Used cars

You'll just get a better deal when negotiating as sales quotas end at the end of the month.  If you can't wait, you can take the hit or buy from somewhere where they don't negotiate like I think KFDANCER said Car Giant

The end of the month thing has a *bit* of truth to it.  But honestly, I wouldn't worry about what time of month you are purchasing.  So long as you aren't overpaying for the vehicle, you are unlikely to get a significant discount of any kind no matter what day of the month you buy. 

It would only be £250 for tax if the vehicle has high CO2 emissions.

The tax on my new car was only £115 for the year (CO2 emissions of 121-130 g/km), which you can either pay in one full annual payment, or you can do monthly direct debit payments for a little bit more.

Current tax rates for cars registered between March 2001 and March 2017:
https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-tax-rate-tables/rates-for-cars-registered-on-or-after-1-march-2001

I just paid my road tax earlier this week. £20 for a 3 year old Polo.

The end of the month thing has a *bit* of truth to it.  But honestly, I wouldn't worry about what time of month you are purchasing.  So long as you aren't overpaying for the vehicle, you are unlikely to get a significant discount of any kind no matter what day of the month you buy.

That's true, it's only the case if someone is making a bunch of money on the car already.

I just paid my road tax earlier this week. £20 for a 3 year old Polo.

For the year?  That's pretty good.

Yeah, I have factored all of that into my budget for the car cost. My husband will be getting driving lessons too so will be contributing to the expense.

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If you aren't used to driving in the UK and your husband is going to be learning with the car, you should get a really cheap car first. 

The model of car we're considering getting (used, of course!) has £30 annual road tax.  We've determined that with the increased fuel economy we'll get from the new-to-us car, within a year of purchase we'll be money ahead to buy one.  So I'm getting (the occasional use of) a new-to-us car!  After 5 long years of only going places when I could find a ride, I'm going to have a chance to go to shops or the GP, or whatever errand (my NCS in a few months time?) all by my grown-up self. 

If you aren't used to driving in the UK and your husband is going to be learning with the car, you should get a really cheap car first.

That was pretty much the plan, but I've done fine with rentals in the past. I'm more concerned with the driving history because if any previous owner was a smoker or loved air freshener I won't be able to own the car. And finding an automatic because my legs really hate manuals now.

Something I've done over here in the states (and I see you guys have them over there in the UK as well) is hire a pre-purchase or used car inspector. When I looked them up the other week over there they run around £100-150.

You contact them with the type of car you are looking at, where its at, if you have any specific concerns about that car. Then they go out to the car lot or to the individuals home and conduct their inspection (typically unannounced if its a car lot just as if they were any other person going out car shopping. The reason is they don't want the shop "prepping" the car and warming it up).

They hook their computer up to the car and see if any codes pop up, they do a REALLY thorough inspection, take it for a drive and then they give you their full report about it. These have been so valuable to me when buying vehicles.

Over here in the states I've used them about 5-6 times for different vehicles I've been interested in purchasing or have purchased. A couple times they have steered me clear of bad cars. Even when the car checks out ok I dont feel like I've wasted my money. It gave me a very sense of comfort.

These are just a couple that I found over there. I'm sure there are more.

http://www.nationalvehicleinspections.com/prices

https://www.mycarinspections.co.uk/book-a-service.php?stage=2

If you wanted to see a vehicle’s complete MOT history, just go online to DVLA and you can look it all up with just a few easy clicks.


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