Before you start

Established UK residence
Your foreign licence, which is surrendered on exchange
A UK address for the DVLA
Proof of identity, usually your passport plus an eVisa share code

Step-by-step

1
Check the vehicle against Birmingham's zone before you buy it
Coventry does not charge, so it is easy to buy an older diesel here and only discover the problem on a Birmingham job. Birmingham operates a Class D zone, the strictest class, charging non-compliant private cars as well as vans, taxis and lorries. Check the specific registration on GOV.UK's vehicle checker before you buy, not after. The same applies to Bristol; Sheffield, Bath and Bradford do not charge private cars.
OnlineWho: YouBefore buying a vehicle
2
Learn the ring road before you have to use it in the rain
The 2.25-mile elevated loop has junctions roughly 300 metres apart, with slip roads that merge and diverge across each other and very short weaving sections. Pick your junction number before you join, stay in lane, and accept a full extra lap rather than making a late lane change. It is the single most common thing new residents get wrong.
In personWho: YouFirst week
3
Check whether your country is a designated country
The DVLA publishes the list of countries whose licences can be exchanged without a test. If yours is on it the process is a form and a fee; if not, decades of experience count for nothing and you take the full UK theory and practical tests.
OnlineWho: YouBefore the twelve-month window closes
4
Act within the windows
You may generally drive on a valid foreign licence for twelve months after becoming resident. A designated-country exchange must be made within five years of that date. Missing either costs you options rather than money.
OnlineWho: You
5
Apply to the DVLA and expect to be without your licence
Exchange applications go to Swansea with your original foreign licence, which is retained and not returned. Processing takes weeks, so do not post it before a trip home where you intend to drive.
OnlineWho: You
6
Try the trains before you commit to a car
Coventry has no tram or metro — the West Midlands Metro does not come here — but the station is on the West Coast Main Line with frequent trains to Birmingham in about twenty minutes, London in about an hour, and Leamington in about twenty. For a lot of jobs in this region the train is genuinely faster than the M6. The city is also developing Coventry Very Light Rail, with an 800-metre city demonstrator route.
Mobile appWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Foreign driving licence
Passport and eVisa share code
Proof of a Coventry address
The DVLA application form appropriate to your licence's country of issue

Things most newcomers don’t know

Coventry charges nothing and Birmingham charges private cars — and they are twenty minutes apart.

GOV.UK lists seven operating Clean Air Zones and Coventry is not among them. Birmingham's is Class D, which catches private cars; Sheffield's Class C does not. Nowhere else in England are a charging and a non-charging city so close together with so much daily traffic between them. Check the registration, not the city you live in.

Source: GOV.UK — driving in a clean air zone

The ring road is not a normal ring road.

It was completed in 1974 to a design nobody would build now: elevated, 2.25 miles round, with junctions about 300 metres apart and slip roads that cross. Local drivers navigate it by junction number and never change lanes late. If you learn one piece of local driving practice, learn this one.

Source: community-reported

Coventry is developing its own light rail because conventional tram track is too expensive to lay here.

Coventry Very Light Rail is a council-led project built around a much shallower track slab, intended to avoid the utility diversions that make conventional tramways cost so much, and it has run an 800-metre city demonstrator route. It is worth knowing that the city's transport future is a live construction project rather than a settled network.

Source: Coventry City Council — Coventry Very Light Rail

Twelve months on a foreign licence, and then it simply stops.

People drive for years on a home licence without realising it ceased to be valid after the first year of residence. Nothing flags it until an insurance claim after an accident, at which point the policy may not respond. Diary the date you became resident.

Source: GOV.UK — driving in Great Britain on a non-GB licence

Common mistakes to avoid

Buying a non-compliant older car in Coventry and then driving it into Birmingham's Class D zone.
Attempting a late lane change on the ring road instead of taking another lap.
Assuming your country is designated without checking the DVLA list.
Driving past the twelve-month window on a foreign licence and invalidating your insurance.
Buying a car for a Birmingham or Leamington commute the train already does faster.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.