From a recent listener question, “Where’s the best place to look for a backpacker’s car in New Zealand?”

1. Hostel notice boards often have cars advertised for sale. Call the owner, check it out, process the change of ownership and hand over the cash.

2. The Backpacker’s Car Market can be great – there’s one in Christchurch and another in Auckland:

http://www.backpackerscarmarket.co.nz/page/22/Contact_Backpackers_Car_Market

3. New Zealand’s equivalent to eBay is http://trademe.co.nz — you’ll get a good idea of the value of a car there, and can often find some good vehicles.

4. The NZ Backpacker boards can sometimes be helpful.

http://www.backpackerboard.co.nz/noticeboard/cars-campervans.php

5. Gumtree isn’t overly popular in NZ, but try http://gumtree.co.nz too.

If you know of a good place to look, or have questions about buying/selling cars in NZ, ask below.

Happy hunting!


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Thanks for the tips guys, I really appreciate it! We’ll be in Auckland from the 2nd and will start looking when we get there as we want to head up to Northland fairly quickly. We know about the car fair–it’d be great if we could get one in Auckland even sooner, but we’ve made plans to be around for it if nothing comes of the backpacker resources.

That was actually me posting as Andy above–didn’t mean to create an identity for him here without his permission. Anyway, we found a van at Auckland City Car Fair http://www.aucklandcitycarfair.co.nz/ that suits our needs pretty well. The fair was within walking distance of our hostel in Parnell, which was a plus. There wasn’t a huge turnout for buyers or sellers on the day, but it’s another resource for vehicles in Auckland.