Mid Week Match-Up: Fresh Kiwi
Today’s Mid Week Match-Up request comes from Philipp and Nora, friends of DT who are traveling around the world like modern day versions of Marco Polo. After moving anything they couldn’t stuff into a few suitcases into long term storage, they left their home in the Alps for a yearlong sabbatical starting in North American and meandering south (you can follow their exploits here). After a stop in Cuba, and various other unsavory exotic Central American locales, they have hitchhiked to Australia where they are living on Kangaroo meat, but the next stop is New Zealand, which is where they need our help. Philipp and Nora need a camper style van for about $4,000 USD ($5500 NZD) that they can buy, drive/live-in for a few months in New Zealand and then sell when the wind blows in another direction.
I have zero understanding of the New Zealand used car market, so this is 100% up to you guys in the comments.
Thanks for the opportunity to spend a 5 minute break trolling the NZ used car ads…so much forbidden JDM fruit! Not seeing much at that price though…
I would think something like this would fit the bill nicely if they could stretch the budget just a bit, plus it's new enough that something is unlikely to break: trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/toyota/auction-1160704915.htm
This Auckland Budget Cars outfit has a ton of used campers and they purportedly come with a year of roadside assistance and maintenance…maybe they would be willing to work out a deal with the friends of DT? trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/honda/auction-1158633180.htm
Much older, probably much harder to re-sell, and also requires a budget stretch but not bad:
trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/toyota/auction-1165860218.htm
Stupid high miles, also budget stretching, but a camper already: trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/mitsubishi/auction-1158735408.htm
Needs camper van modifications, but a good base: trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/mazda/auction-1166254699.htm
My favorite choice (auction will likely be over by the time they need to buy): trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/toyota/auction-1163299891.htm
ELGRAND! trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/nissan/auction-1163304087.htm
Daniel,
Some good stuff — are you a resident of the Island? This is a great list and I am putting your links into formatted hyperlinks below:
Honda Odyssey
Toyota HiAce
Mitsubishi L300 Camper
Toyota Estima
Nissan Elgrand
-Vince
So it looks like in NZ, any van with a plywood platform added in the back becomes a "camper van". I generally call that "sleeping in your car".
Nope, I've never even been there, but have a friend spend several months down there on a work assignment and I helped him locate some wheels. That's how I know about trademe which is like the NZ Auto Trader. Though he was after something a bit more exotic, and enjoyed five months of R33 GT-R ownership. 🙂
Hi guys,
thanks so much for your help. We'acutally be in nz by mid of october and stay only to beginning of december so we are only looking for already camperready vans. But the buget car dealer looks like a good hint 🙂
@daniel you seem to know the nz market, do you thin we'll be able to resell even the 7000-8000$ cars for the same price/a little more by the time we leave (since its start of high tourist season)??
Philipp
Sorry, just saw your reply to this, hope it's not too late. I helped a friend who spent several months over there find a car so that's how I know about trademe. I think the universal rule of car buying/selling applies there as much as here, in that if you buy something decent at the outset, it'll be easier to sell. That said I'd inquire of the budget lot selling those campers I linked to, and see if they'd do a short term lease. If you're only there for 6 weeks I'm not sure it's worth the hassle of buying, and depending on how many km's you plan to do it may be easier.
Ok, thx for the info. We'll see how it goes and decide ones we are there hahaha