Hi,
I owned a FL2 HSE Auto in the UK, moved to Sydney last year and was shocked at the prices here, same car I had seems to be about $65,000 here (about £42,000) in Aus. I remember some forum members are down under so wondered if any can share experience of negotiating with the local dealers. We bought a new Forrester when we arrived but I really miss the Land Rover and having saved a few quid I'd love to upgrade.

Cheers,

Mike

The RRP in Australia is pretty high compared to the UK, but you can get some good deals depending on the time of year (and the mood of the salesman). You might also get some good deals on the last of the MY2010 FL2 models that are being run out. The dealers will negotiate, I've found they'll offer a better price if you aren't bringing along a trade in that they have to deal with.

I suggest you confirm the exact configuration you want - model, interior, accessories etc - and shop around the dealers for the best price. It is even worth contact interstate dealers to see what they will be prepared to do on price. You could get a one way air fare to fly down and pick up the vehicles for under $100 and then drive it back home.

Land Rover has advertised 20% of accessories, until end of April, and have been throwing in free Garmin GPS on some models to try and sweeten some deals.


Cheers,

Darren Reflect on the past and plan for the future. But, above all - LIVE FOR THE MOMENT!!!

freebo wrote:

Hi,
I owned a FL2 HSE Auto in the UK, moved to Sydney last year

Mike

Yes, I'm paying $63,500 for an SD4 SE (which doesn't seem to be a model configuration anywhere else!) - a bit steep. The boat fare from the motherland must be huge, as the exchange rate has been pretty good for some time now. It may well be about the re-sale values. eg: If MY11 prices fall due to good exhange rates, so too will the re-sale values across every year beforehand. Since re-sale values are a huge consideration for some people, this would up the brand name and hence, value of the new and used vehicles - making any sense?? Somebody is making a killing somewhere but I would be quite annoyed if the price of a new MY11 suddenly drops to $50,000 or thereabouts. Currency hedging will also even out the ebb and flow of exhange rates.

All car prices are high in Oz compared to the UK.
I guess 60million people against 20 million might be part of it

If it's not included, don't forget to add the car stamp duty on top. This always catches me out

My FL2 (3.2 I6 Auto HSE) was the first 2nd hand car I have bought in a while, purely because the price new is so high.
It's was 2 years old when I bought it, a trade in from a Ford dealership with 38,000KM on the clock.
Forecourt price $45k but I offered them $41k which they accepted

So my advice is:
Look around and perhaps consider buying near new.
Always haggle.
Wait until the end of the month as this is when dealers often need to boost their sales figures.

Last edited by AiiEEX on 10th Apr 2011 11:29 pm. Edited 2 times in total

www.carsales.com.au is probably the best car website to look at.

Mona Geeza wrote:

Land Rover were reluctant to ship to Oz initially because they feared it might turn the market upside down.

 We Don't Care About Pot Holes !!

What is car stamp duty & what % is it? (Past) Freelander 2 HSE 2010 MY In Rimini Red.
(Past) RR Evoque Dynamic Lux Si4 In Firenze Red.
(Past) RR Evouque Pure Tech in Barollo Black with bespoke Firenze Red colour coding.
(Present) Freelander Metropolis 2015 MY In Santorini Black with Ivory Premium Leather.

Executive Valeter wrote:

What is car stamp duty & what % is it?

That's where it all gets complicated (well to me anyway!)

The duty % varies from state to state.
Also, any new car over $57k also gets slapped a Luxury Car Tax.

Here is a website showing the various percentages in the different states.

http://australia101.com/cars-and-transport/stamp-duty

The Luxury Car Tax example shown on $100k (£64k) vehicle means you pay $12,863k (£8300) of luxury car tax alone. Not to mention 10% GST, Road Tax and 3rd party insurance already paid!


And what gets me is that every time a car is sold, private or via a dealer, the government slaps duty on it:

Example:
I bought my car for $41,000 (£26,400)
Duty on top $2126.50 (£1,370) which is 5.15% of vehicle value.

http://www.transport.wa.gov.au/licensing/1382.asp

You don't pay this straight away, instead you get a nice letter in the post a few weeks after

My new SD4 was due later this month so I e-mailed the stealer to get a date. He wanted to leave it till the 27th (i'm guessing so they can display a vehicle at no cost) but when I got a bit cranky, the date suddenly changed to the day after tommorow. Unfortunately, no amount of rationale about improved exchange rates changed the price, though I'm happy it includes 17" wheels with Bridgestone Dueler A/T tyres. So now it's a rush to finalise banks cheques, insurance cover, the 4 Hr train trip to pick up etc. Whoo hoo! 4 Months is too long to wait - there have been too many competitive offers launched since December last year, so let's hope it goes well, isn't a Friday afternoon job and I have no regrets?

Wicked!
It'll be fine. Enjoy the trip home

In advance - thanks. Wonder if I should take the trusty tool box with me on the train trip - might look like a bit of a worry!

In fairness, it's not just Land Rover - BMW 520d, UK £30000, equivalent Aus $47000, in Australia $83000 plus on road costs. Mercedes E 250 CDI, £32000, equivalent Aus. $50000, in Australia $97000 plus on road costs. As AiiEEx pointed out, on road costs here also add a significant chunk to the above figures. There are some valid reasons why costs are higher here, but the real basis is "What will the market bear" - it doesn't have a lot to do with real value. I read many years ago that Rolls Royce set it's price in the USA at 2½ the price of the dearest Cadillac since that was where they wanted to position themselves in the American market.

The On-Road costs worked out at just over 12% but that did include 6 months registration. What nobody has mentioned is the import duties. I could not find a free trade agreement (FTA) betwen Ausralia and the UK, which seems a bit odd given the FTA's we have with other countries. Duties are often designed to protect local manufacturing (Ford, Holden, Mitsubishi, Toyota etc). By buying a car made in the UK we are obliged to give the government a swag of money to further prop up local production facilities (and jobs!). I dare say transport costs woudn't be cheap either.

Surely the price of cars in Australia is relative to what the average wage is anyway. So quoting high prices is in reality no more than we would be paying in the UK.

Realspeed Ex 2010 Freelander2 GS-e Diesel manual Silver owner