Learn Australian English in this interview episode of The Aussie English Podcast where I talk to my mate James Buchan about how to sell a car in Australia.

AE 422 – Interview: How to Sell a Car in Australia with James Buchan

G’day, you mob. Welcome to this episode of Aussie English, the number one podcast for anyone and everyone wanting to learn Australian English, whether you want to learn to sound like an Aussie when you speak English or whether you just want to understand the mysteries of the Australian accent, although that wasn’t really that Australian, then this is the podcast for you guys, and it is brought to you by The Aussie English Classroom. This is an online classroom. It’s a website where you can enroll, you can become a student in this website, and you will get all the bonus content for these podcast episodes. So, you’ll get things like quizzes and lessons all wrapped up, all bundled up, into a course for you to complete. You get points. You can meet other people also wanting to upgrade their English, but it is the best way online currently for learning Australian English.

Anyway, guys. Today’s interview episode is with my mate James again. You’ve met him a few times if you’ve been a listener for a while now. He was here a few interviews ago in an Episode 401 – How to Buy a Car in Australia where we were talking about the dos and don’ts of buying a car down under. So, where you should find it online, how you should go about purchasing it, when you should test drive it, get it checked out, and then all of the sort of forms that you need to get filled out, to get signed, and where to go. You know, Vic Roads if you’re in Victoria, for example.

So, this episode is a follow on for that one where you’ll find out what to do when you want to sell the car that you’ve bought. Okay? So, maybe you’ve gone on a road trip around Australia, you’ve been driving your van around or your car around, and it’s time to get rid of it, or maybe it’s time to upgrade to a bigger and better car. But this episode is really going to help you navigate the tricky process that is selling a car in Australia. So, I really recommend sitting down, getting out a notepad, and just taking any notes of any of the tips that James gives you so that you can do this incredibly easy. So, there you go guys let’s get into it.

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So, I guess, moving, shifting gears, pun intended. If we move on to cars that you’d suggest to people in Australia, travelling here, living here, should buy for road trips? What kinds of cars would you suggest they buy? And can you talk a bit about maybe the price range that they should aim for as well?

Falcons and Commodores are a great car. If you wanted something small, I mean, you could even get… do like road trips and like a Corolla or a Yaris if you didn’t have a heap of money, some little Toyotas. If you had more money, you could perhaps go for like some kind of Toyota van.

What would you be paying if you were getting a Holden, a Commodore…? You’d suggest a Wagon, right? Because you could sleep in the back of it and fill it with stuff.

You have to pay a little bit more for a Wagon. When we were looking we only had a budget of seven hundred fifty dollars, which is not a heap. So, we were only able to find sedans in that budget, and we ended up with the ex-taxi, which had more Ks on it than we perhaps we would have like, but in hindsight, it turns out it was fine. But if we had about a grand, a little bit more, up to two or three, there’s plenty of choice, and the smart thing to do would have been to, as you said, buy a wagon, because you can just chuck more stuff in it. You can go to Clark Rubber, which I guess is like a foam and rubber kind of shop.

In Australia, yeah.

You can take a tape measure with you, get some measurements of the boot, and you can get some rubber cut, or some foam… like a foam mattress, to the size and the shape of the boot. Yeah, that’s your bed. Boom! So, fold the seats down.

Okay, Holden or Ford Commodore, sorry, Holden or…. Holden or a Ford, a Commodore or Falcon wagon, they’re pretty good. They tend to be pretty cheap.

They do. Parts are plentiful.

And then a Yaris or a Corolla, potentially, the Toyotas as well aren’t too bad.

Yeah. They’re not too bad. Look, you might be paying slightly more for a for a Corolla or… because they’re just popular little city cars.

These ones aren’t wagons, right? These are sedans or hatchbacks.

No, they’re little hatchbacks.

But again, they’re kind of reliable, I guess.

If you’re not planning to sleep in the car, you’re good with those, and they’re easy to fix, because they’re Toyotas.

Yeah. And you see them, when you go down the Great Ocean Road, you’ll see, you know, like, I think they call them Jucy Rentals or Campers.

And they tend to be pretty cheap on fuel.

Yeah. Like you see little rental cars, then there are those Corollas, they’re good cheap on fuel. They’re not hard on tires or anything like that.

So, what about vans? What kind of vans would you suggest trying to purchase?

