UK License...anyone have an idiots guide?

Thanks a lot everyone, this has all been really helpful. I have zero experience with driving in the UK and the whole process to go about it, so this has been super informative

To those of you who have automatic licenses only, do you find it convenient? I'm still not sure whether I want to own a car, but I was having a look at rental costs and I checked out several different companies and automatics were consistantly significantly more expensive than manuals. Would buying an automatic be comparitvely more expensive than buying a manual as well?

Going a bit beyond the testing process itself, can anyone give further information regarding what it takes to actually be a car owner, regarding insurance and MOT and things of that nature? I have a general idea what the MOT is but I'm not sure how often you need to have your car tested?

Also, is pumping gas exactly the same here as it is in the US? I know these are kind of stupid questions but I just don't want any surprises!!  I wasn't joking when I asked for an idiots guide

I have a license to drive automatics only, and I've never had a problem. The first car I bought here cost £700! I just figured that it was enough stress having to take a test in the first place without having the added pressure of learning how to drive a manual. 

Insurance: 3rd Party is required by law, this will pay for damage to the other person but not you or your car.  Fully Comprhensive (Fully Comp.) costs more but will pay for damage to your car.  'The Excess' is what you call the deductable in the US.

MOT: This a road worthyness check that needs to be carried out once a year on cars older than 3 years.  It cost me about £40 last time had one (my cars is less than 3 years old so I ahven't done one for a while) plus the cost of fixing any defects.  Most places re-test for free but shop around.  One thing to note is the MOT doesn't replace a service, it is inspection based and they don't dismantle the car to 'look inside' (in fact I think they may be prohitied from doing so.)

Petrol: Pretty much the same as the states (excluding full serive states.)  Pull up, get out, pump and either pay and the pump or go inside and tell the clerk the pump number.  Pre-pay only stations are much less common than in the US and are a pretty good sign of a dodgy neighbourhood. 

The main obvious difference is that diesel is readily available.  Most pumps have 3 hozes, the usual unleaded/super you'll be used to and one diesel.

Raod Tax: You missed this out, you need to pay this yearly, the price depends on car engine size/emissions.  You get a tax disk that you dispaly in the front window.

as for renting a car- in the UK & Europe- yes automatics can be a bit more expensive.  and you might not be able to just walk up to the counter and get one.

also- if you're looking to purchase a car- driving only an automatic will limit your options.

even with those drawbacks, i am still happy i have an automatic license.  i needed to get my license ASAP- and i just didn't need one more confusing factor thrown in. 

as for lessons- i took about 10 or so- from a friend who's a driving instructor.  you're not learning how to drive- you're learning how to pass the test- they brits have a bunch of stupid (I think they are at least) rules.  for example, when doing a turn in the road (k-turn) in an automatic, i still need to put my parking break on each and every time i stop, crazy. 

good luck!

Insurance: 3rd Party is required by law, this will pay for damage to the other person but not you or your car.  Fully Comprhensive (Fully Comp.) costs more but will pay for damage to your car.  'The Excess' is what you call the deductable in the US.

MOT: This a road worthyness check that needs to be carried out once a year on cars older than 3 years.  It cost me about £40 last time had one (my cars is less than 3 years old so I ahven't done one for a while) plus the cost of fixing any defects.  Most places re-test for free but shop around.  One thing to note is the MOT doesn't replace a service, it is inspection based and they don't dismantle the car to 'look inside' (in fact I think they may be prohitied from doing so.)

Petrol: Pretty much the same as the states (excluding full serive states.)  Pull up, get out, pump and either pay and the pump or go inside and tell the clerk the pump number.  Pre-pay only stations are much less common than in the US and are a pretty good sign of a dodgy neighbourhood. 

The main obvious difference is that diesel is readily available.  Most pumps have 3 hozes, the usual unleaded/super you'll be used to and one diesel.

Raod Tax: You missed this out, you need to pay this yearly, the price depends on car engine size/emissions.  You get a tax disk that you dispaly in the front window.

Wow that was quite comprehensive, thanks a lot. I knew about road tax but I thought that it was somehow related to the MOT. Thanks for the explanation!

I have an automatic only license and its never caused me any hassle.
I couldnt see the point in making things complicated for myself by learning how to drive a manual from scratch. It took me 4 tests before I passed so I couldnt imagine it being any trickier!
But, all in all I have learned good habits and I feel that I was better prepared to drive in real life in the UK, more so than I would have done if I had learned to drive in the US.

