EDITED: First Time (New) Car Buyer in NE Scotland

Looking to buy a new car in NE Scotland and hoping for some tippage, no matter how small

With sincere thanks in advance.

Edited to add: I utilized the search function (as well as perused the first 10 pages of "Travel and Transport") before posting

Edited to add v2: First time car buyers in the UK. Looking for information regarding how the whole process works, both with and without financing. I suppose that should've been my original post !

Hi there,

Welcome to the forum!

I suggest you nip into WhSmith and pickup a copy of 'WhatCar' magazine. All the various options that are available to you will be listed here. Cash, bank loans, various Leasing options etc are all covered.

I'm presuming you are American and newly arrived in the UK, so some of the options may not be available to you. Only you can see your financial position to see what you do indeed qualify for.

You can then look into buying privately, from a independant car dealer, a main authorised dealer, buying from an auction.

You'll also need to take into consideration what kind of car you want, Diesel, Petrol, small city runabout, mid size car, hatchback, executive saloon etc etc, potential insurance costs, then the usual costs for the annual MOT check (£30-50) and which Road Fund License band the cars you are considering fall into (from zero to around £450/year)

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Thanks so much, DtM, for both the welcome and very helpful reply.

My husband and I are looking for a car as well, though we're looking at used models.  One site I've found helpful is http://www.parkers.co.uk.  It's an auto information/review site that's got a pretty thorough list of all models available in the UK, with details and reviews on all of them.  I've found it helpful in learning about the pros & cons of different makes & models, and giving me a frame of reference for comparing them to US models that I'm more familiar with. 

Another important feature is that the site lists the tax & insurance groups for each type of car.  It's surprising how much insurance costs go up on cars with 'big' engines- ones I'd consider fairly modest here.  So it's worth doing your homework on the insurance and stuff before buying, or you could be in for a shock.