Hi, I'm moving to London as an analyst. Should I budget for a car when I come down or do most people just use the tube?At what level does a car become important if at all?

Having a car makes little economic sense. You are most unlikely to be able to use it to get to the office (congestion charges, parking fees and traffic congestion) and many of the sites at whcih you will be working will probably be beyond driving distance.If you wish to visit your family and friends at the weekend and they live within 3 hours or so of London, then a car may seem attractive. Unless you used it for this every weekend, you might still find it cheaper to rent one when required - it costs about £60 for the weekend so "do the math" on the break even... and don't forget the cost of finance and the depreciation on top of the maintenance, insurance, tax and whatnot.That said, car purchase is rarely an entirely rational decision. People buy one because they want one rather than because they really need one or beause it makes economic sense. Perhaps give it a try without one for a while and see how you get one. When you have reproduced then the practicalities will start outweigh the economic considerations but until this point you can be more hard headed.As the vulgar expression has it, "if it's got t**s or wheels, cheaper to rent than buy".

That makes sense. I'm glad to hear it as I want to save as much as poss for doing an MBA so one less thing to worry about at least!

In London you're unlikely to be able to justify the expense, tube and buses are fine and otherwise I agreee with the point above.You might find that a scooter is useful though, subject to your firm, likely clients and where in London you are. Cheap to operate and whilst I wouldn't advocate it you can get away with a 125 on L plates for a couple of years. Personally I'd suggest doing the basic test and using a 250, then a couple of years later you get a full licence for Gods Own Transport anyway.Bear in mind that I'm a self confessed biker so I'm a little biased :)

no question about it - don't buy a car. My flatmate has one and he never uses it. It makes so much more sense (environmentally and logically) to use the tube.

Oh come on, you're not a man without a car!Archie

Car not necessary / good investment if you live and work in London. If there are occasions when you can't get to a client by public transport then you fine to rent a car on expenses or use a corporate car service. But 99% of the time, you can either get to the client by tube/train quicker, or you're flying from Heathrow or City, both of which are easier to get to by train/DLR especially if you don't want to pay to park your car all week (not a reimbursible expense in most cases).

Oh, just to add to my previous recommendation for two wheels. a full licence will let you ride something like a Kawazaki or Suzuki 500 which are great commuters and decently comfortable for a couple of hours. From London that'll get you as far as Bath.