government charges when buying a new car

Hi all,

We are relocating to Adelaide next week and we want to purchase a new car. On the website we saw a reasonably priced demo car but the cost is described as excluding governmental charges. Does anyone know what these charges actually are, is it stamp duty/VAT? and how much they will be?

many thanks

Maria

VAT is called GST here so yes there will be that to consider plus you have to pay stamp duty which varys dependant on the price of the car. I think its roughly around 3-4%. You then pay rego either annually or every 3 months. We pay around $217 on each of our cars every 3 months. It includes compulsory third party insurance. Hope that helps.

Try to negotiate a "driveaway" price with the dealer. That is often advertised here, and usually includes all the transfer fees and 12months registration on the vehicle.

rego includes compulsory third party insurance.

Sure you already know, but the rego insurance basically only covers injury to the person who was not at fault, and I don't think it's a huge amount either.

I believe people can sometimes use their no-claims discount from the UK over here, if they bring some kind of evidence?

Yes....good point LC.....my comment is a little misleading. You still need separate insurance to cover the vehicle. CTP is to cover personal injury.

And yes if you bring proof of no claims insurers here will accept it.

hi All, many thanks for your replies, it's very helpful, would you also be able to recommend any particular insurer or a broker? thank you.

I shop around for insurance every year. We don't have many comparison sites and the ones we do have don't have that many insurers on them but they are improving and are good for getting a baseline of what the potential prices are like. Our car is currently insured with Australia Post because they were the cheapest two years ago and last year my OH was able to get them to reduce the renewal premium by phoning them with quotes we had from comparethemarket.com.au. I always start here then just google car insurance for other places to try. Canstar.com.au is a good site for general comparison of insurance policies, although it doesn't do the price comparison thing but will help with names of companies to look at.

I'd just shop around re insurance. What might be a good deal with our insurer for us won't be for you.

We got quotes from about 5 different insurers when we arrived and went with the one we liked best and gave us a good deal. FWIW we did have proof of many years no claims which they took into account.

The other up- front cost we've overlooked here is a car check:

We don't have M O T tests here, so if you are buying a used car (or even a demo vehicle) you'd be daft not to get the RAA to give it the once over

It's quick, it's cheap. - Even if they don't discover significant problems ....the report is a great basis for negotiating the price

Just as important, if the dealer hums and haah's when you ask to arrange the inspection.....that tells you everything you need to know..... just walk away!

JB