New to the island and trying to settle in

Hi Jennifer,

Welcome to the forum. It seems that you have already solved some of the major issues. Leaves the car issue!

I think the main question is , how long do you intend to stay in Malta? If you are not sure or if it is not for too long I would recommend talking to some of the usual bigger car rental companies about a long term car lease which includes all costs. You can probably get an offer from a local company too and then you can compare.

To buy a good used car I would recommend from personal experience visiting Toyota , for example , in Zebbug. They import young used cars from Japan themselves and offer good prices and a really big choice of shapes,sizes and colours-))). Registration tax is already included in the price. Insurance and road tax is extra. I bought one and know another expat who did too and we are both happy with the choice.

I'm not sure about the financing. They offer in-house financing and insurance or you can probably finance through your local bank.

Living in St. Paul's Bay you will probably need a car to get around.

Regards
Ricky

We know a family who have been renting/leasing their car for a couple of years now - works well for them.

We bought ours at A&A Imports in Mosta and would recommend them - I think the pricing between them all is pretty close, just make sure they have the documentation from Japan qualifying the mileage etc and that they give you a warranty.

All the cars parked on the side of the street with phone numbers in them are for sale - but there will be almost no information about them and you had better be prepared to cold-call them and bargain hard. Good luck with that option!

Tim

Thanks for the reply guys.  We intend on being here for some time so maybe we will look a little closer into buying...  I didn't think  of going to a dealer and looking for used cars, good idea.  Is there haggling to be done for the best price at the big name and smaller dealers?  What kind of warranty can I expect to get with a used car?
I'll check out the places you recommended.  Thanks a ton!!

Jennifer

Used car warranty from a dealer will likely be on the Powertrain for a year or 18 months - we got 18 months from A&A. Try haggling - we tried at 3 places and they were pretty consistent in their prices, warranty and how much they would haggle, which was not much..a hundred or two on a €10k car :-(

But you may be better hagglers than us.

I still think the best option is to buy in the UK and drive down or ship it down and pay the registration tax - it's what I plan to do for my next car (unless they change the rules/tax again).

Tim

BTW the audio's on the Japanese Used car imports (Ractis/Vitz/Ist etc) are usually a waste of space - the FM band in Japan is only 76-90 MHz so you won't be able to pick up any radio stations outside of that range (not that you'll be missing much imo), unless you get a chip put in which extends the range...it's not very expensive (€20-30 if I remember correctly) but you'll probably have to ask for it to be done, or get a new stereo. Also, they sometimes come with DVD/SatNav etc, but again not worth it as it only plays Japan DVDs and the SatNav doesn't have Malta Maps so it's stuck on the map of the Docks in Japan where it was shipped from!

Tim

That's why I didn't choose a used Jap with a flashy looking Nav screen ! But the CD and radio works ok here on the island.If I'm missing radio stations I don't notice it.

I paid cash and got 400 € rebate off 11.000 €.

Tim is probably all the more right the bigger and more expensive the car gets. With the small cars I didn't see a big difference between here and Germany . And the cost of getting a smaller car to the island relativ to the price needs to be considered too.

What impressed me with the main T dealer was the huge choice of used cars compared to the local dealers.

And,to be honest, I just trust the main dealer more than the dealer around the corner when it comes to guarantee,inspection and so on.

Ricky

Dino's Motor Centre in Lija has a very good selection of used Japanese cars too. We almost bought from them before going to A&A.

I think you pay extra for that perception that the authorized dealer is more trustworthy etc., in the case of our Ractis that premium was about 10% when we looked a year ago. My Father-in-law has worked at car dealerships in the USA most of his working life and in general it IS nothing more than perception there...maybe it's different in Malta though, and of course everyone has their own experiences to inform their choices.

One of the nice things about the Toyota dealership is that they DO have prices on ther website - most of the small dealers don't so you have to drive around to see what they have and for how much - of course this being Malta with a lot of small dealers in a small area you can still see a lot of cars in a couple of hours, but it would be nice to get a short-list online first.

You might want to check out ukimports.com.mt too - it is the used car arm of the Peugeot Dealer here, Michael Attard Ltd, and they specialize in bringing in used cars from the UK - their website shows the cost of the car + the registration tax and gives you the price you pay. I'm not recommending as I don't know anyone who has bought from them but they fall into the same category as Debono for Toyota.

At the end of the day there is no right or wrong answer as long as you leave the lot feeling like you got a good deal you've done well. Of course, a good salesman will make you leave the lot thnking you got a good deal, that's one thing that makes them a good salesman ;-)

Tim

I found mine on Maltapark...  paid 1500 and put another 2k into parts and many hours under the hood, that was the first month...   I think I'm about done now 

Big Thank You for all the input!  After weeks of looking, cussing and discussing we have decided to purchase a new vehicle!!    For the past 4 years we have been driving rental cars of various levels of quality and since we plan to be here well into the foreseeable future we decided to take the leap and finally have our own car again!

Unfortunately it is on order and are told it won't arrive until around July... (fingers crossed)

Thanks again!