Tuesday 16th August - Car Hunting (day 2)

Where do i begin? Gaz and I were up last night, agitated by what to do for the best about a car. It dawned on us that if we went for a private sale, how would we cough up enough cash to pay for it? We only had 1590AUD in our Westpac account and were concerned we wouldn't be able to get enough money out using our cards. It was 3.30am and i gave my parents a call on skype. Unfortunately my brother had already transferred all of his money from AUD into GBP so we couldn't rely on him for an instant transfer of cash into our Aussie Westpac account. Gaz came up with the idea of getting up early so we could transfer money before and after midnight in the UK. Any way, Mum and Dad started by saying pretty much the same thing as Gaz's parents. We should be aiming to spend a little more on a car not older than approx 6 years and make sure it has service history etc. and we shouldn't rush into it. They also offered to transfer any money needed. Dad then spoke to Adam who explained a relatively new car in Aus is going to cost a LOT of money (as cars are really expensive over here) but we dont want to spend TOO much as we are only here for a year. Gaz and i had 2 cars lined up to see and if all else failed were considering just getting the Daewoo Matiz from the dealer.

At 8am we were up and showered and marching down Queens Street to the nearest ATM. Gaz got a mazimum of 400AUD out....myself however...."card declined". I had told the bank i was coming out here and they had told me there were no blocks on the card. Things got worse as i rung the bank and they told me, "i don't know why it was declined, there are no blocks on the card, try a different bank." This is what i did but again, "Card declined, contact bank."  I rung the bank again and they fobbed me off to someone else who again said there is no block. Don't know what was going on there!  Gaz's card also got blocked then. DISASTER!

Unfortunately by the time we got back to our hotel room, the owner of one of the cars we were interested in (which DOES have full service history) cancelled on us, saying he had been given a job somewhere and couldn't keep the appointment Gaz and I were still adamant we would see the second (and last) car we had on our list. In the bank, the lady behind the counter dished out the full funds in cash and bound the 100dollar bills with an elastic band. Gaz was sorting out the wireless Internet that my brother has given us (which has proved very handy) on a chair in the bank. I stood by Gaz, clinging tightly to my bag to make sure no one grabbed it when the lady that served me came running up to me calling, "Victoria, im so sorry, how much money did i give you, i think i gave you too much!!!". The look of horror spread over the other Westpac assistants faces and everyone watched as i dived into my bottomless bag and managed to rake out the wade of notes. The lady counted them and yes, she had overpaid me by 400AUD. Her ass would have been in the sh*t had i walked out with that!!! Oh well, as they say - easy come easy go!

We caught an expensive taxi ride to somewhere in Brisbane to test drive a ford festiva. The owner was in work but said we could have a drive of the car while he was out so he kindly left the keys in the ignition so we could have a spin before he got home?!!! The 13 year old son, Trent, was inside the house and came out to say hello. He was happy for us to disappear in his sisters car to test it. When driving the car, it felt a lot more powerful than the Matiz but there was a bubbling noise coming from the aircon when the engine was turned off. Also the fan belt made a squeaky noise. We were interested in the car as we had been told the daughter had owned this car for the last 7 years and they did have some history for the car. However, when speaking to the 13 year old son whilst waiting for the father to return, he let slip that his sister had not had the car long. We thought it was a bit suspicious but thought maybe it is because she likes changing her cars a lot (as she had 2 other cars on their drive). When  we met the father, we explained we were interested and asked a little about the cars history. He said it had been in the family for the past 9 years and been passed around. He couldn't give us any documents to show the service history as he said, "with cheap cars like this i don't tend to keep history about them." Hmmmm. Next thing was before we came to look at the car, i had made a note of things the Queensland government trading standards website suggested car buyers look for before purchasing. One of them was a Vcheck (to check the odometer, number of previous onwers, if the vehicle had been stolen in the past etc.) and a VERs (to make sure the car was not being paid off as debt by the current owners). Gaz explained to the owner we would like to do this check. He seemed happy for us to do it but did make comments such as 'oh i cant afford to pay for this, i only have 20 dollars in my bank account" and also "i don't know if it will show much as i only registered the car on friday." We whipped out the laptop and did the check irrespective of what the guy was saying. This is where the wireless internet came in handy! we paid 40 dollars for the vcheck but in the long run its saved us 3 grand! the car has had numerous owners in the past and whats more, the odometer has been tinkered with! a few thousand miles knocked off here and there between new owners. The owner made out he didnt know how that could have happened (of course he would say that) but my concern was if it had been passed around in the family, then you would KNOW about the odometer being put back. he was blatantly lying. Gaz and I made the right decision...Gaz being more sceptical than me (which is a good thing) pointed out we wouldnt be able to sell on a car like this as the odometer has been messed with so much. He broke the news to the owner that we were declining the offer and that was that. We decided to catch a train back to fortitude valley where we grabbed a coke. The stations in Berlin could learn a thing or too from Brisbane! There was a button would could press and it told you what platform and when the next train would be coming. Very clever!

Gaz and I have had a chat and we don't want to get the Matiz from the dealer as we feel we should know a bit more about a car before we go and buy it. We are waiting to hear from the gentleman who cancelled the viewing this morning to see if he can do it later tonight. If not, we are going to higher a car to Hervey Bay. No stress, No hassle. Will keep you posted on what happens later!!!