The Student Room Group

Car or No Car in London?

Hi there,

I have just recently graduated from University and decided to take up a graduate job in the big smoke (London). Now as a person who has only visited London I am sure I am not the only person moving there who are in two minds whether or not they need a car in London.

What's the opinion of seasoned Londoners? Car or no car?

Michael
I've thought about this myself and although I haven't received my license yet, I'm taking the lessons and a car should be waiting for me by the time I'm 18-19. It is difficult to maintain and commute in London no matter which route you take, driving or public transport. The way I see it, public transport is public and I hate being on a train stuffed with many other people sweating and rubbing against eachother like melting maltesers in a bottle. Public transport is public so school children a few years younger than me will hop on the bus screaming and knocking on everyone's head for a long ride that could be cut down to a few minutes in a car because of all the stops and lack of shortcuts. The only good thing is that it's cheaper, especially when commuting in central London because of all the congestion charges.
It all comes down to whether you're willing to spend thousands and thousands on insurance and maintaining a car in exchange for some privacy and shorter journeys and I would much rather do that.
It's up to you but I just thought I would throw what I think out there.
Save money and no car I'd say; the cost of parking is enough to put you off- forget insurance!
Reply 3
I just passed my test and I live in the London suburbs and personally I wouldn't get a car (I'm not going to buy one for a while). The tube/buses/train network is great enough to get from A to B and its reasonably priced. Cars may have to pay congestion charge if you go in the centre and the roads are often packed. However, if you hate being in crowded spaces, avoid transport at rush hour.
Reply 4
Cheers for the replies. My issue is not been in public spaces, I just want to make sure I can get to places with ease. I'll have to make sure to get accommodation on a tube line!
Original post by Mick876
Hi there,

I have just recently graduated from University and decided to take up a graduate job in the big smoke (London). Now as a person who has only visited London I am sure I am not the only person moving there who are in two minds whether or not they need a car in London.

What's the opinion of seasoned Londoners? Car or no car?

Michael


Lived in London forever and to uni here and cannot see a need for car unless you are outside zone 3/4. If you live near a tube you will find you have easy access to anywhere you want. For me, I thought about getting a car for getting home late at night, but even then nightbuses run often, all night long and can be paid for with oyster.

If your going to live somewhere quite far out, such as perhaps Wimbledon, then you may have more need for a car. But even then, it's really not a necessity.

Also, I don't know if you've ever driven on London's roads but I did once and can say I'll never do it again. It's very angry, fast-paced and cyclists & cars are squished into tiny spaces.
Reply 6
Depends whereabouts in London. I haven't lived in London since I was a kid, but if I moved back I would personally stick to public transport. Up until recently I was in hospital once every two weeks, the hospital is almost exactly in the centre of London. To give you an idea of what driving to the middle of London is like- it takes me nearly an hour to get to London itself (about 30-40 miles). From there, it took two more hours to drive into the centre. The constant traffic jams is unbelievably irritating.
London is probably the worst place in the UK to have a car. Seriously. The ticket officers are out to get you.

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Original post by Mick876
Hi there,

I have just recently graduated from University and decided to take up a graduate job in the big smoke (London). Now as a person who has only visited London I am sure I am not the only person moving there who are in two minds whether or not they need a car in London.

What's the opinion of seasoned Londoners? Car or no car?

Michael


It can come handy to have a car especially if you work odd hours and are lucky enough to work in a building where you can get season parking.

Residents parking in most part of Central London cost somewhere between £40-250 depending on the borough and vehicle type. Though usually it is around £140 for an average car. Other parking, if you know where to go there are places that are inexpensive to park and if it is 2-4 of you going out together it can be cheaper to take the car if you don't have a travel pass.

If you already have NCB then insurance rates don't differ significantly. However if you are a new driver it will be very much more expensive

If you already have a car then by all means bring it as you will be able to get residents parking for it however I probably wouldn't buy one if I didn't already have one as it is fairly easy to survive London without owning a car of your own and in most cases without driving at all.
Original post by Littlefinger
I've thought about this myself and although I haven't received my license yet, I'm taking the lessons and a car should be waiting for me by the time I'm 18-19. It is difficult to maintain and commute in London no matter which route you take, driving or public transport. The way I see it, public transport is public and I hate being on a train stuffed with many other people sweating and rubbing against eachother like melting maltesers in a bottle. Public transport is public so school children a few years younger than me will hop on the bus screaming and knocking on everyone's head for a long ride that could be cut down to a few minutes in a car because of all the stops and lack of shortcuts. The only good thing is that it's cheaper, especially when commuting in central London because of all the congestion charges.
It all comes down to whether you're willing to spend thousands and thousands on insurance and maintaining a car in exchange for some privacy and shorter journeys and I would much rather do that.
It's up to you but I just thought I would throw what I think out there.


If you work in zone 1 though its virtually impossible to drive in though.
Original post by jelly1000
If you work in zone 1 though its virtually impossible to drive in though.

And it's 100x more expensive there's no denying that so OP the closer your workplace is to central London, the less I would advise you to buy a car.
Original post by Mick876
Hi there,

I have just recently graduated from University and decided to take up a graduate job in the big smoke (London). Now as a person who has only visited London I am sure I am not the only person moving there who are in two minds whether or not they need a car in London.

What's the opinion of seasoned Londoners? Car or no car?

Michael


If your job is zone 1 or 2 then no car unless say after a while you start making a regular journey somewhere which is easier to get to by car. I live in London when not at uni (and have done for 22 years) and its virtually impossible to commute into zone 1 by car- the traffic is so bad it takes too long not to mention the limited parking spaces and prohibitive cost. Then in most places public transport is good enough that you can still get to other places fine.

If outside zones 1 and 2 then yes a car may work out to be the better option.
Reply 12
I work for a construction company and even though the HQ is in Woodford Green I could be based anywhere. After reading all the comments I think the safe option is to get myself an apartment in central and be able to hop on the tube to whether I am based.
Original post by Mick876
I work for a construction company and even though the HQ is in Woodford Green I could be based anywhere. After reading all the comments I think the safe option is to get myself an apartment in central and be able to hop on the tube to whether I am based.


If you can afford an apartment centrally then by all means go for it, but a first graduate job is very unlikely to pay enough on its own. Stratford is quite popular amongst young professionals, easy to get to central and east london and fairly easy to go west via the central line.
Reply 14
I wouldn't bother with a car. People will always moan about London transport, but as someone who lives in a village where buses are every two hours and don't run past 6PM, London transport is amazing.
Original post by JKGB
I wouldn't bother with a car. People will always moan about London transport, but as someone who lives in a village where buses are every two hours and don't run past 6PM, London transport is amazing.

london transport is also expensive. to get to my insurance choice uni from home its almost the same as running a car!
Reply 16
Original post by nmjasdk
london transport is also expensive. to get to my insurance choice uni from home its almost the same as running a car!


It can be, but it's certainly not the worst. Get a 16-25 railcard and attach it to your Oyster, it reduces your off-peak train and tube fares by about a third.

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