Articles by Stephen Corby

Audi Australia has become the country's first car company to make a 100 per cent renewable-energy commitment - and not at some far-off date in the future, but by 2021 - after agreeing to a deal to source its energy from the Capital Wind Farm Precinct in t

The Audi e-tron is a hugely important car, not just for the future of the company in our market, but arguably for the world as a whole. While it's been a huge success elsewhere on the globe, where it's been on sale for more than a year, breaking the EV-reticent Australian market will be a bigger challenge. Audi Australia is throwing everything at it, including a free home charger for every buyer.

What is the age a child can use a front-facing car seat? Well, in Australia that answer is both simple and confusing. Legally, your gorgeous, wonderful baby must be kept in an approved rear-facing seat until he or she is six months old, and from that point you can put them in a forward-facing seat, but… you don’t have to, and they can stay facing backwards if you prefer.

So you want to know how to find the owner of a car in Australia? It turns out that, unless you’re some kind of private investigator or computer hacker, you’re going to have to ask the police for help, because they are the only ones who can just punch a registration number into a computer and come up with a name and address.

Australia is a wonderful place, in almost every way, but just sometimes it can be a bit… big. Which is to say that, while a country like England can advertise cars for sale anywhere on its tiny island, and it’s not a huge stretch to travel and look at them in person, buying a car from interstate in this country can mean there’s 4000km between you and the vehicle you want to test drive.And you have to really, really want something to consider buying it when it’s a 40-hour drive away. But such is the global, or at least national market created by the internet - in the old days you only looked at cars for sale in your local paper, so all your options were, effectively, close to home - that if you go shopping for a car on the web, you’re quite likely to be tempted by good-looking machines from many miles away. So, how hard is it to buy a car from interstate? Would you do it, could you do it, should you do it? Well, the fact is that Australians, all across this vast country, are doing it every day. So be not afraid, and just read our handy guide below on how to buy a car interstate, the pros and cons and the pitfalls to watch out for. Absolutely you can, yes, and the reason you might want to is that being willing to do so increases the number of cars you can look at and might therefore secure you a better price. Just be sure to consider the extra costs that might be involved in transporting the car to your home state when working out the size of that discount. In some cases, cars might also just be a bit cheaper in other states, so it’s definitely worth at least having a look.  You can buy from an interstate dealer, although it’s worth checking - even if you’ve found a particularly great price - whether your local dealer can match it, particularly if you’re buying a new car. It seems unlikely you’d be able to get a new car from a dealer interstate that’s so much cheaper than your local dealers that it would make up the costs of shipping etc. Although a motivated dealer interstate might be motivated to ship the car to you.It’s more likely that you might find the particular second-hand car of your dreams at a dealer interstate, with just the right spec, colour or mileage. The good news is, particularly if you’re not going to be physically able to go and check the car out in person because of the distance, that any car bought interstate from a dealer should be protected by a warranty.Used-car dealers are required by law to provide a three-month/5000km warranty as long as the car you’re buying has less than 160,000km on the odometer and is less than 10 years old.  