Hello,

Very soon I will be giving my practical driving exam. I hope i will clear it in second if not in first attempt. I want to buy a car and need some help. I live in Berlin.

Can someone suggest what will be good source to buy a second hand car?

Important point is insurance. I have heard that insurance and other maintainance are more expensive then cost of the car. Can anyone suggest a reliable insurance company? I think haftpflichtversicherung is must and then there is full or part insurance.

Is there any thing else that needs to be considered before and immediately after buying a car?

If someone can share a detail of his/her experience of buying a car, insurance and other maintanance, that would be much appreciated.

thank you.

Toytowngermany and autoscout24.de are good sources to find adverts related to cars

Dadirekt is a good insurer.I have teilkasko with them and pay around 450 euros per year. I used to have hapftpflichtversicherung with albatross.de and through them I became a customer of dadirekt ..may be their contacts helped me in getting a good price..the rates vary according to How many years driving experience you have ..negotiation tactics can help you here in getting into the right band

Better to go for a diesel model if you are going to drive daily for a long distance even though you pay more car tax per year for this model

Maintenance costs would be for your monthly fuel costs , if very cheap second hand car then occasional repairs,yearly car insurance , yearly car tax around 135 euros for the benzin model ,every two years your car TUV(mandatory check to make sure your car is eligible to be on the road)

Buy a navigation system to drive back from the place where you buy your car back to your home..:-)

Nothing else that I can think at the moment.

I think you have forgotten to mention that:
- diesel car is generally 1-2K more expensive than the benzin one
- annual car maintenance fee (annual inspection, change oil, etc, etc -> depend on the age of the car) which may cost at least 200 euro/ year which can run to 500 or 1K easily.

yes..perfect..

I have bought a 2nd hand car last spring. I can give you some tips:

* The cars from dealers in the cities are more expensive than the ones in the small cities. For example a car from a car dealer outside Munich might be cheaper than the one in Munich.

* I have bought my car by finding a dealer accordingly, using http://autoscout24.de

* haftpflicht is a must. The newer the car is, the better is to get full kasko. If the car is old, teilkasko is cheaper and more efficient.

* Diesel cars have higher taxes in Germany, but they are also more cost efficient, ie. you will pay less gas. I have a Golf V 1.9 TDI, and I can drive about 1000 km with one tank of diesel.

* When buying the car, always ask whether they can offer you winter tyres. Usually the dealers do not mention it.

* I have got insurance from HUK24. I have found my insurance from http://check24.de . The other comparison sites have the same interface to the state databases, so, take any you want. Take yearly insurance. It is cheaper.

* I you have ADAC membership and ADAC training, then some insurances give you better offers.

* I advise you to analyse the market first. 1.9 diesel car is very powerful car and if you don't want to drive much, I would suggest a normal fuel car. If you drive less than 15.000 km, diesel car can be very expensive.

* The less you drive, the smaller the engine is, the weaker the engine is, the cheaper is the car and thus the less is the tax and insurance. The older car is, the less are they, too.

* If you live in a city, taxes and insurances are higher. If you live in a villages, they are less. These are based on the traffic accidents statistics. Statistically there are more traffic accidents in the cities, therefore people living in the cities are paying more to the taxes and insurance in Germany.

HTH.
Klenze17.

>* If you live in a city, taxes and insurances are
> higher. If you live in a villages, they are less.
> These are based on the traffic accidents
> statistics. Statistically there are more traffic
> accidents in the cities, therefore people living
> in the cities are paying more to the taxes and
> insurance in Germany.

Well, it really depends - I moved from Munich to small town outside of Munich - and Teilkasko went-up from 320 Euro to 560 Euro a year...
It's also worth mentioning that if you are owner of a flat or house - this also reduces your car insurance a little bit.

Thank you all for your inputs.
I have also heard that insurance is less if i get the contract online and it is more if I go to the branch. apart from price, is online contract for insurance advisable?

if you don't speak a word of german, I will suggest to avoid any online stuffs. if accident really happen, you will have difficulty to talk in phone to them.

for HUK24, the differences between online and not online is not that huge.