Buying a car in Aus

[Dedrei]

We just bought our own little car today!

Cause hubby works for Toyota now we got some staff discount. Bought a 2004 Toyota Echo 1.3 with a/c, power steering, etc. Paid $12 880 driveaway. We would have never been abled to afford this type of car in SA. The new Yaris is the latest model of the Echo here in Aus.

Few questions:

Any suggestions on car insurance? Who gives you the less hassle about that rating thing (1-6), seeing as we are from SA and didn't bring with the letters from our insurance people confirming no claim years, etc. It can cost you dearly. So be warned, get that letter from SA from your insurance, we just didn't have time in the end to organise this and forgot about it. Will try and organise it from here.

Any help would be appreciated as well as any tips on all the newcomers as well.

[chatterbug]

Hi Dedrei,

Don't know about the rating thing, we did not have anything like that, when we took out our first insurance they just asked us the basic questions and answered as best we could. Not sure if we were penalised per se. We went with Suncorp in the beginning, but I suggest you get a couple of quotes from the big ones in Qld, like NMRA, RACQ, try Alliance, or western QBE etc. Anyway a good option for cheap banking and insurance could also be Credit Unions, they have much cheaper fees than other banks and their insurance is very competitive, we have our insurance through Qld Teachers Credit Union - they have a branch in the Stocklands centre in Cairns, check them out too.

Normally you pay annually - much much cheaper than what I paid in JHB - but some you can pay monthly, they sometimes charge a little more for this though!

Insurance in Tropical North Queensland is however more expensive due to the extreme weather and cyclone proneness! Good luck!

Chatterbug