Bought first Car !

MichaelCR

I bought my first car yesterday for £2750 (was Originally £3000 managed to haggle a little off the price), The vehicle is a 2003 (53reg) Ford Mondeo Ghia 1.8 SCi, The car is insurance group 9.

I've tried a few websites for car insurance, Co-op and Quinns seem the cheapest, Co-op have offered me fully comp cover with a excess of £350 for £4016.50 which equates to £338.88 a month (I know its ridiculous but i've somewhat come to terms with how much insurers will charge). Quinns offered me £3872.87 for cover.

I'm 19 (20 in 2 months time), Have only just got my full license.

a few questions,

- Is there any car insurance companies who are generally more cheaper to first time younger drivers ?
- Are there any haggling techniques i can use over the phone to negotiate a cheaper quote ?

Thanks

hcb42

I would have bought a less high powered car if my premiums were anything like that. Insurers do not haggle, you would be considered a high risk driver because of age/experience, relatively high engine vehicle, and also depends on where you live, which could be a major factor in the premium too.

MichaelCR

hcb42 wrote: »

I would have bought a less high powered car if my premiums were anything like that. Insurers do not haggle, you would be considered a high risk driver because of age/experience, relatively high engine vehicle, and also depends on where you live, which could be a major factor in the premium too.

My postcode is a 5 star postcode, Well so it said on a website called checkmyfile.

And the reason i bought the car is because its safe, Reliable, And lovely to drive !

As much as i don't want to i guess i'll have to stick it out at £338.88 a month for now !

Is there any other options for example insuring a parent or grand parent ? And no i do not want to front the insurance. A friend said something about his dad being on his policy as a named driver or something and getting a large discount, Or maybe he was a named driver on his dads policy on his own car ?

Thanks

mikey72

Put your parents and wife/husband/boyfriend/girlfriend on as named driver. Ring the insurer and haggle, I always do, with varying degrees of success.

hcb42

most insurance company staff in telesales have very limited "haggling" powers.

Postcode does make a huge difference, if I use my postcode and your details as provided, it knocks £1K off for starters.

Adding someone as a named driver might help though, although I doubt it will make masses of difference, in the scheme of things.

I have never heard of a five star postcode, so I checked that site you stated. It seems to star an area based on its financial risk - which is not the same as its insurance risk.

bouncydog1

Only an individual insurer will know how they rate a particular postcode as this will depend on their claims experience. Some desirable postcodes are very high for car insurance because they are a theft risk, so I would discount the info you got from the other site.

You could try adding your father or an older female relative to the cover providing they are claims, accident and conviction free.

However it would have been sensible to have found out what insurance was likely to cost for different vehicles first - lots of vehicles are "nice to drive", but at the end of the day they get you from A to B, depreciate over time, need maintaining etc.

ingey.uk

where did you bring you car from (brought)???
oh you meen bought

lindens

I'm afraid your choice of car has pushed your insurance cost up. a car in a lower group (eg fiat with 1.0 engine)could have bought the cost down to £2000.

lisyloo

My postcode is a 5 star postcode, Well so it said on a website called checkmyfile.

Sounds like a good palce to nick cars from !!!!

Seriously, just because it's a desireable place to live doesn't mean it's low on claims.
checkmyfile might be looking at "dessireability" or some such.
insurers will be looking at the level of claims - different things entirely.
In fact disireable areas are attractive to theives and may have a higher claim rate.

Clydefrog

Buying that car without first looking at insurance quotes for various vehicles was probably not a good idea.

When I bought my first car (a few months ago) I've spent ages on insurance comparison websites and tried different combinations to see what was cheap. While most people in my circumstances would have gone for a tiny Fiesta, Corsa or Punto, I decided to buy a more powerful and much more reliable VW Lupo 1.4 S. Going for a more powerful car, when looking for the cheapest insurance quote might appear counter-intuitive, but it saved me some £600 per year.

One strange thing I noticed is the age of the car has a massive effect on the insurance quote, although not in a way one would expect. Logically, you would think an older car = more likely to break down = higher insurance. WRONG! I compared two exact same vehicles (similar price) with an advisor on the phone, and it turned out the 1999 vehicle was £200 cheaper to insure than one made in 2004.
Then, you have the postcode issue and the fact where you park your car. Even though I live at the end of a cul-de-sac, the factoring they used to calculate my insurance was the same as if my car was parked on the side of a two way public road. Logically, one would expect cul-de-sac locations to have a positive effect on the insurance - in the end there are no random passers-by and no other cars packed tightly around yours, so lower risk of malicious or accidental damage. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be the case. One thing I would recommend is park your car off road as much as possible - this should knock your quote down a bit.

Finally, when it comes to haggling - use a tonne of comparison websites and go to an insurer armed with the lowest quote. They will most likely try to beat it, or at least match it on better terms. Don't expect a lot though - I managed to knock only £50 off mine. You get much more room for maneuver if you have no claims bonus or a few years of experience.

Just so that you get an idea, some of my details
26 y.o.
Passed 3 months ago
Live in city centre
Work in education
Added my partner (nurse) with a provisional to the policy
Drive a 2004 VW Lupo 1.4 S worth £2000
Paid £1000 for insurance

The cheapest cars I was able to find for myself were Seat Arosa and VW Lupo. I could have probably saved a further £200 on my quote if I went for a 199x Seat Arosa. As a comparison, the usual cars bought by new drivers (106, Corsa, Punto, Fiesta etc) would have cost me around £1600 to insure. The tiniest of the tiniest (ForTwo, Matiz) were around £1700 and £1500 respectively.

PS. Some price comparison websites are not reliable, especially in terms of the amount of excess you will have to pay in case of an accident. If you got an online excess quote of £350 and you are a new driver, then it will most likely double when it comes to actually purchasing a policy.

PPS. You may want to put a female on your policy, especially if they have a provisional license and are not a named driver. In my case it saved around £300. Be warned though, when they pass and start using the car on a regular basis, the price will go up. Again, £300 in my case.

Hadrian

£4016 pa, £338.88pm!! Words fail me. £10+ a day - 99% of lads your age simply can not afford anything like this amount (even a thousand £'s) so why did the insurance companys ask for it? You did a daft thing in buying this car, sell it ASAP and use the £10 a day on taxis.