Hi wise OzBargainers.
I just bought a new hatchback and as someone who loves camping I want to take it to campgrounds and trailheads. It's so new and shiny! My fear is leaving it there overnight exposed to vandals.
What do other people do? Take a push bike instead? Park someone safe in town and get an uber to the walk? Not take it?
Do insurance companies cover it when left in a these situations?
Cheers
Try to let go that it’s a new car or else you’ll never truly use it for what it’s meant to be.
You will be driving thru some foliage when reaching camp grounds or trailheads.
Enjoy your new car but don’t forget it’s meant to be used at your convenience!
Thanks mate
Buy an old hatch back for camping.
Keep the new hatch back in the garage.
Problem solved.
that's why sometimes it's just better to buy second hand and stop worrying about stuff…
Had a mate went camping that was woken up at 3am, one of their motorbikes had gone missing.
One of the guy's staying with them was a cop who had a fire arm on him and shot into the air a few times followed by all the guys immediately jumping on their bikes to find it on its side 70m down the road.
What most likely happened is the thieves tried to wheel it far enough away so they wouldn't hear when they tried to start it or load it up on the back of a trailer. Gun shots probably spooked them and they ran.
Just be careful when camping OP. 99% of the time you'll be right but planned knock and runs in rural country are happening.
He prob had to write a report for the discharge of the weapon…
What do other people do?
- Enjoy the life without such worries.
Take a push bike instead? Park someone safe in town and get an uber to the walk? Not take it?
- People take push bikes on the tow bar mounted bike rack.
Do insurance companies cover it when left in a these situations?
- Yes. period.
You should be fine as long as you don't take it to any 4WD only tracks. Just drive it safely and enjoy your camping trip, life's too short to worry about your material things so much. It's just a car at the end of a day.
Thanks. The clearance is quite low so it scrapes on bumpy roads so won't be going on 4wd tracks.
I have a hatch too and go to remote beaches from time to time. Just got to be careful around 4WD tracks or anything offroad especially when wet.
lolcats - I love this - I grew up in the country where farmers and I drove old utes on dirt roads and paddocks and that was a skill city drivers didn't learn on bitumen roads
then since the Range Rover we have 4WD Toorak Tractors - shiny new, driven only to the supermarket parking lot in the city.
and people with small penii choose huge aggressive high seating vehicles so they can look down on others in peak hour traffic to try to feel better about their inferiority complexes
on the one hand, nobody cares about your stuff - there are a million cars - why would anyone care about your car parked in the scrub - someone who's driven to a remote campground wants to steal it ? Probably not.
Step 1 - insure your car against theft. That problem solved.
Step 2 - don't park your car leaving anything attractive visible inside - opportunistic thieves will smash a window just to grab something they see inside
Step 3 - once you drive a shiny new car off the dealer's lot, it instantly becomes a used car.
The most expensive part of a used car is the shiny paint.
Solution - never drive it - just leave it parked, wrapped in linen to keep the dust off, in an air-conditioned controlled environment, and it 'should' never get scratched - unless it floods, there's a fire, or someone breaks in and steals it.
Welcome to new car anxiety - wash/polish/adore - until your first scratch, when the scales fall from your eyes, and you realised - aw shite, now I've just got a used car … like every other vehicle on the road.
I don’t think all the women driving 4WDs and SUVs have penis envy. Maybe some…
lol….
Just enjoy the car you absolute peanut.
Bubble wrapping only prevents people from scratching it but there are more dangers in the bush: creepy crawlies!
Best to tie a kerosene soaked rag around the tyres to prevent the ants from crawling up to eat your cars candy ass.
I was like you with my first car… my brother in law jokingly sang “..the first cut is the deepest”
It’s since been involved in multiple accidents so I’ve learnt to not care as much now. He was right :)
Leave the 80k bmw at home and borrow a car from carnextdoor.com.au
Rent a car, only about 40$ a day for a compact suv with insurance…peace of mind
wow that's cheap. Rent a Bomb I guess.
no - it's through major vendors…basically trick to get cheaper rates is to use skyscanner.ie as it has lowest taxes/rates (make sure country is set it Ireland and currency to AUD). Eg dates from Friday 19/11 to Monday 22/11 (3 days) shows all-up 120 for compact sedan and 210 for compact suv
edit: that was melb airport (always cheaper from airport) but sometimes same as other places so check nearby 1st
I love camping but my car can't hold any camping gear. I also love my car car more than camping itself :) I usually rent a shitbox with insurance for camping trips.
This guy shows it is possible to load up a hatch back for camping. But it depends on how much gear and passengers you take.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItAbw9L1UQI
Thanks for the link! The i30 has about 4 times the room of an mx5 :P
Be more worried about the lazybones who leave their trolleys in the carpark at your local shops. Absolutely resent these people, and I have no issue confronting them and pointing them in the direction of the nearest trolley return if I see them do it. The other day at Westfield I saw trolleys in between the bumpers of cars, as well as between cars. That is the lowest of the low behaviour..
1: Over insure your car
2: Choose a paint colour that hides scratches better
3: Be a defensive driver, park well and choose your parks well. Don't drive like a douchebag.
4: Get a ceremic paint protection. Or even a clear wrap if your worried about stone ships, cat/bird scratches/poo.
5: Hide valuables out of site
It will be a good opportunity to christen your car it's first scratch/blemish, it's inevitable - at least you can have something to remember your trip by. Unfortunately it comes with the territory of buying a new car, the first one hurts the hardest, then it's all downhill from there
Best thing to do is leave it in your garage and get other people to drive you around. Not just for this camping trip, always. Alternatively get a cheap crappy banged up car to use to get around.