Like, I’ve seen Volkswagen vans. I’ve also seen Toyota vans, like a Hiace, I think, they’d be like a good little van, a second-hand van to have them. Again, you can sleep in that, but you’re probably going to be paying a bit more. I haven’t looked into the prices of those but…

Several thousand dollars probably.

At least. My cousin’s ex-boyfriend had one of those, and they did a trip from Melbourne to Perth yeah in one of those vans, but he didn’t get a particularly good one, and he was limited to 80 kilometres an hour in terms of top speed.

So, instead of a 3-day trip it was a 10-day trip.

Correct, with no air conditioning.

I’m exaggerating, but yeah, with no air-con.

With no air-con in the middle of summer.

Brutal.

And they got pulled over several times for going too slow.

The shame.

But it got them there, but to be fair their 80 Ks might have been limited by how much they brought on board as well, and only being a little four cylinder, that’s again, another thing I think you’ve got to take into consideration, these vans and they’re also four cylinders much like the Corollas or the Yarises.

They get a very small engine.

They’ve got a smaller engine, and it might be working harder if you’ve got a lot of shit that you need to bring. So, in that regard, a Falcon or a Commodore, they’re six cylinders, or if you feel like spending more on fuel, you might find an eight cylinder one for slightly more money. You’re probably going to… you’re going to have a better time with more cylinders.

Crazy. Well, everyone who’s listening, if you want to learn, too, more about buying cars, definitely listen to the other interview I did with James on buying cars, but now we should start chatting about selling cars.

Yep.

So, alright, you’ve listened to the first podcast, you’ve gone out, you’ve bought a car, you’ve done your road trip, and now you’ve come to the stage where you’re trying to sell this car before you either upgrade or downgrade or find another car that you want to live in in Australia, or use in Australia, or you’re leaving and going overseas. What are some of the dos and don’ts of selling a car in Australia? Can you walk us through that process? Have you done that before?

Yeah, we have. It was a good question. It’s a good question you’ve asked for it. Firstly, I guess it depends on what kind of car is that you’re selling, and more specifically, does it have any registration or roadworthy left on it. If it’s got… if it’s got registration, it’s probably going to be easier to sell. If you can sell it with a roadworthy certificate, all the power to you. That’s going to be better for you and it’s going to be better for the next buyer as well.

So, would that… would you give different advice depending on how much the car was worth with regards to a roadworthy, though?

Yeah, I probably would. Let’s say, you know, you had a really big trip around Australia or you thrashed it or few things broke, but you were able to keep on going and you’ve completed your trip, and let’s say you’re moving back overseas, you might deem that the cost for fixing the car is probably more than the car’s worth. So, is it really going to be worthwhile to fix it up and to get a roadworthy for it? Probably not. So, you’ll be able to sell it, certainly, and someone will buy it. They’ll probably buy it for parts. You might be able to get six, seven hundred dollars, maybe a thousand or more, depending upon what it is, but if you’ve got a roadworthy, then it’s going to be a lot easier. So, the best thing to do would be to clean it up. If you’ve got any stickers or any paint, you know, like Plasti Dip paint or anything like that, just give it a good wash, clean it up, vacuum it, take plenty of good photos, and then advertise it on Carsales. I think if it’s under ten thousand dollars, I think it’s free.

And would you suggest, before we get onto that, would you suggest they check out how much it would cost to get a roadworthy first or would you just… if it’s under $2000, the car’s value, would you just say, “Ah, don’t even look. Just put it up online?”.

I almost would. Yeah. I think if the car’s not worth the huge amount of money, it might not be worth your effort trying to track down a roadworthy, because, you know, they… a lot of little things can add up to quite substantial things and you could be facing quite a deep, you know, sizeable bill. And, I guess, it has to be… how much is your time worth and how much do you think you’d be able to sell the car for if you if you provided a roadworthy to the next buyer? And yeah, if you had a roadworthy, it might make it easier for the next buyer to purchase it, and might make it easier to sell, but if it requires, you know, a thousand dollars’ worth of gear, how much is your time worth? So, it might not be worth it. In which case, I’d just say, whack it up, take some photos of it, you know, write… you know, make a clear… clear a little paragraph or so about the car, mention anything that’s wrong with it, ’cause just being a good honest seller is, you know, I think you’re always going to attract a better kind of…, you know, more trust in the buyer, if you’re honest about what any of the problems are. So, just list them up, a paragraph or two, take some good photos, and put it up on Gumtree or Carsales. I think it’s under ten thousand dollars. It’s free to advertise.

