Buying a car or a van in New Zealand

The end of your WHV often marks the moment when you have to sell your van. This can be particularly difficult at certain times of the year. We recommend that you put your van up for sale at least one month before your departure from New Zealand so that you don’t end up with the van in your hands just a few days before leaving the country and selling it to the highest bidder.

When is the worst time of the year to sell your van?

The worst time of year to sell your van is around autumn, from April-May until around September. At this time, many working holiday makers of all nationalities return from their travels and few new people arrive in New Zealand at this time. This is when winter arrives, and working holiday makers who might be interested in buying a van prefer to wait until the end of winter before making the purchase: they don’t intend to live in the van over the winter and don’t know what to do with their vehicle in the meantime.

When is the best time of the year to sell your van?

The best time of year is probably from November (spring) to the end of January. There is one small exception, however, between mid-December and early January. New working holiday makers often prefer to celebrate Christmas and New Year with their families and in their home country before flying to New Zealand, where they will often come straight to buy a van.

How to sell your van?

You can resell your van on the Internet, on Facebook, via the weekly car-markets, the daily car-market, by placing classified ads in youth hostels, on supermarket notice boards or by putting up a poster on your van.

If you place an ad on the Internet, beware of van resale scams. Don’t continue a discussion with someone abroad who hasn’t seen the van, who would like to buy it for their father, mother, son or daughter, or who has too few questions to appear seriously interested without bothering to negotiate the price. These are often scams where you end up not selling your van and losing a bit of money via Western Union.

Don’t forget to take the necessary steps to change ownership. Fines and incidents with the new owner could come back to bite you in the butt if you don’t.