[GRAND23]

Hello Guys,
I am moving to UK in another one month and need help from you all to understand about used cars and buying tricks. For now, I am keeping price cap as 3k.

I have listed my queries below, please comment on the same.

1. What is the range of miles I should select?
2. Many people suggest to buy petrol, can I buy diesel if I get good deals? Will buying diesel car impacts any other charges such as insurance or any other sort of?
3. Which Brands are best to go? I know few of them like Ford, Toyota are best ones. What about European cars? Are they reliable?
4. Which automatic is reliable and easy maintenance in UK? After some time, I want my wife also to take up driving. Just in case, if I get good deals in automatics, then would like to go with the same.
5. Which engine is best for both mileage and decent power? I am not really looking for very powerful engine. Just a decent car.

Any other tips to buy is most welcome.

[Jeroen]

Congratulations on moving to the UK! It’s a wonderful country with lots to see and do. Where will you be living. Not in London I hope, because car wise that is difficult what with congestion charge and parking.

In Europe if you drive a diesel, you are basically a sales rep. Diesels by and large only make sense when you drive a lot of mileage every year, at least 30-40K a year. Financially it would not make any sense otherwise.

Europe has basically said goodbye to diesels. Many low emission zones. Although you should be ok with a modern diesel, more and more diesels are banned.

Diesel are likely to be more expansive to insure as they are more expensive than the same car in petrol version.

Are you buying second hand or new?

Range is really preference and convenience. There are petrol stations a plenty. So you don’t really need to worry about range perse. I don’t think I have ever bought a car thinking about range.

The UK is a far less harsh environment for cars then India. A lot of the issues you see on this forum are far less frequent here. Also, no offence, but the dealership and independent garages and workshops are by and large very good. But it is not cheap, you are going to get a shock when you see their charges, compared to India.

You might consider joining the AA. https://www.theaa.com/

They offer excellent service, (e.g. break down service). Check their website as they also do lots of car reviews.

We have a number of members living in the UK who no doubt will chip in with more information.

Jeroen

[GRAND23]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

We have a number of members living in the UK who no doubt will chip in with more information.

Thanks Jeroen. I will be living in Derby city. I am planning used car.
I will join AA. Thanks for the link.

Any idea on automatics? Do you think manual still makes sense in UK?

[Sridhar C E]

Congrats on your move to the UK!
You haven't mentioned the size of your family, so I am sharing my experience of buying 2 cars last year, one in London that my son bought and another in Rugby that my daughter, a dentist bought.

1. Son: lives in London, needed to upgrade from a 12 year old Infinity to a car that could accommodate the family dog, his family comprising of himself, his wife and a 6 month old baby. So he shortlisted a Kia Sportage GT-line, automatic transmission, petrol version. Autotrader (http://www.autotrader.co.uk) ,provides a wide variety of listings and we were able make a decent shortlist.
He eventually bought a 2019 model that had done about 24k miles and traded his Infinity for about 4k £ and ended up paying £ 18k. He is very happy with the features of his car and I loved driving it too ( ADAS, blind spot warning, adaptive cruise control, lane departure correction to name a few).

2. Daughter: A dentist who travels about 80 miles to and fro daily, she needed a car that could accommodate a 8 year old and a 4 year old with their car seats. We zeroed in on a Nissan Qashqai, which is a very popular car in the UK. (Incidentally the Vauxhall Corsa is also very popular).
After checking out a few car dealers through Autotrader, we found our maroon beauty at Carshop, Swindon. The 2029, 28000 mile old car cost her about £ 18000. She is very happy with the purchase. This Qashqai is a petrol version.

Most used car dealers offer a 14 day, no questions asked return policy. They also offer a 90 day warranty on the purchase. The ownership transfer is usually very smooth.
We Indians can drive for one year in the UK with our Indian DL.

I wish you many miles of blissful driving in the UK!

Sridhar

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by GRAND23

Thanks Jeroen. I will be living in Derby city. I am planning used car.
I will join AA. Thanks for the link.

Any idea on automatics? Do you think manual still makes sense in UK?

Derby is nice and of course close to some fabulous cities and areas, e.g. Peak District.

I want my daily drive to be an automatic, no matter what or where I live.

Good luck
Jeroen

[Knight_Kar]

Our family just moved to the UK ~1 year ago and went through the same dilemma, here's what we did.

Since you are not based in London/Oxford/Birmingham, you do not have to worry about the ULEZ(Ultra Low Emission Zone). This means unless a car is ULEZ compliant, you have to pay a fee to drive it in certain areas of these cities. However, I would still recommend going for a petrol with the ever evolving laws in the UK.

Insurance in the UK is a lot more expensive, however you can use comparison sites (such as www.moneysupermarket.com) to find the best deal. Do remember than if you are buying a car without a UK driving license, you will have to declare that you will be driving on an international license.

