One of the hassles most expats have to endure is having to buy a car in an entirely new country. Do your homework to find the best websites for cars. In Australia, you use the Red Book to find the current values of used cars. You should pay attention to the registration renewal date and the state in which it is registered. Different states have different fees and requirements for vehicle registration and renewal and it can be difficult to renew the registration when out-of-state. You need to register the car in the state you are "resident", and this can make buying a car registered in a different state a bit more difficult. If you are buying and reselling within a year, not having to renew the registration may make life easier for you.

If you are driving through the outback, the more common and simple your model of car is, the easier it will be to repair and obtain spare parts. Discover the cheapest fuel, the tastiest sandwiches, the strongest coffee and the untold stories of the red centre as you embark on a journey of Australia’s most loved outback roadhouses. But, be prepared for the roadhouse to have tires for a Toyota Landcruiser, but not the right tires for a Volkswagen Passat, let alone any other essential parts. Waiting for parts to be delivered to a remote service station can mean a delay of a week or more to your plans and this is assuming the local mechanic knows how to fix your particular model. That will be a lot of coffee.

Perform a REVS (Register of Encumbered Vehicle Service) check to ensure there is no money owing on the car you plan to buy. If there is, you will inherit that debt from the previous owner. This check can be done on the internet and is well worth the $30 or so that it costs. You can also spot clocked (the winding back a car's odometer to show a lower mileage reading) or stolen cars this way.
 A big difference from buying cars in South Africa is you are able to check the cars entire history. No matter how genuine the seller seems, you should check the history of the car to make sure it’s not stolen, been in a nasty accident, or even a previous write-off. Get the car’s VIN number and check against the databases in the state in which it’s registered. For a small fee (free in some states), this simple step could save you a lot of money and problems. A nice site for this is http://www.revscheck.com.au/support/.