First car for 17 year old

HoosYerDaddy

Kia Picanto for us. 65bhp, insurance group 2-7 (depending on trim/ engine) reliable and decent specs.

flashg67

'I have done some of the maintenance on them from parts bought on Ebay. Other work has been a new clutch which was £70 fitted. '

Really - can we have the garage name - barely get the kit for that let alone 4 + hours labour?

forgotmyname

Open autotrader and put your budget and list every car by price...  Then get on the comparison websites and put the reg of every car.

You may get banned on the comparison website but a quick email to explain its a car for a young driver and the price is more

important than the car and they will unblock you.

Or just do the quotes slower than I did...  I went through a LOT of quotes.

GunJack

forgotmyname said:

Open autotrader and put your budget and list every car by price...  Then get on the comparison websites and put the reg of every car.

You may get banned on the comparison website but a quick email to explain its a car for a young driver and the price is more

important than the car and they will unblock you.

Or just do the quotes slower than I did...  I went through a LOT of quotes.

that's how we got our two's first cars, based more on insurance cost than the car. Oldest ended up with suzuki wagon R, youngest with deisel 206. Bought the cars and first year's insurance for what they wanted just to insure fiesta, corsa, clio etc. 

jimjames

Lorian said:

Start by looking at cars of insurance group 3 or less (not actual sure you'll find anything less than 3) i10 base model or similar. It will still cost a huge amount.

Yep. Audi A3 3.2 V6 was cheaper than a Corsa to insure. Sadly not cheaper to run

theoretica said:

When considering old cars do consider if they would ever need to be driven in a Low Emission Zone - there are more and more of the things.

Most petrol cars from around 2000 are compliant so it would need to be very old or a diesel to not be but the odd £12.50 is not going to be significant compared to insurance unless it's in ULEZ daily.

MouldyOldDough

A suzuki swift would be a good reliable car for a first timer !!

CliveOfIndia

jimjames said:

the odd £12.50 is not going to be significant compared to insurance unless it's in ULEZ daily.

Depends where in the UK you are.  In Scotland you're not allowed to enter an LEZ at all if your car is not compliant or exempt, it's a straight £60 fine (doubling for each re-offence within a 90 day period).  You don't have the option to just pay an "entrance fee", as it were.

Goudy

MouldyOldDough said:

A suzuki swift would be a good reliable car for a first timer !!

All Swift models from around 2017 seem to have incredibly high insurance grouping.
Your base spec 1.2 Dualjet Swift tends to be in the 20's.
Suzuki Swift Hatchback (from 2017) Insurance Groups (parkers.co.uk)

Your 1.2 Corsa from around the same years tends to be in the 2 and 3 groups.
The 1.4 Corsa's are 3 to around 6.
The 1.4 GSi Turbo with 150hp is a 20.
Vauxhall Corsa Hatchback (from 2014) Insurance Groups (parkers.co.uk)

Earlier Swifts from 2010 are in the 10 and 11 grouping, still a lot higher than comparable cars.
Suzuki Swift Hatchback (from 2010) Insurance Groups (parkers.co.uk)

I presume this might be mainly due to the cost of repairs and parts availability, one is obviously cheaper to repair with an abundance of parts available than the other. Though I don't deny the Swifts are pretty good cars.

As has already been mentioned, an insurance premium isn't just based on insurance grouping.
It will be based on a calculation of driver risk, usage, postcode, grouping and so on, if all those variables start high, you get a high premium.

A new driver is already starting with some high variables they can't do much about, plus they are yet to earn any no claims discount which make quotes for even the mundane models pretty expensive.

It's also worth noting some insurance companies might target young or new drivers and offer some attractive policies, but you need to compare quotes carefully, some do have rather large excesses.

I've not heard a lot recently about All Section Excess policies, but there was a practise a while ago certain brokers were offering these types of policies.

These policies usually have massive compulsory excess on all sections of the policy, so you will have to pay it on every section claimed against even if the accident wasn't your fault.
Some have been caught out owing thousands to the insurance company for the smallest knock.

MouldyOldDough

Goudy said:

MouldyOldDough said:

A suzuki swift would be a good reliable car for a first timer !!

All Swift models from around 2017 seem to have incredibly high insurance grouping.
Your base spec 1.2 Dualjet Swift tends to be in the 20's.
Suzuki Swift Hatchback (from 2017) Insurance Groups (parkers.co.uk)

Your 1.2 Corsa from around the same years tends to be in the 2 and 3 groups.
The 1.4 Corsa's are 3 to around 6.
The 1.4 GSi Turbo with 150hp is a 20.
Vauxhall Corsa Hatchback (from 2014) Insurance Groups (parkers.co.uk)

Earlier Swifts from 2010 are in the 10 and 11 grouping, still a lot higher than comparable cars.
Suzuki Swift Hatchback (from 2010) Insurance Groups (parkers.co.uk)

I presume this might be mainly due to the cost of repairs and parts availability, one is obviously cheaper to repair with an abundance of parts available than the other. Though I don't deny the Swifts are pretty good cars.

As has already been mentioned, an insurance premium isn't just based on insurance grouping.
It will be based on a calculation of driver risk, usage, postcode, grouping and so on, if all those variables start high, you get a high premium.

A new driver is already starting with some high variables they can't do much about, plus they are yet to earn any no claims discount which make quotes for even the mundane models pretty expensive.

It's also worth noting some insurance companies might target young or new drivers and offer some attractive policies, but you need to compare quotes carefully, some do have rather large excesses.

I've not heard a lot recently about All Section Excess policies, but there was a practise a while ago certain brokers were offering these types of policies.

These policies usually have massive compulsory excess on all sections of the policy, so you will have to pay it on every section claimed against even if the accident wasn't your fault.
Some have been caught out owing thousands to the insurance company for the smallest knock.

Try Suzuki Baleno - for an identical car to the Swift (mechanically) - they are 5 groups lower !

Ectophile

Morris Minor, or similar aged vehicle?  Insure it as a classic car.