With online auctions increasingly common this is a way a lot of people are now buying cars, and the good news is that the same second-hand-warranty laws apply to any vehicle bought from a licensed auctioneer. If you buy from an auction and the car does not come with a warranty, the auctioneer must inform you of that, at which point you can either walk away from the deal, or sign up for the fact that you’ll be stuck with any costs from any defects you’ve been unable to spot because you weren’t ever in the room with the vehicle. Yes, if you’re in the ACT and looking at a car in NSW, you might just want to drive there and get your hands on it, and your bum in it, but if the distance involved is just too great, you’re going to want, indeed need, to pay someone else to have a look at it for you.Once you’ve done all the obvious online checks into the vehicle you’re looking at - making sure it’s not stolen, or encumbered with debt, all of which you can do through the Personal Property Securities Register - you’ll want to take advantage of pre-purchase vehicle inspection service in the state where the car is for sale. These services are available from all teh major motoring organisations, and there’s one in each state - like the NRMA, the RACV in Victoria, RACQ in Queensland and so forth. Do not be tempted to forgo the cost of one of these inspections - usually between $250 and $300 - and buy a vehicle sight unseen. The risk is too high, and the saving versus potential loss equation makes no sense.  Obviously, the cost of freighting your new car back to your home state is going to vary enormously, based on where you’ve bought it - Perth to Cairns, for example, is going to be an expensive proposition.That’s why you’ll want to consider that cost when making your choice, and get a quote on transport fees before you buy. Be sure to get more than one quote from more than one company before making a choice as prices can vary, but the costs can be as low as $250 but can be as high as $1500, depending on the size of the vehicle and the distance travelled. When you buy a new car you have to sort the insurance and the change of registration into your name, and buying a car from interstate simply adds a little complexity to that process, and possibly a little bit of cost as well.Australia does not like to have consistent laws and rules for such things between states so you’ll need to check what applies to the state you’re buying from and bringing the car into.You’ll need to transfer the registration from the state of origin, where the vendor is, to your home state, and if you’re intending to drive the car from one state to another, you’ll also have to secure a form of temporary registration, typically called an Unregistered Vehicle Permit, which you can apply for at your state authority. This form will mean you have CTP insurance while transporting the vehicle. If you’re moving the vehicle by freight, of course, and thus keeping the unnecessary kilometres off the clock, you don’t need to worry about this. The NSW RMS site has some helpful advice about the issuing of new plates, and whether you can keep the old ones here.When you register an interstate vehicle in NSW, Roads and Maritime assigns NSW plates, and records that the interstate plates are no longer associated with the vehicle. This information is also sent to the interstate authority.You’ll be issued with a receipt, which you may be able to take to the interstate authority in order to receive a registration refund. Contact the interstate authority for specific information.Some states and territories allow you to keep number plates when they are no longer associated with a vehicle:Queensland: You may keep all special, personalised, custom and prestige platesSouth Australia: You may keep some special plates, Grand Prix, Jubilee and Numeral-only platesVictoria: All plates may be keptTasmania: All personalised plates may be kept.Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory do not allow you to keep plates.If your vehicle is from one of these jurisdictions, you’ll need to hand in the existing plates at the registry or Service NSW centre when you apply for NSW registration.The details for what to do in WA are here.In South Australia, Stamp Duty is also a factor, as explained here.And here: If you do not have an interstate registration certificate the vehicle must have a vehicle inspection to confirm the correct identity of the vehicle, and stamp duty will be payable as well as the applicable registration fees.In Victoria, the trickiness level is raised because you need an appointment, the process is all explained here.Handing in your interstate plates is compulsory in Qld, as explained here. If you’re the seller, you want to cast your net as far and wide as possible, so being wiling to accept offers from interstate is a good idea. Just be aware that you’re going to get a lot of questions from someone who’s worried they can’t eyeball the car themselves, and be accommodating when they want to send someone around to do a pre-inspection on your car.

