Advice on buying a 2nd hand car from a dealer?

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LostBoyNZ

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#324684 12-May-2026 20:15

My wife is looking to buy a car, likely an Aqua, ideally around $10k-ish, and we're looking at purchasing from a dealer. Not being a car person and never having bought from a dealer myself, I wonder if anyone has any tips?

I understand if there's extended warranties offered, like at electronics stores, to ask what they actually offer beyond the Consumer Guarantees Act, and that there's no set length to your warranty anyway if it's not of acceptable quality and last a reasonable length of time. The quality and reasonable length taking into account its age, price and milage.

We'll also have a maximum price in mind before we go the dealer, and aren't looking to sign up to finance.

I noticed some of the cars aren't in the country yet, from what I can tell they have people in Japan bid on them at the auctions and then import them over here.

But if anyone has any tips on purchasing from a dealer, that's much appreciated, thanks :)

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Radiotron

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#3490302 12-May-2026 20:25

Anything stopping you from buying a NZ new car from a brand owner dealership, if you're buying from a dealer? And do your own finance if you can, but don't tell the dealer that until you have an agreed price in writing. Mechanical warranties aren't worth the hassle, you have rights under the CGA if it goes crook and you can prove it's been maintained properly.

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RunningMan

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#3490303 12-May-2026 20:27

Radiotron:

Anything stopping you from buying a NZ new car from a brand owner dealership, if you're buying from a dealer?

Presumably the OP's $10k limit.

LostBoyNZ

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#3490304 12-May-2026 20:30

Yeah it's the big price difference for a new car really, but also this is a 2nd car for times of the times when she needs to work very different hours. Otherwise we drive together since our work places aren't too far from each other. So this car won't get as much use.

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ascroft

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#3490305 12-May-2026 20:48

Also can it be parked securely. Those cars are stolen a lot!!

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wellygary

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#3490306 12-May-2026 20:48

TBH, Given that you have mentioned you are looking at an Aqua, I'd get an insurance quote before you head off to look around... Aqua'a are constantly in the top 2 or 3 stolen vehicles, and if you're in a place like Auckland you might find the cost of Insurance pretty steep.

LostBoyNZ

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#3490308 12-May-2026 21:08

Completely agreed, checking the insurance price was the first thing we did it yes. And then we compared the extra cost of the insurance vs the extra cost of fuel getting a different model.

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gzt

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#3490316 12-May-2026 22:12

We'll also have a maximum price in mind before we go the dealer, and aren't looking to sign up to finance.

Why buy from a dealer if you're doing a pay now?

LostBoyNZ

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#3490319 12-May-2026 22:32

In case the car has issues, with a private sale I imagine there's absolutely no taking it back. With a dealer, we're essentially paying extra in case it does have problems.

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Wheelbarrow01

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Chorus

#3490329 12-May-2026 23:43

TLDR - I mainly discuss a mechanical warranty option for any Toyota less than 10 years (or 150,000kms) old.

I've recently been through this, although with a bigger budget. I did a lot of research, knew exactly what car I wanted, with what options, the desired kms and how much I wanted to spend. There has been nothing suitable in Christchurch for many months so I knew it was going to involve a trip to Auckland.

I identified a dealer/importer in Auckland who had the car I wanted - a 2023 Toyota Corolla WxB hybrid wagon with 17,000kms, one Japan owner and full Japan service history. I emailed the dealer and offered him a couple of grand less than he was asking, stating it's a cash purchase and I don't finance cars. He counter offered $300 higher - to which I agreed. His advertised asking price was plus onroad costs. My offer included ORC so my discount still ended up being around $2300.

I paid a $1000 refundable holding deposit then a week later, flew to Auckland, checked over the car, signed on the dotted line and drove it home.

I turned down the offer of a 3rd party mechanical warranty for 2 reasons. Firstly a 3rd party warranty isn't worth the paper it's written on in my experience. Secondly, since last year, Toyota NZ has been offering mechanical warranties on all Toyotas (including Japanese imports) so long as they are less than 10 years old and have travelled less than 150,000kms. The car doesn't even have to have been sold to you by a Toyota dealer. This warranty coverage is called Toyota Service Protect. It has no monetary cost, other than having the car's annual servicing completed by a Toyota NZ dealership.

In my case, my new Corolla was last serviced in Japan on 25th April last year. I have it booked in for an annual service at my local dealer this Friday. At that service, they will check for any pre-existing issues (I don't expect any as it's only done 2000kms since the last service in Japan). If everything is in order, they will warranty the car until the next service in May next year. This will repeat with every annual service until the car is either 10 years old (2033) or reaches 150,000kms.

As an example of how this can could potentially benefit the OP, the cheapest 2019 Aqua on Trademe right now is $11,900, with 57,000kms on it. If the OP bought that and committed to servicing through their Toyota dealership, they would (subject to acceptance) get 3 years' mechanical warranty direct from Toyota NZ, even though it's a private sale (I'd still recommend a pre-purchase inspection in that scenario though).

Like many 3rd party warranties there are terms and limits to how much you can claim (maximum of $6900 for any one event or maximum of $10k total) however there is no excess and the cover includes failure of almost all parts of the car including hybrid batteries etc and of course any repairs are done by Toyota themselves, with genuine parts. Another bonus is that you also get free Toyota roadside assistance for 12 months with each warranty renewal.

I just wanted to point all this out as a lot of people don't know about it given it's such a new offering.

For the record, I have no association with Toyota - I just did a lot of research and based my buying decision on the fact that they make pretty good cars that generally suffer far fewer issues than other makes, but this Service Protect product really sealed the deal for me - it made buying a car from the other end of the country (and owning it for the next 7 years) far less worrisome.