I wanna buy a car!

ashmit

(Strictly speaking, that ain't true. DH has just been offered a job on condition he has a car within two weeks, and it's a good job, so he's going for it. I would be quite happy to continue with our car-free status otherwise.)

I've not owned a car for years (and the one I had was a pressie from my beloved parents so I've never actually bought one). I know I need to do research, but... what? How do I figure out what we want?

I know we'll have to save up money to pay for petrol, MOTs, and all the other things - I was actually going to say so don't point that out but actually, it would be useful to have a list of everything to make sure I don't leave any holes - so:
MOT (if nec)
parking
petrol
services
plus - what?

Any advice or pointers very welcome - thanks in advance!

Skint_Catt

Car Tax
Car Insurance (inc business use if necessary)

What budget do you have to buy one?

How many miles will he be doing approx? This can help you decide between diesel and petrol.

Do you need four seats or more? People carriers are actually good cars, but if you dont' need one don't get one.

What sort of distances will he be covering? A city car like a Ford Ka is more likely to make you ache if you're doing 200+ miles a day!

penrhyn

As long as its a Japanese manufacturer you wont go far wrong.
You need to know the insurance group and the price of its road fund licence.

Skint_Catt

I would think make is a matter of opinion. Personally I never had much luck with vauxhalls but love my Ford - parts easily available and cheap and can fix most of it myself. I was trying to leave that sort of discussion out of it as its a matter of personal preference.

buyitall

Once you've decided, I think that if you go onto 'what car' website, there's a section called 'Target price' which tells you the lowest price they reckon it's possible to get that particular car for, divided into model,condition, private or dealer sale etc.
Also, try the motoring board on here for advice.

ashmit

Car tax and insurance! How did I forget those?? I knew I was missing something obvious. Thanks Skintt Catt.

Budget - ha. Well we have £2200 savings but we are also decorating the house (have been here for 4 years and this is the first time we have had money!) so haven't really figured out what we want to spend yet. We can borrow money if necessary - but I don't know whether we should just get an old banger that might be a money sink or something newer (although not brand new obviously!) that shouldn't incur any expensive repairs in the near future.

Thanks for the 'what car' recommendation buyitall. And the mention of road fund licence groups penrhyn - had forgotten about that too!

Skint_Catt

Road fund licence is the same as Car Tax.

You might be able to get a 8/9 year old Ford Focus for £2500/£3000 - I drive one (I'm bias) and its great and economical.

ashmit

Sorry yes I realise it's the same but had forgotten there are different groups for road fund licence. I've not had to worry about this for years!

Nile

Hello ashmit

I'll move your thread to the 'Motoring & Public Transport' board.

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]!!!!!![/EMAIL].

Regards

Nile

ashmit

Thanks Nile; I spent ages looking for a 'car' board and completely missed this - duh!

anewman

You can get a decent car for under £1000 if looking hard enough. The Skoda badge tends to reduce the price of otherwise decent cars. A Skoda Felicia would make a good choice of car IMO.