If you’ve ever spent much time in a car yard in Australia, you may well have noticed that it’s like car dealers peak another language! Especially when they’re talking to each other.
We thought we’d put together a list of all the car dealer slang we could come up with. But, before you read on, see if you can make sense of the fllolowing video (without the captions)
Then come back here and check out (or add to) our complete dealer glossary!
The Language of Car Yards
Describing a Car
‘dunny door’ – Holden Commodore
‘got form’ – been in previous accident
‘pair of 2’s’ – worth $22K
‘povo pack’ – base model
‘low on ticket’ – running low on registration
‘fast glass’ – power windows
‘bump & hook’ – bullbar & towbar
‘stop’ – abs brakes
‘DC red’ – bright red
‘safety yellow’ – bright yellow
‘double oh, double oh’ – 2000 build, 2000 complied
‘Dolly Partons’ – airbags
a bit leggy – high mileage
‘dollar car’ – a low value trade-in
“puff and blow” – airbags & aircon
‘ncv’ – no commercial value
‘needs boots’ – tyres are worn
‘no humphrey’ – no air conditionaing (Humphrey B Bear – Air)
‘more hits than Elvis’ – panel damage
‘top of the wazza’ – top of the range
‘all the bells and whistles’ – fully optioned
Selling Slang
‘head on the yard’ – potential client outside
‘dudder’ – client can’t get finance
‘tyre kickers’ – time wasting ‘buyers’
‘full lick’ – selling a car at full price
‘wood duck’ – sucker customer
‘upside down’ – negative equity
‘in traffic’ – car is sold & delivered
‘low ball’ – an offer way below what is reasonable
‘gorilla/monkey for the hurt’ – $1,000, $500 to spend
‘ducks on the pond’ – customers outside
‘ghosts’ – clients that won’t go away
‘on the drip’ – weekly payments
‘for a bradman a week’ – $100/week payments
‘on the murray cod’ – on the nod
’90 day beige’ – old stock, can’t sell, nobody wants, bad resale
‘ping the mrs’ – direct the sales tactics towards the female in a couple
Lastly, RIP to John Clarke, the renowned satirist. Here he is many years ago showing the argot over the ditch