My First Car Purchase - assistance required

[medhead]

Noice

Congratulations on the first car.

 

[drron]

Good on you Keith.I decided not to offer my 2 pence worth because I know diddely about cars.All I know is that the most important thing is getting someone who is good at servicing-remember you dont have to get them serviced at the selling dealer.
My second car was a Datsun 1600.Was a nothing car doing 27mpg until i took it to a dealer who raced them at bathurst.Acceleration and braking improved dramatically and got 40mpg.
My most economical car-believe it or not a Mercedes-240D.Ended up keeping it for 29 years and it became my son's first car.Again found a diesel fanatic mechanic and it rarely skipped a beat.At the end had 750000km on the odometer which didnt work for 6 years though.
Car i fell in love with-Peugeot 604.Again serviced by a notable rally driver who drove peugeots.Problem was nothing standard and always had to wait for parts.
May your love affair begin

 

[Flashback]

Good on you Keith.I decided not to offer my 2 pence worth because I know diddely about cars.All I know is that the most important thing is getting someone who is good at servicing-remember you dont have to get them serviced at the selling dealer.
My second car was a Datsun 1600.Was a nothing car doing 27mpg until i took it to a dealer who raced them at bathurst.Acceleration and braking improved dramatically and got 40mpg.
My most economical car-believe it or not a Mercedes-240D.Ended up keeping it for 29 years and it became my son's first car.Again found a diesel fanatic mechanic and it rarely skipped a beat.At the end had 750000km on the odometer which didnt work for 6 years though.
Car i fell in love with-Peugeot 604.Again serviced by a notable rally driver who drove peugeots.Problem was nothing standard and always had to wait for parts.
May your love affair begin

drron, I like your style!

 

[medhead]

Good on you Keith.I decided not to offer my 2 pence worth because I know diddely about cars.All I know is that the most important thing is getting someone who is good at servicing-remember you dont have to get them serviced at the selling dealer.

+1
Servicing is the key.

My dad always kept up with the service on his taxi it went around the dial almost twice and never gave any issues. In fact, I even dragged off an older rotary mazda one night when it was well past 500000 :shock: no pax

 

[Keith009]

And as a nice bonus, the deposit went on to the AMEX. I managed to put through the max allowed before they start passing on merchant fees - $5000, easy 7500 points.

 

[Evan]

Congrats on the BMW
I love the driving dynamics they offer ! even if they are a little expensive nice cars all the same.

 

[munitalP]

A friend of mine snapped this shot... QF009 - you have bought a tear to my eye - my my, a saints supporter...

Mr!

 

[Keith009]

ROFL! You wish.

I did see the Saints play against Port Adelaide live at AFF Gathers 1. Not knowing a thing (nor caring) about AFL other than the eye candy, I did support the Saints as their players are much better looking than Port Adelaide's.

And further to our convo on Saturday I've found out that Brodie Holland used to play for Collingwood. But he no longer plays so it's a moot point.

 

[penegal]

ROFL, Nice work munitalP.

 

[Keith009]

Can anyone recommend any car insurance companies? Something cost effective, yet reasonable and with good service. And preferably, takes AMEX.

Thanks.

 

[RB]

Can anyone recommend any car insurance companies? Something cost effective, yet reasonable and with good service. And preferably, takes AMEX.

Thanks.

Amex acceptance should be a low priority. Policy wording & ability to speak to someone in the company should be priorities. If looking online have a very close read if considering some options such as bingle-exclusions or $$ limits soon bring many of those companies back to the field.

 

[Keith009]

Amex acceptance should be a low priority. Policy wording & ability to speak to someone in the company should be priorities. If looking online have a very close read if considering some options such as bingle-exclusions or $$ limits soon bring many of those companies back to the field.

Well yeah, hence the tongue in cheek smiley after that reference to AMEX. All things being equal, it'd still be nice though. Been doing a fair few online quotes and it seems they all cost much the same anyway (excess policies have been around $500-700 mark). RACV and Allianz cost a fair bit more - is the service heaps better then?

 

[RB]

A few things ( not the only things either) to look for
1/ Conditions of new car replacement- some 12 months, some 24 months, some have km limit
2/ Limit on emergency transport & accommodation
3/ Hire car after theft
4/ Lifetime warranty on repairs
5/ Limit on personal effects cover
6/ Cover for accident debris removal
7/ Limits on cover for replacement keys/remote
8/ Any after hours helpline?
9/ Agreed value V market value- I am believer in agreed
10/ No claim discount protection
11/ Windscreen excess reduction conditions

Basically all adds to the joy of owning a car

 

[Keith009]

Thx for all that v helpful. Yeah I selected agreed value each time as it's not like the car actually appreciates in value.

A lot of the new car replacement clauses I've seen limit you to 24 months and/or a certain number of km (24k on average i think).

24/7 helpline defo a must! I have roadside assistance with AMEX though so that probably isn't crucial for the car insurance policy.

 

[tuapekastar]

I'm with AAMI, they suited a particular need when I went with them. Have claimed once with no problems whatsoever. Have to admit I'm a bit 'set and forget' when it comes to these things, but the premium certainly hasn't skyrocketed over the years.

 

[lovestotravel]

I was walking through Melbourne BMW yesterday and snapped this celeb in a new 335....

Does anyone know who it is?

Mr!

That is pretty much my old car, but mine had the roof

I miss it :evil:

 

[Keith009]

Went with AAMI as it suited our needs and was the most cost effective - with windscreen damage excess reduction and 'agreed value' thrown in, it still came up a lot cheaper than Virgin which was the other policy we shortlisted. We have 3 yrs of BMW Roadside assistance and hire car in the event of an accident/fault so we left that out. No AMEX acceptance unfortunately, had to pay with my non points earning VISA debit card.

So we're all set. We're picking up the car this arvo, v exciting!

 

[thegurio]

Went with AAMI as it suited our needs and was the most cost effective - with windscreen damage excess reduction and 'agreed value' thrown in, it still came up a lot cheaper than Virgin which was the other policy we shortlisted. We have 3 yrs of BMW Roadside assistance and hire car in the event of an accident/fault so we left that out. No AMEX acceptance unfortunately, had to pay with my non points earning VISA debit card.

So we're all set. We're picking up the car this arvo, v exciting!

You'll be like me a few weeks ago, trying to find every excuse under the sun to drive somewhere! And thats why it has 6000 k's on it now!

 

[tuapekastar]

Went with AAMI as it suited our needs and was the most cost effective - with windscreen damage excess reduction and 'agreed value' thrown in, it still came up a lot cheaper than Virgin which was the other policy we shortlisted. We have 3 yrs of BMW Roadside assistance and hire car in the event of an accident/fault so we left that out. No AMEX acceptance unfortunately, had to pay with my non points earning VISA debit card.

So we're all set. We're picking up the car this arvo, v exciting!

Excellent! All you need now are driving licences!!

 

[thegurio]

Excellent! All you need now are driving licences!!

Semantics!