Selecting a Car

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Plan Ahead

• Plan and think about what purpose you will use your car for. 
• Set a budget, including on-road costs, annual insurance premiums and running costs.
• Do your research on the car and read some reviews on the model you are interested in.
• Organise your finance if you need to borrow money.
• Once you’ve selected a car, do the relevant checks to ensure it’s in good mechanical order, is not stolen and there’s no money owing on it.

Signing the Contract

It’s really important to understand what you’re getting into when you sign a contract.  Here are some tips from the RACQ Legal Advisory Service:

• When you pay a deposit and / or sign a contract, or even an order form for a car, a contract is formed, which means that you are legally bound to purchase the car.
• A ‘cooling off’ period of one business day applies when you purchase a used car from a dealership in Queensland.  This gives you time to change your mind.
• If you decide you don’t want to proceed, you can notify the dealer in writing during the cooling off period, provided you don’t take delivery of the car.

Never sign an incomplete contract and don’t sign any document until you know the total cost it binds you to and always get a copy of any contract or document you sign.  Here are some things to watch out for in contracts:

• Don’t sign any document to purchase a car that is ‘subject to finance being arranged’. If you do sign and then find out you can’t arrange the finance of your choice, you could be pressured into accepting finance from the dealer at a much higher interest rate.  Try to arrange your finance before you go shopping, that way you will know how much you can spend.  If you can't arrange finance beforehand any contract you sign should be 'Subject to the buyer obtaining sufficient finance from.... to complete this purchase.  Insert the name of your bank. 
• Never pay a deposit, sign an order form or purchase agreement that states ‘subject to RACQ inspection’.  Regardless of the outcome of the RACQ inspection, the dealer could hold you to the agreement to purchase the car.  The only form of wording you should accept is ‘subject to the purchaser obtaining and being satisfied with an independent inspection of the vehicle.’
• Don’t sign on the promise to repair faults.  The repairs may not be done properly or may not include everything.  Wait until the car is how you exactly want it. 

Paying a Deposit

You’ve finally found the car you want.  The dealer has asked you to pay a deposit while you’re thinking about it or waiting to have the car inspected.  He may want a deposit to hold the car during the ‘cooling off’ period.

• When you decide to pay a deposit, our advice is to pay the minimum deposit the dealer will accept. 
• Before handing over any money, find out how much will be refunded should you decide not to go ahead with the purchase.
• If the dealer promises to refund your deposit, try to get this promise in writing.

Getting Advice

If you’re unsure about the legalities of purchasing a car, you can access free legal advice from the RACQ Legal Advisory Service or mechanical advice from the RACQ Technical Advisory Service.