backpacker autos

This place specialises, as the names suggests, in cars for backpackers to take off on the big travel round Australia. This kind of gives them a bit of an open market to flog them any old rubbish. And yes, the cars are usually pretty ropey — highlights of the ones we test drove from here included a car that didn’t steer, brake or accelerate with any confidence, and which spat little black balls out of the exhaust. Bearing in mind that in Australia cars are expected to go further and last longer, the high odo readings (200−300k is typical) shouldn’t scare you, and they DO sometimes have decent cars, but just check it really, really carefully and give it a good test drive before you commit to buying anything. Also look up the rules on ‘Road Worthy Certificates’ (which the car has to have for them to be allowed to sell it) so you know what they check and what will be guaranteed for a short period after you buy.