Buying a car in the UK with two US drivers licenses...

Hey guys!!

So - something I have noticed when looking at job notices for my field is that a lot of places seem to want me to have a "full license". I don't know how flexible they will be about that (guess I will find out!!) but top priority after we get our family over to the UK is buying a used car and learning how to drive it!

Slight snag - while Ed was born in the UK, he lived from 8 to 18 in the ROI and only got as far as getting his provisional driving license while there. Then he moved back to the UK to go to Uni and had no need of a car so continued to not-drive. This means he does not have a British license (or even an Irish one!). However, he does know how to drive a manual car (er, I hope he still does after all this time anyway ;-)) and he has a US drivers license.

Sadly, I have never learned how to drive a manual here in the US and want to get on that asap when we arrive in the UK. We hoped to buy a used car almost as soon as we arrive - and obvs, get it insured and all that good stuff (and take oodles of lessons). Will we have trouble due to lack of UK drivers licenses and/or recent presence in the UK??

Buying a car should be no trouble at all.  However, by law you can drive on your US license up to one year and by then you must have obtained a UK license. 
Automatics are quite cheap here and to make taking the test quick and easy- you can take it in automatic.  However, you are then restricted to automatic cars.  The test and lessons can be pricey, and a bit difficult so brace yourself!  

Buying a car should be no trouble at all.  However, by law you can drive on your US license up to one year and by then you must have obtained a UK license. 
Automatics are quite cheap here and to make taking the test quick and easy- you can take it in automatic.  However, you are then restricted to automatic cars.  The test and lessons can be pricey, and a bit difficult so brace yourself!  

I'm aware of the 1 year grace period, that's why we want to get a car asap and get our licenses!

Although the lure of an automatic is great, I think it will be more useful to have a full license so I am determined to go for it. Thanks for your advice!

Hi there,

Buying the car isn't really the issue here - it'll be finding a good and decent insurance quote as you'll be seen by UK insurance companies as new drivers with little experience and therefore a much higher risk.

I don't know how deep or fat your wallet/purse is, but be prepared to shop around for a range of cars, then get insurance quotes for them, before purchasing so you don't get walloped by a large insurance premium.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Hi there,

Buying the car isn't really the issue here - it'll be finding a good and decent insurance quote as you'll be seen by UK insurance companies as new drivers with little experience and therefore a much higher risk.

I don't know how deep or fat your wallet/purse is, but be prepared to shop around for a range of cars, then get insurance quotes for them, before purchasing so you don't get walloped by a large insurance premium.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Thanks DtM!!

Um, wallets are not particularly fat or deep! We have some savings we will be coming over with, and will be looking for as inexpensive a used car as we can manage (and still be safe/reliable of course). We were hoping to spend about 1,500 Pounds to buy a car outright. What kind of range do you think we will be looking at for insurance?

Hi Reindeluz,

how long is a peice of string?!

There's cars out there that'll be £1000 but will cost you double or triple that to insure, and at the other end of the scale, £1300-1600 cars that'll cost you perhaps £800-1000 to insure maybe less!

have a look at other posts about insurance, and it basically comes down to a multitude of factors - postcode, type of car, garaged or not, alarmed and tracker or not, age of drivers, length of UK license held, any no claims bonus (you might get some transferred from the US) value of car etc etc.

As there's so many cars out there, you've got to start by looking at the style of car you 'need' - not 'want' ! look at aspects of maintenance and running costs etc and make a shortlist of perhaps 4-5 cars, then get insurance quotes for them. If they're all more than you'd like to spend, then you'll need to re-assess the cars again.

On top of that, the used car market and prices are all over the place at the moment, but you'll still see many examples within the price range you want.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Hi Reindeluz,

how long is a peice of string?!

There's cars out there that'll be £1000 but will cost you double or triple that to insure, and at the other end of the scale, £1300-1600 cars that'll cost you perhaps £800-1000 to insure maybe less!

have a look at other posts about insurance, and it basically comes down to a multitude of factors - postcode, type of car, garaged or not, alarmed and tracker or not, age of drivers, length of UK license held, any no claims bonus (you might get some transferred from the US) value of car etc etc.

As there's so many cars out there, you've got to start by looking at the style of car you 'need' - not 'want' ! look at aspects of maintenance and running costs etc and make a shortlist of perhaps 4-5 cars, then get insurance quotes for them. If they're all more than you'd like to spend, then you'll need to re-assess the cars again.

On top of that, the used car market and prices are all over the place at the moment, but you'll still see many examples within the price range you want.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Thanks Dennis! I clearly have a lot of research to do :-D