16 yo DD is saving for her first car - advice please

Amanda65

Hi all

DD1 will be 17 in July and is currently saving to buy her first car. She thinks she will have about £1000 to spend by then and really would love a black Ford Ka. We have no experience of this model and would appreciate any advice about this as a first car - or any other recommendations.

Also would appreciate any advice others have regarding pitfalls / recommendations for purchasing first car and insurance :beer:

goldspanners

nice small car with cheap insurance,but im sure there are a few folk on this forum who have some bad experiences with them,but equally some with great experience with them,i dont think they have any more faults than anything else at this price/age,but there are plenty of them around so they will be cheap to repair if anything was to happen.and also ford parts are fairly reasonably priced compared to some other manufacturers.

anewman

If cheap matters most I got a Skoda Favorit for nothing that was destined for the scrap. Oil changed, set tappets, replaced spark plugs, leads, cap and arm etc, and taken off bubbling paint where rust is and hammerited it. For the MOT it needed centre exhaust, a brake pipe and handbrake adjustment which is nothing really. Just started hearing a humming noise at high speed and have managed to diagnose it as my offside rear wheel bearing on it's way out - got a quote of £45.95 all inclusive for it replacing. I'd say that's not bad for one years worth of motoring. £300 should pick up a favorit or maybe even the newer model a felicia. When low mileage one's come up it's not unknown for them to sell at extremely cheap prices for the mileage. They're not amazing or great cars, but they're cheap to run, insure, usually reliable and cheap to repair should anything go wrong. As this is my first car I would also say they're reasonably easy to drive, but if they're high mileage and the throttle body has never been cleaned, cleaning it can make it a bit more driveable (can of carb cleaner a fiver).

Get together a couple hundred, save the rest for insurance and possible repairs.

As for insurance, go to confused.com and put in the details she will have. You can go back and "amend" the quote to change the car and see how that affects the quote. It could be worth trying https://www.ecarinsurance.co.uk as they were cheap for me, but shopping around as much as possible will always get you the best deal.

It's best if she is insured on her own policy and building up her own no claims (yes yes there's that advert on the telly but the no claims are only valid for that insurer and it isn't the cheapest of the bunch). It is also illegal to do what's called policy fronting, where a parent is insured and the child insured as a named driver where they are in fact the main driver.

When getting quotes, try adding parents on as a named driver as this can sometimes reduce the quote, even if the parent will never ever drive the car.

Amanda65

anewman wrote: »

If cheap matters most I got a Skoda Favorit

You would have hoped - but I think street cred is just as if not more important and she feels the Ka suits her image :rotfl: She'll learn!

anewman

Get a Skoda and stick these over the top of the Skoda badges. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Genuine-BMW-Bonnet-Trunk-Badge-Set-E36-E39-E46_W0QQitemZ280191260928QQihZ018QQcategoryZ10374QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Keith

The Ka is a fantastic small car, we're on our second one. The first was written off in a very heavy accident which it stood up to so well, we bought another.

Things to look for :-
A/C will probably not work and need regassing.
Steering rack failure is a common fault, with a repair cost about £700
Suspension top mounts fail but this is relatively cheap about £45 for each side.

Apart from that they are a fantastic car, they do have a higher insurance premium than you will expect because like Corsas/106s/etc, young people buy them and crash them, so you may find an old volvo or similar is cheaper to insure.

Try and buy one from an older commuter who just used it to go to the shops or station not a young girl who's had all her friends in and torn around town whilst neglecting it.

goldspanners

anewman wrote: »

Just started hearing a humming noise at high speed and have managed to diagnose it as my offside rear wheel bearing on it's way out - got a quote of £45.95 all inclusive for it replacing. I'd say that's not bad for one years worth of motoring.

come on anewman get the wheel bearing done yourself,you will get a wheel bearing kit for around a tenner and a tube of high temperature grease for a few quid to,half an hour to fit it.easy peasy.

goldspanners

goldspanners wrote: »

come on anewman get the wheel bearing done yourself,you will get a wheel bearing kit for around a tenner and a tube of high temperature grease for a few quid to,half an hour to fit it.easy peasy.

heres one here and it comes with greas by the looks of it!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rear-Wheel-Bearing-Kit-Skoda-Favorit-Felicia-LCV_W0QQitemZ270162492186QQihZ017QQcategoryZ100919QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQtrksidZp1638.m118.l1247QQcmdZViewItem

anewman

Thanks very much for the help goldspanners :beer: :beer:

goldspanners

always welcome.:beer:

Amanda65

Thanks everyone - will keep looking for the one that the little old lady has only driven to church and back on Sunday's and still has a Bible in the door pocket :rotfl: And in the meantime, if anyone hears of one would be grateful if a PM - don't need it until July although we would buy a good deal earlier if necessary