When it comes to buying a car, you have many options. Usually starting a search on Autotrader would give you good leads. Always check if the car has a valid MOT, for it to be legal to drive on the streets. As mentioned earlier, ownership transfer is usually very smooth. As soon as ownership is transferred, you will have to tax the car for your use too. Tax does not transfer between owners. Tax is charged on a yearly basis.

We ended up using cinch.com, as they delivered the car to our residence. They also had a 7 day return policy, as well as a warranty. While we weren't allowed to test drive the car or even look at it apart from the pictures, the car delivered was clean and well maintained. We picked up a 2017 Volvo V40 T2 automatic for 13k. From what we have gathered, Toyotas/Hondas and Fords tend to be reliable cars and easy on the pocket.

Good luck with your search!

[ajmat]

I don’t have knowledge about your family needs but I would start with a good used Ford, Toyota or Honda. Avoid French cars or Vauxhalls. VWs are hot or miss depending on the maintenance.

Remember that a lot of cars are ex fleet so the maintenance would be minimum.

I would begin with something easy to insure and run. Once you have an understanding of your financial outlays, then upgrade after 18 months. Take your driving test in a manual so that you can drive any hire car when on holiday. Automatic hire cars are usually at a premium.

I pass around Derby a lot. The road to Stoke is quite fun for a little spirited driving. Derby is well located as it is between the M1 and M6.

[GRAND23]

Originally Posted by ajmat

I don’t have knowledge about your family needs but I would start with a good used Ford, Toyota or Honda. Avoid French cars or Vauxhalls. VWs are hot or miss depending on the maintenance.

I pass around Derby a lot.

Thanks ajmat for this. We are 2 adults + 2 kids. Our needs are mostly for daily commute. I had exactly same brands in my mind and your message just made it more rigid.

If you are passing Derby post April, then I definitely love to catch up with you. Atleast, I will be able to meet one mod from Team-BHP.

[KiloAlpha]

Originally Posted by GRAND23

Hello Guys,
I am moving to UK in another one month and need help from you all to understand about used cars and buying tricks. For now, I am keeping price cap as 3k.

I have listed my queries below, please comment on the same.

1. What is the range of miles I should select?
2. Many people suggest to buy petrol, can I buy diesel if I get good deals? Will buying diesel car impacts any other charges such as insurance or any other sort of?
3. Which Brands are best to go? I know few of them like Ford, Toyota are best ones. What about European cars? Are they reliable?
4. Which automatic is reliable and easy maintenance in UK? After some time, I want my wife also to take up driving. Just in case, if I get good deals in automatics, then would like to go with the same.
5. Which engine is best for both mileage and decent power? I am not really looking for very powerful engine. Just a decent car.

Any other tips to buy is most welcome.

If yuor price cap is GBP3000, there are plenty of options available - you will find lots of cars that are 8-15 years old. Since you are going to be new to the country (and driving there), I would recommend that whatever you purchase, needs to be reasonably reliable for its age and, more importantly, be easy to service/repair by FNG. Hence, like most people have suggested, stick to popular mainstream brands like Ford, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, VW group cars (VW, Seat, Skoda), etc.
Remember that some models of these mainstream brands will be considered "undesirable" in the marketplace, hence you can get great bargains. For example - Toyota Avensis, Ford Mondeo. These are perfectly capable of serving as family transport for all occassions, but are frequently overlooked because their "image" is all wrong.

Range of miles - as long as the car has documented service history and it has run about average miles (8-12k) per year, you can consider it. Service history with high mileage is better than low mileage with poor service history.

Fuel - whether you buy a diesel or a petrol really does not matter all that much. What you need to be wary of when it comes to fuel type is whether it will be allowed to run in the area you will be living/working in - hopefully, you will not be living in a so-called "clean air" or ULEZ zone. And whether the yearly road tax/servicing/insurance is affordable. Insurance groups are a dark art, and usually it will not make sense to us, sometimes a diesel of one brand is more expensive to insure when compared to another despite shared engines. Just make sure you ask for which insurance group the car is classified under. Bigger the number, more expensive the insurance. Yearly road tax depends on both age and emissions, so just make sure you ask about how much it will be for the car you are interested in.

Automatics - stick to torque converter automatics as much as possible. VW group's DSG tends to be a bit more reliable out there because of the climate and road/traffic conditions. If buying a CVT, avoid Nissan at all costs. When it comes to choice between manual and auto - automatics carry a slight premium, especially since about 10/15 years back, manuals still outsold automatics by a good margin. Principle of supply & demand, see?

Engine - Power to weight ratio of 100 bhp/tonne is just about acceptable for a car that will see mixed use.

