The backpackers car market
Trip Start
Nov 28, 2004
1
53
57
Trip End
Jun 11, 2005
Sydney,
New South Wales,
Australia
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
The booth which is adjacent to the car park entrance up at street level serves as the engine room. I pay them a little visit and ' register ' my car with them. I have to say that I had visions of a big patch of open land where sellers and buyers would conduct their own affairs - free market trading in second hand cars. Nothing unusual about that. But what we have here seems to be a very tightly controlled system instead. The Aussies seem to love ' over-managing ' things. They'll proceduralise and then regulate everything. A society of standardised documentation, rules and inspections.
I must pay a fixed weekly rent to present my car here, alongside many others, to the trickle of daily buyers that will emerge from the one elevator. The car must first be issued with a standard ' pink slip ' - a certificate of having passed a mechanical inspection, meeting the especially stringent New South Wales regulations. I have an invoice for a recent service done in Perth but I'm told that out-of-state papers are not valid. My ownership papers will be sent for re-registration in the new owner's name once a sale is complete. The government fee for this is a percentage of the car's value. It doesn't take a genius to see that by under-stating the actual sale price of the car on the transfer papers, a saving can be made here. And the most interesting thing about it all is the 'rego' - the car's registration number.
Percy has an NT rego - Northern Territories. Meaning that my buyer will either have to visit the Northern Territories to re-register the vehicle in their name, or in certain cases it can be done by post. So, unless my buyer is going up to Alice Springs NT ( or less likely, all the way back to Darwin ) this may be a hassle. The value of my car may have to be adjusted downwards to accommodate it. If however, I had NSW plates, an ideal scenario - the transfer can be done right away and so the car is worth more. Can I buy them, NSW plates I mean ? Yes - for about 1,000 dollars. Half the value of the car.
South Australia plates are a real headache since only a visit to SA ' in person ' will facilitate ownership transfer - and few people have Adelaide in mind as their destination when arriving in Sydney. The majority will be heading up the East coast to Queensland. You wouldn't want to be stuck here with a car on SA plates. You'll be having to woo customers with a generous discount.
West Australia plates are much better - the processing can all be done reasonably painlessly online, using the WA government's website. You start to get the picture. And why bother with all this re-registering nonsense anyway ? Because without it, the car won't have any third-party insurance and the purchaser will be driving illegally. They may lose their vehicle because of it. The staff here that operate the backpacker's car market will not do business on those terms. I leave, thinking to myself what a pain-in-the-arse system, and go to meet Steve for a welcome drink.
Next ; First impressions of Sydney
