I don’t actually drive in the UK yet, I have tried and I just can’t get the hang of driving a manual transmission. I am embarassed that after 10 years of driving I am going to have to take driving lessons to learn how to drive all over again. The UK driving test is infamously difficult and it is very common for people to fail it multiple times. I am hoping my driving experience will help me in this as all I really need to learn is how to operate the gears. I also have the advantage of knowing how to navigate roundabouts. I went to Michigan State University which had roundabouts that were designed using British specifications. I never thought that of all the education I received at MSU, driving in roundabouts would turn out to be one of the most useful bits of knowledge I gained there.

There were a lot of stereotypes about driving in Britain that I was prepared for. One thing I wasn’t expecting was the condition of the cars in this country. In the US I am used to seeing front yards with old cars up on blocks and old bangers barely putting down the road. On average, the cars in Britain are in great condition. The reason is that annually every car has to have a check up and pass an MOT (Ministry of Transport) test which ensures the vehicle is in full working order from the exhaust system all the way down to the suspension. If the car doesn’t pass its MOT, it can’t legally go back on the road until all the issues have been fixed. In the US people drive cars that are decades old, burning oil and with bald tires, simply because they can. Since it would be illegal to drive a car with that many problems in the UK it is usually more expensive to make all the repairs to the old beaters than to just scrap it and buy a newer vehicle. 

Recently the British government introduced a “scrappage scheme” whereby cars over 10 years old can be turned over for scrapping and the owner will receive £2000 toward buying a new car. The same incentive was introduced in Germany and resulted in record breaking new car sales and the program had to be extended to meet demand, something the struggling auto industry is in dire need of. This scrappage scheme has two major benefits, the first is to jumpstart auto sales. There are thousands of cars sitting on lots right off the cargo ships just collecting dust because nobody wants to buy a new car in this economy. The second major benefit is scrapping the older, less efficient vehicles which benefits the environment by recycling the metal and replacing the car with cleaner and more efficient fuel and exhaust systems. The manufacturers are taking this idea and running with it, many sweetening the pot by offering the £2000 incentive to cars eight years and older instead of ten or by offering £5000 toward a new vehicle instead of the £2000 allowed by the government.

A similar scheme has been introduced to the US congress for consideration, and I think it would be a huge advantage to the struggling US auto industry.  It is a great way to get old derelict cars off the road and moving new cars off of the lots. 

There are many differences in the way cars are registered and insured in the UK, I couldn’t begin to describe the differences, but one major difference is the car tax. Every car owner has to pay an annual car tax and recently the tax code was changed so now car owners pay based on the vehicle’s CO2 emissions. Cars that are already registered have an annual tax of anywhere from £20 to over £400 based on CO2 emissions. This is similar to renewing your license plate in the US, except on average the annual car tax for a car in the UK is much more than the cost to renew your plates in the US. You have to display your current tax disc in the left corner of your windshield to prove you have paid your car tax, and cars without a current tax disc can be impounded.

UK Tax Disc (photo from Flickr)

I will be learning to drive over the next couple months. My husband will be deployed for six months coming up in August, so it is a necessity for me to start driving since I won’t be able to rely on him to cart me around and taking public transport everywhere can really add on a lot of travel time. I have to quit beating around the bush and finally learn how to drive a manual transmission. The concept still terrifies me, 10 years of driving automatic vehicles has spoiled me and I have so many fears about driving. So far I have only tried driving with my husband as a teacher, so I hope once I get behind the wheel with a professional instructor it will come easily. I am after all a girl from the Motor City, I should be ashamed that I can’t drive a stick shift!

Author Info -  Lisa Coulson is an American Expat living in the North of England in Hartlepool. She writes a weekly column on Wednesdays about life in the UK. Lisa also has her own blog - Anglophile's Digest Read more from this author

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