8 tips for buying your first car

You will never forget your first car. Whether you receive the keys to a family inheritance on your 17th birthday or pamper yourself much later in life, the freedom it brings is an exciting rite of passage. But choosing and buying a car for the first time can be confusing. Should you get petrol or diesel? Manual or automatic? The choices can be overwhelming, so here are our tips to help you get started on your road trip, whether you're ready to hit the road right now or just thinking about it all. 

1. Should I buy new or used?

Call us biased, but we believe everyone should buy a used car. Used cars are cheaper than new ones, so they are much easier to recommend to people who are just starting their car journey, and there are many more of them. This gives you more choice, which means you're more likely to find the right car at the right price.

2. How expensive should my first car be?

Common sense dictates that your first car should be something like a firework - something that you buy for a few hundred pounds, with a dented body and a peculiar smell. But we don't agree. Buying and operating a car is expensive, especially for young people, so it pays to choose one that reflects your needs and preferences. 

If you regularly drive on highways or cover long distances, for example, an economical, comfortable car with a large gasoline or diesel engine is what you need. You will find a suitable first car for less than £10,000 in cash or less than £200 a month in finance. If you only shop once a week, a smaller gas hatchback will probably suit you. You can buy a great used car for £6,000 or around £100 a month with money. 

New driver insurance can be expensive, and the value of your policy depends largely on the value of the vehicle. But we'll get to that in a moment.

3. Which car to choose - hatchback, sedan or SUV?

Most cars fall into one of four main categories - hatchback, sedan, station wagon or SUV. There are other forms, such as sports cars and passenger transportation, but most of them fall somewhere in between. Many families choose SUVs and station wagons because of their size, but novice drivers don't always need that much space.

Many people buy a hatchback as their first car. Hatchbacks tend to be smaller, more efficient, and cheaper to buy and run than other types of cars, yet have five seats and a large enough trunk for shopping. But there's nothing stopping you from buying a Jeep or Jaguar as your first car - as long as you can afford to insure it.

4. Which cars are cheaper to insure?

Put yourself in the shoes of an insurance company. Would you rather insure the new driver on a £6,000 hatchback with a small engine and built-in alarm, or an expensive supercar with a top speed of 200 km/h? Generally speaking, the cheapest cars to insure are modest, reasonable models with less powerful engines and low repair costs in the event of an accident. 

All cars are assigned an insurance group number from 1 to 50, where 1 is cheaper to insure than higher numbers. There are other factors that insurance companies use to calculate the cost of your policy, such as the area where you live and the work you do. But, as a rule, an inexpensive car with a small engine (less than 1.6 liters) will help reduce insurance costs. 

Remember that you can ask insurance companies for a "price" on a car before you buy it. Each Cazoo car has an insurance group, listed in the details on the website.

5. How can I find out how much the car will cost to operate?

In addition to insurance, you will be required to tax, maintain and fuel your vehicle. How much these costs will depend primarily on the car itself, but also on how you use it. 

The car tax depends on how many pollutants your car type emits. Zero emission cars, including electric models such as the Nissan Leaf, are tax-free, while cars with a conventional engine will cost around £150 a year. If your car was worth over £40,000 when it was new, you may have to pay additional annual tax, although this is unlikely to be the case for most first-time car buyers. 

Expect to spend around £150 more for a full service on a small car and around £250 for a larger model. Some manufacturers offer prepaid service packages that make it cheaper. You should have your car serviced after every 12,000 miles although this can vary - check with your car manufacturer how often this should be. 

The amount of fuel you use will largely depend on how much you drive and how you drive. The farther you travel, the more gasoline or diesel fuel your vehicle consumes. The amount of fuel a car uses is described as "fuel economy" and is measured in miles per gallon or miles per gallon, which can be confusing as most liquid fuels in the UK are sold in litres. At the moment a gallon of petrol or diesel costs around £5.50 so you can calculate costs based on that.

6. Should I buy a petrol, diesel or electric vehicle?

Gasoline is the fuel of choice for most people. Gasoline-powered vehicles are lighter, less prone to breakdowns, and generally quieter than diesel vehicles. They are also usually less expensive than diesel vehicles of the same age and type. 

But if you regularly make long trips at high speeds, then a diesel engine may be more efficient. Diesel vehicles tend to use slightly less fuel than gasoline vehicles and are much more efficient on highways. However, they are not suitable for short trips - diesel vehicles can wear out quickly if they are not used for their intended purpose. 

Electric vehicles tend to be much more expensive than petrol or diesel vehicles and take much longer to “refuel” with electricity. But if you have a driveway where you can recharge and typically drive less than 100 miles a day, an electric car could be the perfect choice.

7. How do you know if a car is safe?

Most new cars have an official safety rating from the independent organization Euro NCAP. Each car receives a star rating out of five, which reflects how well it protects passengers from harm, as well as a more detailed report, which you can find on the Euro NCAP website. The rating is based partly on crash testing, but also on the vehicle's ability to prevent accidents. New cars are equipped with technology that can detect danger and act faster than you could react.

Euro NCAP star ratings give you a reasonable idea of ​​how safe a car is, but it can be more than just that. A five-star 2020 car is likely to be safer than a five-star 2015 car. And a five-star luxury 4x4 is likely to be safer than a five-star supermini. But above all, the safest car is one in which the driver is safe, and no amount of airbags can change that.

8. What is the guarantee?

A warranty is a promise by a car manufacturer to fix certain parts of a car if they fail within the first few years. It covers parts that shouldn't wear out, not things like tires and clutch discs that owners need to replace from time to time. 

Most cars carry a three-year warranty, so if you buy a two-year-old car, it's still under warranty for one more year. Some manufacturers give much more - Hyundai gives a five-year warranty on all their models, and Kia and SsangYong give a seven-year one. This means that if you buy a two-year Kia, you will still have a five-year warranty.

Even if the car you buy from Cazoo is not covered by the manufacturer's warranty, we will still give you a 90-day warranty for your peace of mind.