And what about Facebook these days, they’re doing sales as well. Do you recommend using Facebook?

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Yeah. You can use Facebook marketplace. I personally haven’t used it for selling a car. I’ve used it for selling certain other small bits and pieces. I don’t think the searching mechanism may be as easy, but… for finding a car, but it’s certainly worth trawling through to see if you can find anything there, and you might find someone local who’s selling something. So, that’s another option. If you want to sell it through Facebook Marketplace. I personally haven’t tried it, but it’s worth a shot.

Alright, awesome. So, you got your car sorted. If it’s below maybe two or three thousand dollars, you might not get a roadworthy for it, you might check it out, you might not, but you’ve put it up online. If it’s more than three or four thousand dollars, you probably decided, yeah, it’s best to get it roadworthy, if I want to get rid of it quickly and not have any time wasters. So, you’ve got your ad up on line on Gumtree or on Carsales. What is the next step?

So, now that the ad’s up you’ve got to…. you’ve got to… you’ve got to meet with the potential buyers. So, they’ll message you. They’ll email or call, and you’ve got your car up, it’s advertised either with or without a roadworthy or whatnot. So, you’ve got to arrange a mutually kind of exclusive time that works for both parties to meet and look at the car. Regardless of if it has a roadworthy or not, as a seller, you should list what’s right with it, what’s wrong with it. If you feel comfortable letting the person take it for a test drive, if it’s got roadworthy and registration, and, you know, they’re licensed, then go for it. You can let them take a test drive. Or you can take them for a test drive if you don’t feel comfortable handing them the keys and letting them go for a drive.

Is that a good cultural practice here too in Australia, ’cause other people from other countries might feel… just giving a car to someone else to go and drive is that weird or does that tend to be the practice here in Australia?

I think for the most part tends to be the practice. I mean, in my experiences at least, I’ve had both circumstances where, when I’ve been a buyer, I have given the car a test drive, but the seller has come along with me, and other times… I’ve… they’ve handed me the keys and I’ve just been able to go and take it for a test drive by myself or with my brother. But that said, we… on those occasions, I’ve either left my license with the person who’s selling the car, or I’ve left the car that I arrived at their house at, and so, you know, they know that I’ve got…

Especially, if the car’s of comparable value or even more value.

Or even more value. (I) kind of want my other car back or whoever else’s car it might be. Let’s say it’s my mum’s and I’ve borrowed it from her.

You might just have to return at night, Jimmy and take it.

But yeah, that is a bit of a practice in Australia.

So, don’t be shocked if someone comes to purchase your car and they say can I take it for a test drive.

Yeah, don’t be shocked.

I guess too, if it’s worth only a few thousand dollars, it’s probably not as big a deal as if it were a Ferrari or something, you know, that’s of substantial value, that you don’t want someone to just nick.

No, and you do see in the ads for those kind of cars, they say, “Look, test drive won’t be provided without some kind of substantial deposit, or I’ll be coming with you.”. You see those kind of things on those ads. But don’t be surprised if the asks to take it for a test drive if it’s possible. If the car’s probably… If it doesn’t have registration roadworthy, then, yeah, you’re probably just going to have to look at it, check it over as is, and arrange for transport to bring the car back on a trailer or a truck of some sort. If it doesn’t have roadworthy or rego.

So, what should you be prepared to ask the person, as they knock on your door, what’s the sort of process that’ll lead up to them getting in the car and trying it, giving it a burl?

So, you know, you’ll open up the car, you’ll open the bonnet, you’ll allow them to, perhaps, look at… check the oil or the engine coolant. You would take a look… you know, show them that the depth of tread on the tyres to make sure it’s got roadworthy tyres. You’d open everything up. You’d show the shop, perhaps, some booklets or some documentation. Maybe a registration certificate. And then, that’s about it. Then they just have to go and do their homework. They have to look over the car. I don’t like to be too in someone’s face, or to be too pushy, like I’m trying to force it on them. You’ve just got to let them look over it and if they’re happy with it, you know, they’ll ask you the questions, and then just you have to respond as best you can.

