Pop up car sales yard on southern entrance to Queenstown
Welcome to Queenstown! Spot yourself a roadside bargain…
It’s not the most beautiful sight awaiting visitors and Southern Corridor locals as they drop over the brow of the hill towards Kawarau Bridge only to be greeted by an impromptu roadside used car lot, often with the odd retail advertisement thrown in.
It’s been an age-old issue for Queenstown – vehicle owners jostling for the best roadside vantage point at which to sell their cars.
Some years back the then Transit NZ transport agency had to tackle a massive line-up of cars being left for sale and airport parking along the boundary of the Frankton Golf Course on the State Highway. Enforcement was eventually required.
One such used car line-up dotted with ‘For Sale’ signs in windows has appeared on State Highway 6 just past the Kelvin Heights turnoff.
It’s one of the stretches of State Highway for which Waka Kotahi (NZTA) has delegated enforcement authority to the Queenstown Lakes District Council and a popular pull-over for residents sharing rides or meeting those in outlying suburbs, or sometimes leaving cars to carpool.
A council spokesman says the council’s bylaw states that people may not leave a vehicle parked on a road or parking place for more than 7 days, or stop, stand or park one on a road or parking place for the purpose of advertising either goods or the vehicle for sale.
A council spokesman says given the scale of the task to enforce these provisions the council often relies on reports or complaints from the public.
“We’ll then send a council officer to assess each situation. If we find an area that consistently has cars for sale or advertising trailers left there, we can put up permanent signage and thereafter take enforcement action straight away,” he says. “But in most cases we focus initially on education, for example calling the number on the ‘for sale’ notice or billboard and advising the owner to move the vehicle to avoid us taking enforcement action. This education before enforcement approach is also in line with our Enforcement Strategy.”
No complaints have been received about this latest line-up on the roadside.
Macauley Motors Queenstown sales manager Steve Rhodes says there are franchise yards locally but not too many budget cars yards. There’s not a big demand among dealers for anything but late model used cars, he says.
The council spokesman says the council hasn’t considered, or is likely to consider, offering an allocated area to sell second hand cars. “There are several other options for people who want to sell their vehicles privately, such as classified listings and online trading websites,” he says.
There are also second-hand cars for sale in the council-run free car park at the turn off to Lake Hayes Estate on the other side of town, with some on the roadside on occasion.
