dfrbrowne

Can anyone help with the specific questions and comparisons for buying in the US compared to the UK.

Buying from a private individual. Anything I need to know?

Can buyers haggle on the price is that expected?

Do US cars have to have Road Tax like here in UK,

Same for MOT?

What abut a registration document or proof of ownership?

Is there a US version of the DVLA in Swansea where you have to register ownership?

Anything one should look out for?

Buying from a dealer, same sort of questions.

Do you secure with a deposit ad then arrange your insurance or are you expected to take away when you decide on it?

One thing I am amazed by when browsing is the high cost of high mileage cars. Here at home anything over 100,000 miles you would be wary of but it seems that some very high mileage cars still command a high price in the US. Am I being over cautious by discounting high mileage?

Thanks

Mr Weeze

Start with this: http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/

Assuming you've bought a car in the UK before, the fundamentals are the same.
You can always haggle - what's the worst that can happen, other than them saying no?
The equivalent of road tax, MOT and DVLA is handled on a state level, so I would suggest starting with your state DMV/DOT/whatever they call themselves.
I was amazed at how expensive used cars were in general - I had assumed UK-like depreciation, just because. Cars are advertised pre-tax (like everything else here) so you will have that surprise, assuming you live in a sales tax state. 100,000 on some cars could be OK on some, terrible on others - it really depends on the car. There are a couple of very knowledgable car industry people on here too, if you have a fiddle around with the search tool you should be able to get more info.

dfrbrowne

Sorry should have said relocating to florida where there is sales tax.

So does that tax applied to used cars?

Surely not if buying private?

Speedwell

Tax is assessed by the state. In all states where I've bought cars, the dealership handles the tax paperwork and adds the tax to the total price you pay them for the car. If you buy from a private person, then you pay the tax yourself along with the license (tag) fees when you register your ownership of the car with the state department of transportation.

As for insurance... if you already have car insurance in the US, you are often covered for the first 30 days with a new car that replaces an old car, but it depends on your policy. I was originally covered by my father's policy when I got my first car in the US, so I don't know what the rules are for getting insurance for a first car if you aren't covered by anything. Just don't drive without any insurance at all. My brother literally hit someone's car while pulling his newly purchased first car out of the lot on the first day. (Yes, my father took the car away until the premiums dropped back down to less than catastrophic.)

MidAtlantic

Take a look here for what Florida does (it also covers driver licenses):
http://www.dmvflorida.org/car-registration.shtml

Yes haggle!

As in UK, only buy privately if you know exactly what you are doing. A reputable dealer will be more expensive but will still be there if you hit problems.

Mileages here are much higher than in the UK. Don't be scared by over 100,000 if the maintenance record is good.

markonline1

You can definitely haggle. I ended up paying less for mine with the tax than the sticker price when I first waled into the dealership. All the paperwork is done for you. You can literally pay the money and drive the car away in some dealerships. I may have been lucky, but the whole car buying process was far better than back in the UK. The salesmen were far more genuine, there were facilities for the kids whilst I discussed the price. All in all, it was a good experience. As said earlier though, second hand cars out here are mega money. I had assumed that being the land of the car, it would be the opposite. 10k got me a car with 80k on the clock. And that was probably a bit cheaper than normal as it was a manual that no one out here wants.

Bob

Wiki up top has quite a bit of info to get you going.

Some stuff will be state specific, especially sales tax/registration/plates/title/inspection/excise tax and lemon laws.

That would basically answer all of your questions above, so go to your state DMV/RMV/OMV whatever the state calls it website and you'll find the answers.

Only big difference compared to the UK is having sales tax on second hand cars.

Just noticed you said Florida, there's no annual inspection, which means you've got more potential for finding a real shit heap and because of that, chances are the lemon laws will be next to none existent unlike up in MA.

Bluegrass Lass

Another thing I would suggest, and I've always done this, is to take the car to a mechanic and have them do an inspection on it. This way, you can get an idea of anything that may need to be done to it in the near future (i.e. new brakes, tires, etc). Any reputable dealership will allow you to take it to the mechanic of your choice. If they don't allow it, walk out.

And if the dealer doesn't provide it, ask for a CARFAX report on the car. This will provide you a report on the car's history - this is especially important because it will tell you if the car has ever been in any accidents. In some (most?) states, the dealer doesn't have to disclose this information. If the dealer won't provide you a CARFAX report, then you can go online and pay for a CARFAX subscription and you can pull the report yourself as long as you have the car's VIN (vehicle identification number).

Since you will be a new driver/owner, before you go into the dealer, you should source out an insurance company you want to do business with. My suggested approach is to identify the car makes/models you are interested in buying, then call around to various insurance companies to see who might give you the better rates (or use an insurance agency/broker that can do this shopping around for you). By shopping around for an insurance company first, you can then call the insurance company from the dealership when you find 'the' car, and get a quote on the spot and possibly go ahead and start the policy (esp if they have all your bank account information ahead of time) before you drive off the lot.

If you decide to buy a car, you can typically drive the car off the lot the same day. All the paperwork is done on the spot, and the only thing that I've had happen that prevented me from driving it home that day is that they needed to clean or fix something before I took possession. Not sure how that compares to the UK since I've never bought here (I'm a USC living in the UK atm).

You will pay sales tax on a used car, even though the tax was paid on it when it was first purchased. This will happen every time the car is sold to someone. The purchase price on the sticker will not include sales tax, or licensing/registration fees. You should also be prepared to pay for documentation fees. These are a total ripoff, but you will have no choice but to pay them. Our last new car at a Hyundai dealership charged us around $500 for doc fees back in late 2011. It pissed me off no end that I had to pay them, but the dealer would absolutely not budge on these.

Depending on the car, having over 100k miles isn't that big of a deal. Don't forget the US is much bigger than the UK, and we drive much further. Our last car purchase was 2002 Honda CR-V, which we bought in 2012, with around 150k miles on it. We still paid around $7k for it. You can expect most of the Japanese models will hold higher values for longer.

If you want to see some homework before buying, check out consumerreports.com. They do testing and ranking of cars, new and used. I think you can do a one-month subscription for not too bad of a price. And I would also suggest Edmunds.com to do some price comparisons.

Bob

Most libraries will have a subscription to CR, some might even have a digital subscription so you could get a copy on your Kindle.