[Saarth]

Firsly, Mods please move this if it is in the inappropriate section.

So my cousin brother is shifting to London for good, and he plans to buy a car there. His only question was if anyone knows the procedure of buying a car in london, because as far as I know, you need insurance first.

Does anyone know anything about this?

[simply_sunny001]

No, you dont have to buy insurance first. Buy the car and then get it registered in your name and pay for insurance and road tax.

Usually the dealers are a bit pricey and not always trust worthy so search of sites like autotrader.co.uk and buy.

Search for cars outside london as they are cheaper and well maintained compared to cars in london.

One more thing, there are sites on which you can pay 10-15 quids to check the history of the car once you finalise a deal so that you know whether it was an accident vehicle or not etc .

[abishekkalro]

There is a friend of mine who just came back from London. He had a Honda Civic there and he wants to sell it. Let me know if you guys would be interested, will share his number with you

[VEA]

Ask your cousin to go through the DVLA website. Its the sellers duty to get the car transferred to the buyers name. The car should have a valid MOT and Tax. a license and insurance is required, obviously. A parking permit may be required if he plan to park it in the street. Its better to use public transport for a couple of months until he gets used to the traffic and systems which will avoid a lot of fines early in his life there.

[Saarth]

Thanks for the replies guys. And is this the same for a new car?

[ajmat]

Hold

First thing - identify approximately which cars you want to zero on in

Then get an insurance quote. That is the killer - if you have an indian licence, it will count against you. Even if you pick up a UK licence which you need to do in 12 months, the premium is high since you are a new driver. Being in London, makes it even worse.

If cost is okay. You can buy privately, cheaper but do a vehicle check. Or buy from a dealer who is obliged to offer a warranty of sorts.

Also check if he needs to pay for parking being in London.

Being in London , a car may not even be needed. You could check out car sharing clubs

[akj53]

First things first. First learn their driving rules and etiquettes and then get a UK driving license. Only then think of a buying a car, otherwise you will be caught by traffic police on the first day itself.

If you will be working in Central London then better use public transport, especially Tube as it will be much faster and far cheaper than taking your car to work. You will understand all this by spending few weeks there.

[Cyrus43]

This thread is a lifesaver for me. Im moving in a few days too and I wanted to buy a car too. Insurance is insane though and I have given up the idea.

Its not that I dont have the money to buy the car, its just that I dont have money to insure and TAX it...

The bet alternative, is Streetcar.co.uk.

[Samir Taheer]

Saarth, you don't have to buy insurance before buying the car, but you cant drive the car or park on a public road without it.

The first car i bought in the UK was a 1.8 A4 and it cost me about £1300/yr in insurance on an Indian licence. The car only cost me £1600. Also in most parts of London you have to have a residence parking permit to park on the road and you may have to pay congestion charges depends on where you live(Residents get a 90% discount). Parking in London is an absolute pain.

There are a few websites where you can get a comparison of insurance quotes - Cheap loans | mortgages | credit cards | home & car insurance - moneysupermarket.com and comfused.com

Another point on insurance - all cars have a bracket they fall into and this kind of gives an indication to how expensive the insurance is going to be.

[girishchandra]

its the easiest thing to buy a car in london,find a car using pistonheads.com or gumtree.com or autotrader,then go to view the car,check if it has valid mot and road tax cause its best not to get into the hassle of getting the mot and road tax done yourself.Also you need a insurance to drive the car,there are many websites that give you drive away cover,or you can get them for 7 days for like 30pounds.
All you need to do to get the car in your name is fill up the log book which is basically a two page booklet that is the registration certificate of the car.you just need to put in your name and address,and thats it the seller will send it off to dvla and you would get it within 2weeks time at your address,its all free.
but make sure that you ceck the insurance before you buy the car,you can check it at moneysupermarket .com .normally stay away from 2 litre cars if you are under 25 as the insurance would be around 100pounds a month for the same.but if you are over 25 the insurance comes down for over 2000cc cars.
check what insurance group the car belongs to.
and you can drive on indian licensce for 12 months after you arrive in the U.K.
FOr any help you need in buying a car or for the insurance p.m me and i will sort you out.

[girishchandra]

Guys its the easiest thing to buy a car in the U.K. First look for the car using websites like gumtree ,pistonheads,autotrader and all.then call up the seller and ask if the car has MOT and tax, because getting them done yourself can be a hassle. Also check your insurance on the car before you go buy it cause you don't want to be stuck with a car you cant afford to insure. Normally the thumb rule is go for a under 2000cc car if you are under 25 and if you are over the insurance comes down so you can buy a over 2000cc car.
As for transferring the car in your name ,it's the easiest thing. The seller would give you the log book(registration certificate) of the car to fill up. It just asks for your address and name and thats it. The seller will send it off to DVLA and you would get your log book in like 2 weeks time.
As for the insurance when you go buy a car and if you like it just get yourself temporariily insured on the car using many websites to drive the car back home.After that you can insure the car using many websites online such as moneysupermarket and all.
As for driving it,your indian license is valid for 12 months after you arrive in the u.k.
also forgot to mention there is no fee for transferring a car onto your name.
Guys there are many loop holes in this system,so if you want cheap insurance or want help in buying a car cheap let me know and i would be happy to help.

[zibby]

I have to say cheaper and easier to use tube or buses in London. I am 19 and I live around London. I have UK licence and is quite expensive to get insured it cost twice or trice the value of the car.

When buying car you have to check for MOT and Road Tax and paper work from DVLA. Driving on International Licence can be slightly expensive on insurance depending on the age of the person.

[shankar.balan]

London with its fantastic public transportation system does not warrant the purchase of a car.
add these points to the price of the car itself;
1. congestion charge
2. parking costs ( also much of the parking in London is on the street)
3. MOT (Ministry of Transport) clearance
4. Insurance

and one will realize it is not worth it at all.

Use public transport to get in and around the city.
If you really want to drive, then rent a car and take it out of town for weekend trips into the country.

cheers

[wasif]

LOL....to sum up a long thread ....forget buying a car if you are staying in London proper....much easier / cheaper / efficient to use public transport....it goes everywhere.

Now if you actually decide to get a car its always cheaper to get it from the continent that anywhere in UK proper.

Another thing to consider is take proof of no claims from your Indian insurer if possible...this helps in lowering the insurance a bit

[Samir Taheer]

Its cheaper to get a car from the continent no doubt about that, but its a bit of a hassle to transfer to UK plates.

As for the no claims, when i got my first insurance sorted, the companies wouldn't accept an Indian no claims statement. Things may have changed since then.