Immigrating to the UK

prod said:
I've been here 8months and still surviving without a car...I can walk most places (gym, shops etc. ±15mins) or take the train to the city/town if I wanted to. But I need to get a car at some point so thought I'd ask what you all did when you got here? Buy el'cheapo cash?
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Used Vauxhall Grandland with only 500 miles on the clock. Bought it cash
 
Looking for recent experience for those needing docs in SA?

How long did it take to get unabridged birth/marriage certificates from Home Affairs. I went yesterday, and they said since they need to get mines from Pretoria, it will take 6-8 weeks!

I need to do my Police Clearance too. Some local 'services' charge about 3K for it, but if I just went to my police station, paid the R180. How long did it take? Will it really take 4-6 weeks too?

Last one, after getting all of the above documents, I need to get them apostilled - another 4-6 weeks. Two sites I contacted gave quotes of between 21K - 28K for 2 x PCC, 8 documents to be apostilled, etc ... Not sure if that is worth it. Wondering if one followed the normal process how long it actually takes?
 
TedLasso said:
Looking for recent experience for those needing docs in SA?

How long did it take to get unabridged birth/marriage certificates from Home Affairs. I went yesterday, and they said since they need to get mines from Pretoria, it will take 6-8 weeks!

I need to do my Police Clearance too. Some local 'services' charge about 3K for it, but if I just went to my police station, paid the R180. How long did it take? Will it really take 4-6 weeks too?

Last one, after getting all of the above documents, I need to get them apostilled - another 4-6 weeks. Two sites I contacted gave quotes of between 21K - 28K for 2 x PCC, 8 documents to be apostilled, etc ... Not sure if that is worth it. Wondering if one followed the normal process how long it actually takes?
Click to expand...
I used a "consultant" to get the certificates. Took 2 weeks. (paid 2k)

I did my police certificate at the police station. It took 4 weeks. (I havent even pick it up, I just did it when I was in SA for holiday) (paid 200?)

I didnt need to apostlle my docs for UK, for Germany it took 6 weeks. I did it myself and delivered them in. (paid the fee, thats it.)
 
xcaliber said:
I used a "consultant" to get the certificates. Took 2 weeks. (paid 2k)

I did my police certificate at the police station. It took 4 weeks. (I havent even pick it up, I just did it when I was in SA for holiday) (paid 200?)

I didnt need to apostlle my docs for UK, for Germany it took 6 weeks. I did it myself and delivered them in. (paid the fee, thats it.)
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Thanks for the update. Could you share your consultant via DM?
 
We’re planning on buying a car as soon as possible once we get there. I’ve put around £7k as a budget. That includes MOT and insurance for the year.
 
Priapus said:
We’re planning on buying a car as soon as possible once we get there. I’ve put around £7k as a budget. That includes MOT and insurance for the year.
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MOT is about £50 or so.
Road tax, depends on the amount of CO2 the car puts out, but expect £200+

Insurance - bend over and kiss your ass goodbye. Budget £800+
Get a no claims letter from your SA insurer - some insurers here will accept it.
 
Sinbad said:
MOT is about £50 or so.
Road tax, depends on the amount of CO2 the car puts out, but expect £200+

Insurance - bend over and kiss your ass goodbye. Budget £800+
Get a no claims letter from your SA insurer - some insurers here will accept it.
Click to expand...

Yeah I am budgeting £5k for the car and the rest of other fees - such as MOT and insurance etc.
 
Priapus said:
We’re planning on buying a car as soon as possible once we get there. I’ve put around £7k as a budget. That includes MOT and insurance for the year.
Click to expand...
Paid roughly £1300 for insurance as a newcomer. MOT is not a big number but try get a car with long MOT. Annual tax was £180ish if I remember correctly but differs obviously.
Loads of options in your budget.
 
Paul Kemp said:
Paid roughly £1300 for insurance as a newcomer. MOT is not a big number but try get a car with long MOT. Annual tax was £180ish if I remember correctly but differs obviously.
Loads of options in your budget.
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Thanks. Looking at replacing our current car with the same. ± ‘08 MK5 Golf. It’s a decent car and we’ve been happy with ours. Ours is the GTi variant but I’m not necessarily looking for the same variant. Just the 2.0 FSI will do. Also it’s compliant for London zones. So when we go to Chessington with the kids we don’t need to worry about extra contrasting charges on those trips.
 
TedLasso said:
Looking for recent experience for those needing docs in SA?

How long did it take to get unabridged birth/marriage certificates from Home Affairs. I went yesterday, and they said since they need to get mines from Pretoria, it will take 6-8 weeks!

I need to do my Police Clearance too. Some local 'services' charge about 3K for it, but if I just went to my police station, paid the R180. How long did it take? Will it really take 4-6 weeks too?

Last one, after getting all of the above documents, I need to get them apostilled - another 4-6 weeks. Two sites I contacted gave quotes of between 21K - 28K for 2 x PCC, 8 documents to be apostilled, etc ... Not sure if that is worth it. Wondering if one followed the normal process how long it actually takes?
Click to expand...
I used Docassist.co.za for all unabridged certs. Some were fast, some were slow. Can recommend.
 
Priapus said:
Thanks. Looking at replacing our current car with the same. ± ‘08 MK5 Golf. It’s a decent car and we’ve been happy with ours. Ours is the GTi variant but I’m not necessarily looking for the same variant. Just the 2.0 FSI will do. Also it’s compliant for London zones. So when we go to Chessington with the kids we don’t need to worry about extra contrasting charges on those trips.
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This place is VW heaven, you are going to be spoiled with choice. Think the mkv even comes in a wagon variant.
 
Sinbad said:
The holy grail, the 3 door GTI
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Not if you need to get a two year old in/out of it lol

Once we have fully settled - looking at an EV. Perhaps a Tesla. But will buy a house first before I finance a car there.
 
Sinbad said:
MOT is about £50 or so.
Road tax, depends on the amount of CO2 the car puts out, but expect £200+

Insurance - bend over and kiss your ass goodbye. Budget £800+
Get a no claims letter from your SA insurer - some insurers here will accept it.
Click to expand...

Kind of the issue with buying a cheap second hand jaloppie. Insurance quote alone is sometimes more than the car itself.
 
Priapus said:
Not if you need to get a two year old in/out of it lol

Once we have fully settled - looking at an EV. Perhaps a Tesla. But will buy a house first before I finance a car there.
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See if your employer will participate in the EV salary sacrifice scheme. Especially if you're in the 40% or 60% tax brackets, it's quite attractive.
 
The Voice said:
Kind of the issue with buying a cheap second hand jaloppie. Insurance quote alone is sometimes more than the car itself.
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This . When buying any car get insurance quotes first. I bought a sh!Tbox for £650 ( it seemed like a good idea at the time) and the insurance was over £400. The cheapest I could find at the time. The insurance companies here don't seem to care about your business or keeping it. I remember being able to get Outsurance to price match and even lower their premiums just by saying I was considering leaving.
 
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