I knew about road tax but I thought that it was somehow related to the MOT. Thanks for the explanation!

It is related in that you can't get your road tax disc unless you show a current MOT certificate (assuming the car is over 3yrs old)...oh, and a valid insurance certificate.

I really find that a bizzare rule.  I wonder why the law is the way it is? 

The separate license category for automatic transmission was introduced in the late 1960s.  Prior to that anyone passing in an automatic was (and still is) licensed to drive manual as well. 

I have a general idea what the MOT is but I'm not sure how often you need to have your car tested?

Some more history and observations:  The MoT inspection was introduced in 1960 for vehicles over 10 years old, then gradually extended until reaching the present situation where all cars over 3 years old must be inspected annually.

Originally, the inspection covered just the very basic items -- steering, tires, brakes, head/tail lights working, etc.   Over time, and especially in the last 20 years or so, more and more items have been added.  Today the inspection list is quite formidable, although often inconsistent, bordering on crazy.  For example, if your car has anti-lock brakes you can fail the inspection if the ABS warning light is showing even though working ABS is not a legal requirement, yet you can pass the inspection with a broken speedometer even though the latter is mandatory!   

There are many things in the inspection which are age-related to correspond with the date from which certain items were required to be fitted to new cars though.  Emission limits are also age-dependent. 

If you really want to dig into the MoT details, this site has the full inspection manual:

http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual/contents.htm

A lot of people treat an MoT certificate as being a clean bill of health for a car, but it isn't.  It proves that the vehicle passed the criteria for the items which are required to be tested, but you shouldn't treat it as a substitute for a good mechanic's report.  For example, you could have a car where the drive shaft is about to drop off, the engine is probably going to give up the ghost in a few hundred miles, and the clutch is slipping like mad, but it can still pass the MoT inspection since those items aren't tested (beyond emissions for the engine).

It cost me about £40 last time had one

The full official price is currently £50.35.  Garages are free to charge less is they wish, but are not allowed to charge more (obviously any repair work is a separate issue).

they don't dismantle the car to 'look inside' (in fact I think they may be prohitied from doing so.)

They are.  The rules say that they are allowed (in fact required) to poke and prod the chassis with approved tools to look for corrosion, but are not allowed to dismantle anything.

So again, if you take something like brakes if the examiner can't physically see the amount of lining left on the shoes or pads, he won't be able to warn you that they will soon need replacing.  So long as the car passes the brake test, it will get a certificate even if the pads will be down to the rivets 50 miles later.

Of course, if your licensed MoT inspector is also the mechanic you are using for service and repairs, you can ask him to remove, examine anything you wish above and beyond the official inspection.

Petrol: Pretty much the same as the states (excluding full serive states.) 

Except for arranging the third mortgage to pay for it......   :\\\'(

Remember that modern U.K. hoses/nozzles are color coded green for unleaded, black for diesel.  Due to ever-stricter "Health & Safety" rules in recent years, you won't find very old pumps still in use in most places.   

Don't try to use the auto-shutoff clips to leave the tank filling while you go and do something else either, since those nozzles which had them were all disabled some years ago.  "Health & Safety" again!

Raod Tax: You missed this out, you need to pay this yearly, the price depends on car engine size/emissions.  You get a tax disk that you dispaly in the front window.

Emissions are only in the picture for 2001 cars onward.  Older cars are presently in a simple two-category system:  Up to 1549 c.c. is £120, everything above £185 per year. Pre-1973 cars are tax exempt, regardless of how little or how much you drive them.

Current tax rates:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/HowToTaxYourVehicle/DG_10012524

It is related in that you can't get your road tax disc unless you show a current MOT certificate (assuming the car is over 3yrs old)...oh, and a valid insurance certificate.

That also highlights one of the few exemptions to the rule that your must display a vehicle excise license at all times on a public highway.  You are allowed to drive to (and from) a pre-booked MoT inspection without a valid tax disk. 

I really find that a bizzare rule.  I wonder why the law is the way it is?  I wonder if its related to stalling the car or distraction if you don't know how to drive a manual, etc.

Back in the day, Massachusetts would issue licenses limited to an automatic transmission if you took the test with an automatic (so that, technically, if you were driving a manual with such a license, you were actually operating without a license since your license didn't cover driving a manual).  They still apparently issue licenses with the automatic limitation in cases where there's a medical condition preventing the use of a manual.

