The first step in buying a car is to establish your budget and if you are going to use finance, cash or a loan. Please use our loan calculator below to help you with deciding your budget.

Car Loan Calculator

Note: Monthly repayments do not include insurance of any kind and are a close approximation of actual repayments using estimated APR

Running Costs

Now that you have a rough idea on how much you can afford to initially spend on a car. It's now time to think about the running costs such as servicing, maintenance, MOT, Road Tax, Fuel, insurance. The biggest expense for a young, newly qualified driver is the cost of car insurance. The amount you will end up paying depends on many factors, but one of the biggest factors is the type of car. For example a ford focus 1.6 standard model is going to cost a lot less than the top of the range ford focus ST edition and a small 1.0L Vauxhall Corsa is going to cost a lot less than the standard 1.6 Ford Focus. So make sure you get a wide range of insurance quotes and compare prices on different vehicles from different insurance companies to enable you to accurately estimate what your insurance is going to cost you BEFORE you buy your first car.

Ensure you keep up to date with the cheapest petrol prices in your area by registering at PetrolPrices.com

Finding A Car

The Autotrader is the UK's #1 site to buy and sell new and used cars, bikes, vans, trucks and caravans with over 350000 vehicles online.

HPI Checks and Valuations

You can get free online car valuations from WhatCar.Com These valuations will usally show three prices - Dealer Price, Private Price & Trade in or Part Ex Price. The Dealer Price is what you should expect to pay when purchasing the car from a dealer. The Private Price is what you should expect to pay when purchasing the car privately (eg not a dealer) and the trade in or part ex price is the price you should expect to receive if you were trading the car in or part exchanging the car.

HPI checks are essential when buying a car as they will show if the vehicle has any outstanding finance or has been involved in any accidents. Many different companies now offer varying levels of reports for a minimum outlay, so many people regard HPI checks as money very well spent.