Can only afford insurance on crap cars. Solutions on reducing? Memberships?

David_e

Quentin wrote: »

Add any mature experienced driver as a named driver (female is best)

I thought insurers weren't now allowed to take gender into account?

David_e

Lit_Up wrote: »

Is there any legal trick I can use to get the insurance down -

What about one of these "black box" things? Usually mentioned in relation to very young drivers but may offer some benefit:

http://www.confused.com/car-insurance/specialist/telematics/telematics-explained

Herzlos

What's your total budget (car + insurance)?

Some things to bare in mind: You've only just passed your test, so insurance will be expensive. You're a bit older which will help, but you live in London, which won't.

Insurance groups have some impact, but it's mostly done on profiling, so you may find cheaper insurance if you go for grandad cars, as they'll be less likely to be involved in accidents. Likewise fully comprehensive may work out cheaper than 3rd party, again because they deem it lower risk.

Since you're a new driver, and fairly likely to make a mistake (I lost a wing mirror on a roadworks warning sign), you only have 3 options:

1. Buy something fancy and pay through the nose for it.
2. Wait a year, use public transport and save up, then you'll have had a license for a year and your premium will drop and you'll have some savings.
3. Buy something uncool and with low insurance premiums. Sell it in a year or 2 for something cooler when you can afford the insurance. Personally I'd recommend something pretty old (sub £1000) so you won't lose much on it over the year or 2. I'd also be looking at what older people are driving (Rover 75 [which are great btw], Honda Jazz, Volvos).

Everyone knows car insurance sucks for new drivers, so you don't need to worry too much about impressing your mates. If you feel you need to impress them with a car, then you've got the wrong mates.

My social groups car buying followed some interesting trends: late teens we all had crap hatchbacks, then early-mid 20's we all had sports cars, now in our late 20's we've almost all gone back to sensible hatchbacks, as we can't be bothered spending so much in fuel and getting shaken about by potholes.

bartelbe

Buy a cheap everyday car just to build up low insurance, and then buy a second cooler car on a classic policy.

My everyday car costs £500 to insure, my classic costs £90.

BeenThroughItAll

Lit_Up wrote: »

Is there any legal trick I can use to get the insurance down

Yep. Drive a crap car for a few years. You may not be a teenager, but you're still in the 'new driver' risk category, and from the insurance perspective, that's just tough.