Cars for kids...

KierNet

You need to stay away from the 'boy racer' cars, Corsa is a boy racers wet dream. Same as 106, Puntos and Saxos.

Be prepared to spend a couple of thousand for it though.

Have you looked at doing Pass Plus? I saved around £400 when I was 18, getting my insurance at 18 for under £1,000 fully comp on a 1.2 Punto.

Adding a parent as a named driver should help, my mum saved me £100 last year (not much, but I was only paying £800), but this year put it up £2.

It might not be the best car in the world, or the best looking, but if your paying less on insurance, thats got to be better!

Word of advice, those companies that offer the NCB after 10 months, not all companies will take this as a real NCB, so you might be stuck with the company even if they are expensive.

bigjl

I think you will find Insurance is getting silly for everybody.

I had a renewal come through for my Mondeo, 2005 TDCi, which was around £1000 !!!!

I am a 40 yr old with 9 yrs NCB, advanced driver, 1 theft claim in 2008, and the wife and I have both been rear ended, but paid out by the other party.

The figure you have mentioned isn't that bad compared to others I have heard.

As already said, some young driver have been using Classic Car, limited mileage policies to get them on the road. There are apparently some decent cars that can be used every day that come under classic car status, E30 BMW or 190 Merc as an example.

thelawnet

bigjl wrote: »

I think you will find Insurance is getting silly for everybody.

I had a renewal come through for my Mondeo, 2005 TDCi, which was around £1000 !!!!

I am a 40 yr old with 9 yrs NCB, advanced driver, 1 theft claim in 2008, and the wife and I have both been rear ended, but paid out by the other party.

You must live somewhere dodgy. I paid about £350 for a Volvo S80 2.5T (group 17?), and now slightly less for my VW Eos 2.0T-FSI (GTI engine), male, 28, 6 yrs NCB, not sure what advanced driver is?

LandyAndy

catflea wrote: »

Serious suggestion. Look into getting him a classic car.

Classic Car insurance is frequently significantly cheaper than that of modern cars (although you dont earn an NCB) the car will not depreciate and he will be able to look after it himself (rather than having to take it somewhere to have a cable plugged into it)

The other significant thing is that he will actually have to drive the car, learn to anticipate hazards etc as the car will not mollycoddle him in the same way that moderns do so he will learn valuable lessons on the road.

I'm 26, and I started my driving career in a 1964 Morris Minor Traveller, and I swear that it has made me a significantly better and safer driver. If I'd have started off with a fiesta or corsa I probabally would have wrapped it round a tree because of the feeling that it would look after me.

Its not for everyone as classics can be trickier to buy and do need more maintainance and how your sons peers may respond could be questionable - my mates loved my car.

I'd suggest looking at Morris Minors (with looking, you can get a good 'un for under a grand) Austin A35, Triumph Herald etc. Depends on what budget you have. (Dont let him get a beetle though, horrid, horrid things)

I'd go along with that. Triumph Herald would be my choice (because I know a fair bit about them).

BUT

Buying can be a real minefield if you know little or nothing about cars and you have to accept that safety in an accident is essentially non-existent.

AND

Completely agree about Beetles:D. Utterly foul.

custardy

nicolax wrote: »

i had a cinquecento as my first car
was such a good first car - cheap insurance, cheap to run, and cheap to buy! and i kept it for a few years untill i built up enough no claims to be able to afford insurance on something else!

my first years insurance was £600 3rd party (altho could have got fully comp for £800!) with direct line ... not bad when the car cost £800!
was only 3 years ago too - i am female though, so guessing the price would be higher for a young male

the seicento is a little newer, but also fairly cheap-ish to run according to a male friend who has that as his first car

cinqs a good compromise on being fairly basic but more modern in its running gear.
Ive had a couple and i liked them

bengalknights

thelawnet wrote: »

You must live somewhere dodgy. I paid about £350 for a Volvo S80 2.5T (group 17?), and now slightly less for my VW Eos 2.0T-FSI (GTI engine), male, 28, 6 yrs NCB, not sure what advanced driver is?

Your also 28 where as ops son is 18 hence the difference.

ailuro2

Buy a Parker's Guide or similar, with every car listed they give you a guide price and an Insurance Group - the higher the insurance group the higher the premium will be.

Young folk used to tootle around in Citroen 2CVs because they were group 1 for insurance, not sure what the modern day equivalent is - something with a tiny engine.;)

catflea

Citroen C1 I expect. I'd love to have a 2cv but they are getting expensive now.

jen_br

Thanks guys we have been looking and inputting everything into the insurance checker... it is pretty sad though 2-3k for insurance!

allybee101

Does he need a car of his own?
My brother and I were named drivers on my mum's car and allowed to use it occasionally at weekends/ evenings (insuring in a parent's name is Fronting and can get you in serious trouble if found out). It meant that she didn't have to ferry us everywhere and we got experience on the roads. We couldn't have afforded the extra cost for another car (petrol, insurance, MOT, tax, service etc - soon adds up!).

We used the bus/bike/ our feet for everything else (there's 2 years between us so my brother was at uni by the time I passed my test so less fighting for the car at weekends!).

I'm pretty sure that named drivers can build up 'credit' and no claims bonus now, a few years down the line your son won't be quite so much of a risk as a brand new driver.

Hope you find the right solution for you.