Alfa needs RWC...

[darkstar]

OK guys, I'm in a difficult situation...

have a NSW reg car that I need to register in Vic.

just bought it the other day, and legally I've got 14 days in which to reg it in Vic, which means I need to get it registered by 11 June.

I have an appointment booked with Vic Roads on 6 June to register it, and of course I need to provide a RWC on the day if I want to reg it.

the car's in VERY good nick, I had a mechanic inspect it before purchase and they basically found nothing.

of course, most places that hand out RWCs these days are incredibly picky.

the garage I took it to have picked up on stuff like an oil leak, tiny chips in windscreen, etc.

trouble is, it will all take time (and of course large chunks of folding) to get fixed. I just don't think I can get the work done in time, particularly if I want to reg. it on 6 June.

I just want to sort the registration and start just using the car as my daily driver.

So upshot is that I want someone who'll give me an easy ride on the RWC, and admittedly I'm after names of places that'll do it. I'm pretty sure there's places around that will do it, particularly as I don't want to sell it, I just want to reg. it. Northern suburbs of Melbourne (where I live) or near Camberwell (where I work) would be ideal, but anywhere in Melbourne really, would be good.

Understandably, you probably don't want to post business names here, but I'd be forever grateful for private messages giving names of places that can help. At the moment, I just don't have the money for a lot of expensive work (that I don't believe is necessary anyway). Trying to get the car in to a place that can do the work, and do it in time, is going to be next to impossible too.

yes, I know you can get permits after the 14 day period to drive the car to a repairer, but I just don't want the hassle. I need a registered daily driver quickly, basically.

thanks heaps in advance

[dehne]

hi there, when does the rego run out, ive brought cars from nsw and they have had rego on  them and i just drive them till i get the rwc done, as long as you dont drive like a tool you should be right. i am also guessing that you have just brought the car to, if it was prev in ur name i would change it when the rego runs out

[darkstar]

thanks man...NSW reg doesn't run out til 24 June, and yeah I just bought it, so NSW reg is in the previous owner's name. That's good advice re just driving it til the NSW reg runs out...probably what I'll end up doing...

cheers mate

[Brad M]

No RWC tester will give you an easy ride, from what I hear Vic Roads take them pretty seriously and if one has been given without justification the tester may loose acreditation (and income).

I'd be moving the VicRoads appointment back and getting the car roadworthy before the 24th of June... especially if you are using it as a daily driver.

[darkstar]

yeah, I really think I'll be pushing proverbial uphill to try to find someone who'll overlook a coupla things when RWCing it. Which is just a pain in the proverbial. The car's in better nick and safer than probably vast numbers of cars out there getting around.

anyway, sounding like I'll just have to spend large amounts of time and money getting it RWCd. Also I'll probably just leave it on NSW reg til 24 June, and push back the Vic Roads appointment.

only concern is that I have a receipt for the car (which Vic Roads want to see to evidence that I own the car) that will indicate that I bought it more than 14 days ago...but I doubt anyone's likely to give me an issue about that

[Anthony Sharp]

If you have alraedy failed part 1 of the test, this will be loged with VicRoads, you are required to represent the car to that tester. If you get another RCW from a second tester you may find the when you present the car at VicRoads that they have copies of both and will actively check all failed items on the first one.

[aggie57]

I think you'll also find that asking this question on a public forum is a little counter-productive as well.  I doubt any reliable tester would want a bar of it.

[darkstar]

I said in my first post that ppl cd pm me with names, i fail to see how its counter productive

[shiny_car]

@ Anthony: I didn't know that Part 1 was logged? I've only ever seen it as a piece of paper on a triplicate pad at a RWC Tester; I had not thought that the Tester would submit it in any way to VicRoads.

only concern is that I have a receipt for the car (which Vic Roads want to see to evidence that I own the car) that will indicate that I bought it more than 14 days ago...but I doubt anyone's likely to give me an issue about that

Things have either changed in recent years, or they are not always strict.

In 2008, I bought a SA-registered vehicle. The rego expired that same month. There was no legal requirement to have an RWC provided, so the onus was on me when I re-registered the vehicle in VIC (same for you). It took me a little over 2 months to do all the mechanical work myself. I had a Part 1 RWC completed through my regular dealership (outsourced to their regular RWC Tester); it failed. Then, largely because that Tester is 100km+ from me, and partly because he was hugely pedantic¹, I took it to another Tester, local to where I live. I continued to fix things, and it also failed Part 1, but for trivial things that were easy to change², and I obtained the full RWC a few days later.

By the time I re-registered my car, it was 2 days short of 3 months after the SA rego expired (I was driving on a temporary VicRoads permit). I didn't even realise, but they told me I was just in time. Basically, they simply rubber-stamped the paperwork without inspecting the vehicle, and I was on my way with new rego. Had it been over 3 months from the SA expiry, the car would apparently have required a full inspection.

