What can you afford to insure

mikey72

I parked next to a Fiat X1/9 Beritone today. (1980's two seater sports car)

It got me thinking what cars we could afford, and afford to insure when we were 18.

One of my mates had an X1/9.
I had a beach buggy, declared mods included a shorrock supercharged 1600cc engine.
Another had a Alfa Romeo Alfasud 33
A Sunbeam Lotus
Kawasaki 350 motorbike, and a mini.
Renault Fuego
Sunbeam Rapier H120
Mini Clubman (the 1275)
Triumph Dolomite Sprint, road going rally prepped car, all declared, including cage and harnesses.

None of these were the run of the mill micras that any 18 year old can just about afford to insure on a good day now.
(I reckon none of the modern equivalents could even be considered affordable in fact)
So maybe it does show insurance has gone up.
Unless you couldn't afford to insure one you wanted.

So what cars/motorbikes did you all start out in, any particular ones stick in your mind, as a meaningless Saturday night poll?

adamc260

I could only really afford to insure a fiesta when I passed my test 6 years ago... =/!

InsideInsurance

I had a Ford Fiesta 1.1 GL Mk1 which was almost to the day 2 years younger than me at the time.

Most of my friends either had their own Fiat Panda 0.9, Fiesta Mk1 (or a few a Mk2) or had use of "mums car". The only ones I knew with anything better were those that were being added to Dad's company insurance and had BMW 3 series etc.

When I was about 19-20 of cause all of that changed as Citroen did its 2 years free insurance deal and so those looking to move up from their first car old bangers could either buy a 3-4 year old small car for £2,500 or alternatively a lower end Saxo for £5,000 with 2 years insurance which was easily worth £3,000 to most of us.

If you were a little more cash rich then you'd get the VTR version was about £9,000 and the free insurance must have been worth the best part of £5,000.

A few friends stayed retro though and got themselves the classic 205 GTI

mikey72

You wouldn't get free insurance for two years on a VTR at 18 now.
It would be a bargain if you could.

InsideInsurance

mikey72 wrote: »

You wouldn't get free insurance for two years on a VTR at 18 now.
It would be a bargain if you could.

RBS Insurance lost a massive amount of money on the deal and it is why the Saxo became so popular.

In the later revision of the deal you had to be 21 for the VTR and 25 for the VTS. "In my day" it was only the VTS that had an age restriction and that was only 21

mikey72

InsideInsurance wrote: »

RBS Insurance lost a massive amount of money on the deal and it is why the Saxo became so popular.

In the later revision of the deal you had to be 21 for the VTR and 25 for the VTS. "In my day" it was only the VTS that had an age restriction and that was only 21

By those days I'd moved onto a reliable estate car.

Fiat tempra estate, 2l twin cam, 0-60 of 10.1 seconds, top speed 120mph, that could keep up with the VTR, and give most other hot hatches a decent run. (Back in the days when the Golf GTI was the car to beat at 9.6 seconds)
That wasn't expensive to insure either.

So I'm still feeling very sympathetic to younger drivers.

w211

First motorbike was a Honda Varadero XL125, which was £800 TPFT when I was 19. Had that for a year to build up a years no-claims bonus, bought a Honda CBF600SA, fully comp, insurance £2,200. With 7 years no claims bonus, insurance is now £160.

Bought my first van when I was 21, a new Vauxhall Astravan, insurance for that was £2,400 - though it was a hire and reward policy with unlimited mileage, and being self-employed, it was offset against my income tax.
First car bought when I was 24, Mercedes E320 CDi, that was just under £3,000 - almost same sort of insurance as the van, hire and reward, unlimited mileage, and again offset against income tax. With 3 years no-claims, premium is now £1,600 (though I have bought a new version since).

Whether premiums were affordable when you were at a young age also depends on your other financial commitments, and how important cars (/bikes) are to you - whether you spent your disposable income on holidays, going out, latest iPhones/computer equipement/electronics, other hobbies etc.

vaio

First post test car was a 1500 GT Cortina and cost me £40 (= two weeks apprentice wages) to insure at age 17 back in the mid '70s. Peer group had similar inc beetles, 1340 Minis, 998 Imps, GT550 & Z1 bikes and generally insurance was trivial & not worth talking about.

Also in those days "any driver" cover was easily available and DOC cover was DOV so my car policy covered me on bikes as well as cars.

I think I'm part of the golden generation, cheap motoring, free eduction, affordable housing, lots of real jobs and decent pensions. I feel sorry for todays kids & 20/30 somethings who seem to get screwed which ever way they turn

mikey72

w211 wrote: »

.................... whether you spent your disposable income on holidays, going out, latest iPhones/computer equipement/electronics, ......

That wasn't a problem then.

But I did buy a programmable calculator that appears on wiki's page as a museum piece.

vaio

I was just on the calculator/slide rule boundary, first digital watch (LED so press a button on the side to tell the time!) probably cost the same as my insurance (but so so cool) and work had a HP calculator (anyone else remember reverse polish notation?) that came with a cradle and steel cable to bolt it to the bench

mikey72

vaio wrote: »

I was just on the calculator/slide rule boundary, first digital watch (LED so press a button on the side to tell the time!) probably cost the same as my insurance (but so so cool) and work had a HP calculator (anyone else remember reverse polish notation?) that came with a cradle and steel cable to bolt it to the bench

I'd just given up the slide rule, and Casio had just brought out the algebric logic calculator to compete with HP. (Good job, I hated reverse polish notation).
I think the caluclator cost me more than my year's insurance, but I needed it for uni.
(Mail order, from Pratical Wireless, over a payphone in the street)