How to Buy a Vehicle in the UK

In the months leading up to our European tour, I spent a good chunk of time scouring the interwebs for information pertaining to the purchase of a vehicle in the UK, by a foreigner. My efforts were mostly fruitless. I’m sure I could have found my answers on Reddit, but I don’t know how to use that. Here’s a quick guide to the surprisingly easy process of buying a car in the UK.

Step 1: Find a vehicle. We were looking for a camper van to buy, cruise all over the UK and EU, and then sell before we go back to the states. Because we were starting our journey in London, that is where we started looking. Facebook Marketplace was our favorite place to look. WWW.GUMTREE.COM is another great place to buy vehicles in the UK. We found a handful of vans on FB and began to narrow down the search from there.

Step 2: Ask the current owner when the MOT expires. MOT is an annual check of a vehicle. This is an extensive physical check of everything from blinkers to brakes. MOT is good for one year and stays attached to the vehicle, not an owner. The van we bought has an MOT that expires in October, which is fine for us because we’ll be selling it at the end of August. If the car you want has an MOT expiring soon, make sure the owner shows you the records of previous MOTs so you can know what issues it may need to have addressed. Many repair shops offer their own pre-MOT testing to make sure you won’t run into any surprises when you take it in for testing.

Step 3: The V5C (log book) is the title to a vehicle. The owner of the vehicle should have this handy. Half of it is printed with the current owners info. The other half is blank, to be filled out with transfer of ownership. The new owner will keep this completed, 2nd side as proof of ownership. The previous owner will submit the details of the sale to the powers that be (DVLA) and wait for a brand new V5C to be printed and mailed to the new owner. In our case, we had the new V5C mailed to the previous owner because she was cool and said she would hold it for us until we stopped back by, or she would mail it to us at a future address. Do not keep this new form in your vehicle. Whoever possesses this form, owns the vehicle.

Step 4: Insure your vehicle. The biggest car insurance companies here don’t like to cover foreigners, especially for short term policies. Luckily, another travel blog led me to HIC, Herts Insurance, which caters to foreigners and offers Walkabout Insurance. You’ll need minor details of your vehicle (year, make, model, plate number, engine size, seats, etc.) in order to get insured. Our policy is good for 3 months and covers us in all of the UK and EU. This policy cost us $436.00. My advice is to get a quote a few days before you want to sign over the V5C, then call your agent back and get the real insurance policy started just before you take ownership.

Step 5: Pay your vehicle tax at WWW.GOV.UK. You’ll need the plate number and reference number listed on the V5C. You can pay this by the year, or a 6-month term. I paid for 6 months and it cost $185.83. If you do not pay this tax, your vehicle can be impounded at any time.

Step 6: Drive on the CORRECT side of the road, you foreign dummy! Do a quick google search of common road signs in the countries where you’ll be driving and become familiar with them. Get ready to do roundabouts until you’re ill. Enjoy!

Let me know if you have any further questions about the process we went through.

Tyler