First car, new driver - what car? what insurance?

grumpyoldwoman41

Hi all,

I do not even drive and know absolutely nothing about cars - calling a cab I always ask "what colour" so please be gentle with me...

My daughter who is 20 is taking driving lessons and will be going for her test soon.

Her boyfriend who is 22 has a licence (license?) for about 18 months now but never had a car/insurance.

As they are both young and both will have "fresh" DL - looking at insurance gives me a heart attack.

Can someone please give me some advice:

1) What car would be the best considering the circumstances? Budget of no more than £1500 for that first car as my daughter is a student and her b/f works for a little bit above NMW

2) Where to look at insurance? What to look for in insurance?

Thanks in advance for any pointers....

forgotmyname

1st car & 1st insurance, Cheapest thing that has 12m MOT so you can throw it away if they crash it.

Cheap insurance you need to shop around and try EVERY company you can find, High voluntary excess will bring
the premium down a bit.
Try 3rd party, 3rd party fire and theft and also comprehensive. It maybe cheaper fully comp than 3rd party.
Drive carefully and dont crash or get any tickets/points.

Insurance for girlies is cheaper than boys. Check prices in both names and in joint names.

TOP TIP.... Dont tell lies to get cheaper insurance it will end in tears and empty pockets.

Inactive

Look for insurance first, I think that you may well find the costs something of a surprise.

grumpyoldwoman41

Thanks for replies.

Please do not shoot me (yet) - will have to google what is "comprehensive" or "3rd party" as have no idea

Can someone please define for me "cheapest thing"? Make/model/age?

Thanks a lot, really appreciate any help that anyone can offer...

epz_2

comprehensive = crash the car into someone and the insurance will pay to fix both cars.

3rd party = crash the car into someone else and they will pay to fix them but you need to fix your car.

comprehensive is better.

my advice would be to jump on autotrader/ebay and get the reg of a 1liter nissan micra and shop around for insurance, at 22 and a 1.5k budget I suspect any car may be out your budget.

Insurance is really weird, when I passed my test I found out that I could insure an old 2liter merc for very little more than a learner car, bearing in mind that corsas/micras etc fetch a premium and were likely driven by learners who kicked the proverbial out them while my car was previously driven by someone who could afford a new merc so lasted well.

basicly let the insurance dictate the car you get as it will likely be a high proportion of the running costs, also dont even think about allowing the BF on the insurance.

mikey72

Fiat Panda 2004 model onwards

group 1 insurance.

http://www.parkers.co.uk/insurance/Groups/by-model.aspx?ig=1&model=1175

other group 1 cars here

http://www.parkers.co.uk/insurance/Groups/by-group.aspx?ig=1#

but are newer/dearer.

some group 2 are ok

like some of the corsa's, and the Fabia

http://www.parkers.co.uk/insurance/Groups/by-model.aspx?ig=2&model=1143

http://www.parkers.co.uk/insurance/Groups/by-model.aspx?ig=2&model=826

Get a price for insurance on some of these, and see what it costs.

If you do get a fair price, make sure you buy the exact model though, as similar models can be a lot dearer to insure.

Beckyy

I've not been driving long so can give you a few tips.

It's not the price of the car that is important it's the insurance. You can buy a £500 and end up paying £1500 insurance if you don't shop around.

Will they be sharinng the car?

Although your daughters BF has had a license for 18 months if he's never had an insurance policy before he won't have a No Claim Bonus (every year you hold insurance and don't claim you get a years No Claim Bonus, which brings your insurance down by alot). So he will be cheaper to insure than if he'd only just passed, as they're assuming he has 18 months experience, but it won't be TONS cheaper.

Does your daughters BF have parents that drive? He could possibly add them onto the insurance policy as extra drivers, it's more than likely they will bring the price down and it's very handy as they are insured to drive if they ever need a hand. Bear in mind they must be added as 'additional drivers' and not the policy holder - if they find out that the insurance has someone as the main driver when they're it's illegal and they may not pay for claims.

Make sure you try ALL of the price comparison websites. Each one may have slightly different prices for the same compary.

I have an 03 reg Ford Fiesta 1.4tdi (diesel). It cost me £2995 to buy and my insurance policy was £950 for 10 months, with my BF as an additional driver. Some companies offer a '10 months accelerator policy' which means you buy a 10 months policy, instead of 12. Then after the 10 months (if you don't claim) you can renew with 1 years no claims (my insurance went down to £650 for 10 months when I renewed).

Fuly Comp/Comprehensive = If in an accident your insurance will pay for the other cars repairs AND your cars. Also covers you if your car is stolen etc.

Fire, Theft & 3rd Party = If in an accident your insurance will pay for the other persons repairs. Also covers you if your car is stolen etc.

3rd Party only = Will only cover any other car that is involved in an accident with you. Will not cover your car if stolen. This is the minimum amount of insurance you can have.

I found that when I took out insurance there was only about £50 difference between Fire, theft & 3rd party and Fully Comp. So it may be worth checking both.

Also, get quotes with a high voluntary excess. Mine was/still is £500. Anything below that and you will pay extra.


Look for a car with a small engine, it's both more practical for a new driver and cheaper to insure. Anything ABOVE a 1.4 will probably be too expensive to insure.

When looking for cars look at the insurance group (ie - group 1/2/3/4 etc.). Higher the group, higher the cost.


Look around on autotrader online. Look for a car which has at least a few months left on it's MOT. Make sure you ask about any repairs that have been carried out on the car recently, ask for reciepts if they've had any. If you don't kow much about cars see if there's anybody in the family who can go with you that does, or ask a friendly local mechanic to come and have a look at the car before you buy it (check if they'll charge first).

ALWAYS check the insurance before you buy one. Just right down the registration plate and you can get an insurance quote for it with that.

Good luck with the search and your daughters test! :j

grumpyoldwoman41

Wawwwwwwww, thanks everyone.
Now need to digest all the info....

They would be the only drivers (my daughter and het b/f), perhaps they could stretch the budget to 2k for the car but no more than that.
Will look at all the links and read all the info till I "get it"

Thanks again

Mustard_Dave

forgotmyname wrote: »

Insurance for girlies is cheaper than boys. Check prices in both names and in joint names.

Get the quote for the Main Driver only. Taking out a policy with somebody else as the main driver is fraud and will have you on a sticky wicket if caught (usually happens following an accident). It is known as 'fronting'.

vyseyboy

grumpyoldwoman41 wrote: »

Wawwwwwwww, thanks everyone.
Now need to digest all the info....

They would be the only drivers (my daughter and het b/f), perhaps they could stretch the budget to 2k for the car but no more than that.
Will look at all the links and read all the info till I "get it"

Thanks again

It's worth reiterating the advice above about adding the gents or ladies parents to the policy as additional drivers, regardless of whether they will be driving the car or not.

Totally doesn't make sense, but the insurance companies assume that having additional older drivers with access to the car means less accident risk.

Adding both my parents to my 106 diesel policy 2 years ago brought price down from about £550 to about £275!

Of course they can then legally drive the car on occassion too

grumpyoldwoman41

Thanks but I do not drive and the parents of my daughter's b/f do not live here so not possible...