First car

Banana Bar · May 22, 2019

Bit of a tenuous link to the machinery section!

My daughter will soon start driving and will be needing a first car. Her searches on line suggest that her expectations and mine are somewhat different!

The insurance is a bigger issue than the type of car as far as I'm concerned. What cars have you found to be reasonable to insure for young drivers?

BB

Jon · May 22, 2019

Toyota aygo here.

David. · May 22, 2019

1 litre Polo.

DRC · May 22, 2019

hyundia i20

Robt · May 22, 2019

Id put safety over insurance... do you really want that call at 2am....... in 15 years time i will ask the same

ollie989898 · May 22, 2019

I would not buy a supermini. I would buy an older and second hand hatch that is Focus sized, probably a Volvo C30 or the newer Volvo hatch backs.

The reasons for this are due to the far superior crash performance, larger wheels/tyres and much improved safety features. For example, even the lowliest 1.6 Volvo will have ESP and traction control as standard along with half decent seats. Cars like the Aygo may well not have this.

It is also much harder to get good crash performance out of a smaller car. It can be done but the engineering is harder.

The Aygo is a wicked little car but sits on small wheels in my view and would frustrate me on the motorway. Also they don't boast a lot of boot space for the inevitable boat-load of gear that gets carted to Uni.

Obviously there is an increase on insurance with larger cars but I'd sooner pay £500 extra out of my own pocket and know my flesh and blood (and their inevitable car-load of friends) were safer. The C30 also has impressive rear crash performance as well and are harder to roll over or unstick with control inputs (see moose tests).

Safety is everything in my view. Rear NCAP reports carefully.

D14 · May 22, 2019

No way will my children drive around in a little car. The roads are busier than ever full of uninsured idiots and foreigners that don’t understand our road rules. Throw it the muppets on bikes and horses and you need a tank. Probably be a used Freelander or something similar for us. Safety over cost.

ollie989898 · May 22, 2019

David. said:
1 litre Polo.

You are mad. Don't do it.

Seriously, if you are completely skint and don't want to spend a quid more than necessary. a 1.9 diesel 02 plate Mondeo will be safer. I did 50,000 miles in my fathers old company car in my youth.

Robt · May 22, 2019

ive a nice year 16 LWB shogun for sale.... that thing will take lots of gear and is safe as its made of pig iron!

Weare Cham · May 22, 2019

Land Rover.
Her friends won't want to get a lift and she won't be able to to afford to go far with the cost of fuel and it doesn't go very fast. Easily replaceable panels. [emoji16][emoji846]

ollie989898 · May 22, 2019

Robt said:
ive a nice year 16 LWB shogun for sale.... that thing will take lots of gear and is safe as its made of pig iron!

Even easier to put on farm fleet insurance policy, too.

I've got £5000 for our daughters first car in an ISA for her, but they time she needs it the money will be enough to buy and insure anything.

I would sooner pay the first 3 years of insure for my kids myself than force them to drive around in a noddy box on pram wheels that has no TCS or ESP or curtain airbags. A lot of road cars fail the moose test spectacularly as well. Fudge that.

No point in buying something brand new as they will only trash it! We all did it! Park in town and it gets doored twice a week in the Uni car park!

fenhayman · May 22, 2019

Get a black box fitted. Cuts cost of insurance and allows you to monitor driving.

ollie989898 · May 22, 2019

fenhayman said:
Get a black box fitted. Cuts cost of insurance and allows you to monitor driving.

That I would agree with. Zero tolerance to dickery on the roads.

bluebell · May 22, 2019

my first car was a 1972 ford cortinia 1600gt mk111, i paid 350 pounds for it, best car i had, door rotted off i tied door with a belt to i got a second hand door, oh the good old days

rob h · May 22, 2019

Corsa 1.2 abs airbags all round .cheap spares and inshurance

Lincs Lass · May 22, 2019

Adding long time drivers with their own no claims bonus can reduce the insurance,
Parents are known to put the insurance in their name for new drivers to get it cheaper and say they are the main driver with the children as named drivers,, Insurance companies have got wise to that one

Rowland · May 22, 2019

Nissan Micra . Cheep to insure plenty about cheep to buy high spec ones have quite a few bells and whistles.

Bramble · May 22, 2019

My experience of the last month or so - older cars (10 years plus) can be more expensive to insure as they are regarded as less safe by insurers.

Popular mainstream cars (Polo/Golf) can be expensive as they are popular first cars so have lots of claims. Big engines bad.

Black boxes can lower insurance in the first year but as they know where you go and when premiums can go go up (a neighbours daughter works in a pub at night and drives on an accident prone road and her insurance has gone up in her second year solely because of this).

Learners insurance is cheap as another driver is always in the car (£200 from marmalade). New driver insurance is anything from £800 upwards with them as the owner/main driver. Insurance quotes change daily, saturdays are expensive, also the closer you get to needing it (I’m picking the car up tomorrow) the more expensive it is.

Fiesta, Corsa, Seat Ibiza, or Alfa Mito (880cc) if you’re feeling a bit left field. All on the road/insured for around £4500 for a 5-6 year old car.

Tried to persuade the wife a 35 year old Bentley on eBay for similar money would have been a great first car!!!

Wellytrack · May 22, 2019

Volvo 240.

rob h · May 22, 2019

Wellytrack said:
Volvo 240.

Propper car

First car

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