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Drive-away deals not always what they seem

Before you jump on that drive-away deal, make sure you read the fine print

Not all drive-away deals are created equally, we found this week.

During our research for the 2014 clearance sales we discovered certain states aren't obliged to supply a new car with a full 12 months registration.

In South Australia the dealer is only required to provide three months registration on new vehicles and in West Australia and the Northern Territory the dealer is only required to provide six months registration.

All other states must provide a full 12 months registration with new cars (although dealers and private owners across the country do have the flexibility to put six months rego on a used car).

We stumbled on this anomaly in the fine print of Suzuki's latest drive-away deals.

Suzuki assures us dealers in SA, WA and the NT are given an appropriate bonus to supply a full 12 months rego at no extra charge, so customers there pay the same price as the rest of the nation, and don't have to pay extra to "top-up" the rego to 12 months.

But it doesn't say so on the website and we are told some customers have been asked to pay a few hundred dollars extra to get the full 12 months. So check that the drive-away deal you're signing includes a full 12 months and make sure you're not paying more.