Buying a Car

Right, so I'd really like to buy a car over here, but I'm terrified! There are so many questions! First of all, do any speeding tickets that I got back in the US count against me over here when I'm getting insurance? And like, I'm not gonna use the car every day. I only want it for those odd occasions when I need to collect someone from the airport or go out of town for a weekend. Is it possible for me to buy the car, let it sit there and just take out travelers insurance when I'm going to use it? The car doesn't have to be insured during the times it's not being used, right? And does anyone know the best way to go about looking for a used car? Like I've been looking on gumtree.com to see some listings. Am I fairly safe buying privately? or is there a lot of scamming that goes on with that? Should I just go to a garage and find something? Any help or tips would be SO appreciated.

x
Monica

Why not just hire a car when you want it, instead of paying for insurance, MOT and parking?  If you're in London, use the city car club.  That's what I did and it was great.  Car when I wanted it, no hassle when I was done with it!

Not sure if you've checked out www.cargiant.co.uk yet, but it's a good place for quality, used cars...they have an unbelievable number, all makes and models.  In terms of the other stuff...I'm of no help, sorry

Hiya

I'd suggest you nip into WHSmiths and pickup a copy of What Car magazine. They have allsorts of guides, info, tips into buying a used car both from a dealer and/or privately. Soak up as much info as you can and then venture out to view and hopefully a little while later buy.

There are new schemes for 'pay as you go' insurance but as yet I think they're only in the experimental stage, I haven't looked into this myself as yet because it's not mainstream enough, plus I know I need the car often everyday. Unless there's some good bonus I'm going to wait till it's more widespread. I'm sure that even if you can get a policy for pay as you go now, there'd have to be some minimal cover for when the car is parked up - I doubt it'll only cover you when you're actually driving only, as when parked what if it got stolen?!

I'm pretty sure that once you get your UK license, any speeding tickets in the US won't be applicable here, if you drive on your US licence for a while here, am I right in saying the details of the ticket dont show on your actual license? and the only way to find out it call/contact the driver licensing people there?

Buying privatley can save you quite a bundle, but you need to know what you're looking for and the golden rule is to use your mind over your heart when buying - it's so easy to have a 1st choice car you really like and when viewing one get your judgement clouded! - there's more risk in terms of comeback when buying privatley, but the trade off is you paying much less than a dealer's forecourt price. Buying from a reputable dealer is the safest, and of course most expensive. read up on the magazine tips and guides to get more info - you'll feel better and more confident!

www.autotrader.co.uk is a very good site indeed and all the info you could want to know about buying a motor is on there too, plus you can search out car's for sale and work out budgeting etc as well.

As others have pointed out, alternatives could be just hiring a car when you need it, it's relatively simple and quick to do, I'm going to look into Kristi's suggestion of 'city car club' ( I think that where you jump into a little city car, drive it to wherever and leave it when you've reached yer destination ready for the next bod to drive it - but I could be wrong!)

Cargiant I've been to a few times, great selection to view, sit in and get a feel for, test drives of course as well, and all the finance stuff, their cars usually are direct from the Auction houses or ex lease etc, can be hard to find a low miler but they are around!

another cheap place is 2 miles from my house, called 'Trade Sales' http://www.trade-sales.co.uk/
my business partner only yesterday bought a 8 month old VW Polo for his other half from there - one of the biggest and cheapest places to buy a car from in the UK!

Hope this helps!

DtM! West London & Slough UK!

I think this is the car club that Kristi used... it looks great!   I wished I'd known about it when i lived in London!

http://www.citycarclub.co.uk/default.htm

We don't have a car, as we need one very infrequently. For us it makes more sense to rent one whenever we do--we pay approximately £45-50 for Fri 9 am to Mon 9 am rentals (haven't rented during the week, but I doubt it differs too greatly) from Hertz.

We figure we could rent a car almost every weekend before we accumulated the same costs as owning a car would--car payments, insurance, MOT, checkups, repairs... not to mention parking. Hassle-free, no need to worry about servicing, inspections or repairs, and you always get a nice, newish car.

I am in the process of buying a car, and I found the dealership really helpful.  I would visit different dealerships.  Buying a car here is ver similiar to buying a car in the States.

We are in the process of looking at streetcar...it sounds really good to us!  CityCarClub doesn't have any locations near us but Streetcar has 2 very close to our flat.

http://www.streetcar.co.uk/

Not sure how it works in the UK but I bought my last car from the dealer via the internet. We knew we were getting that kind of car (Hyundai Tuscon) so I looked on the local dealership websites and found a couple at a good price. I emailed the fleet managers and/or sales managers, didn't even bother with sales reps. I received a couple of good offers, then they countered on offers via email to me and in two days I had chosen the deal. The dealership I bought from put me into a V6 at only a couple hundred more. I got the car below invoice at a good price and it was very stress free and pain free. We went down to do a final test drive as he had a couple to choose from (we had already settled on price). We loved it and he already had the paperwork ready for us (we had already gotten the loan from our bank). We just signed and drove off. I will never buy another car from the lot again!

I think this is the car club that Kristi used... it looks great!   I wished I'd known about it when i lived in London!

http://www.citycarclub.co.uk/default.htm

That's the one!  It was so reliable.  I think I only had one time when the car in my neighbourhood wasn't available.  It was cheaper than owning a car, paying insurance, petrol, MOT and parking on my street was like £150 a year!

That's the one!  It was so reliable.  I think I only had one time when the car in my neighbourhood wasn't available.  It was cheaper than owning a car, paying insurance, petrol, MOT and parking on my street was like £150 a year!

Kristi,
Can you take these cars wherever you want, or just around town? And are they all manual shift for the most part?    There's actually one in my neighborhood in Bath, so I'm excited!

I drove all over the place.  We took one to Dover once for a day trip. Most are manual shift but there should be a few around with automatics.  They cost more though.  And you do pay per mile to use the car, as well as an hourly fee.  It can add up if you aren't careful! 

Is it possible for me to buy the car, let it sit there and just take out travelers insurance when I'm going to use it? The car doesn't have to be insured during the times it's not being used, right?

Legally, you do not require insurance when you're not driving it, so your idea would be fine from that point of view.  However, insurance companies tend to bump up the premium for short-term policies, or take a substantial percentage of the remaining period as a "penalty" if you take out an annual policy and then cancel after only a short time (e.g. a couple of months cover might end up costing the equivalent of 6 months or more premium at normal annual rates).    Do that a couple of times a year and you might find little difference from keeping the insurance on it all the time.

Sending the "tax disc" in for a refund if the vehicle is going to be off the road for a month or more is well worth the trouble though.

Legally, you do not require insurance when you're not driving it, so your idea would be fine from that point of view. 

So the car is 'uninsured' when it's parked on the driveway - still doesn't cover theft, damage etc. So to 'cover' it, you'd have to declare it on your home insurance policy, and that'd probably bump the premium up quite a bit - probably to the tune you'd be better off just paying for a full motor insurance policy, i'd have thought!?!

Am I missing something here in terms of 'pay as you go insurance'?  - how is the vehicle insured when it's not being driven?

DtM! West London & Slough UK!

So the car is 'uninsured' when it's parked on the driveway

True -- But then some people who drive really cheap runarounds aren't too worried about fire & theft cover anyway.