Friday, February 20, 2009

how to buy and sell a car motorhome or campervan in new zealand

How To Buy And Sell A Car, Motorhome Or Campervan In New ZealandWriten by Glenn Bongartz

There are three main ways for people to buy and sell cars and other vehicles in New Zealand, licensed motor vehicle dealer, newspaper and auction. The Internet and car fairs are also used.

Change of Ownership

This is done with two forms, filled out by the buyer and seller, the buyer pays for this and it costs around $10nzd. The buyer takes one form into the post office, and the seller sends in the other form. The new owner is then sent out the new Certificate of Registration. The form is not an ownership paper but does show that the new buyer is the registered owner.

WOF and Registration

All vehicles on New Zealand roads must have a current Warrant of Fitness (WOF) and Registration or the police will fine you if you drive a vehicle with either of these things expired. The WOF is a 15-minute check that is carried out every 6 months or older vehicles and 12 months on newer vehicles. This check is to make sure the vehicle is safe and road worthy. It will cost you around $25-$55nzd depending on the checking facility. Many garages offer this service as well as purpose built testing facilities, with a total of around 3,500 WOF agents throughout New Zealand.
If you have a current WOF you may then go to your nearest post office and purchase between 3 and 12 months of registration. This will cost around $230nzd for 1 year.

Insurance

Insurance is not compulsory in New Zealand, but most people do have insurance. If you have insurance this covers damage you do, or someone else does to you. Any injuries are covered by ACC (Accident Compensation Corporation) this is an area of the Government that pays for your injuries and loss of income because of any accident.
Insurance is not that expensive compared to somewhere like the UK. Here is an estimate; full insurance for a 29 year old, driving a $6000 standard car, with a good driving record, would be around $350nzd.

Money owed by previous owner

You will need to ensure that there is no money owing on the vehicle, otherwise you may find yourself in a situation where the car is repossessed to repay the previous owners debts. For $3 you can check the vehicle with the Personal Property Securities Register (tel 0900 90977; website www.ppsr.govt.nz). You will need to provide details of the car's registration, VIN and chassis number.

Licensed Motor Vehicle Dealer

These are exactly what their title tells you they are licensed to trade in motor vehicles. They offer you the most protection when buying a vehicle. They provide warranties and must represent the vehicle accurately and in a saleable condition. For the most protection you will pay a retail price, which in most cases will be more that you would pay on the wholesale auction market.

Newspaper

This option is open to anybody in any region to advertise their vehicle for whatever price they want with an as is where is general rule. Once you have brought your car or other vehicle off any individual in the paper and something is not right the problem is now yours. There are regional papers and the most popular are the trade and exchange type newspapers in each region. These are free for private sellers to advertise in with the cost of the paper to buy is just under $3.00nzd.

Auction

This option is very popular with this being the wholesale market price of a vehicle you can pick up cheap vehicle if buying and achieve surprising results if selling depending on the time and place. The most well respected and professional nationwide auction company is Turners, and a visit to them may be worth the time. They have many auctions a week.
Auctions are the same as the newspaper and all vehicles are sold on an as is where is basis, you have to check for current WOF and registration and it is up to you to sort out new ones if they are expired. Turners have expanded their business over the years to be more users friendly and now offer warranties, finance and pre-purchase vehicle appraisals. The auction will charge a commission for selling and take a fee for buying.

Internet

The Internet can be treated the same way as a newspaper advertisement. All vehicles are treated on an as is where is basis. Three good websites companies are Trade Me and Traderpoint or if you are looking for a campervan or motorhome www.adventurekiwi.net

Car fair

These are set up in major New Zealand centres and are treated the same as a private newspaper sale with regards to protection to the buyer. With so many things to do in New Zealand you sometimes can spend a lot of time hanging around at car fairs so this would be a good place to buy with other tourists needing to move on.

http://www.newzealandatoz.com
New Zealand AtoZ provides useful New Zealand information to travelers, including a full list of all New Zealand car, motorhome and campervan rental companies along with their daily hire rates
Your complete guide to New Zealand.

It is not that you would not find information on access atlanta auction anywhere else but when you read this article you would find the difference between this article and the run of the mill articles that are generally being published on the net.

cheap car rental

Cheap Car RentalWriten by Rebecka Whitlock

Are you looking to rent a car? Do you need a reliable vehicle for either business or pleasure? Have you looked around and still feel that the rates are a bit high. If this is your situation then the information in this article will be very useful to you. In this article we will discuss and answer some of the most frequently asked questions regarding cheap car rental.

