Car Ownership Advice

[marcuscurran]

Hi everyone,

My name is Marcus and I currently live in Sydney, Australia. From the middle of next year however myself and my girlfriend will be moving over to London or its surrounding area for a couple of years. The plan is to eventually buy a car over there (been dreaming of driving around Europe for years and years now) but I thought I should ask about the basics as I would imagine the ownership logistics will be different to Australia.

In terms of registration, insurance and all the other boring stuff to get the car on the road what is the process? The plan will be to get a car after we have found a place to live.

Also I am curious as to what you guys think I should buy? I love hot hatches and know that they would fill the purpose of what I want (long days on the road, mountain roads, open countryside driving, etc) but I'm open to most European cars.

Thanks in advance, I can't wait to see what people will say.

[photosnob]

Buy whatever you want. Best to have a look when you are here.

I think you can drive on your aus license for a year. And then it's just a swap over job. insurance might be a drama with a foreign license though. I'm sure you can get it through a broker but it might be more expensive.

Registration is easy. You just fill in the form with a name and address. You don't even need a license to insure a car. Tax is done either annually or by direct debit each month. All can be done online. So it's simple.

If you are going to be in central london do not buy a car. Rent one. Honestly driving around central london is about as much fun as studying chemistry. Don't do it.

[ZX10R NIN]

+1 with the above it all depends on budget so wait until you're sorted but a Megane will be a good starting point if you like hot hatches, just be prepared for the traffic even in the suburbs.

[marcuscurran]

Okay awesome. That's very useful information, sounds pretty easy compared to here.

Yeah I was planning on getting a French hot hatch, perhaps a Clio 182. Sure I could get one for under £5,000 there pretty easily.

[GreatGranny]

marcuscurran said:

Okay awesome. That's very useful information, sounds pretty easy compared to here.

Yeah I was planning on getting a French hot hatch, perhaps a Clio 182. Sure I could get one for under £5,000 there pretty easily.

The early ones are really cheap now.

Not an expert but I'm sure you can get a decent one for les than £2k.

[RobM77]

marcuscurran said:

Okay awesome. That's very useful information, sounds pretty easy compared to here.

Yeah I was planning on getting a French hot hatch, perhaps a Clio 182. Sure I could get one for under £5,000 there pretty easily.

Make sure you fit in a Clio if you're planning on doing long journeys. I love the Clio, but would struggle to spend more than 30-40 minutes behind the wheel of one, and it's often mentioned in magazine reviews, so I'm not alone. They favour drivers with very short legs and long arms.

As alternatives to think about, £5k would get you a Honda Civic Type R FN2 here ('07?), or a slightly older MINI Cooper S. The problem with buying a car of this type is that so many have been thrashed - there are usually a number about that have been doted over though by an owner who loves cars, it's just a case of finding one.

I don't know about Aus licenses etc, but in terms of UK law for a car you need an MoT test certificate (the MoT is an annual test that most garages can perform and it signs your car off as safe and roadworthy for the year - they're about £50) and valid insurance - both are a legal requirement. In addition to that, each car carries a V5 (sometimes called a 'logbook'), which legally states the registered owner and keeper of the car - when a car is sold, the seller and buyer sign the form, update the details in pen and then send the form away and the new owner then gets an official printed form back. Finally, you'll need to pay Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), which is a tax on emissions, to use the car on the road (including parking!). VED rates depend on the emissions of the car as officially tested and bizarrely it's a flat rate regardless of the mileage you drive. Most of the admin this sort of thing is done by a government organisation called the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).

In terms of buying a secondhand car, Pistonheads have loads for sale. The other major UK website for secondhand cars is Auto Trader.

HTH

[photosnob]

I'm 6 foot 1 and weigh 16 stone (you might need to convert that to Australian) and I easily fit into a clio. So it's personal. You probably want to just try it.

Most cars come with some MOT and you only need one if the car is over 3 years old. Generally they are not that hard a test for a car to pass. However I take mine to a government test centre as they don't actually work on cars so I've found them the fairest as they don't "find" work.

Robs post above is fair. However it seems quite scary. 17 year olds manage to get it done. The V5 comes automatically when you fill your name in. The VED part is literally less than 5 minutes on the internet. Once it's set up via direct debit you can forget about it forever. It even cancels itself automatically if you ever sell the car. To be honest you'd have to need a support worker to not understand owning a car in the UK.

Anyway getting and owning a car will be one of the least stressful and complicated things you do when over here! Good luck buddy.

[RobM77]

photosnob said:

I'm 6 foot 1 and weigh 16 stone (you might need to convert that to Australian) and I easily fit into a clio. So it's personal. You probably want to just try it.

Sorry, I probably didn't explain that well enough. I'm a fairly lean 1.8m & 70kg and don't fit; it's not an absolute size issue, it's the ratio of your arm to leg length (ape index). You might hear me complain about this for most modern 'sit up and beg' cars, but with the Clio I think most people need to check as it's right at the end of the spectrum of variation. I just thought it was a good thing to think about if the OP's planning on doing a lot of miles in the car around Europe - I'm really into my Euro road trips and comfort would be high on my list of priorities in a car to do it in.

[photosnob]

RobM77 said:

orry, I probably didn't explain that well enough. I'm a fairly lean 1.8m & 70kg and don't fit; it's not an absolute size issue, it's the ratio of your arm to leg length (ape index). You might hear me complain about this for most modern 'sit up and beg' cars, but with the Clio I think most people need to check as it's right at the end of the spectrum of variation. I just thought it was a good thing to think about if the OP's planning on doing a lot of miles in the car around Europe - I'm really into my Euro road trips and comfort would be high on my list of priorities in a car to do it in.

Completely agree mate. One persons comfortable is another persons nightmare.

