Buying my first car - what do I have to do afterwards?

LondonDiva

This feels like a very frivolous and sillythread, but I don't quite know who to ask and the government website's not really helpful.:o

I'm buying a new car (new to me anyway after several careful lady drivers who only took it out on Sundays for a 20 min dirve:D) and not sure what to do as I've always driven someone else's car and given them money for insurance.

After buying the car, what do I have to do and what would you recommend I do?

I know I have to register it & pay road tax, but how do I do that?

Am trying to source insurance & confused.com has quoted me £400 :eek: which feels like a lot, but I'm told is quite reasonable.

So far my list is:

· register it
· pay road tax
· work out when the mot is due
· insure it
· breakdown cover
· get my parking permit £75 a year :eek:

Have I forgotten anything and apart from an a-z, what essentials do you keep in your car?

Any suggestions gratefully received

Diva

Bean_Counter

Are you buying from a dealer or privately?

hardpressed

You'll need to insure it and have current MOT before you can tax it, it may already have some road tax. For the insurance it's worth going through quidco and getting some cash back, not guaranteed but in my experience I got cash back of £120 when I insured through quidco. Some insurances include breakdown cover or add it on for a fee. There's an article about breakdown cover on this site, well worth reading. You just need to return a portion of the registration documents to register it.

epz_2

most cars have some tax on them, you can tell by looking at the date on the tax disk in the window then when it comes time to renew you can either go down the post office or do it online when the governement send you a special code through the post.

registration is done by the previous owner, you fill in the vehical registration form with your address and take away the bottom half,they post off the top part and a few weeks later you will have a new ownership form posted to you.

insurance wise, shop about, my 1st quote was £1000 more than my last one but many insurance deals will include breakdown cover, if not look out for one of the aa/rac deals they are usually about £40 odds to join though.

mot wise its expiry date should be in the docs that come with a car, a car with a short/no mot is worth substantially less than a log one so make sure you check, i would try for over 3 months as it gives you time to get to know the car and figure out any niggles to get sorted by the garage at the same time.

also if you are a new driver a satnav might be a life saver(they start at £80), not having to worry abut where you are going lets you concentrate driving rather than where you are going.

LondonDiva

Bean_Counter wrote: »

Are you buying from a dealer or privately?

privately:):):)

vikingaero

Check when the car was last serviced and consider servicing it or changing the cambelt if it is due.

And don't forget that's it's now the law for females to have pink accessories and a million fluffy toys in the car!

RedBern

check the spare wheel - that it is the same size as the one's at each corner and that it has some tread on it! Make sure the jack is in the boot and that it is the correct jack for the car. You could also look at getting a wheel brace with an extended arm - just in case you ever have to change your own tyre it makes it easier to release the wheel nuts.

Does it have a spare key? if not, invest in one - (says she who is driving around at the moment with one key for her car ...... );)

in terms of insurance, if you're a young driver, see if you can include another driver, your mum for eg, as that sometimes takes the cost down.

LondonDiva

Quick question (didn't think of looking at the spare tyre!)

How many miles would be reasonable to drive I'm on the insurance quote website and don't know what milage to put down.

I won't use it for work and main use will be weekends to IKEA or if driving on holiday.

LondonDiva

vikingaero wrote: »

Check when the car was last serviced and consider servicing it or changing the cambelt if it is due.

And don't forget that's it's now the law for females to have pink accessories and a million fluffy toys in the car!

:oI've been given pink fluffy dice:o

RedBern

I think 'average' is about 12k per annum.

but you're not using it for work - so how far's IKEA x 12 (surely you're only going there once a month!)

how far away is your furthest friend - how often will you be visiting him/her? x ?

I'd think something like 10k would be ample.

Puttytat

If you think you'd possibly be driving less than 6000 miles p.a. then have a look at Norwich Unions Pay As You Drive insurance - it could work out a lot cheaper than conventional insurance. There is a thread on the Insurance board relating to this and it seems to be viewed quite favourably. It has worked a lot cheaper for me anyway!
HTH
Putty