Having said all that, just buy this car:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-det...5&year-to=2002

[Samfromindia]

Originally Posted by GRAND23

Hello Guys,
I am moving to UK in another one month and need help from you all to understand about used cars and buying tricks. For now, I am keeping price cap as 3k.

You can contact our UK resident moderator BlackPearl after moving there :
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/team-...nd-london.html (Quick meets in and around London)

It will be an easy decision from then onwards. You will end up owning some wonderful land rovers. In fact he got 4 of them since moving to UK

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...ver-sport.html (One Life, Live It - My Range Rover Sport)

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...90-review.html (The heartbeat of BlackPearl | Land Rover Defender 90 Review)

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...ip-review.html (My Green Land Rover Defender 110 | The Unstoppable One | Ownership Review)

[psingh]

Originally Posted by GRAND23

We are 2 adults + 2 kids.

Welcome to the UK. You already have great suggestions from the group. Here are a couple of additional things to consider.

1. Before buying a car, check its MOT history to see if there were any warnings or failures on the car in the past. This also helps you to check with the dealer if these issues were resolved properly or just temporarily fixed. https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history

2. Before you start driving, take a one hour driving class with an instructor as a familiarisation session. I know it helped me tremendously when I arrived for the first time.

3. You may have already checked this, but petrol is cheaper than diesel here, so if you are getting a petrol car with a decent fuel efficiency, just go for it.

All the best with your transfer!

[aghate]

Hi @GRAND23,

I have dotted some points in my post on the below link,
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...ml#post4795661 (Ford Mondeo Mk4 TDCi - Comprehensive Ownership Review)

In today's mad market with used car prices, I would recommend to increase your budget to about £4.5k. Not to say you wouldn't find anything decent within 3k, but this would be a very old car and/or bare bones vehicle in terms of creature comforts. For example, if I had to buy a similar mileage/age Mondeo today in UK I will have to pay twice as much as I would have had when I got mine in 2018. You get the idea.

Also, do check what type of warranty cover you are getting as standard from the dealer and what parts are covered in this warranty cover.

If you are not going to travel long distances in your daily use, prefer a Petrol. Automatic or Manual is personal preference. UK still is very inclined on manual transmission cars, so there are loads of options.

Feel free to ask more questions and I will be happy to help.
Happy car hunting!

Regards,
aghate

[RJ411]

Originally Posted by GRAND23

Hello Guys,
I am moving to UK in another one month and need help from you all to understand about used cars and buying tricks. For now, I am keeping price cap as 3k.

I am exactly here in the same boat. Have been in East London for the last 7-8 months and has been wondering which one to buy.

From what I see out here in the websites for the price of 3K pounds you will be able to get a decent car, but pls do note for that price the car would have fairly run at least 70K-100K miles. So it will come with all the associated wear and tear.

If you are going to stay for longer duration (3/4 years) I would suggest to look at PCP deals with monthly installments & an upfront initial payment.

By this way you can stretch your budget and get a decent deal for a fairly good car. My suggestion would be:

Ford Fiesta/Focus
Toyota Auris/Corolla
VW Golf

You will get a good low mileage car in a 3 year PCP deal for the above.

As you might already know for the first year in UK you can drive with Indian license. But to own one, the insurance will cost a fortune with non UK driving license so pls do keep that in mind.

I would suggest you to rent out until you get a UK license, which will make buying process simple and cost effective.

On a side note, getting license in itself has been great pain. Getting a slot for driving test has been near impossible in London or anywhere else (except for driving centers in Scottish highlands)

I managed to book on in Wakefield, Leeds for end of August. Anyone in UK who know a way to speed up / prepone the driving test appointment pls help

Hope this helps

[CountMe91]

Since its your first car in the UK, try to buy the car from a dealer with 4.7+ rating on autotrader and also check their rating on Google. Also worth getting a car with 1 year Mot and free P&L warranty. Since your budget is restricted to £3K, you can get automatic cars from 70K miles. Good and reliable autos with high mileage are Honda and Toyota and if you are a risk taker you can get a Merc, BMW or Audi with 120k+ on the clock but you should be open for upkeep costs. Happy car buying! Please be aware of insurance costs and breakdown cover.

[maximus_fiat]

The best part of buying a car in UK is the availability of MOT history. It gives a fair idea of repairs that have taken place in a car. All major dealers have a second hand car outlets but these tend to be on the higher side. Keep budget around 4.5k for a decent car.
You can also try and find good deals with smaller garages.

I would say avoid garages which asks for full cash transactions. You can get cars for a cheaper price but it could be a hit or miss.

On another note, car rental is much more affordable. Do check once the cost of ownership. Insurance tends to be on higher side plus yearly MOT costs and associated repair costs dent a hole. If planned well in advance you can get nice deals from time to time and get to drive nicer cars.