pay off overdraft or buy car, what would you do?

[OhWhatAPalaver]

So i finally got a small but nice amount of cash from an insurance payout - someone crashed in to me and wrote my car off 2 and a half years ago - and I have been without a car for so long now, i have just been waiting and waiting for the cheque to arrive.... but now that it has and its in my bank, which is now in credit for the first time properly since uni days (10 years ago) i do kind of like the feeling of not being in debt. its pretty good.
BUT we really would like a car. Correction, we NEED a car. We have a 18mo daughter and we live miles away from our friends. So we really do need a car or i think we will go insane, as we really don't like where we are living atm. I just hate to see my bank back in the black only for it to go straight in to the red again when we buy. :(
Am i doing the right thing? WWYD?

Yes I did see that , Always I never spend more than that on a car!

If you add up the annual amounts of all the costs plus a tank of petrol per week/ fortnight whatever you anticipate using plus a bit each month towards servicing I don't see why its so difficult?

If the OP is hoping to get some work as I said before it will greatly increase her chances of getting something to fit around the family & her DH needing transport too.

MissMarples has hit the nail of the head there really. It's going to be incredibly difficult for me to get DD to child minder, then get to a job, back to child minder and then home, all without having a car. There is no way in hell i would stick DD in a toddler seat on a bike, i am a v experienced cyclist and have been in and witnessed far too many incidents with careless drivers to take that risk!
I am looking at a nice Mazda 323 tomorrow, reliable and cheap to insure!
I think what I am going to do it buy as cheap a car as possible with it still being decent, then i am going to get a good 0% credit card to buy everything on, ie. shopping, then put all spare cash towards getting out of this overdraft once and for all! hope this is a good plan

oops! didn't excpect the bold text at the end :)

I managed to buy a cheap car for £800 for the first time ever and I am so surprised it actually feels ok when I drive it!

I just could not possibly afford a better car right now - personally I would say clear your debt and then save up for a modest car like I have done.

Admittedly it isn't the most stylish car on the market - it is an X registered Honda Civic but it does the job which is the main thing and it will cost me less on bills as it has a smaller engine than my previous car which had to be scrapped....!

I wasn't going to spend more than 1000 on a car anyway but I think we really do need one.

and

I plan on getting a car that's in good nick and has good reliability, not an old banger so hopefully it won't need too much maintenance.

OP - I hope you understand that those two statements do not go well together. Any car under £1k is classified as an "old banger". They will need maintenance. My current car is one of those old bangers (DH's old student car - he drives our newer car). The reason I hesitate in getting a new one is because not many cars that are good and reliable, with full service history, not more than 7 yrs old and less than 60k miles are available for under £2k.

Remember: you have to pay for MOT, car insurance, road tax and random repairs... all that costs approx. £1k per year.

Re. your DH commuting 90 mins. in public transport - that's nothing compared to a lot of people who commute 2 hours each way.