any tips po for looking/buying for secondhand cars in ACT?

katniss · November 2017

Hello po mga kababayan sa Canberra!

Unang-una po, pasensya po sa maraming tanong

.. Bago po kami dto Canberra, wala p po kaming mashadong kakilala.

Naghahanap po kami ng bbilhan ng secondhand car (first time buyers po kami). For now, nagreresearch po kami sa carsales website (mga private owners). Kaso since di po kami maalam sa cars, di po namin alam if basta me rw certificate/maintenance logs/history is enough po.. or may iba pa po bang dapat icheck?

May nagsabi din po sa amin na magdala kmi ng mekaniko para tulungan kami mag-inspect..may suggestions po ba kyo tungkol dun? Me kilala po ba kyo na trustworthy na mekaniko po dito sa Canberra?

Tapos, may mga nakaadvertise po sa carsales na "dealer used". Ok po ba bumili sa mga ganun? mga model 2004-2007?

Lastly po, if from NSW po ung napusuan namin na bilhin, hussle po ba ung process? or marami lang kelangan gawin during bentahan?

Salamat po!

heycoachputmein · November 2017

@katniss based on your circumstances, i suggest that you buy directly from the dealership. Mas mahal ng konti siguro few hundred $$$, sometimes a thousand $$$ more expensive that buying from 'private owner'.

but you have 'peace of mind' at less stress kasi may warranty sila, pwede rin na sila na mag ayos ng insurance mo, ng finances mo, ng rego etc etc.
Also usually nag ooffer din sila ng free 6 months on road assistance.

Imagine the trouble you have to go to buy a car from a private buyer
1. hanap ka sa website
2. bibisita ka sa 'common place' to inspect a car
2a. "repeat how many times?" until makuha mo ang gusto mong kotse
2b. pano ka pupunta? uber? bus? taxi?
3. find a mechanic
4. trust the mechanic
5. insurance
6. rego
7. and after all of that, baka after few months may lumabas na sakit ang kotse

katniss · December 2017

thanks @heycoachputmein. Our prob is prang di gnun kadami dealerships d2 sa canberra and most of them are selling >10k cars. We visited several of them, and one seems dodgy, saying that the 250km camry they were selling is reliable when in fact it is just traded in and not inspected, while the other two were not taking us seriously (we told them that we're willing to pay in cash and if they can offer even a few hundred dollar discount). For now, we are checking NSW dealers (kasi mukang mas maraming option dun). There were forums too that mentioned those dealers which we visited and noted that they were ripped off (charged higher for maintenance/repairs) and the parts replaced were not from car maker.

So far I haven't found any forums regarding trusted dealerships here in Canberra

. For now we're still looking

MayoMay · October 2018

@katniss what happen n po sa plan nyo? We are also new here

katniss · November 2020

sorry for the super delayed update:
Nov 2017 we were looking for cars, Dec 2017 we bought our secondhand car.
Bad experience:
We initially went to a Holden dealership, as they were selling a brand new car within our budget (we were ready to pay cash). But from the start, the sales guy was already rude. Went to Toyota and we felt like we weren't really taken seriously that time.

Good experience:
We found a dealership (lennock) and bought a secondhand car instead from there. We fell in love with the car after the test drive and also because the salesman was really friendly and explained things in detail to us.

Almost 3 years na sya and only one had major fix needed. I think we're just lucky po that we got a really good car.