Where should I look to find cheap car rental there is no specific place to look. All the major companies offer deals at one time or another so there are no hard and fast rules regarding where and when to look. Sometimes smaller companies are worth a look as well. They like to stay competitive with the larger companies to try to get some of their businesses. The best thing to do is continually call around and get quotes from as many places as possible.

What if I dont need unlimited mileage? Then you may be in a position to get a much lower daily rate. Car rental companies factor in wear and tear and insurance when establishing their daily rate. The less your drive the less chance you have of having an accident and putting more stress on the car. Often times this is reflected in the daily rate if you know you are going to be driving less than 50 miles a day you may want to for go the unlimited mileage. However, be careful you dont go over. If you do many times you end up paying sever penalties for going over the set amount of miles.
If I have a good driving record, will his help me get a cheap rental? It cant hurt. However, generally insurance rates are set in advance

When looking for cheap car rental, do you homework. Call around to as many places as possible and put them off against each other. With a little determination you can get a good car at a great price and be well on your way to enjoying your vacation and or business trip.

For more articles like this one, visit http://www.allcarrentals.info.

suv car covers

SUV Car CoversWriten by Josh Riverside

No matter how tough a car looks, it too needs a cover to protect it. True, SUVs look really tough and strong, but to retain their looks, it needs a good car cover that can protect it from climatic extremes and other harmful influences. Different companies provide car covers in various designs and materials especially suited for SUVs.

SUV car covers, like any other car covers, can be either ready-made or custom-made. Universal covers come in shapes and designs made to suit all vehicles. Custom-made SUV car covers are tailored and designed according to the measurements of a specific car and are preferred over universal ones.

Car Cover World, Auto Anything, Mats-n-Covers, Car Stuff, Car Covers-Car Bras, 1A Auto, T.J. Cars Custom Car Covers, Buy Automotive, Car Accessories, J.C. Whitney, Car Bytes, Eastwood, Exotic Wood Dash and Metro Parts Markets are some companies that provide good-quality SUV car covers.

Offering both universal and custom-made SUV car covers, Car Cover World is one of the largest retailers of highly popular CoverCraft products. Among universal covers, standard ready-fit covers comes with a two years warranty, BlockIt 350 series comes with a three years warranty and Technalon ready-fit covers has a four years warranty.

Auto Anything offers custom-made products of CoverCraft, Coverking and Auto Anything and also provides universal car covers.

The materials used to make SUV car covers are Noah, WeatherShield, Evolution Technalon, Polycotton, Tan Flannel and Sunbrella. Noah Barrier Fabric and WeatherShield work great in both indoor and outdoor conditions. Tan Flannel and Dustop work best indoors only, and Stormweave is suitable for all sorts of climatic conditions like snow, rain, dew or industrial pollutants.

There is usually a shipping fee, but some companies like Auto Anything, Auto Parts Warehouse and Car Covers-Car Bras provide free shipping services. Others like Car Cover World and Mats-n-Covers provide free shipping with certain conditions.

Car Covers provides detailed information on Buy Car Covers, Car Covers, Car Seat Covers, Cheap Car Covers and more. Car Covers is affiliated with Car Care Tips.

When you read this article about Cars Auctions, you must understand that this is just a platform to get aware of the fundamentals of Public Cars Auctions and you would have to read more if you want to know more.

car keys locked inside

Car Keys Locked InsideWriten by Joe Ratzkin

While backing out of your garage or even just your driveway this morning, you surely managed to leave some scratches on your car. Not only that but after a couple of miles, you seemed to have ran out of gas. Luckily, you were near a gasoline station and were able to fill up your fuel tank.

However, it seems luck has fled from your side for the day. After filling up, you were able to drive for some distance when a tire of your car went flat. Of course, you had to change the tire yourself. And while you were at it, you noticed that the hubcap you purchased along with some Pontiac auto parts seemed to have fallen somewhere between your current location and your garage. Because you were already late for your work, you hurriedly grabbed your things and rushed out to catch the elevator.

