Backpackers cars in Australia: getting started and survival guide
Whether it is for a few weeks road trip or for a longer live and working period, nothing gives you more freedom than roaming around Australia with your own car. But how to get started?
Discover all you need to know before on this guide: from getting started to troubleshooting. Because with backpackers cars there is no way to escaping them!
First: do you need a Car to travel Australia?
The big spaces and the difficulty and costs to travel around with public transports, make driving your own vehicle the best way to explore the country.
Budget alternatives are flying around or taking a pulic bus. The most common is Greyhound, wich also offers a wide range of affordable travel passes. Trains are not so common and more like a fancy stuff, with pretty expensive fares.
Driving (and parking) Tips:
Remember Australians drive on the LEFT SIDE of the road. They are pretty picky with the speed limits, so carefully check all the road signs to avoid expensive tickets. And as always, do not drink when you are driving
Other options are hichhiking or looking for buddies with their own vehicle, or willing to rent one. I have mostly been using facebook to find them, heding to groups like this or this one.
There are also websites and apps like coseats.
Or can use UBER for shorter rides. It can also be a good way for making money, driving people around or delivering food, if you and up having your own vehicle.
Sleeping in your Car
Even if you will often find plenty of backpackers vans parked everywhere, sleeping in the streets is formally not allowed. You better obey the rule, as not doing it could get a thousand dollars ticket.
Luckily, there is also plenty of free (or fairly cheap) camping spots. Head to a website or App like free Campsites to find the closest to you. Even in the middle of nowhere is not unusual to find areas with free toilets and gas bbqs. Sometimes pretty nice and clean, especially in the best coastal areas, some others not really.
But we can’t really complain when something is free, right?
Renting a Car in Australia
If you think to need a car only for some trips you can still rent one. There is plenty of more or less expensive companies where you can rent any type of car, van or camperavan, depending on your needs and budget. I took a Juicy van the only one time I’ve been renting one. Another pretty company is Wicked Cars, famous for their funny looking Campervans. But there is pleny of options everywhere.
If on a budget, facebook groups and are the best places to find buddies to share the cost with. Hostels sometimes also offer discounts, like the one I got renting my Juicy for only 20$/day
You can also be lucky enough to spot a Relocating Opportunity fitting your plans:
sometimes companies need drivers to bring their cars back to their origin, especially along the most travelled road trip routes.
Head to Transfercar or any company website. Head to the relocation section or put the start and destination you are looking for, and see what comes out. They usually list the vehicles, route, periods and maximum number of days. You will usually not have too much time to see and do everything, but still enough to travel without rushing too much. On more, you have to respect the limited number of days to get the car at that price (usually 1$). But you can still keep it for longer, just paying the regular renting fare for any additional day. It could be expensive, let’s say around 50-70$ each day, but if you add it to the free previous days and divide that for the total, it will be still a good bargain. And in some cases you will also have enough paid fuel to cover most of the journey.
Buying a Car in Australia
Eventually you have in mind to use the car for a longer time, for example during a massive year long roatrip around the whole country. Maybe you are about to spend several months working in a remote area to make good money. You rather sleep in your car (or van) instead of spending money in hostels and other accomodations. Or you just want to have a place for your stuff so you don’t have to worry about carrying it around everytime.
There are tons of reasons why any backpacker could be willing to buy its own car, but I guess the main one is: FREEDOM.
Unfortunately, it will also bring many liabilities and, I’m sorry to say, not so rarely some troubles.
It took me 10 months to finally find the courage (and the opportunity) to buy my own car. I felt so happy and free driving it around the roads of North Queensland! But quick sad story, we stayed together only for about two weeks. But I will tell you the whole story later on
Buy and own a car in Australia is pretty simple
You just have to Register it in your name in the state when you purchase it, and pay the Rego at its expiration, after 3, 6 or 12 months. The rego is basically a car’s id document. It is mandatory, and paying it you will also have a very basic insurance cover. Every Australian state has slightly different rules about it, and you can find a more detailed guide here. In general remember that:
- many times people, especially those about to leave Australia, sell their car without register it to the new owner until the expiration, only to make a few more bucks out of it. I know it could seem appealing, but remember leaving a car in your name means you will always be responsible for anything that will happen to it, accidents included.
- in most states you have to pass a Roadwothiness test to be able to renew the Registration. So if you are going to buy a car whose rego already expired or with only a few months left, it is better to make sure ahead that it does not have any problem. Otherwise you could have to pay very expensive reparations before being able to use it, or even not be able to use it at all!
cheeky tip:
even in the states where the test is due, the residents of remote areas are exempted. So, if for example you live in the outback or in the daintree rainforest, you can basically buy and drive around any piece of junk. Well.. until it works!
