Choosing a first car

newfoundglory

I have my driving test in 51 days, and have started looking for a car and getting insurance quotes (i'm 25). I also live in South London where there seems to be a whooping £500 insurance premium vs my parents address outside of london.

So, I am unsure whether to get a £400 pile of cr*p with third party (to give you some idea, Group 2 cheapest quote was about £1300 third party only).

Or spend a few thousand on a car and go full comp.

Is there any benefit to one over the other?

I am also wondering how you get car insurance to drive a car you haven't yet purchased....

rev_henry

£1300 when you're 25 :eek: I'm 17 and I've had quotes much less than that! Although I live in Cumbria with 0 crime etc.

I'm not really sure which is best tbh. Surely its more dictated by your budget? Re insurance for a car you haven't bought, you set it to start the day you pick it up. Or get a quote then call the insurer when you pick it up. Alternatively many dealers will give you 7 days free 'driveaway' insurance.
On most comparison sites there's an option next to purchase date of 'I haven't bought it yet.

angeltreats

I'm surprised it was so much. Up until recently we lived in East London in a less than nice area, and my husband passed his driving test aged 29 and bought a 1.1L 1995 Punto. His insurance was something like £800 for TPFT for the year.

Then we moved to Wiltshire and his insurance dropped by about half and mine isn't too bad either

I'd have thought there wouldn't be any difference between insurance for 25 and 29 year olds. What car did you base the quote on?

newfoundglory

I think it was for a vauxhall corsa 1.2 or 1.0, or maybe it was a renault clio... cant remember. Either way, they all seem to come out around the 1300 mark. Or I am doing something wrong.

I know, the cost of the insurance is ridiculous. £1300 was the cheapest for my area... some of the big name insurers... AA for example were £2500 i think for third party.

But, i dont have much choice. I learnt to drive when I was 17, and then didn't take my test. Then over the last 8 years I forgot how to drive and only just started again.. so I want to get a car to keep my driving skills up to scratch.

anewman

At 25 I got insurance at about £800 I think. Male, new driver, no no claims, crap high risk area. I found third party fire theft to be cheaper than third party only. There's no point paying more for less cover so do check! Also I believe sometimes car insurance group is not a factor nowadays and they go on the car brand and model itself with their own data. Try a few different cars you like, and just to check try some you don't like. It may pay to get a less popular car.

Do get loads and loads of quotes (see Martin's article insurance link at the top). Try adding parents or partners as named drivers to see if this brings down the cost. This is entirely legal, unlike them getting the policy in their name and adding you as a named driver which is called insurance fronting.

Regarding fully comp, you most likely won't get what you expect out of it anyway. You still have to pay for repairs, any claims affect no claims discount, things like vandalism may not be covered.

newfoundglory

Thanks for the replies... rather strange... if i buy a car which is newer and more expensive the insurance is less.

For example, a £500 1.0L Vauxhall Corsa which is 9 years old would cost £1800 fully comp to insure with £450 excess.

But, if i go out a buy a brand new £16,000 Vauxhall Astra 1.4L SXi 59-plate would cost £1500 fully comp to insure with £500 excess.

I'm very very very confused indeed.....

anewman

newfoundglory wrote: »

Thanks for the replies... rather strange... if i buy a car which is newer and more expensive the insurance is less.

For example, a £500 1.0L Vauxhall Corsa which is 9 years old would cost £1800 fully comp to insure. £450 excess.

But, if i go out a buy a brand new £16,000 Vauxhall Astra 1.4L SXi 59-plate would cost £1500 fully comp to insure. £500 excess.

I'm very very very confused.

It's probably because the corsa is considered higher risk, i.e. young uns (chavs/boy racers) wrap em around lamp posts trying to show off to their mates/birds.

As I previously mentioned it's worth trying different cars in the insurance quote websites! You might be surprised what you find! Corsa/Saxo are boy racer cars so may be considered higher risk, even if they have lower insurance groups.

Try "crap" cars like Skoda Felicia, Toyota Starlet, Nissan Micra, Suzuki Swift.

andyman2303

Always get TPFT instead of TP only. Sods law says that if you get only TP your car will go up in flames or get nicked. It's happened to a mate of mine and he wasn't impressed.

Very few insurers base their quotes on the traditional grouping - they will have their own ratings for cars based on the usual cross-section of people buying them. E.g. Saxo, Clio, Fiesta are cars normally purchased by first time drivers, and therefore the cars statistically most likely to be in an accident.

It obviously depends on the amount of cash you have. If you can justify buying yourself a car for more than approx 5k knowing that you'll have to get Fully Comp insurance (otherwise if it's written off, you'll be chucking away 5k) then go for it. Also bare in mind generally speaking, a 5k car is going to do better in a major shunt that a 500 quid tinmobile.

Although on the flip-side of that is the fact that you probably will crash in your first 18 months; not definitely, but the chances are higher than at any other time of your driving life. If you do crash, do you really want to see your brand new 16k astra at the scrap-heap?

newfoundglory

I had never considered that sticking with the usual first-time cars in low insurance groups would actually cost me more, which is a little crazy as well as ridiculous.

I noticed that buyacar are selling factory-new Astra 1.4 SXi's at a £6500 discount making it a little over £10,000. An awful lot of money, but an incredible discount on the list price.

I am torn between getting a second hand first-time car for £2000-£3000 (plus tax and MOT on top) and then paying approx £2000 for insurance,

or getting a new car as above for 10 grand with 3 year warranty, paying £1500 for fully comp insurance and getting the first year tax included with no MOT to pay for 3 years.

I'm thinking that spending a lot more at the start could be much cheaper in the long run.

verityboo

You have to consider the depreciation on the new 10 grand car will be approx 2 grand a year and if you have to take a loan out to buy the car then the interest also has to be taken into account.

As per other advice above, I would run something older that does not have a boy racer image for a couple of years

newfoundglory

It makes no difference whether I choose a crap car or not. A 6 year old nissan micra 1.0L engine will cost me £1400 fully comp with £500 excess. How on earth does a nissan micra compare risk wise to a brand new 1.4L astra sport which costs £100 extra with the same insurer? P-reg Polo 1.0L worth £900 is almost £1400 again.

I have tried many combinations. I can choose anything up to about "group 6" and it will still cost me no less than £1350, but generally between £1400 and £1550.

Seems I am suffering from being a 25 year old new driver, with no experience in a high risk post code.

Very frustrating.