Buying your first car...The Trials and Tribulations!

So.... Just passed your driving test? YES

Desperate to drive something, anything on the road? YES

Does it matter if its safe, affordable, reliable?............................

Most people already have a dream car, way before their Driving Test Date. A mixture of nerves and excitement within them, then they hear that wonderful news "I'm glad to say, you have passed"

Most people are now reduced to a state of shock, some laugh (you know who you are!), some cry, and others sit and stare vacantly into space as the realisation kicks in that they, THEY, can now drive a car!

Given a quick internet search, its easy to find dozens, even hundreds of cars locally at scarily cheap prices, so obviously all you need to do is pick one in a nice colour, buy it, and get driving! YES

Sorry, its just not that easy!

Have you considered: Road Tax, Insurance, MOT, Maintenance, Depreciation, Fuel, Servicing, Repairs and the condition of the car you want to buy?

Road Tax: This needs to be paid Annually, or 6 Monthly in order to drive a vehicle on the road.

This table below is based on the CO2 emissions of the vehicle measured in grams per kilometer (g/km), you can easily check this figure on most manufacturers websites, and then see which Band your car falls into.

The simple explanation of this is that the less CO2 emissions your car produces per kilometer, the cheaper your road tax will be.

Lets start with Band A cars:

Some examples of cars in the Band A include the Ford Fiesta, Hyundai i30, Vauxhall Corsa, Toyota Yaris and even the smaller BMW's and Volvo's
Click here to see the What Car Website's review of Band A cars!

These cars are all £0.00 in Road Tax, this is because they have smaller engines, which are designed to produce very low CO2 emissions.


Lets skip a few Bands now to Band J, these cars have almost double the CO2 emissions of the Band A cars and therefore pay £250 for 12 months or £137.50 for 6 months Road Tax.

Some examples of cars in Band J include larger BMW's, VW Golfs and some of the Skoda, Honda, Kia 4x4's.

Also in this range is the Vauxhall Corsa, however this is now the larger engined VXR edition, because of this examples larger engine, it generates enough CO2 emissions per kilometer to find itself in the Band J and paying £250 per year compared to the smaller engined Corsa with £0.00 Road Tax!
Click here to see the What Car Website's review of Band J cars!



Significant savings can be made by choosing a car with lower CO2 emissions, and it can be that 2 identical cars(like the Vauxhall Corsa example above) can have 2 wildly different rates of Road Tax based on their CO2 emissions, so check first and choose carefully! Remember, that Road Tax is for life......

Check back soon when we will be discussing the MOT Test!

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