First time car buying advice questions

GunJack

I've been firmly in the Bangernomics camp for many, many years, and to be honest it's served me & Mrs.G-J very well...and been passed down to the eldest with good effect. I look at a car as a tool to get around in, not in any way a status symbol. 

When looking, you need to consider the overall running costs of the car, not just the purchase price. Especially if you're a new driver, the insurance SHOULD be the biggest single cost for your first car (unless you have money to burn). It will easily cost you £1k+, dependant on factors mentioned above it could be £2k+....

As an example, take our oldest's first car. He knew he'd be spending under £1k on buying, so to narrow it down I spent several hours trawling through Autotrader and an insurance comparison site. Settled on a Suzuki Wagon R+ for £450, £150p.a. road tax, reasonable mpg and the insurance came in at £1350-ish with me on as a named driver (p.s. if you can do this with a parent/partner, it can knock a chunk off the premium). That total combined cost of just under £2k, which is what it would have cost him just for insurance for a fiesta, 207, and other similar typical "first car" cars. It did him for over 3 yrs, and passed 3 MoTs with a wiper blade, couple of tyres and 2-3 brake lines. He's now got 3 yrs NCD and is on his way to his 4th. Oh, and you can get breakdown cover inc. homestart for about £50 a year if you want peace of mind - we've always got it him for xmas but he's never needed to use it yet.

You pays your money and makes your choice