Should you even buy one?
Do the honest maths first. A van makes sense if you're travelling for 6+ months, going remote, or planning the big lap; it makes much less sense for a year of east-coast cities and farm jobs with hostel shuttles. Beyond the purchase price, budget for rego transfer and stamp duty, insurance, roadside cover, at least one four-figure mechanical surprise (assume it, and be pleasantly wrong), fuel across genuinely enormous distances, and tyres. The upside is real too: rent disappears, remote jobs open up, and a well-bought van sold at the right time of year can hand most of your money back. Buy from another backpacker at the end of their trip and you inherit their bedding, fridge, cooker and hard-won receipts; buy in a hurry in your first week and you inherit their problems. Wait until you've been in the country a few weeks and know what you actually need.
Before you buy
Run a PPSR check ($2 at ppsr.gov.au, takes two minutes) with the VIN. It reveals money owing under finance, written-off history and stolen status. This is non-negotiable: a van with finance owing can be repossessed FROM YOU after you've paid for it, and 'but I bought it in good faith' does not help. Do the check yourself on the official site; don't accept a screenshot from the seller, and avoid lookalike sites charging $20 for the same $2 report. Then check the seller's ID against the name on the rego papers. If they're 'selling it for a mate', the mate can sell it to you personally or not at all. Confirm the VIN on the chassis matches the VIN on the papers and the PPSR report. Backpacker vans have often had five-plus owners in three years, each less mechanically curious than the last; assume nothing, verify everything.
What to inspect
Turn up before the agreed time so the seller can't pre-warm the engine, then cold start it: rattles, smoke and long cranking tell the truth. Drive it yourself through all gears including reverse, feel the clutch bite point (high and grabby means money soon), and listen with the radio off. Hunt rust in the sills, wheel arches, window frames, under the windscreen and around the roof (surface bubbles are cosmetics, flaky structural rust is a wallet funeral). Check oil colour and level, look under the engine for fresh drips, and check the coolant isn't a milky mess. Read the tyre date codes: rubber older than about five years needs budgeting for regardless of tread. Test every seatbelt, light and window, and make sure the sleeping setup isn't hiding water damage (sniff for damp). Ask for the service history; silence is an answer. Above all: a $150-250 pre-purchase inspection from a mobile mechanic is the best money you'll spend on the entire trip. It saves $1,500 surprises, and the written list of faults is haggling ammunition worth many times its cost.
Rego by state, this genuinely matters
Registration (rego) stays with the state the van is registered in, and each state has different transfer rules, so where the van is registered changes your life more than its colour. NSW, VIC and QLD require a roadworthy or safety certificate to transfer registration: the SELLER should provide a current one, and 'sold as is, no RWC' really means 'budget for repairs before you can legally put this in your name'. WA and SA transfer without a roadworthy inspection, which is exactly why half the backpacker fleet wears WA plates. After buying, you generally must lodge the transfer within about 14 days (late fees apply), and you'll pay stamp duty of roughly 3-4% of the purchase price to the state. Check how much rego time is left: a van with 10 months of rego is genuinely worth more than the same van with three weeks, and long rego in an easy-transfer state adds real resale value. One more trap: some states technically want you to re-register an out-of-state vehicle if you 'garage' it there long-term, but for a touring backpacker van staying mobile this rarely bites. What does bite is letting rego expire mid-trip, because driving unregistered also voids the injury insurance bundled with rego.
Insurance & breakdown cover
Compulsory third party (CTP) insurance comes bundled with rego in most states, and it covers one thing only: injuries to people. It does NOT cover damage to vehicles, theirs or yours. So get third-party property insurance as your minimum (typically a few hundred dollars a year): rear-ending a LandCruiser uninsured is a $30,000+ mistake that ends your entire trip, while your own van's value may not justify comprehensive cover. Shop around; some insurers are awkward about foreign licences and older vans, others don't care. Then add roadside assistance through the state auto clubs (NRMA, RACV, RACQ and friends, roughly $100-250 a year with reciprocal coverage between states) BEFORE any remote trip. Out past the black stump, a 300km tow at commercial rates can cost more than the van did. Carry the basics anyway: real spare tyre (check it now, not roadside), jack that works, jumper leads, coolant and oil top-ups, and far more water than seems reasonable.
Living in it without getting fined
Two rules run your new life. One: free camping is illegal in most city and popular coastal areas, rangers know every carpark you've thought of, and fines are aggressive around tourist towns. Use the apps and Matey tips to find legal free and low-cost camps, and read the Free Camping guide before your first night. Two: never drive tired, because the distances here kill the unwary; two hours between towns is normal, and fatigue plus dusk-time kangaroos is the classic backpacker crash. Kangaroos are worst dawn and dusk, so plan drives for daylight hours in the country. Keep valuables invisible, because van break-ins cluster exactly where backpackers park. And join the unwritten waving economy: vanlifers help each other with jump starts, tools and tips, and the person you help today knows about tomorrow's farm job.
Selling before you fly
Start selling 4-6 weeks before your flight; desperation discounts kick in hard inside two weeks, and every buyer can smell a departure date. Price realistically against the season: vans sell high around Oct-Dec when the arrival wave lands with savings, and low around May-June when everyone's leaving and nobody's buying. If your trip ends in the low season, even consider selling in a different city than you fly from; arrival cities in arrival season are the best market. List on Matey Marketplace with honest photos, every receipt, the service history you (hopefully) kept, and a current roadworthy if your state needs one for transfer, because having it ready widens your buyer pool to people who can't afford surprises. Meet buyers at a bank, accept cleared transfer or cash only (never cheques, never 'my agent will pay you'), and hand over signed transfer papers only with payment. Then the step everyone forgets: lodge the official notice of disposal with the state rego body the SAME DAY, so the new owner's parking fines, tolls and speed cameras don't chase your name across the world.