Move onto 2011, and I bought a VIC-registered secondhand car with RWC. I did re-register it within 14 days, as stipulated on the VicRoads website. This time it did require a brief inspection, to confirm the VIN and Engine Number. Neither of these were inspected in 2008 on my other car, so that alone reflects a change in scrutiny. Was it because of the age of the car (my 1989 75), because surely every secondhand sale doesn't require an inspection?

I don't know exactly how lenient they will be with you. I think if you go beyond 14 days, you may end up having the car inspected at VicRoads. It could be a quick check of VIN and Engine Number like mine, but it could also require something more thorough. I doubt it though; or at least, if you have a valid RWC that's no more than 14 days old, why should they need to do a full inspection? It would suggest that the RWC is worthless, which is counter-intuitive.

So it will be interesting to see what you face in the future. :p

Good luck. Richard

¹ for example, reading the RWC guidelines, it says that the pedal pads (accelerator, brake, clutch) must have rubber on them, making them anti-slip; makes sense to me; but fitting something like aftermarket MOMO pedal pads with rubber 'dot' inserts was not good enough; I had to refit the OE full rubber pads
² for example, the front strut brace obscured part of the VIN number on the suspension tower, so this had to be removed to pass RWC; hence, no big deal, just unbolted it for the inspection
NOTE: different Testers interpret the 'rules' different, from my experience; with the example above about the strut brace, the first Tester did not comment on this, but the second one did; when I recently sold my wife's car, the Tester passed one particular thing that a separate pre-purchase vehicle inspector (also an authorised RWC Tester) said he would not have passed, yet that proved irrelevant because he was not providing the RWC

[Paul Gulliver]

Having just been through this process with 3 cars in the last couple of weeks i can tell you it is sure a lot harder than it used to be .

Without wanting to be to  a smart  a ,   If there was nothing wrong with the car the  vendor would have gone to the trouble of getting a RWC before selling it. You will find out how well you have bought after you get the RWC . I think the lesson for all concerned is never discount the value of a RWC when purchasing a second hand  car.

[darkstar]

Paul: As I said in first post, car was bought in NSW (north coast, actually): there aren't many Victorian licensed vehicle testers up that way

Anthony: I don't believe Vic Roads check previously issued RWCs, I'm not sure where you got that from? Why would a garage send details of failed RWCs to Vic Roads?

problem now is that it could run out of NSW rego before I can get all the work done. I don't know what extra grief Vic Roads might give me if the car's no longer reg'd when I try to reg. it in Vic.

one thing the guy that did the RWC inspection said is that one of the rear rims is buckled, so if it can't be fixed, I may need a replacement teledial which are not easy to find. Had the car looked at by an inspection service before I bought the car, they didn't mention it. Wheel looks perfectly alright, and sure can't feel anything wrong when driving it. Just a pain.

Preferably, I can get a second-hand one, because this whole thing will no doubt cost me an arm and a leg anyway, and wherever I can save, I want to. I may put up a separate post in the appropriate place about finding a teledial...

[pasey25]

Paul: As I said in first post, car was bought in NSW (north coast, actually): there aren't many Victorian licensed vehicle testers up that way

are there any Vic registered testers in Syd or other non victorian cities?? If there were they'd probably get a fair bit of business. I've often wanted to pursure interstate cars but avoided it due to the headaches noted in the thread.

if you could make it a condition of sale for an interstate seller to have a vic RWC obtained locally then this is much more palatable.

[Victor Lee]

You didn't mention how old the car you bought is, but aren't NSW cars over 5 years old required to undergo an annual safety check (a pink slip?). 

So hopefully your car may not need much doing to it to get a Victorian RWC.

Good luck!

[Darryl]

I dunno whether the police state  somehow makes this harder, but I've bought 3 alfas from interstate sans rego (most recently a moonth or so ago).... A bit of pointless running around to collect physical bits of paper from mechanic (rwthy), somewhat bemused bank/insurance tellers (make sure you know what you want/need, chances are they won't) and finally get to qld tpt but so long as the paperwork doesn't have a missing cover sheet/wrong coloured copy/whatever and all the bits of paper including a bill of sale of some kind and old interstate rego papers have matching numbers its good. Thy show absolutely no interest in anything other than the paperwork (ie not interested in the actual car)...

I dunno about interstate inspections etc (I mean the only sensible way to do that would be a uniform national scheme - lets form a subcommittee to investigate why it won't work  ) but if the intra-state system came out of the dark ages and allowed all rego transactions  to be done in one go online once you had the roadworthy it would be much less of a paperchase around town.