Insurance for new, but older driver - advice please! :)

Dr_Mobius

Hi all,

So let me get the embarassing part out of the way first - I'm learning to drive, aged 36. Had 25 lessons aged 17 but ran out of money and didn't get around to taking my test. Didn't need a car since really, but now I am learning again as its high time I got it done. My question is really about how my age will affect insurance and what to expect. I know its never cheap for a new driver but I'm no teenage boy racer and I'm really only looking at cars that will barely reach the speed limit flat out. My other half has a Saab 9-5 (I've always loved Saabs, she hated them but we got one at my suggestion and she absolutely loves it and wouldn't have anything else now!), but that is waaaay too expensive for me to drive insurance-wise (group 43 or something).

Apparently I live in a really good postcode for insurance purposes and won't be leaving it parked on the road at all. For work I repair security systems (desk job, driving isn't part of my job), for insurance purposes I guess I would be something like a Technician. No criminal convictions or anything naughty. The cars I've been looking at and the insurance groups (as I understand them, please correct me if I have them wrong) are:

Suzuki Jimny (small engine, basic) -insurance group 12-13..?

Land Rover Defender 90 (really like old Landys, aware of the maintenance needed and prepared to work on it myself within reason) - insurance group 10-12?

Mitsubishi Shogun Pinin (small but I don't know so much about them as the others) - insurance group 21..?

an old Fairway taxi/black cab/'London taxi' (love 'em, insurance is apparently dirt cheap and they're easy to drive) - insurance group is something like 4 from what I can tell.

I've got about 4.5k to spend on the car and a years insurance - how much of that should I be putting aside for the insurance? (roughly, I just want an idea). I'm thinking maybe the price of a decent Defender won't leave me much and the mini-Shogun is the highest insurance group of the four but they're in the running if feasible.

Oh, also if anyone has experience with any of these cars I'd appreciate any tips with buying/living with them

Thanks in advance for any help you smart people can give!

AdrianC

Go and play with a Meerkat. They'll give you far better guesses than we can, in minutes flat.

forgotmyname

If your thinking the quotes will reflect the insurance group then think again.

A group 12 or 13 car can be double the insurance of a group 18 car. One insurer may be cheap for the Saab and another may refuse to quote.

If you can find an insurer to cover the black cab it maybe cheap. But they tend to have covered starship mileages and on their last legs by the time it reaches a private buyer.

Wrong car and postcode and half your budget maybe the insurance. Its going to be cheaper than an 18 year old but still with zero no claims to your name it wont be super cheap.

facade

My Other Car is a Jimny, migrated from a LandRover 110 200Tdi

Good points of Jimny:

Small
easy to park
heater works
windscreen demists and wipers work
Reliable (except the vacuum hubs are a known issue on older ones)
cheap tax (mine is x reg, before the emissions tax came in)
Automatic is quite good

Bad points

Not very economical
Lively ride, tends to pitch due to short wheelbase
Not permanent 4wd
Body corrosion, boot floor, under rear seats under headlights.
Spares, (if you need them!) cost 10times that of the cheap Taiwanese RandLover stuff that you can buy online.
Very few Suzuki dealers left too.

LandRover good points
Permanent 4wd
Good ground clearance
Better off road unmodified
Cheaper insurance

Bad points:

Chassis rusts
Aluminium corrodes
Doors never fit and very draughty
Always damp inside
110 very difficult to park
Very cramped driving position
Crashes over bumps when unloaded
Something is always broken.
Leak oil everywhere underneath
Whiny transmission as gear driven

All I know about the Pinin is that they rust badly

Dr_Mobius

Thanks all - just had a look at some quotes and doesn't seem TOO bad for any of them.

As far as the black cab goes, I know there have been some privately driven ones that have clocked over 1.5m miles so I'm not too worried about mileage. Its probably the least likely one I'll go for as I want a manual, which is only about 5% of them so not a big pool to choose from.

The reason the others are 4x4s is because we have a horse stabled down a country lane that is impassable by normal cars come the snow and mud. Its walkable though so its not a dealbreaker. I think maybe a Defender will be overkill and giving too much comfort away given I will be commuting in it (-5 miles a day) - need a car that can actually get me there!

How long after passing should it typically be before I see a reduction in insurance? couple of years or so?

AdrianC

With the FX4/Fairway "black cab", remember that they're a 1960s design, so they rot badly. They've not been used as taxis for a few years now, because of changes in regs, so they've all been through private owners. Some of them will have been well maintained, some won't.

If 4wd is important - have you thought about a Subaru?

Dr_Mobius

Older, I think it was late-50s! I know they're not great body-wise, and a worrying amount of Lucas electrics in them. Just have it in there as a 'something different' choice - determined not to get a Ford/Vauxhall/French car, from my experience they all feel very flimsy and made to too tight a budget.

Haven't really thought about Scoobys no, figured they'd be too close to the Saab insurance-wise. The Forester also looks too like Marge Simpson's car but people I trust have raved about them before.

Paperbird

Have you considered a Freelander. More comfortable than a 110, better MPG and they don't rust.

Dr_Mobius

Not really. My cousin had one - he's had tons of 4x4s from a Series 3 Landy to an X-Trail and the Freelander was the shortest lived, tons of problems (although the S3 was almost always being fixed but he had that for years....) They're ugly things too, shallow though that might sound...

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

For the driver with no accidents, you'll find that they will automatically load young drivers and inexperienced drivers. Once past 25, you will not get the "brain of an idiot" penalty, but you will get a penalty due to lack of experience. You will also be asked to fund a compulsory excess.

The last part may catch you out, as they will ask what voluntary excess you want, say £250 but then might give you a £500 new driver compulsory excess, so you might end up with a £750 excess, which is a lot of money to find if you do have a bump. So check what you are actually paying for.

BeenThroughItAll

Dr_Mobius wrote: »

Haven't really thought about Scoobys no, figured they'd be too close to the Saab insurance-wise. The Forester also looks too like Marge Simpson's car but people I trust have raved about them before.

Have you actually done any quotes for the Saab? You might be surprised. Ditto the Subaru, my wife had an Impreza Sport wagon about five years ago only 18 months after passing her test, was one of the cheapest cars to insure she's had. She has a Saab 9-3 convertible now.