Interstate Purchase Experience - Brisbane to Melb.

[John Hanslow]

I bought a car interstate in Jan 2009 and have been asked to advise on my interstate purchase experience.  Upon reflection - It all has to do with how you value your time and the price advantage to cover expenses.

Background
I wanted a 156 Twin Spark Monza but the cheaper ones were all around $13k (with books) and in the end, I looked at interstate options. Was not much around on the market last Jan.  Found a 156 2002 Sport, which from what I can gather was a Monza with better seats, tinting, suspension upgrade to sports pack and 17 inch wheels for about the same price.

My Option
Found a car in Brisbane area so made the call and confirmed price was $13k with no further discount, as is with books.   So the seller was happy to take it to the local Alfa Specialist, Alfa Motive who did a pre purchase inspection for me.  They vouched for the car. I offered to pay a fee but they did it free for being an Alfa Club member.  Bit of a bonus.

Rego Legals
The car was offered with rego of course and the usual process in each state is to sell the car and fill out the transfer papers and send them off in the usual manner.  I checked with Vic Roads and they confirmed that a car purchased interstate was ok as long  as it was RWC and you came in and swapped interstate plates to Vic plates. Alternatively, you cash in the plates you get a temporary permit to drive the car from A to B and all states have a system like that.  The 'rego plate' is the paper receipt you place on the inside passenger windscreen.

The transfer.
I decided to buy the car & got a cheap air ticket to Brissy. At the last minute, the vendor was not comfortable having the car driven interstate with their plates left on.  I did explain that there was no real difference if me or a Qldander took the car away and then lodged the transfer - it must have been the interstate thing.

We went to the local Qld Roads department and chashed in plate and got a temp permit for about $30.00 and I asked and this was confirmed from' ... Brisbane to ... Melbourne' - and all was ok.  After all it was written clearly on the form.

The facts.
Was pulled over later that night in Sydney (missed the ring road and got lost) and the NSW police noticed I had no plates.  Upon showing the temp permit, they stated I needed one for each state, i.e. Qld, NSW & Vic to complete my journey legally.  They did note the fact that the permit stated Brisbane to Melb and they took sympathy as the advice I recieved from Qld Roads was incorrect.  As my plan was to stop off near Canberra, they recommended get a NSW permit in the morning at an office somewhere on the NSW side.  So after a good nights sleep I drove directly back to Melb.  

Vic RWC
Took the car to Alfa Specialist & car passed a RWC no worries.  However wanted a full service etc on the Alfa Analyser so took it to another specialist to plug it in and do what ever ... !  All good - and got a few things done as a precaution for the future as some long drives planned. Went to Vic Roads office (still had old Qld permit) and got my new Vic rego sorted out a week later.

Recommendations.
If you can get a car cheaper and meets your requirements and pre-purchase checks etc, then go for it,.  However you need the time and the desire.  Would I do it again ?  Sure but not until next years annual holidays and have to find a cheaper car that suits my needs.

However if you can buy a car wholesale locally with books, RWC and all that, the money you save can be used to upgrade the car or a thoroughly good service.  That's not a plug for another thread by the way.

Something to do if you have some time off - thats' what it was for me.

[avim]

Great post!  Given the relative scarcity of the 916 GTV, it often makes sense for me to check out interstate classifieds in my pursuits.

[Davidm1600]

My journey along the same path was even simpler than John's  though for many of the same reasons, there were at the time in Hobart less than 5 sportwagons, and only a couple were manual, oh and none were for sale at the time.

Back in '07  I was after a 156 sportwagon as I felt it time to upgrade finally to a 'modern' car with all the safety features but I also required the space, given we surf, ski/snowboard, go camping and also are undertaking major rennovations.  My 1750 GTV nor the wifey's bmw not being up to the multiple tasks.

In my case I went for the JTS, given the further upgrades to the 156 model, it had to be manual, as low kms for the $$ (89,000km), and full service history, oh and the wifey had a say on the colour of the exterior/interior.  So, having found a '03 in gabbiano blue (metallic light blue), with charcoal leather interior, 1 owner from new with full Alfa service dealer history, the price seemed ok at $20K, and it also came with the Bose hi fi upgrade so that was cool.  I arranged for temporary insurance cover with Shannons prior to heading up to Sydney.

So the idea was to fly to Sydney from Hobart, with our luggage including boards, to test drive and buy the car (I was confident that it would be fine having spoken to the wholesale dealer, but did have a plan B, which I could have put into action though possibly a little problematic).  So the car was not inspected, but had been serviced just prior to us arriving in Sydney. The dealer met us with the car at our hotel, and took us back to their yard, where from there we took it for a drive.  It felt fine, looked in superb condition.   I checked the service books, which confirmed what I had been told.  Payed the money, signed the transfer documents and headed off back to our Hotel.

The next day we headed off down the coast.  Had a great trip on the way over a 10 day holiday, took the ferry back to Tassie, and drove home.  As the car was still registered in NSW, I let the rego run out, then had it inspected here in Hobart.  Passed with flying colours, organised for new rego and that was it.

It couldn't have been more simple.  Some 2 years plus, the car has been a breeze.  One minor problem (ie. an engine management system sensor died), and it has had one service, but will need new tyres shortly and another service.  I also will need to do the belts within the next 5-10,000km so have that small delight to look forward to.  The car now has nearly 103,000km on the clock.

In terms of other things to do, it does have a squeaky front suspension bush, which I have been advised is a sway bar thing and quite typical and I would like to firm up the suspension a little with some konis.  Apart from that I am totally happy with my 156 interstate purchase. I would certainly do this again.  In fact nearly did recently as I was considering selling the 156 (for other reasons), and was looking at a number of GTV6s (Alfetta), but the wifey stopped that plan for the time being.  Dave

[alanm]

John
I bought our 156 Monza in Sydney in December.
How much easier is it to buy a car interstate now than say 10 years ago?
I don't think I would have considered making the trip on the strength of a 15 word ad in a newspaper with no photos!
My car (wifes car) was advertised on Carsales, with half a dozen clear photos. When I made inquiries, the dealer I bought it from sent scans of the service books and invoices. On the strength of that I spoke to the Alfa specialist who last serviced the car and it checked out.

The best thing about the whole experience was driving it home!
Highlight was opening the door of the motel at 5.30am (combination of flushing toilets in the next room and paper thin walls) watching the sun come up over the hills behind Gundagai, listening to the squawking cockatoos and getting out on the Hume, road almost to myself. Wound the windows down, put some U2 on and enjoyed the view over the bonnet. It was a highlight of last year (and I went to New York for 3 weeks)!

Registering it in Victoria was easy, though I am still waiting for the NSW RTA to send my refund. Must follow that up.

Alan

[John Hanslow]

Got some good experiences here.  David, great buy and road trip. And Alan, sounds like best of both worlds.

Cheers.