"Rosie" is the name that came with the 1994 Toyota Scepter station wagon that Sean and I bought yesterday. It seems to be the tradition between backpackers that they pass down the name of the car between buyers and sellers. We bought the red beast from two Israeli girls who called her "Rosie the red rose" in Hebrew. We modified it to "whale" because as you can see, she's huge.
Sean and I weren't originally planning on buying a car while we were in New Zealand but we quickly realized that it's what everyone does and for good reason. Even travelers staying for only one or two months buy a car and the whole process of buying one is simple, fairly inexpensive and very commonplace. New Zealand is second only to the U.S. in the ratio of cars to people - they are everywhere. The public transportation is O.K. in the larger cities (Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch) but as soon as you leave the city it's very hard to get around without your own form of transportation. Most people who choose to travel in N.Z. want to camp and hike and the only way to reach the trail heads and back country campsites are with a private or rented vehicle.
Sean and I were extremely nervous about buying a car since a) we both know next to nothing about cars b) it seemed very risky and possibly expensive c) we knew we would have to try and re-sell it at the end of our year here. Fortunately, there are lots of different resources available to backpackers when buying or selling a car. The most famous in Auckland and in Christchurch is the Backpacker's Car Market. Since Sean and I weren't in a hurry and we knew we would be in Christchurch for two weeks we started going to the car market every weekday and to the Canterbury Car Fair on the weekend just to get an idea of prices, models and how to negotiate. We also talked to as many other backpackers as we could about how to buy a car and what to look for. If you are really good with cars you can find a good deal at one of the many auctions in town as well.
We had seen "Rosie" our first day that we visited the car market; she was listed at $2,800 USD and we liked her a lot but she was a bit over our price range. When you want to buy a car in N.Z. you have to look at total kilometers traveled, the WOF (warrant of fitness - a safety check required every six months on every car here), the REGO (yearly registration) and the year and brand of the car. Most garages won't fix cars over 20 years old here and some brands are hard to find parts for. We learned that Subarus and Toyotas are very popular and that Fords and Hondas can be hard to find parts for. The most popular cars are those in which you can sleep in the back and the hottest item selling right now are campervans. We decided we wanted a station wagon that we could sleep in the back of but would also function as a normal car when we find a city to stay and work in. We had talked to a few other backpackers who said they had had problems with people breaking into their vans since it's quite obvious that they contain all of the tourists' possessions while on the road.
Our friend's campervan that he bought and fixed up
We kept going back to the car market every day and learned that the Israeli girls were leaving for home on Tuesday and were willing to lower their price quite drastically in order to sell their car. We had a mechanical and legal check done and negotiated for the price of $1,900 USD - sweet! It will have to have a few things done to it over the course of the year to keep it up in order to sell it again, but that's ok. Interestingly, most backpacker cars are in really good condition - clean, well-repaired and maintained because everyone is aware that they will have to sell it again soon. Most people pass along all the original paperwork so you can see what has been done and when.
It was kind of a stressful and scary process but Sean and I are happy to have a car and we leave for Queenstown on Friday to start looking for work. While we are in Christchurch, however, we are still walking as much as we can because when it costs $100 USD to fill up your gas tank at over $2/liter (ahh!) you start doing things differently. I may never complain about U.S. gas prices again.
I have a friend who went on a similar trip, also to NZ, and she also bought a car. She ended up selling it easily when she left and I believe she even made a profit from it!
Kate - good to hear! I hope that happens to us too! =)
Really thanks for sharing this useful post !! This post is very informative and i have got very good information about backpacker car. keep sharing !!
Backpacker Cars