So, try not to be too keen to sell, as well, or… just be happy to just give it away as long as someone will give you the cash?

There’s a happy medium I think, you know? You don’t want to come across as being too keen to get rid of it, but it… ’cause that might possibly indicate a problem, but at the same time, you know, they have to be able to be willing… if they want the car, they have to be willing to meet you in, you know, I guess the middle or to be able to meet what you’re asking price is. They can’t really sort of come with any unrealistic expectations. We were selling the Alfa Romeo that we had several years ago, and we had it listed for $650, and we had some people come down from Albury, and they weren’t planning on… the car still had registration, so they were able to drive it back. And they said to me “Oh, we don’t want to have to call you from the side of the road and get angry at you, because it didn’t make it back to Albury”, and I think my brother’s response was, “Well, it’s a $650 car, what do you expect?”. You know? So, I think, at certain price point, buyer beware.

Yeah.

And they looked over the car. They were happy with it. And we didn’t get any phone calls, you know, from the side of the road. So, they clearly got back to Albury with it. Good for them. But at a certain price point, you can’t really be too picky. It’s a cheap car. You’ve come a long distance. That’s part of the gamble, isn’t it? So, yeah, at a certain price point, I guess, you can’t really be too picky with what you’re are what you’re looking at. And I think that Alpha was.

Start again. And I think that that Alpha was?

The Alpha was in reasonable condition for the money that we were selling it for. So…

So, what are some things you would look out for in buyers who’ve come to your house? What are some warning signs that people are time wasters or that they’re a bit dodgy or sketchy, and you can’t really trust them, and you… Yeah, can you talk about that a little bit?

So, I guess I’ve been one of those buyers before where I… Look… I’ve…. I won’t say that I’ve been sketchy, but I have gone to look at a car, because I was, perhaps, interested in that model, but I wasn’t intending on buying that specific car. So, in that instance, the seller has, perhaps, taken me for a test drive, or I’ve gone for a ride in the car, I’ve looked over it, and perhaps I’ve decided that’s not for me. And you know what? If you’re selling a cheap car or, I guess, any car for that matter, you might encounter one or two of those types of people that, you know, they want to look at it. They’re just getting to know the type of vehicle that’s up for sale. They might not want to buy it.

There’s nothing you can do about it.

And that’s… Yeah, I think that’s an inevitability. There’s not much you can do about that. In terms of sketchy people, yeah again, I think you need to be a personal judge of character. You need to sort of be able to read the situation as well. If someone seems untrustworthy, I guess, you need to see the red flags and the alarm bells to be working, you need to be able to put two and two together. If someone doesn’t seem to be willing to hand over a license or, you know, you just get this odd feeling about them, perhaps don’t let them take the car for a test drive or go with them.

Yeah.

I guess just use common sense.

And are there any unreasonable requests that you should just flat out say no to from buyers when they come to your house? And this might lead to haggling for the price.

Like… let’s say. I wouldn’t say to them, “Oh, you know what? you can have the car for a week. See if you like it after a week. And then… and then buy it”. That that would be an unreasonable request and I wouldn’t be okay with that. No, they need to do their homework. In terms of other unreasonable requests, you know, if the car is pretty cheap, don’t expect that it’s… you know, if it says no roadworthy certificate, that’s… yeah, don’t expect that the buyer the seller is going to provide a roadworthy the certificate. If they’ve said it doesn’t have one, it’s probably not going to come with one. You know, if… Or if the seller is willing to provide one for extra money, then… and you want it, then yeah, just pay the extra money and let the seller go and get a roadworthy certificate for you, but don’t expect that that’s going to come with the car for no extra cost. ‘Cause they’re pretty…

They’re cutting into their price that they’re trying to get for it.

Yeah. And if it’s a fair price that’s just that’s just being tight.

You punch him in the face.

Pretty much. When I sell or buy, I like to think there is a fair price for whatever I’m sort of. Whatever I’m buying. So, I will look at what I’m buying, I’ll see other comparable products on the market doesn’t have to just be a car and I like to think that if I’m, you know, I’ve done enough homework, I know roughly what it is that I’m buying and if it’s at a fair. Fair price point. I’m not going to try and barter too hard yeah or throw too many lowballs but I think that that is an unfortunate practice that just does take place these days that in everything, you will get a lot of lowballs, you know.