I personally want cruise, aircon, dab radio and ideally an automatic for something I'm doing a lot of miles in. But then most people on here would think I was a heathen for daring to think like that.

Should still be exciting for the OP. He will have a lot of fun in London if he has a few spare quid to enjoy it.

[TEKNOPUG]

You really don't want to do long road trips in French hatchbacks, trust me. The UK is probably the cheapest place in the world for secondhand cars. 5k is enough to buy pretty much anything short of exotics, I'd suggest aiming your sights higher.

[marcuscurran]

Thanks so much for everyone's response, they have all been so helpful. Sounds like it should be a breeze.

Interesting what people are saying about the Clio driving position, I'll have to sit in one here before I go over. What would other people suggest that would have reasonable running costs for under £5,000?

[DrTre]

Euro road trips for 2 are in a convertible of some description for me, no question.

[ZX10R NIN]

I'd take a look at the Focus ST it has a cracking engine a good chassis(not as good as a Clio bu good none the less) & a better place to be on longer trips.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

Or a Megane 225
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...


The Meganes are a little less reliable than the Focus but are a better steer.

[RobM77]

marcuscurran said:

Thanks so much for everyone's response, they have all been so helpful. Sounds like it should be a breeze.

Interesting what people are saying about the Clio driving position, I'll have to sit in one here before I go over. What would other people suggest that would have reasonable running costs for under £5,000?

You'll know straight away if you fit. I had a small Peugeot (107/108?) for a week last year and it caused me such back and shoulder problems that I couldn't windsurf for two weeks after driving it. I had the seat as far forward as my legs would permit, but the strain on my upper back and shoulders trying to reach the steering wheel was painful! As with most French hatches, it drove really well and I loved it, it's just a shame that most of them are designed for orangutans.

£5k? As I said earlier, the Civic Type R or MINI are worth a look; they drive really nicely and are more accommodating than most French hatches. If you like rear drive as well then a 1 or 3 series would be great for a long road trip and they handle beautifully - just choose your engine. Same with the MX5, and you'd get the bonus of open top if your road trip is in summer. The MR2 mk3 is a fantastic drive, but next to no luggage space would probably rule it out as a Euro road trip car.

[andy-xr]

I'd hire something for a month or two and then figure out if you still want or need a car. You're saying you're coming to London, which to be honest is possibly the worst place in Europe to own and run a car. Europe has slightly cheaper fuel than the UK, but all of it is very expensive compared to AUS. AUS fuel at $1,13 is equivalent to £0.53 per litre. It's actually £1.13 per litre here.

There is some countryside outside of London, but you'll need to sit in about an hours worth of traffic to start getting towards it, and it's an hour away from there.

Europe as I'm sure you know drives on the wrong side of the road quite a lot.

What happens though is when you take a RHD car into Europe, it's harder to drive around some of the areas because you dont get as good visibility. It's fine on the main roads, but a pain in the arse to deal with at junctions where you're pulling out, overtaking on smaller roads and also they have some strange things in the France where you have to have an emergency kit, adapt your headlamps for the throw/dazzle and generally it becomes more hassle than it's worth. Also, the French are best avoided because they're French.

Other than that, dont buy an ex taxi, insurance will be stupidly expensive, some people dont bother with insurance or the yearly safety check (MOT), but you probably should so as to avoid some jail time.

Rent for a bit, then figure it out.

[marcuscurran]

All fantastic thoughts from everyone. The car if we do end up in central London will be purely for weekend trips. I am only 20 at the moment so every rental company, if it's the same as Australia won't allow me to drive the car until I'm 25 unfortunately so that rules out that idea which is a shame.

I'm loving this Clio - http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/r...
4821740

[TEKNOPUG]

Do you have a job lined up already? Do you know where you are going to work? Do you know where you are going to live?

If you work in central London, live as close as possible to where you work.

Owning and running a car in London is very expensive (insurance, parking permits ect) and very frustrating (congestion, parking, everything really). You'll pay through the nose for the priviledge of crawling about at 3mph. If you want to leave London for the weekend, just hire something. Much more convenient.

If you then decide to do a European tour, go for as long as possible and buy something interesting just for the trip. Then sell when you return.

201 private adverts for cars with more than 200bhp and less than 5k.....

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds?Category=us...

[TEKNOPUG]

marcuscurran said:

All fantastic thoughts from everyone. The car if we do end up in central London will be purely for weekend trips. I am only 20 at the moment so every rental company, if it's the same as Australia won't allow me to drive the car until I'm 25 unfortunately so that rules out that idea which is a shame.

I'm loving this Clio - http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/r...
4821740

You may struggle to find rentals for under 25s. I expect they do exist but you'll have to pay a premium. Insurance is going to be interesting for you on a private car......20yo, 0 NCD, London postcode, International Driver's Licence......

If you can get a year's insurance fully comp, for less than £3k, I'd be very impressed.

Edited by TEKNOPUG on Wednesday 14th October 10:35

[andy-xr]

marcuscurran said:

All fantastic thoughts from everyone. The car if we do end up in central London will be purely for weekend trips. I am only 20 at the moment so every rental company, if it's the same as Australia won't allow me to drive the car until I'm 25 unfortunately so that rules out that idea which is a shame.

I'm loving this Clio - http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/r...
4821740

Nice car. Problem is insuring it, it's going to cost you that price again to insure it. Here's a sample quote I just ran for you based on a few assumptions



Google for rentals, seriously

[TEKNOPUG]

andy-xr said:

Nice car. Problem is insuring it, it's going to cost you that price again to insure it. Here's a sample quote I just ran for you based on a few assumptions



Google for rentals, seriously

Bit higher than my quotes but you proabably chose a more realistic postcode