Car and insurance for 17 year old

glowgirl_2

DD is due to pass her test at 17 this summer, we are looking around for cars and getting insurance quotes now, I came across this site http://www.youngmarmalade.co.uk/?gclid=CNjQ8MKc6a8CFcQKfAodvT9Szg today, does anyone have any experience of this company? or any opinions or suggestions of similar companies? Any advice is welcome:)

hartcjhart

glowgirl wrote: »

DD is due to pass her test at 17 this summer, we are looking around for cars and getting insurance quotes now, I came across this site http://www.youngmarmalade.co.uk/?gclid=CNjQ8MKc6a8CFcQKfAodvT9Szg today, does anyone have any experience of this company? or any opinions or suggestions of similar companies? Any advice is welcome:)

the cars are overpriced a bit but then they help with the insurance,
It really depends on how much you want to spend on her first car that as with most new drivers will end up getting a couple of knocks scrapes.

i would reccommend going for a cheapish clio/saxo/106 etc

thegirlintheattic

I would personally go with a cheap old banger for the first few years.

kipperman

Similar situation with my daughter.

£1000 (rising to £1500 once passed test) on a 55 plate 1.2 16v Renault Clio. This with Diamond insurance.

glowgirl_2

Hmmm, its a minefield, I really don't like older cars but can see the reasoning behind getting one, just don't know whats best to do, thanks for the replies.

chris1973

My Cousin is 17 and passed his test a few months ago. Some of the quotes that my Aunt had back were an unbelieveable, £3000+

In the end he opted for a classic car, not every 17 year old kids dream car, but it resulted in a much reduced premium of £979 through a Classic Car policy with his parents also on the policy as named drivers (but he remained the policy holder and main driver), the fact it wont go much above 60mph also reassures my Auntie a little also .

They got the idea from here - http://www.howtoinsureyoungdrivers.com/

kipperman

chris1973 wrote: »

My Cousin is 17 and passed his test a few months ago. Some of the quotes that my Aunt had back were an unbelieveable, £3000+

In the end he opted for a classic car, not every 17 year old kids dream car, but it resulted in a much reduced premium of £979 through a Classic Car policy with his parents also on the policy as named drivers (but he remained the policy holder and main driver), the fact it wont go much above 60mph also reassures my Auntie a little also .

They got the idea from here - http://www.howtoinsureyoungdrivers.com/

You might save money, but personally I'd rather my son or daughter driving a modern car that has all the standard safety features - airbags, ABS, seatbelt pretensioners, crumple zones etc.

chris1973

I'd rather my son or daughter driving a modern car that has all the standard safety features - airbags, ABS, seatbelt pretensioners, crumple zones etc.

In which case then you really shouldn't be putting a price on the cost of insuring them in these expensive modern vehicles, as the re-assurance to you and them should essentially be 'priceless'. In fact if you can afford to buy them a 'modern car' which has an NCAP rating of 4 or 5 (the only ratings really worth considering if you dont want to risk losing limbs, serious head trauma or other 'life changing' injuries, and also ALL of the list of features mentioned then you are looking at 3 or 4 grand plus, and if you or they can afford the very real risk of them writing off or damaging a vehicle of this value, and age then you really shouldn't quibble over paying a few grand to insure it.

Back in reality, lots of young people are driving around in 1997 Corsa's and 2000 era Micra's or Ka's with either very low NCAP ratings or too old to be classified, in addition even a 1999 Polo doesn't have features like ABS, so you must be planning on putting your Cherub into quite an expensive modern vehicle to get all of those features AND a surviveable NCAP rating at normal road speed, but then every crash or rollover happens at 15mph doesn't it.....

Example of crash ratings for 'teen popular' vehicles

http://www.euroncap.com/tests/fiat_punto_1997/7.aspx
http://www.euroncap.com/tests/vw_polo_1997/13.aspx
http://www.euroncap.com/tests/opel_vauxhall_corsa_1997/12.aspx
http://www.euroncap.com/tests/ford_ka_2000/77.aspx

Non of these look especially 'safe' with several weaknesses and v.poor / poor / marginal areas of crash protection clearly identified - frighteningly often around the head or chest (largely the injuries sustained in most fatal RTC's), and all of them lack the full list of features you mentioned. Case in point many of us learned to drive and spent our first formative driving years avoiding accidents in what essentially are the classic cars of today, and it was good enough for us, and we successfully avoided road hazards or other vehicles and that was way before even airbags were fitted as standard. Do kids these days expect to be cotton wool clad in cars as well as society?

Since paying out compensation / medical treatment represents more than the cost of replacing a typical 10 year old car to the insurance companies, then I suspect if these teenage drivers were all walking away from wrecks involving their 'modern' cars with 'modern' safety features, then they wouldn't be paying upto £3000 for insurance cover. In essence these modern cars, carry hefty insurance premiums - no smoke and mirrors and no pack drill.

Unfortunately, the belief that you have demonstrated is also the illusion which many young people share, in beliving that they are essentially indestructable, sat behind their airbags and side impact protection, which can lead to complacency and risk taking. Put them in something older which rattles and barely makes 65mph, and they tend to be less confident about showing off, racing or thinking that they are indestructable. In fact they would probably be less likely to crash if the airbag was replaced by a very sharp spike!.

By the way, the term classic cars, from an owner and insurance point of view covers cars which are as little as 15 years old. This would include vehicles like Cavaliers, which did have airbags and ABS fitted as standard, so don't imagine for one moment that the term only applies to Morris Minors and Austin sevens.

Unfortunately, insurance costs are only likely to spiral for us all, and for young drivers, then its going to be much worse. You really have no choice but to pay the costs, find ways of legally reducing them, or simply get them a rail or bus ticket - thats it - those are your choices!.

mikey72

My kid started in a classic mini. (Cheap insurance has gone for that now though, but she always wanted one since she was 5) She learnt to drive without expecting to use airbags, seltbelt pre-tensioners, abs, esp, and a 5 star ncap. As with everything, pay your money, take your choice.

StaffsSW

Safety feature like airbags etc are nice, but lets face it, years ago we all drive old cars, and none of us died on a regular basis.

The other problem with modern cars as alluded to above is that instills a sense of invincibility into people who tend to have an artificially high sense of self-ability anyway.

C_Mababejive

Aygo or similar...?

The idea is not to rely on airbags or safety devices but to build up driving skill and professionalism so that hopefully,you never need them.I think the big issue with younger drivers is of course lack of experience,maturity,observational skills,concentration and patience. These take time to develop.