Can you talk about that, I guess, what should you expect with regards to setting your price and should you post anything to indicate that you will not negotiate the price of the car that you’re trying to sell? Can you talk a bit about that?

Yeah. So, if you’ve advertised your car for a really fair price, let’s just use say. Let’s say you want five thousand four and that’s a fair price. People like, generally people like to get this feeling of negotiation or getting a slight win, doesn’t have to be just with buying a car. I just think in general. When you’re a buyer you’d like to sort of… Test out the boundaries. That’s just human nature. So.

If you want five thousand dollars for the car, then perhaps list it for maybe six thousand or… and at least that way you will have factored in that negotiation.

That negotiation.

Exactly, as you said, because if you just listed for five, you’re going to get someone who’s, you know, going to come along and say, “Oh, mate, I like your car. How about… Would you take four and a half for it? Would you take three for it?

So, would you bump it up 10 to 20 percent in the higher bracket of what other cars are going for? So, you’d also… I guess, we should mention, you’d have a look to see how much the exact same car is going for on these sites, like Gumtree and Carsales, and then you’d match that price when you’re setting the price on the ad. And then, would you try and set it in the top margin, or would you aim for the lower margin? I guess, you have to decide on quality.

That depends on the condition of your car.

And if it has a roadworthy?

And if and if it has a roadworthy, but as you said, it’s always a good idea to check out what other ones are listed for sale at, and then place it accordingly, being fully aware that people are going to come in and they’re going to want to bargain you down.

I guess, that’s a cultural thing. I would be expecting that someone is going to say, “Yeah, I really like the car, took it for test drive, but I only want to give you this for it. What do you say?”. So, I guess that’s something, listeners be aware of the fact that when selling a car there will be that bartering culture in that aspect of Australian culture. We have it in many areas, but it’s definitely in selling second-hand goods

Yeah, absolutely, and I think you’ll find that with anything on Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace, especially with a car. And there are… there are a lot of people that do like to… I’ll call them “low-ballers”.

It’s like they’re throwing a ball low, the price low.

Yeah, and it can be the real bane of anybody’s existence is trying to sell something online. I’ve got a friend and he runs a business dismantling imported Japanese cars or perhaps from Europe, and he’s had some very strange requests. He’s been offered rare jewelry before.

In exchange?

Yeah. He’s been offered up plumbing, including a new toilet, and he’s been offered a pair of size 10 brand new Nikes as well.

Nice.

And none of those things he wants and he says well, look if you… you know.

Worth trying.

Well I guess anything’s worth trying, but you know, if you’ve got plumbing equipment to sell, just to sell the plumbing equipment, and don’t assume that if something is advertised that someone’s willing to do a trade with you. I think that has to be stipulated in the ad. If you’re a seller and you’re willing to trade, you would perhaps need to write what you wanted to trade in.

“Will trade for money.”

Yes, but don’t say “Oh, you know, I will trade for rare jewels or some plumbing equipment”, because that’s just going to get people offside.

And it’s probably pretty rare that you’re going to find anyone who has that stuff to trade and wants your car.

Exactly, or parts, but that there is that element out there that will certainly try that.

So, beware of bartering, and that’s probably going to happen if you’re selling something second-hand online.

Yes. So, beware, be aware, and be prepared to haggle, because you will get that element.

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Yeah, alright. So, the car… the guy’s come to your place and he’s checked the car out, taken it for a test drive with or without you, with or without leaving something behind, like his license. He likes the car and he wants to buy it. He’s bartered with you. You’ve found a fair price. What’s the next step?

So, you would then need to… if you’re happy with the price, you then need to, I guess, agree on a price. You perhaps might want to write this down on a piece of paper, and you’ll have the buyer’s signature and you’ll have the seller’s signature, and it’ll be, you know, “I do by here agree to sell said car for X amount of money”, you’ll put the date, the time, the name. That’s just for personal safekeeping, I think. And then you’ll have the VicRoads transfer form. If you want to get a little bit of money off, when you go to try to transfer for stamp duty, I think we talked about this last time in the other podcast I did.

That’s only if they ask. It’s not really your problem, right?

That’s right.

As the seller.

Yeah, you just write down what the car was sold for if it’s a fair and reasonable price.

Under the assumption too, I guess, that you’ve got cash, you might not want to do a bank transfer just in case.

