How to buy a car?

DTM,  I noticed your license disc? is behind you RVM instead of the bottom of your windshield. Is that common? I though it would get you a ticket??

I don't see a tax disk behind the mirror in Dennis' pictures, but I do see one on the right-hand side of the windshield, which technically is against the rules.

The Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 2002, section 6:

(4) The licence shall be exhibited on the vehicle -

{.....}

  (c) in the case of any vehicle fitted with a glass windscreen in front of the driver extending across the vehicle to its near side, on or adjacent to the near side of the windscreen;

(5) In each case referred to in paragraph (4), the licence shall be so exhibited that all the particulars on the licence are clearly visible in daylight from the near side of the road.

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2002/20022742.htm#6

So I haven't seen much mention of car insurance.

Can I just give them any old address and change it later? I mean I hope to be able to buy a car within a week of arriving, however it may take me longer than that to secure permanent housing.

Sort of...

Your premium is based, partly, on where you live and how your car is stored (on-road, driveway, garaged.)  So your initial premium will be based on where you live when you take out the policy; when you then move your premium may well change. 

Standard U.K. car models are also classified into numbered insurance groups, which will affect the premium (group 1 being the cheapest - I think the highest is about group 18, but I'm not certain). 

There is also a huge element of "think of a number, double it, multiply by the number of cups of coffee you've had this week, then deduct the number you first thought of."   You can't do anything about the price of the road tax or fuel, but insurance quotes can vary widely (wildly, in fact) between different companies for the same car, same driver, and same conditions, so this is where it really pays to shop around, get plenty of quotes, and play the companies off against each other when they ask if you've already had any other quotes.

Hiya

Yep, insurance groups are 1-20 but it's actually a fallacy to think just becuase a car is in a higher insurance group that it'll always be more expensive than say another car grouped 2-3 lower.

There's so many factors involved, so the best thing is to do exactly what Paul just mentioned and thats to get as many quotes as possible and try to play off the companies aganst each other

Cheers DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Also, if you are in the position of having anything "unusual," such as an imported vehicle, some of the insurance companies either just don't want to know you or will quote a price so high you'd be crazy to accept it.   

I can still recall one time when my range of quotes was under £110 at the lowest and over £850 at the highest!    That was about 16 or 17 years ago, but the figures have been stuck in my mind ever since for the vast difference between them.