The entry-level to the truly lovely looking new entry-point to Mercedes-Benz SUV range is the GLA 200. While it is deeply attractive inside and hugely pleasant to look at outside, from any and every angle, truly improving on what was already a pretty good looker in its first generation, the 200 does sound like it might be tiny bit underpowered.The GLA 200 is powered by a 1.3-litre turbocharged petrol four-cylinder engine - as opposed to the 2.0-litre in the next step up, the GLA 250 - and is front-drive only. Which is a bit embarrassing when you're trying to tell your neighbour you've just bought a Mercedes "SUV".That engine makes just 120kW and 250Nm and uses a 7G-DCT seven-speed automatic, which is also one cog less than you get in the 250.The very tempting-sounding base price of $55,100 also gets you Comfort Seats in  ARTICO upholstery, Keyless Go, a powered tailgate, the very modern MBUX multimedia system with sat nav, reversing camera, Apple CarPlay  and Google Android plus wireless device charging, 64-colour ambient lighting, rain-sensing wipers, DAB+ digital radio, Active Parking Assist with Blind Spot Assist and Active Lane Keeping Assist, Traffic Sign Assist, Adaptive High Beam Assist, LED fixed headlights and 19-inch multi-spoke alloy wheels.

Until the AMG version arrives, the GLA 250 4MATIC is very much the GLA you're looking for, because it gets the alluring interior and attractive exterior that will draw buyers to this new GLA, but also wins an engine with a bit of get up and go, all-wheel drive and even an Off Road mode for those times when you're on a dirt road or driving to the snow.There's more than enough power and torque here, in fact, for most people and only the kind of people who need their urban SUV to really explode off the lights will feel the need for more than 250 variant offers. The only real letdown here is the boot, which is quite shockingly small. 

The first Mercedes-Benz GLA might have been described as merely an A Class on stilettos, but it was a huge success, shifting more than a million units worldwide, and that means it's replacement is something the company has put considerably more thought, and engineering, into. The result is a mighty fine looking urban SUV, with an ultra-modern and very spacious cabin. But is it as good as it looks?

How long do car seats last? Well, physically, if kept in dry conditions, out of the sun they might last many years indeed, but that doesn’t mean you should keep using them, or hand yours on to other parents, because the recommended expiration date for a car seat in Australia is 10 years.This will come as news to a lot of people who probably assumed that, not being made of milk, car seats wouldn’t have an expiry date.(Interestingly, the expiry date for car seats differs from country to country - in the US it’s just six years.)On the plus side, anyone who is still having children 10 years after they had the first one, and invested in their first car seat (and first time around, people tend to go brand new, because they’re excited/paranoid about safety), is clearly living in the 1930s, when everyone had half a dozen kids.So you really should only need two or three car seats to get you through the parenting of small children years, depending how many kids you have. The key thing to note, of course, is that the car seat expiration is a recommendation, not an Australian law, or even a NSW law. No policeman ever, not even the most fastidious highway patrolman, is going to pull you over and demand to know how old your child seat is. As the people at Infasecure point out: “The 10-year timeframe is not law, it’s not mandated in the Australian Standard, and it’s not enforceable – it’s something that the industry loosely agreed upon, and is generally used as a best-practice guideline.”But it’s a recommendation for a reason, and one that’s wise to listen to. Largely it’s about common sense - child restraints and baby capsules are built to last a long time, but shouldn’t be used indefinitely.For a start, much like cars, child seats are constantly improving in both construction and safety. A child seat from 10 years ago simply isn’t going to be as good, or as well designed, as a new one.Indeed, 10 years ago, Australians were not using the far superior ISOFIX seats that are so common now, because they were illegal in this country until 2014. And trust us, you really want an ISOFIX child restraint for your children.Then there’s the fact that wear and tear is obviously going to be an issue with anything that your children use regularly, particularly over a decade.Kids are hard on gear, just have a look at how fast they go through shoes.There’s also the issue of what the experts call “material degradation”, which is slower and more passive. But consider that a child seat is going to be kept in a a car where the temperatures cycle - depending where you live - from below zero to more than 80 degrees celsius. The plastics and impact foams in the seat simply aren’t going to be as robust after 10 years as they were when the restraint was new, partly because they've been cooked each summer. Harnesses and tethers can also stretch or weaken over that period of time.So how do you know how old your seat is?Some companies, like Infasecure, start their warranty from the Date of Purchase, so if you’ve got the receipt you’ll know that, but it’s far more common amongst child restraint manufacturers - like Safe and Sound, Meridian AHR, Steelcraft, Britax and Maxi-Cosi - to state that the usable life of a child seat expires 10 years after the Date of Manufacture (DOM).You’ll find this DOM either stamped into the plastic shell of the product or on a clearly marked label affixed to it.If you’re buying a child seat second hand, obviously it’s extremely important to check this date first.Indeed, the people at Britax advise that you should not only not sell your restraint if it’s more than 10 years old, but you should “cut off all of the harness and top tether, cut the cover, remove or black out the serial number and manufacture date, and write ‘trash, do not use’ on the car seat shell.”They really, really don’t recommend that you use them after 10 years.

Obviously, modern cars a lot more pleasant, and safer, to drive than older ones, thanks to huge, and continuous, leaps forward in engineering and software, but they are also just far nicer places to spend time - even when they're not moving - thanks to impressive improvements in their audio systems.