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dbart001

My daughter is looking for a reliable runaround car. She found above on Trademe, new WOF, no registration - Buy now $1,900. It looks very tidy and they say it drives & runs well. Is this a reasonable price to consider for this car before checking it out closer? It has 189,841 kms on the clock. Thanks

jbiddle

You need to be very careful with this car. If the registration has lapsed to a point where the car has fallen off the Land Transport Registry database, it will need to go through a compliance process and be re-registered (new plates fitted etc).

This can be an expensive exercise depending on the condition of the vehicle.

The fact it has a current WoF can be totally irrelevant as the car will need to undergo a reasonably invasive mechanical inspection as part of the compliance process.

A vehicle can be left un-registered for up to 12 months however, and be re-instated back into the system by having a new WoF issued and any outstanding or unpaid registration fees settled.

In summary you need to know the current status of the registration.

Remember also, this car will have virtually no safety features fitted, as it comes from an era in NZ motoring history where such things were not considered a high priority.

You are looking at the right brand if the budget is small, but at this age/mileage and rego status it sounds very high risk to us.