Oh yeah, I remember that now in MA (originally passed my test there)

ahhh yes the quirkiness and fun of Massachusetts laws .. Canna wait for my visit in June. Parents and  Cape Cod here i come..
Hijack over lolol

I would estimate 10 lessons would probably be a good number (and may cost around £170). When I came here, I learned on a manual car because I always wanted to learn, but couldn't get the hang of it, so switched to an automatic and would have only needed about 5 lessons to get used to the roads...then someone gave me a car for free, but it was a manual transmission so I went back to learning that and failed 3 times (twice for stalling and one for no reason really) and then passed. Overall I think I took around 24 hours of lessons.

The main things to get used to for me were all the give ways, roundabouts (not nearly as intimidating as I thought!), and the 'driving exam' way of driving. My friend took her test in an automatic but at a red light they made her shift into neutral and apply the handbrake...I thought that was weird 'cuz it was an auto car...but that may not be the case where u are. I would say take it in a manual car unless you think learning gears, UK driving techniques, etc would be too much at once. You can buy a car too (auto or stick) and drive it on a provisional for extra practice (as long as the passenger is a licenced driver for I think 3years or more).

The theory test is now 50 questions, I passed with 49/50. You can miss 7 and still pass. What saved my life was the DSA's CD-ROM of the theory test/hazard perception...it has all the questions and u can take tons of mock tests, it really was great and I did learn a lot from it!

On your actual practical exam, they ask you simple questions about the car (which u can find on that CD-ROM too) like "which is the engine fluid" and "how do you know your power steering is working", etc. Your driving instructor would go over that with u.

And yeah, the colour of the petrol pumps confused me 'cuz in Arizona green pumps were for diesel and black were for unleaded and here its the other way around .

Also, if you fail the first time, don't be too disappointed like I was, you can always book and take it again (although it is like £48 or whatever). It's really easy to fail, my local centre has a 33% pass rate. So don't give up and don't be nervous! I imagined I was taking a very important person for a nice ride.

Hope that helped! The test is all based on the mirrors-signal-maneouver routine (though my instructor gave me SO many acronyms I can't remember it all. BBC [brake before clutch] and MSPSM [mirrors, signal, position, speed, maneover] and some other crazy ones, but MSM is the most important one. I googled tons of stuff to see how roundabouts work, etc. You can find good videos online or on youtube (there's also a video of the 1935 UK driving test, totally different than today's lol). Good luck driving, whatever you decide for automatic/manual. Personally I would have taken the easy way in an automatic, but I'm glad I learned to drive a standard transmission and probably wouldn't go back to an automatic lol. But do what's best for you, most comfortable, and least confusing. And buy the Highway Code

Thanks for sharing, it is so encouraging to hear other people's experiences The whole thing about using the handbrake in an automatic is just...bizarre, but whatever it takes to pass I guess

I have another stupid question!!

I am filling out the application for the provisional licence and I am a little confused. Section 3 asks about eyesight and I've ticked Yes to say that I can read a car number plate from 20.5 metres, and I've also ticked yes to needing to wear glasses while driving. Then over the page is Section 4 and it asks if you have any of the conditions listed. One of the things on the list says "Any condition affecting both eyes. Not including colour blindness or short or long sight". This may be a bit pedantic, but I don't want to make any mistakes... I have astigmatism, which is obviouisly uber common and a normal sort of vision problem. But it doesn't count as long or short sightedness so do I have to tick the box saying I do suffer from one of the listed conditions? 

This may be a bit pedantic, but I don't want to make any mistakes... I have astigmatism, which is obviouisly uber common and a normal sort of vision problem. But it doesn't count as long or short sightedness so do I have to tick the box saying I do suffer from one of the listed conditions? 

I have astigmatism too, but I've only ever considered myself to be short-sighted when it comes to things like this. I think the question is asking about any other condition you might have that can't be corrected by wearing glasses and may impair your ability to drive - like cataracts or glaucoma or something, I guess.

I only checked that I need glasses/corrective vision when I drive-  and I have astigmatism and normal pressure glaucoma (my vision is not affected)
I wouldn't worry unless you have some serious vision limitations.  The only want you to be able to read the number plates from 20.5 without an issue.  Well I guess I'll let you know when I attempt to go for my practical in the next few weeks.  Gotta pass that darn theory/hazard perception first though...