- Two trips to the mainland to view and collect a car can cost £100 to £300 in fares alone, before your time.
- Your legal rights are the same wherever the dealer is. What changes is how easy they are to use when something goes wrong.
- Use the calculator to see whether a mainland saving survives the crossing.
- The mainland has more choice. If nobody on the island has what you need, go prepared.
What a mainland trip really costs
There are three car ferry routes across the Solent. Wightlink runs Portsmouth to Fishbourne (about 45 minutes) and Lymington to Yarmouth (about 40 minutes). Red Funnel runs Southampton to East Cowes (just under an hour). Allow around 30 minutes to check in before you sail.
Fares change with the day, the time and how early you book. As of October 2026, a car return costs from around £60 to £90 when you can catch an off-peak offer or a saver fare, and often well over £150 for a standard return at short notice or at busy times. Island residents can get discounts through the operators' own schemes. Check Wightlink and Red Funnel for the price on the day you'd travel.
Work it out: is the mainland car really cheaper?
Help after you buy
Most problems with a used car show up in the first few weeks. Buying from a dealer gives you strong rights under the Consumer Rights Act: you can reject a faulty car in the first 30 days, and for the first six months a fault is assumed to have been there when you bought it. Those rights are the same wherever the dealer is. What changes is how easy they are to use.
A mainland dealer will usually want the car back at their own workshop for warranty work. That means the ferry, a day without the car, and arranging to get it home again. An island dealer is a short drive away. Many have their own workshop or work with a local garage, so it is usually much easier to drop the car in and get it back. Read more in our guide to warranties and your rights.
Test drive it on the roads you'll use
Island driving is its own thing: steep hills in Ventnor and Shanklin, narrow lanes, slow summer traffic in Newport and Ryde, and lots of short trips. A test drive here tells you how the car copes with a hill start, a tight lane or a crawl along the seafront. A mainland test drive on a dual carriageway won't. Our test drive checklist covers what to try.
It also matters for what you buy. If most of your trips are short, a petrol or hybrid usually suits island life better than a diesel, whose particulate filter needs regular longer runs to stay clean. More in diesels and short island journeys.
Keep the money on the island
Island dealers employ local people, train apprentices and use other island businesses for bodywork, valeting and parts. In a small place, a dealer's name rests on word of mouth, so most work hard to keep customers happy. Buying here keeps that going.
When the mainland can make sense
To be fair, the mainland has far more choice. If you want a particular model, colour or spec and nobody on the island has one, it can be worth the trip. If you go:
- Ask whether warranty work can be done by an island garage, and get it in writing.
- Ask if they'll deliver to the island, and what that costs. It can be cheaper than two crossings.
- Check the MOT history before you travel, and ask for recent photos of anything that worries you.
- Add the ferry and your time to the price, then compare again.
Set an email alert on the island search for the car you want, and you'll hear as soon as one comes in here.
Every car from island dealers, updated daily. Save the ones you like and plan a visit in one trip.
Ferry times and fares are a guide only, checked in October 2026. They change often, so always check with the ferry company before you travel.
