Buying a Car in Kapiti

[tyhapus]

Hi all

Well on Tuesday we leave for NZ and will be living in the Kapiti area.

One of the first things we need to do is buy a car.

Can anyone recommend any good dealers? We have less that $10K to spend so we won't be getting top of the range.

Want to be aware of imports etc as I have heard that parts can be expensive for these.

Any makes worth sticking to? - just want reliable, economical and big enough for loads of shopping and beach gear (plus the three of us!!)

Thanks all

[victoria24]

I'm very interested in the replies also

[mylesdw]

Can't help with dealers in that part of the world but 10K should get something pretty good. Dealers are getting pretty desperate so take your 10K cash and make them an offer on a $15K+ car; I reckon you could drive away with a bargain. Whatever you do, don't pay ticket price.

I guess most of the Japanese imports will fill your needs. I suppose Toyota and Honda are probably top of the pile with the likes of Nissan, Mitsubishi etc a good choice too. You pay a bit of a premium for European makes so maybe not such good value. Cars that are 'NZ new' are slightly more desirable because there is a better chance that the mileage is correct. Make use of www.carjam.com - you can see the recorded mileage at every WOF (MOT) for a chosen car.

[Janey]

don't know about your area but in Welly Shackel motors were excellent on Kent Terrace as well as WCD in the Hutt both of us have imports and very good cars too avoid european cars as hey are expensive to service

[incredible hulse]

Jacks motors is pretty good but most/all are imports.

http://www.jacksmotorcompany.co.nz/vehicles.asp

You could also try http://www.rightcarskapiti.co.nz or

http://www.autobase.co.nz/dealers/De...x?DealerID=749

There's plenty up here but for non-imports you're likely to find something at the Ford, Honda, or Holden dealers here

[Big Puku]

Turners car auctions in Seaview are worth a look IMO - plenty of auctions/cars, very friendly and they have quality assured auctions and warranties etc available if you're not confident in your car buying prowess.

Cheaper than dealers on the whole - WCD in Lower Hutt are also good, but they are more expensive, there are also a few on Kapiti Road on the way into Param - although you will usually pay less at Turners or through TradeMe...

Edited to add; all cars here are imports (unless you want a really old Holden!), Japanese parts are cheap (hence why most people drive Jappa's) with the European car parts the most expensive as you'd expect.

[slw]

We bought our used Toyota from Rutherford and Bond in Kapiti and found them to be pretty good as far as dealers go - not too slimy!

[mylesdw]

Turners car auctions in Seaview are worth a look IMO - plenty of auctions/cars, very friendly and they have quality assured auctions and warranties etc available if you're not confident in your car buying prowess.

I find Turners in Chch a bit of a disappointment. They are not really an auction house, more a dealer who parade their cars in front of the punters each day. The vast majority have silly reserves that no-one bids on. You can sit for an hour or more and see nothing sell!

[Big Puku]

I find Turners in Chch a bit of a disappointment. They are not really an auction house, more a dealer who parade their cars in front of the punters each day. The vast majority have silly reserves that no-one bids on. You can sit for an hour or more and see nothing sell!

I've found the one in Wellington quite good (we've bought 4 cars from them, including our latest one a couple of weeks ago) - certainly recently (post economic meltdown!) the reserves are more realistic, although there are still some unrealistic vendors.

Knowing the market price (by looking at similar cars on TradeMe that actually sell) is always useful at any dealer too...

[Twig]

We bought ours from Kapiti Cars on Kapiti Road after a recommendation from a 'yocal' and we weren't disappointed, very happy with car (Toyota Prado), the dealer didn't blink when we suggested knocking a grand off the top, so makes me think we could've gone in lower : )

We were steered towards makes like Toyota, Honda, Mazda. We were told suburu parts were expensive (bizarre when I see them absolutely everywhere). I wouldn't totally rule out trademe though.

We did visit Wholesale Cars Direct, but found although they had a good range of cars they were definately from the 'used car dealer' school and just pushed us towards cars we couldnt' afford regardless of us telling them our limit.