I am not suggesting it as the best possible choice, but it is still an option for small wallets.
A friend of mine from cairns bought a very old van. Then he parked it in a camping spot in Cooktown for about 2 months, and hitchhiked back to the city playing his violin along the road. Afterwords he showed the camping receipts to pretended he had been living there for all the time. He finally got his Rego with no issues and car checks. But this is just one of the many not advisable backpackers money-saving tricks.
My (short) experience with Australian Cars
As I wrote above, it took me 10 out of 12 months in the country, and a couple of interesting working opportities missed out, to finally decide to get my own car. The fears of getting costly issues, or to not be able to fly around the (huge) country held me back the most. But the moment finally came when a friend of mine was about to leave Cairns to Melbourne, before returning back to Spain. He had this “slightly scratched” car, with just a few months of rego left, just enough to cover my last months of visa.
I confess, I have been among the broken backpackers who didn’t register the car transfer. But it was just for a couple of months, and we were pretty good friends. So after a quick trip up to the Rainforest to test my driving skills on the other side of the road, I got it for 350$.
It has been three intense weeks:
6 days later we went back to the Daintree for a job interview. On the way back I got a flat tyre on the highway, and the mechanic told me I must change all of them because they were too damaged. 500$ special price. Luckily I found a good bargain fitting used tyres for half the price.
After the episode I have used a couple of times to around Cairns and to drive some crazy people to a secret jungle party.
And then the last adventure together: moving to the Daintree (when meanwhile I got an amazing job!), with all my stuff, the new tires, a freshly bought huge pumpkin, the just totally-filled fuel tank and lot of excitement. Until when, somewhere along the amazing coastal way at about 20 kms from Port Douglas, the clutch pedal slowly started to lose pressure. And it definitely broke down in the middle of nowhere. Happy ending, I found a way to get a lift to the mechanic and afterwards to my new place just before night, but this is another story.
Fixing the car was obviously going to be crazy expensive, something around 5 times how much I paid it. But after a bit of initial struggle I luckily managed to sell it for 300$ to a guy looking for parts on a facebook group. And my friend gave me back 150$. So I basically lost just 200$ and the full fuel thank. And a co-worker gave me a lift to get my pumpkin and all the other stuff left inside.
So basically my initial fears about the car were real.
But do I regret my choice to get the car?
Hell no! In such a short time we had some great Adventures, I experienced a nice feeling of freedom and it allowed me to get my best job ever. And well, also overcome its troubles has been among the best and most empowering experiences for me.
Unfortunately, for all the backpackers willing to hit the road too, I have not been the only unlucky one. Among the tons of folks I met during the year down under, I can only remember a couple of people who didn’t get some kind of car issues at some point. And one was a finnish guy who got it from a dealer, probably from twice the price of most vehicles.
Even a friend who spent more than one year going all around the country’s coastal road with his trusted van Lucy, broke it down in the middle of nowhere a few months later.
The outback is literally filled with car’s scrap left at the side of the road after a breakdown.
The truth is that all those cars mill thousands of chilometres, spending months travelling an huge country from side to side. Going from deserts, to forests, and from the sea to the mountains. So it is not that surprising that they break up at some point.
This, of course, shouldn’t stop you from starting your massive road trip, or having great adventures with your (not so) new car. Just be sure to be able to face any eventuality, and try to reserve a budget for that.
Back to my car’s story, I have been extremely lucky. The man who stopped to help me when the car broke down also towed it all the way to the mechanic with his jeep. Calling the tow truck would have costed me about 180$, and it was just for a 20 kms trip!
Having a car insurance is not mandatory in Australia. And, as a good budget traveller, I am pretty sure you are not planning to get one. I have been there, and I know the “it is never gonna happen to me” feeling. But the truth is that you’ll never know what can happend: the car gets stuck in the middle of nowhere, you accidentally hurt the vehicle in front of you at the stop, or one of the many kangaroos crossing the road at night leads you to crash. I don’t want to be dramatic, but it is always better to be safe than sorry, so make sure to be able to face any happening. And to pay for your debts.
My Australian boss once told me she heard about many backpackers leaving the country without paying off the damages to someone else car. As well as the many parking and traffic tickets collected along the journey. And better to don’t talk about the wrecked cars abandoned without the plate in the middle of nowhere. Something pretty bad for the environment, other than illegal.
I don’t want to be uptight, and you should know I am more of a crazy traveller.
What I want to say, with this last note, it is just to remember that fun should be pursued as long as it doesn’t damage others. And when we choose to take something more, like the freedom of driving around, we should also take the responsibility that comes with it. And make sure to respect it.
That said, Enjoy your Trips!!
Thank you for taking the time to read this post!
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