Tough luck. Now that you need to use your car to drive back home, you just realized that in your hurry, you forgot to take your car keys with you. And they are just where you left them inside your car. You may not be a locksmith, but if you own a car that has been created before the 1980s or if you may have left a window of your car slightly open, you may have just the slightest chance of opening the car yourself.

You do need a wire hanger to do this challenge. Straighten the hanger out and then bend an end. Make sure you form a hook or even a triangular handle. This would serve as the extension of your hand in breaking into your own car. You can also try opening a window through prying. Just use a putty knife and slip it between the window and the door.

When you have part of the window open, slip the wire hanger you bent through it. Your task would be to actually move the hanger through your car and try to pull the door lock open. This may be quite difficult but it can be achieved.

Now, if you own a newer car model, well, the best move for you would be to actually call a locksmith and let him do the work.

Pontiac auto parts

Joe Ratzkin is an avid fan of anything automotive. This 34-year old bachelor wanted to be a mechanic when he was a kid but changed his mind and became a freelance writer and researcher instead. He is currently based in Chicago, Illinois.

washing your car in the driveway causes water usage

Washing Your Car in the Driveway Causes Water UsageWriten by Lance Winslow

Washing your car in your driveway is not helping the drought issue. We study such areas because we know we can clean cars using as little as 3-5 gallons with a pressure washer. Our company runs mobile car washes and we have set these units up in some 23 states. So we can was a car or SUV with between three to five gallons total per car whereas the home owner will use up to 100 gallons washing a single car. This is because pressure washers only use about 3 gallons per minute and a garden hose outlets could use as much as 10 gallons per minute.

As areas get into level two droughts more often between such drought cycles the water supplies become critically low. Water restrictions are put into action and enforced by usually municipal water police. These issues of drought years and populations and the balance have been occurring in the arid regions of the South West for as long as humans have been congregating in civilizations. In the last 10-year period we have seen Midwest and North West regions with droughts; even droughts in North East and Southeastern US.

If you are going to wash you are car in your drive way, use a shut off nozzle and if possible wash your car on the lawn so the water is simultaneously watering the lawn, these two simple tips could cut down your water usage by two-thirds. Think about it.

Lance Winslow - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

environmental compliance mobile auto detailing

Environmental Compliance; Mobile Auto DetailingWriten by Lance Winslow

There are environmental compliance issues in automotive detailing, but how much does all this really help the environment. In the auto detailing industry we know we must comply and do with these regulations, yet often one has to ask them selves, why are we really doing this? Sometimes one has to think that much of these are not as much about the environment as much as from competitors who use the environment and government as a way to attack the mobile car washes and detailers from taking their business. Some mobile auto detailers think the carwash owners need to do better work and stop pointing fingers. Meanwhile some legitimate rules on the environment do make sense.

A little soap is good for the environment, but we are not allowed to let soap run into a storm drain. While it is true that there are harsh chemicals and detergents that are currently used by industry and homeowners that should never be allowed free to run into our ecosystem, most basic soap wont hurt anything. As a matter of fact, they actually help break down other unwanted contaminants so they can be further filtered by mother earths soil and diluted by her abundant water. Most mobile auto detailers soaps are perfectly harmless. Unfortunately, no matter how good or biodegradable these soaps are, the law reads nothing but domestic potable water goes into the storm drains.

Non-spray products such as silicon for bumpers, wax, adhesive remover, etc. are major environmental problems because they contain dastardly chemicals. You must realize these chemicals do not go into the environment during the washing of the vehicle; therefore, they do not constitute a pollution discharge. Whatever you do, do not pour out a 55-gallon drum of this type product into the gutter in front of your house.

Here is a sad story of what happens when there is an unscrupulous manufacturer tries to sell a product that is not safe:

A company that touted their product as being safe for the environment sold it to thousands of retailers that had thousands of outlets. It was on shelves all over America for about three years. It was in the garages of over forty million households. It was later discovered by a company that preps boats for painting and stripping that the product killed fish. Fish were floating to the surface dead each day that this product was used. The company cleaning the boats didnt want to get in trouble, so they switched products and didnt say anything. The new product worked fine and no more dead fish.

