buying a van in Melbourne

Living in country SA
I need to purchase a S/H refrigerated van and there is stuff all in SA but there are plenty in Vic... Melb especially
Now I could fly over there rent a car and drive myself mad going from one side of city to next making decisions or could I use a car broker.

Id like your thoughts please.
Van needs to have refrigeration unit working, prefer 12v/ 240v option
Needs to have under 200,000k on clock
very clean and tidy.

Ive never done this type of buying before so need advice please.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tonto

Living in country SA
I need to purchase a S/H refrigerated van and there is stuff all in SA but there are plenty in Vic... Melb especially
Now I could fly over there rent a car and drive myself mad going from one side of city to next making decisions or could I use a car broker.

Id like your thoughts please.
Van needs to have refrigeration unit working, prefer 12v/ 240v option
Needs to have under 200,000k on clock
very clean and tidy.

Ive never done this type of buying before so need advice please.

---

Tonto,

Using a broker to buy the unit should work pretty well. I've bought two used vehicles via Brokers in the past, and the experience has been OK, especially where you are looking for something specific and harder to find, like your refrigerated van.

You'll have to sign an agreement/contract with the broker that specifies exactly what you want in specifications and price. The contract will also define how much work you want the Broker to do, and what the Broker's fee will be. Most importantly, the contract will specify what happens if the Broker finds a suitable van at the Auctions. In the contract, the Broker is usually out laying their money to buy at the Auction, and after getting the vehicle roadworthy and registered, they will sell it on to you via their used vehicle trader's license, which means that the vehicle should come with the statutory used vehicle warranty applicable in that state for that sort of vehicle. They should be able to arrange to have it freighted to SA and registered there if you want - BUT, doing so may mean that as it wasn't registered in Vic in your name first, then there may be no statutory warranty. Check.

The broker will most likely buy from an Auction. You need to specify whether or not you are prepared for the Broker to bid on the vehicle at the Auctions, before you've seen the vehicle. You need to understand whether the Broker's contract allows you to bail-out of a deal, if the vehicle that the Broker has bought for you at an Auction turns out not to be suitable for some reason that is not specified in the contract. Most broker's contracts will allow you to bail-out of the deal after the vehicle has been bought at the auction, but there will usually be a sizeable bail-out fee. If you've inspected and approved the vehicle before the auction, then there is usually no bailing-out - as any faults discovered after the Auction should then be covered by the Broker's used vehicle dealers license statutory warranty, or fixed during the road worthy process. For a refrigerated van, confirm that the refrigeration unit will be covered by the warranty as well - it may need to be a separate warranty to cover the refrig unit.

The alternative to a broker is to pick the three biggest used vehicle dealers in Melb that deal in your sort of vehicle, and use their web sites to narrow doan your search, and then go to Melb focusing on that small list of dealers.

Hope that info helps.

RoyG



I hope that helps.

cheers Roy
just been talking with Easybrokers and flat fee of $180 they (supposedly) do everything up to the stage of having it ready for me to pickup.

Have contacted a couple of others but if they are around that price it seems to be a no-brainer, and I dont stress myself out driving (and getting yelled at :D ) in Melb will see what other replies pop up and keep every one in the lurch.

I just looked at a web site for a large used car dealer and found just two refrigerated vans. http://www.melbournescheapestvans.co...ce/lwb/120328/ & http://www.melbournescheapestvans.co...ow-swb/118647/
I thought they might have more but indicates how hard it is to find what you want. This company sells the vehicles unregistered and then adds the registration to your bill. Check with your local authority what the cost of registering a vehicle are. I was thinking of buying a car in NSW and then registering it here in Victoria and it was going to cost about $500 on top of the twelve months rego.
Good luck with your search.