newbee buying a used car in texas?
 

We will be shortly starting our new life in texas and wondering if anyone can help me please with what the costs are of buying a car, I have read that you need your drivers licence to buy a car then there are different registration fees, taxes and you may even have to buy number plates??? sounds expensive, and i cant get an insurance quote, so not got a clue how much this will be. Any advice will be appreciated :) thanks jane

Re: newbee buying a used car in texas?
 

Your costs will be:

Cost of vehicle
Appropriate State Sales Tax (if applicable)
Department of Motor Vehicle Registration Fee (which will include your license plates if you don't already have plates to transfer to the new vehicle)
Cost of auto insurance so that you can get the identification card needed to register the vehicle.

In order to get auto insurance, you need to have a driver's license so that is the first thing you do.

After you have the license choose the vehicle you want to buy, buy it and then call insurance company for a policy and id card and then you register it and get the plates and once the plates are on the car off you go

The cost of insuring the vehicle will be based on your driving history, make, year and model of the vehicle, amount of coverage you wish to apply for, where it will be housed/parked, number of annual miles it will be driven, etc.

How much different is this from doing it in the UK?

Re: newbee buying a used car in texas?
 

It sounds way more expensive, anyone can buy a car whether you have a licence or not, you only need get the insurance once you have it, and it is free to register it in your name. All of our cars also come with registration plates. Sooo better book us in for our driving tests as soon as we get there then :) thanks for all the info, just needed to know which order to get everything in. Thanks Jane

Re: newbee buying a used car in texas?
 

We bought our cars a long time before we took the Texas driving tests. You get 90 days in which to take it. It was no problem buying a car on our UK license. We joined AIG so we got insurance no problem on our UK licenses. It's odd in that you need insurance to drive the car away, there is no dealer cover for the first few days while you get insurance sorted.
We bought mine from Texas Auto Direct. It is a huge used car garage where you can go browse, test drive etc, but then you can bid on eBay for the car. We saved a good few thousand doing that. It took about 2 hours to actually collect the car but we saved so much it was worth it.

Re: newbee buying a used car in texas?
 

cars.com is a great site.

Re: newbee buying a used car in texas?
 

oh thats good advice thank you, I had heard the 90 days for Florida as have a few friends there but wasnt sure if it was the same for Texas, It just means we wont be wasting our money hiring a car to start off :thumbup:
so thank you

Re: newbee buying a used car in texas?
 

just looking on that cars.com site, really upset now because i sold my ford mustang and the same car sells for a lot more over there, because petrol is so expensive here people just want small engines so bigger cars dont sell:(
good site though thank you

Re: newbee buying a used car in texas?
 

We moved to Texas from the UK in February this year. You do not need a Texas driving license to purchase the car, you can purchase and insure using your UK/International driving license. The International is a minimal cost you can do before you come out here, just a few pounds and nothing special needed apart from a couple of photos if I remember correctly - just google IDP or International Driving Permit and a multitude of places will tell you about it and offer online services, even the Post Office which is how we did ours very quickly and easily. It allows you to drive in other countries for up to 1 year when accompanied by your original UK license and as it is written in multiple languages it is a good idea to carry it with you when you are here until you get your Texas ones. The US use the driving license as a form of ID for all sorts of things.

We were told that the best thing to do regards buying a car here was to go through a reputable dealer rather than a private sale so that you can ask the dealer for the all-in price to include the sales tax, title transfer (V5 equivalent), inspection certificate (MOT equivalent) etc. We did this and the dealer sorted it all and just handed us the documents and keys, we had the cover note from the insurance for the day we collected the car. The dealer also handled the new registration plates etc and everything was itemised on the bill so that when you do your first year's taxes you can hopefully claim back on some of it. Remember to ask the dealer for the "Carfax" which is a document that they can provide (it costs if you do it) to tell you all about the car's history / accidents / claims etc etc so you know what they are telling you is correct.

The US insurance companies for the most part take little notice of what you tell them regarding your driver history/no claims etc from the UK but we were advised before we came out to get a proof of no claims for both of us to show and we did this. It did help with a couple of the insurance companies who said they would take that as proof albeit you don't get the same discounts that you would get in the UK with such proof. We were told that after the first year things would improve. Be warned that car insurance is very expensive compared to a good driver history in the UK but when you experience how easy it is to pass the driving test and how many accidents you will see (not to mention the awful driving going on all around you) you won't be so surprised that the insurance is expensive! The broker told us we were good to drive on the insurance and our UK/International license until the first renewal of the insurance was due (6 months over here) but we would be expected to show Texas driving licenses after that. We have done our tests now.

It wasn't nearly as painful to buy and insure a car as we were led to believe or expected (at least in Texas). Good luck!

Re: newbee buying a used car in texas?
 

Hi, thats put me at ease thanks, it was looking really difficult with all the paperwork etc but if you get the 6 months then thats not too bad, sounds like you have settled in. How are you finding Texas?
I cant wait to get over there now, I know you all must miss home, but we have had absolutely no summer what so ever.

Re: newbee buying a used car in texas?
 

When moving to Texas in 2001, I took a chance and bought private. Got a 3-year old Ford Escort with 45K on it for $3000.

Drove it for 5 years to 110K miles with only maintenance being oil changes, air filters and one set of brake pads.

Sold it for $1500.

Best little car I ever had.

Good luck!

One note on sales tax - you pay this even when buying privately. When I sold one car, I was asked by the buyer to write down a falsely low sales price to reduce the tax. Since it was all based on a cash transaction and I didn't really know any better... :o

Anyway, I believe tax is now based on "fair market value" and not an arbitrary figure written down. Just something to keep in mind if you go the private route.

Re: newbee buying a used car in texas?
 

So if you get a bargain buy on a car then, you are still gonna get stung on the tax for the full amount, thats genius.... I wonder why the english government hasnt thought of it he he...
Defiantely sounds like you got your monies worth tho :thumbup:
thanks

Re: newbee buying a used car in texas?
 

Well be grateful you haven't had to endure the heat in Texas, we were warned but then this has turned out to be an extraordinarily hot and dry summer. You probably already know that Texas has had over 40 consecutive days at over 40C. Overall we like it here though, people are very friendly and for the most part this seems to be pretty genuine. Where are you moving to in Texas?

Re: newbee buying a used car in texas?
 

Looks like The colony, as we have found a business there that we are going for, but I want to live in mckinney. I really wanted to live in Austin but couldnt find a business to meet the visa requirements and in a field that I wanted to do. I have a friend in Fort worth and she was saying how hot it has been, and how expensive it is to run the airconditioning, but I am not going to let that put me off. Where did you pick and why? glad your liking it apart from the heat !!!

Re: newbee buying a used car in texas?
 

Going off topic here, feel free to IM me if you like, will post just a quick reply and make it vaguely driving orientated so it seems to be on topic ;)
I was offered a promotion and relocation with my company so had no choice on where really, work in Downtown Fort Worth which is great apart from the horrendous traffic in most every direction at seemingly most times of the day!! Chose to live in Keller area as liked that part (stayed in extended stay hotel for the first month till our shipment arrived from the UK and allowed us time to find a house etc). A colleague was relocated to Dallas office and have to say I am glad I got FW instead in terms of getting to and from the office. I travel a lot with my job though so spend a lot of time commuting to the airport when not to downtown.