American drivers license in the UK

I'm moving to Scotland in about 2 months on a work permit!!!!   Here's the question......Does the license that I have now entitle me to buy and insure a car or do I have to obtain a UK license, and how does the whole insurance thing work???

Congrats on your new job and move!

It's my understanding that Americans have one year to drive on their American license before they have to get a British one- I'm not sure about the insurance stuff since we didn't have a car until I had been here over a year and had to get my British license anyway 
The Driving Standards Agency website has lots of good info. www.dsa.gov.uk

Good luck!

Ditto to above...if you can get insurance on your US license...and even after you get a UK license it can be very, very expensive.  If you have been no claims in the US, bring info on this - anything to show that for the last few years you've been a good driver!  It may help...also do a search here...I remember someone mentioning this before

Yup, you can get UK auto insurance as long as you have a valid US license (i.e., for one year after you move). Not all insurance companies provide it, but any good local insurance broker should be able to call around and set you up.

But as onetiger said, it'll be expensive. Be prepared. However, I moved from RI -- which has very high insurance rates, anyway, so it wasn't that much of a shock to me. And when I renewed my insurance the next year, it dropped drastically. I hope it keeps going down the longer I have my UK license, but I'm not exactly sure how it works.

The insurance companies will generally ask whether you have a full UK license, and if so, how long you've held it.    Being British, I have no experience of how they'll  load the premium for non-UK licenses, but as the others have said, you can be sure it will be expensive, at least at first.

It always used to be the case that premiums dropped substantially at age 21, then again at 25, as many younger drivers found it much cheaper to just be included on their parents' policy. 

Insurance quotes really do vary drastically from one company to another though.  You  may find yourself better off going to one of the more specialized companies rather than the run-of-the-mill ones who have the big ads on TV.

With regard to actually buying a car, you don't need any driver's license to do that, UK or otherwise.  Whether you buy privately or from a dealer, you just fill in the part of the registration which is sent back to DVLA (equivalent of the DMV) and they mail back a new registration with whatever name you've put on it.   

Insurance quotes really do vary drastically from one company to another though.  You  may find yourself better off going to one of the more specialized companies rather than the run-of-the-mill ones who have the big ads on TV.

I really like the concept of insurance brokers in the UK -- OK, partly because my BF is one. They work with a bunch of insurance companies -- from the small specialised ones to the big ones you see on TV. You find a broker you trust (word of mouth is always the best recommendation), and he/she will find you the best deal for your buck ... or pound.