Going back overseas - Keep or Sell our Patrol?

Hi, folks

as the title says I am thinking about keeping our beloved Patrol, who brought us 40.000km around Oz in the last months. We are Germans (no backpackers! :D ) and your government and my account balance wants us to go back home and earn some money, but a little bit more 4WDing in the future won`t hurt, right? Much easier if we have a car when we come back instead of starting over.

We have a friend in NSW, who would take care or the car, but she is not very responsive right know and I am looking for alternatives just in case she breaks her promise.

Some facts about the car, that might influence your opinion:

- VIC Rego and officially garaged in VIC (I also have a VIC drivers licence)
- It is a stock Patrol without snorkel or winch (yet) but automatic and in very good condition, 293.000km on the clock
- it is a 2001 ZD30
- complete camp setup with roof top tent, fridge, dual battery, solar, ...

Looks like leaving the car in NSW with a friend means a bit of paperwork as I am not sure if I can leave it registered in VIC while i am not present.

Do you have any experiences or ideas? :)

I would look at a Caravan Storage place. maybe $1 a day for storage mate. Put a Cover over it and come back when your ready.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MudRunnerTD

I would look at a Caravan Storage place. maybe $1 a day for storage mate. Put a Cover over it and come back when your ready.

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Agree. Plenty of $1/day boat/caravan storage yards around. That's about €0.5 per week. Give you 10 seconds to think about it Norman! Keep the rego paid up and Vic Roads has no idea where the car is.

If it's registered in your name in Vic you can keep it wherever you like provided the vic garage address remains. You can set up online payments to keep the car registered with VicRoads. Our car hasn't been in Vic for 18 months, not a problem.

How long do you intend to be away from AU ?, this is the real question IMO, as no car likes to sit doing nothing, its almost the worst thing you can do to one, of course the problem when you have someone else drives it, is they may not service and maintain it properly, or may crash it.

Just like the Y62 at my local dealer, left it with relatives to drive while he was away, they did 30,000 Ks without getting a service (3 service missed) now the guy is up for 20K for a new engine, and has no car for months.



I think 0-6 Months, id put it in storage, anything longer than that , id take all accessories off, tent etc (let your friend keep them for you) and just sell the car, easy for you to pre purchase another one before you arrive, and plenty of well informed forum members will go inspect a car pre purchase for nice people offering beer :p


Easy to keep control of things "without" a car here if your situation does change while back home, and you don't return for a long time.

Get rid of it. 293,000 kms on a 2001 ZD30 with no NADS is already a big risk. Leaving it lying around somewhere not being used is not a good idea either.

Leaving in January and probably come back for the dry season up north in QLD in 2021 IF things work out..

I find selling the best option, too. But finding a decent car is not super easy. We tested 3 cars. The car we ended up buying was and is super smooth and easy to drive with the auto. The other were very worn.. the steering wheel, clutch, shifting gears was too soft/worn. I found it not easy to find a well maintained and cheap car in a short time. That’s probably the big burden of us tourists :D

Does anybody has a number what it costs to repair the grenade after the detonation? I read there are different variations what can break, but are we talking about $2000 or rather $5000 or is it impossible to estimate?

The people I know of that have had this happen, seem to end up paying between 8- 12K, hence why I bought a Petrol GU, they laughed until they realised they had spent 10k more than me on a Patrol, to save 1/2 the cost on fuel, only to have the motor blow, then they had to spend another 10k, so now im 20k in front...…..20k buys a lot of Petrol.

It also seems that rebuilding the ZD30 is not a guarantee the engine wont blow again, so what im saying is, if your not doing a full lap next time, you may find a Petrol Patrol will fill your needs, and they are cheap to purchase and very reliable, even after a few Ks ,mine had done over 320,000 when I sold it, still with no ENG worries at all.

As above. I vote for getting rid of it and getting some $ for it while it's worth something. And then if and when you return again, invest in something again. Who knows what you will find when you come back.
Time and value in vehicles moves very quickly.

Another supporter for selling and re-buying if and when you return.


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Yeah no have to say I would sell too. When you come back buy the best one you can find an afford. Drive it for theb3 to 6 months you are coming for (or whatever) and probably sell that for something close to what you paid for it.

Your current rig is getting old and hard time all. Off load if you can and find something on your return.