Drifter living in New Zealand
A couple of years ago I was in school, and I found this book in my classes shelves. All I can remember is that there was a large focus on cars, there was some stuff with crime, as in the main character was getting chased down by some criminals because he'd stiffed them on some drug money, or that he had somehow fallen out of favour with the criminals. The main character was a drifter living in Auckland, he worked at a paint/hardware shop I believe, but then he gets fired midway through the book. He also has this girlfriend who he doesn't really care about, or doesn't really show it. Based on what I can remember from the cover and general aesthetics, it was published in the 90s or early 00s. It was probably published on a pretty small scale because I've read these kinds of books before and they're usually pretty 'local', you know? Not really listed online.