That’s right.

But if they pay you in cash, then you can set the price a little bit lower if you want to help save them a little bit of money.

That’s right. We’ve both done that before and that’s just one of those things. You would then write that price down. They’ve paid in cash on the VicRoads transfer documents.

And where have you got these documents and what are they exactly?

So, the VicRoads transfer documents, you can go to VicRoads, and basically, that just transfers the ownership of the vehicle from their name to yours or yours to theirs.

And this isn’t the same set of documents from VicRoads everywhere else in Australia? There’s going to be a state or a territory…

That’s right.

So, “Roads thing” or whatever it is that’s the government, the state government’s version of… what would you call it? Cars and roads stuff.

So, RTA for four New South Wales, or, I know for California or in America they call it the DMV, Department of Motor vehicles.

Ah, yeah, got you, got you. And so, anyway, you’ve got these documents which are for the buying and selling, the sale of a car, and are you expected to have them prior to the person buying the car?

No, but it’s always a good idea, because they’re… VicRoads hands these out. They don’t cost anything. They’re free. It’s… I guess, it’s just good to have a spare. You know you could keep them in your glove box or…

And you could just get rid of the car there and then. If the person does show up and they have the cash, you can say, “Well, here are the documents. Bam!”

Yeah. And you can sign it. It never hurts to be prepared. So, you just wander on down to VicRoads grabbed these documents and, you know. If you’re the seller Yeah it should probably be your responsibility to have them.

The buyer could get them and bring them as well if you wanted t.

Yeah, I know that, in the past, my brother has just had the spare transfer documents, just a couple of spare papers at home at any one time just in case, if and when he does go and buy a car. You know, and he likes it and he sees what he likes on the spot. That he’s got that money.

It’s time saving.

And it’s just it’s time saving. Yeah.

So, what should you expect to see in the document. Is it very difficult to fill out or is it simple?

It’s all pretty simple Have like a name and address. You have, you know, your date of birth you have your license number. There’ll be a few other little bits and pieces, but it’s nothing that you wouldn’t be able to fill out yourself. There’ll be the purchase price of the car. There’ll be probably the make or model of the car and the year it was made. And then once you’ve written all of your information down the sellers written their information down there’ll be a carbon copy. So, that is there’ll be another piece of paper underneath and that information will also be imprinted there. So, you really only need to do it once one copy for the buyer and the seller. You would take that down to VicRoads if you were the buyer. And you’d get VicRoads to process that and put it into your name.

So, as the seller, is that it? Is at the end of the journey? I guess they’ve come to your house, they’ve checked the car out, they’ve agreed on a price, they’ve given you the cash or they’ve done a bank transfer you might want to wait if they’ve done a bank transfer, but if they give you the cash, you’ve filled out the document you’ve taken your carbon copy of the document you have giving them the rest. Is that where it’s all over or over, all finished?

Pretty much, although I have experienced occasions where the seller has said, “Look, I’m just going contact VicRoads and let them know just that I’m no longer the owner of this car anymore, just to double check and make sure.”.

Yeah.

But other than that, it’s all over red rover, once you’ve done all of the transfer and the seller’s got that, or that, you know, that the buyers got that sorry, then that’s it, that’s their car now, it’s in their name, provided that it’s got a roadworthy certificate with it.

Yep. So, that’s the only thing, right? They might… they have to wait to get a roadworthy for the car before they can transfer it into their name to use on the road. If they wanted to part it out or just put it on a farm or something, and not drive it…

There’s no need, but otherwise, if they want to use it on the road you need a roadworthy certificate, and VicRoads will give you, I think it’s 30 days. They’ll transfer the car into your name, but the expectation is that you’ll come back to VicRoads with the roadworthy certificate. Otherwise, that car won’t be roadworthy and won’t be eligible to drive on the roads.

Is there anything to worry about if the person does take the car, doesn’t take it to VicRoads to get a transfer to cross, and then ends up in an accident?

It’s not ideal. It’s not a great situation.

So, if in doubt, probably just ring up VicRoads to at least give them a warning fire, warning shot saying, “Yeah, just so you know, the car’s been sold, and if it’s in an accident or something that’s not because of me or I’m not involved.”

