Originally Posted by
Duncan74
Over here then in general cars are seen as a tool. Outside of Auckland, where things are a little different, then even the boy racer cars don't tend to be polished, and kept looking nice. Yes they have the wheels and dustbin exhaust, but they are still more focussed on moving than in the UK where like it or not many where kept very clean and tidy.
The general culture is that a car/truck is to get you to the beach / boat / bach where you then do your surfing, hunting and fishing. Those all need wet / messy kit and you'll be covering the vehicle with roof racks and tow bars, so 'wasting' a good days fishing pimping a car is pointless. So that's at the 'show' end of things, but my take on life over here, admittedly based in Tauranga and time in Roto-vegas and Hamilton, is that it permeates down to the everyday too.
Yeah, that sounds about right (but who can afford a boat and a second home on the beach is beyond me).
When I got here I was totally appalled at the exterior condition, interior condition, lack of service history, high mileage, and sky high prices for the afore mentioned conveyances. The condition of cars for sale over here, especially private sales are all of the above and every single one has at least one large dint or evidence of body repair. Most cars for sale over here for top dollar prices you would not be able to sell in the UK as they look like someone has been round the bodywork killing flies with a lump hammer and then cleaning it with a bucket of mud and a brick. And if you do find a "straight bodied" car (most obtainable from Jap imports specialists and later part-ex models from main agents, then it won't be long before it gets driven into, scratched, knocked and banged around by the number of Kiwi drivers who, and lets be fair to them, are the worst drivers I have ever seen this side of the African Bush... they will drive into you on car parks and then just drive off (cause most of 'em probably don't have car insurance as it isn't mandatory over here as yet!!). A "person" in a rust and white coloured SUV thing hit my Falcon (which was perfect bodywork and ALWAYS kept polished) backing out of a space in P&S and stuffed my rear wing in causing $600 worth of damage and the ignorant "person" just drove off with out batting an eyelid. I saw this as I was coming out of P&S but was to far away to catch them. My wifes Mazda Lantis (again with very nice bodywork and polished) was hit right down the back door and the back wing causing $1600 - $2000 worth of damage and it moved the rear of the car over about 18 inches, and once again the ignorant "person" just drove off (this one was as it was left in a road side parking bay at a garage one morning to have some work carried out). So, don't think you are going to get the same quality of vehicle over here as you would in the UK for a similar price (not sure about Canada though) or if you do get a reasonable one the Kiwi drivers will soon having looking like everything else on the road.
Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear but in 3.5 years here thats my experience with cars and I can only call 'em as I see 'em, Kiwi drivers have NO respect for other people's cars at all... also finding an honest repair garage will take you a long time as well, be prepared to get stitched up on repair prices until you find a good, honest garage.... it's taken me 3.5 years to find one.
Best of luck
Cheers
G