough. These sites are also a very good opportunity to get acquainted with the ongoing prices for second hand cars, depending on age, mileage and physical condition. For example, we bought our Barina for A$ 10,400, which is rather cheap for a 2.5 year old manual 3-door car with 30,000km. It even still had manufacturer warranty, which relieves you a bit from the fear of buying a scrapheap. Some other dealers asked A$ 4,000 more for a similar car, but with double mileage. You really need to shop around. The alternative is to buy from individuals. This is cheaper than dealers, but no guarantees… A dealer is prohibited by law to sell formerly total loss or stolen cars. If you buy a stolen car, police can take it away from you without any compensation.

Manual transmission and 3-doors are cheaper than their automatic and 5-door counterparts. However, we actually would advise an automatic transmission hot rod, as Sydney is full of traffic and hills. It is really troublesome to have to shift gears, in combination with your hand brake. Moreover, shifting gears with your left hand is very difficult to get used to!

I’m not really going into the discussion of ‘how to cope with a trained salesman ripping you off as much as possible’. Better check the following websites: Negotiationtraining, Privatefleet, as they give a lot of tips. Just keep in mind that you also have good salespeople, and never hurry a deal. I think these negotiation skills are pretty much universal.

The moment you decide to buy a car, some paperwork has to be signed and the dealer needs to give you a form stating you bought the corresponding car. This form is needed to register or transfer your car at the RTA, the Road Traffic Agency. You legally get 3 months of dealer warranty by the way, so you’re covered a little bit anyhow.

The RTA guarantees you a lot of fun. It is one of those typical examples of bureaucracy. Even ‘the country of no worries’ is infected by this evilness. If you’re lucky, everything goes smooth however. Take a couple of hours to go to the RTA, as queus can be long. At the RTA, your car is registered in your name. You have to pay A$ 15 for administration costs and 3% of the sale price as a road tax. For our Barina, it was about A$ 310. Actually this process is much simpler than in Belgium :) At the RTA you can also get your NSW driving license, but if you’re not a permanent resident, please just keep your own driving license. It is good enough for the cops!

Insurance is also quite important for your car. There is a compulsory insurance you have to take anyway. This is called CTP (Compulsory Third Party) insurance, or green slip, which covers you up to like A$ 20,000,000 in the case you hurt or kill someone with your road machine. It is about A$ 400 a year, it has to be renewed yearly, and without it you can’t re-register your car. Reregistering needs to be done each year too. You get a nice sticker with an expiry date that has to be placed on your wind shield. Without that sticker, your car gets towed away immediately. If you buy a second hand car, most of those cars still have their green slip, and the CTP insurance is transferred to your name automatically when the car gets transferred to your name. But the most important thing to remember: first renew the green slip, then renew the registration of your car.

Next to the CTP, you also can buy insurance that covers your car. Depending on the age of the car, you can buy Comprehensive car insurance, which covers almost everything. Or you can buy specific, and thus cheaper insurance. Here you can shop around too, as several insurance companies have their own offers, and prices can vary a lot. Both CTP and Comprehensive/Partly insurance can be bought at the standard insurance companies, like AAMI, Allianz, NRMA, GIO and Zurich. We bought are Comprehensive at NRMA, which is the biggest insurance company of Australia. We paid A$ 719 for a year, which is much lower than car insurance in Belgium! The nice thing is they’ve got a very clear instruction booklet, transparent phone numbers, and they also got a reliable towing service, and nice towing truck drivers! The super cool thing is that you can just arrange everything online, and pay on the spot using your credit card. This way, a car insurance can be arranged within half an hour. The moment your credit card transaction is approved, your car is insured. Sweet!

Now you can cruise around as much as you like!

The final thing is the need for a parking permit for the inner city of Sydney. Without it, you are screwed beyond imagination. Parking is hell in Sydney, as you generally pay A$ 2 an hour. It is virtually impossible to find a spot where you don’t have to pay. Fines are high (A$ 79) and city guard patrols are frequent, like couple of times a day. So, you need a parking permit. You can get these at A$ 42 a year, as long you can prove you actually live at a specific address (proving means: lease contract and utility bill with your name on it). If you live in Surry Hills, one e.g. has to go to the City of Sydney council, Redfern, 158 Redfern Street. They print your permit on the spot. Super handy!