And that’s right. And then also, I guess, that comes down to that little piece of paper that we signed, at the beginning of the sale as well that says that, “I, you know, James Buchan do say that, you know, that said car has been sold for said amount of money”, on the date, and you’ve got… the seller and the buyer’s signature is on that piece of paper.

So, it’s very important to those two things, at least just to cover your arse.

Yeah it’s a good thing to do and just, you know, I have also seen, when buying and selling secondhand cars, buyers… sorry, sellers have written, “If the vehicle doesn’t come with a roadworthy certificate, but it still has registration that the registration will be cancelled prior to the sale of the vehicle.”, so that once the vehicle is in your hands, that’s up to you to organise roadworthy in rego, and so should any speeding tickets or anything dodgy happen with the vehicle once that’s out of your hands. It’s not going to come back on you.

It’s not going to come back on you.

Yeah.

So, that’s another thing that a lot of people we’re seeing start to happen, on like Gumtree or Carsales, especially on the cheaper cars.

Yeah. So, do you have anything else to add, I guess, here James before we finish up?

Not heaps. Just get out there and have a go. Go with your gut instinct. If someone doesn’t seem like they’re going to be an honest seller or an honest buyer, there will be more, there’ll be more cars out there to look at. So, you don’t have to buy the first one that you see. Or if it doesn’t seem right, cut bait and walk away. Just use a bit of your gut instinct and you’ll be fine.

Don’t be afraid to say no.

Yeah and don’t be afraid to negotiate a little if the price is too high. And if you’re if you’re a seller, don’t be afraid to say no. You can always say no within reason. You know, when I was trying to sell a car years ago, I had it listed for a very fair price, and, you know, I had this vehicle listed for $7.5 and I was having offers of $3,000-$3,250. And…

That tends to not get a “No”, that tends to get an “F off!” response.

Pretty much. Yeah. They would say things like, “Oh, I’m planning on using this car to put it on gas and put my baby in it.”. And let’s say this was like a sporty car, like a sporty used car Grand Tourer, that’s not what the car is designed for. I could see the guy was…

First and foremost, that’s not your problem.

No, I could see the guy was an idiot, he’d given me a lowball, he told me what he was planning to do with the car, and I just thought, “Nah, I don’t need… if that’s what you’re going to offer me…”.

You can do that with the car once you’ve paid the price for it.

Pretty much. But if that’s what you’re going to offer me and that’s what you’re planning on doing with the car, no, I’m not going to sell it to you. So, don’t be that type of buyer, and don’t be afraid to say no if you get those kind of people, because they… yeah, you get all sorts of funny people out there.

Crazy. Well, thank you, so much, James, for being on the set again.

Not a problem. My pleasure.

And, I guess, I might add here, guys, I’ll harass James after the podcast to help me write out one of these example notes, and we can put a template up there for you guys to use if you decide to sell a car that you’ve bought here in the future, at least as a guide. You can change it.

Yes, that’s it.

Awesome. Thanks, so much, James.

Not a problem, Pete.

See you, guys.

Cool, bye. Too easy!

****

Alright guys, special thanks to James once again. Remember, if you would like to listen to the episode on how to buy a car, if you are still at that stage in Australia and you haven’t even got one yet, go to Episode 401 – How to Buy a Car in Australia with James Buchan, and make sure that you sit through that, have a listen, take some notes, and learn the do’s and don’ts of purchasing a car. And remember too that you can get that note that I asked James to write out for you in the episode bonus content today. So, if you are selling your car and you want to just use a pre-written transcript that you get the purchaser, the buyer, to sign, and you sign as well, that’ll be in the bonus content for today’s episode. So, don’t forget to jump over to TheAussieEnglishPodcast.com and download the free content. So, there’ll be a link in the transcript, guys.

Aside from that, if you would like to study Aussie English in depth, and you want to study these interviews in depth, don’t forget to sign up to The Aussie English Classroom. You’ll get a 5 to 10-minute excerpt for this interview. It’ll come with all the interesting vocab, the slang, the expressions that we use, we define those, and then there’s also a quiz for you guys to do so you can test your listening comprehension skills. So, get over there, guys. Remember it is one dollar to try it for your first month and that is at TheAussieEnglishClassroom.com.

So, I’ve been rabbiting on quite a bit as usual, guys. I hope you have an absolutely splendid week and I will see you this weekend in the expression episode.

Peace out, guys.

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