About a year and a half later, the supplier for the new product went out of business and the boat company was forced to switch back to the first product. Guess what? Thats right; more dead fish; even more than before. This time the boat cleaning company told someone. The Fish and Game Department slapped on a lawsuit for one million dollars. The product manufacturer paid but continued to make the product with same formula. Other government agencies and environmental groups caught wind and forced the company to change the formula. The price increase to change the formula cost the company eight cents more per bottle on a retail price of $10.00. The one million dollars was less than eight cents per gallon, so they just paid it. When they finally switched formulas due to the pressure from environmental consumers and the negative media, the bottle said New and Improved and Even More Environmentally Safe Than Before. The price increased an average of $1.99 retail. The products name? I am not writing this article to hurt brand names so we will leave it at that, you can figure it out thru public record.

The point in the matter is there are some chemicals used by auto and boat detailers which are bad for the environment, but for the most part the small amounts of soaps used to wash the cars is insignificant and more of a competitive political move than any effort to help the environment.

Lance Winslow - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

tune your car save cold hard cash

Tune Your Car - Save Cold Hard CashWriten by Jack Cooper

CARFACTS ENGINE TUNE UP TIPS...

I will list a few carfacts tune up tips here and when you are done here check out the other carfacts pages.

On the newer fuel injected electronic control engines tune ups are not required as often as on the old carburetor and distributor engines.

You can go 60,000-70,000 miles without to much worry.And then most that will need done would be to replace the spark plugs and clean the fuel injectors.

If your engine starts to run really rough and the SES light comes on you may need to take it and have the engine scanned. At most of the discount parts stores they will do an engine scan free. It will bring up engine codes that will let you know what kind of problem you may be having.

If engine is scanned and has a misfire code for plug wires or fuel injectors you can make this repair yourself and save quite a lot of money.

If you get your engine scanned free at the parts store make sure you buy your parts there to support their efforts.

If misfire comes up as a fuel injector and it's just dirty and not shorted a fix for it is go into store and purchase a bottle of LUCAS fuel injector cleaner (I have tried a lot of different ones and LUCAS is the cheapest and only one I found to work).

Pour the LUCAS injector cleaner in your fuel tank(about 1/2 full or less would be ideal). Drive your car 50-75 miles and it should start working. It may take a couple of bottles but at about $3.00 a bottle it's worth the try. If you take it to a shop it will cost about $150.00 for them to do it and if it dosn't work you will still need to replace injectors (about $800.00). It would be better to be out the $3.00-$6.00 rather than $150.00 and still need to replace injectors.

I have used this cleaner many, many times with good results as have people that I recomended this to.

It is a good idea to put a bottle of LUCAS injector cleaner in your fuel about every 10,000 miles or so to keep your fuel system clean and to stop a problem before it happens.

Now that the fuel system is clean and you have 60,000-70,000 miles on your vehicle and want to do a tune up to prevent a problem before it starts, go down to your discount auto parts store and get the proper spark plugs and wires for your engine.

Raise the hood on your vehicle and look for the spark plug wires and see where they go. They should all go to what is called a coil pack(used to be a distributor cap.

A little tip before you get started, the spark plugs will be a little easier to remove if engine is warmed up before starting to work on it. But don't get it so warm you burn yourself working on it.

Twist all the wires on the coil pack and spark plugs back and forth until they feel free(don't remove any yet).

If you have never done this before just go one at a time. Remove wire at spark plug and then at coil pack, match it up with a new wire from set you bought (make sure same length)connect it to coil pack and route it the same way you took the old one off.

Then take your spark plug socket(and probably a short extension)and ratchet and remove that spark plug. Make sure gap in plug at electrode is right before installing plug. They are gaped at factory but sometimes get bumped and closed up in packaging.

Just repeat this process with all of the wires and spark plugs. If you done this properly you won't need to do it again for another 60,000-70,000 miles.

You just saved yourself an awful lot of money, depending on what engine you have 4-6-8 cylinders.

Jack Cooper is the owner of www.jtcbiz.com where he reveals several Automotive secrets that can save you money and inform you on a variety of Automotive topics.

Jack Cooper is the owner of www.jtcbiz.com where you can find information on cars, gas saving tips, repair tips.

Jack Cooper Occupation: Auto Appraiser/Inspector Website: http://www.jtcbiz.com

Biography: I have over 40 years experience in the Automotive field, from ASE Master Tech to owner of my own repair shop and have been doing Automotive Appraisals and extended warranty/pre-purchase inspections for the past 12 years.