DRIVING
Unless you are living in Zones 1-3 of London, you’ll probably need a car to get around. In central London there is a premium for parking, the London Underground and busses are really good, and there is a Congestion Charge to pay for driving in the central parts of London. https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/congestion-charge
Cars: to get an idea of what is available have a look at:
As other friends that landed in UK found out, without a credit score you will probably need to buy a car cash.
You will obviously need insurance - check out the moneysavingexpert
and gocompare sites.
Every car needs to have an MOT (like COR) every year, and road
tax. Road tax can range from £30 per year,
to hundreds, depending on the vehicle.
When you buy a car, you will pay the Road Tax up front for the
year. Then about 11 months later you will
receive a reminder called a “V11”. The V11
will have a link and reference numbers on the form which you use to pay the tax
online.
If you sell the car, you might be able to get a refund on the
tax. https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-tax-refund
Every vehicle older than 3 years will need an MOT.
“MOT” is a bit of a strange term. As far as I know it stands
for Ministry of Transport, the governmental department.
Your vehicle will need an MOT to be taxed, and to get insurance. So, the general order of things is to get the
MOT done, then pay the tax, then get insurance.
An MOT is a physical check of the vehicle to make sure it meets
road safety and environmental standards.
It can be performed by many garages and service centres. Usually you will send the car in for its annual
service, and have the MOT done at the same time.
An MOT on a standard passenger car costs about £55.
The MOT test result produced by the garage gets fed directly
into the DVLA database. If the vehicle has
any major problems – like bad brakes – it might fail the test, and you will not
be allowed to drive the vehicle until they are fixed. Even if the vehicle passes the test, there may
be “advisory” issues listed on the report which may need to be fixed in future.
https://www.gov.uk/getting-an-mot/after-the-test
See DVLA website (also for drivers licence):
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/driver-and-vehicle-licensing-agency
Petrol prices vary from garage to garage - so shopping around can save a few £ per tank. Current prices at the cheap end are around £1.15 for petrol and £1.20 for diesel (Oct20), and up to £1.34 for diesel at the high end. https://www.petrolprices.com/
You have to pump your own fuel. Drive up to the pump, choose the fuel (petrol or diesel), wait for the screen to zero 0.00, then squeeze the pump until you have enough. Replace the bowser. Go into the shop and tell them your pump number.
Especially at the supermarkets, but other petrol stations too, many of the pumps are Pay-At-Pump. Insert your bank card directly into the pump. Follow the on-screen directions to enter your pin. Lift the bowser and fill up. Drive off. Even easier - and it feels like you're stealing!
If you have a South African drivers licence you may be able to
trade it in for a UK one. You must be a UK
resident, having resided in the country for 6 months. "You can continue to drive in the UK without
exchanging your licence for 12 months after becoming resident. You can no longer
drive in the UK with an old South African book of life-style licence or letter of
entitlement to one, and you cannot exchange these for a UK licence. You must have
a new credit-card style licence or a letter of entitlement to one." https://www.gov.uk/exchange-foreign-driving-licence