How to Buy Used Car

How to buy used car in Queensland (procedure)

When it is time to buy a vehicle in Queensland, Australia, many individuals will be interested in purchasing a used car or motorbike. As the different provinces of Australia have varying rules for the transfer and sale of used vehicles, it is advisable to be knowledgeable in the ones which apply. In Queensland, there is a buyers’ checklist, a Vcheck, a REVS check, and a safety certificate which should all be followed and examined in advance of completing the used vehicle purchase.

Buyers’ Checklist:

Before a person purchases a used car in Queensland, he or she should first check to see that the following conditions have all been met:

the seller must have the registration certificate showing that it is in his or her name
the certificate of inspection, also known as COI, must be provided, or alternatively a Queensland safety certificate
the certificate of inspection, or Queensland safety certificate, must be visible on the vehicle itself
the certificate of inspection, or Queensland safety certificate, must not have expired
the certificate of inspection, or Queensland safety certificate, must identify the issuing inspection station, which must be an approved station
the gas certificate must be current, not in excess of three months of age, and it must also be issued by an authorised gas installing agent; this only applies to vehicles which are fitted with gas systems, fittings, or appliances, or for vehicles which run on gas
an independent mechanic must have inspected the vehicle
the buyer will have to file a Transfer Application Part A of the Vehicle Registration Transfer Application at the Department of Transport and Main Roads centre for customer service no later than fourteen days following the vehicle’s purchase
the two sections of said Transfer of Vehicle Registration Application form must have been filled out and signed by both persons involved in the transaction, the buyer and the seller

VCheck and REVS Check:

VChecks should be performed when a used car is being purchased in Queensland, as well. Vchecks provide any individual preparing to purchase a used vehicle with a simple and fast means of getting critical information about the vehicle in advance of buying it. Vcheck reports may be bought for any vehicle manufactured since January 1st, 1989. Such Vchecks are useful to make certain that the vehicle in question is not any of the following:

Written off
Financially burdened, since this might involve the car being repossessed legally
Stolen

For any vehicle which is purchased off of a motor dealer, he or she will also have to provide a REVS, or Register of Encumbered Vehicles check.
Safety Certificates

Safety certificates took the place of roadworthy certificates on November of 1999. Such safety certificates cover basic features which might impact the vehicle’s safe operation. These include the following elements:

Brakes
Tyres
Suspension
Steering
Windscreen
Body damage or rust
Lights

These safety certificates are created with the intention of providing any buyers with a superior form of protection. Vehicles which include safety certificates have gone through safety inspections in advance of being put up for sale. This allows buyers to be confident that the vehicle itself proves to be safe to drive. This decreases the chances of a defective vehicle caused accident by the new owner of the used vehicle.

Any vehicle which is a light vehicle must have and prominently display such a safety certificate at the moment that said vehicle is put up for sale. Such vehicles falling under this requirement include caravans, motorbikes, cars, any vehicle weighing as much as four and a half GVM, or gross vehicle mass, and trailers which possess from point seventy five to three point five tonnes of ATM, or aggregate trailer mass. The only exception to this rule is for vehicles which are being traded between, or alternatively to, licensed motor dealers, or those vehicles which are not registered, or those vehicles which are being sold in a few remote and rural parts of Queensland.

These safety certificates have to be kept current. Certificates are required by dealers to have been issued within the past three months, or alternatively a thousand kilometres in advance of being offered for sale, whichever of these conditions is met first.

Private sellers have different requirements for their safety certificates. These can be utilized for a single new registration, as well as a single transfer of registration, so long as these are done in the two thousand kilometres or two months limit, whichever happens first. Each time that a person sells the vehicle in question, it will need to have a new safety certificate, regardless of whether or not it fell within the two thousand kilometres or two months requirement. These safety certificates may not be utilized for two transfers.

Finally, such safety certificates have to be displayed in an obvious place to be imminently visible. Among the acceptable locations for them are as follows:

On a car – in the window or windscreen
On a motorbike – in the guard or front forks
On a trailer – in the draw bar.