Cheap cars to insure for learner drivers

Amanda65

Hi all

Hope you don't mind a parent using the student board but thought those on here might be able to give the best advice.

DD1 is 17 in July and as I drive a 7-seater MPV and OH drives an automatic she is going to have to get a small car to learn in on top of lessons or she will be paying out a fortune to the driving school.

We've been looking around at sencond hand cars - she has about £1,000 saved to spend on the car - and I am shocked at the cost of insurance, even third party. I have 'aged' her by two months so that we can get quotes as though she were a 17 year old with a provisional licence and we are getting back quotes for more than the value of the car with £600 compulsory excess :eek: .

I just wondered if anyone had any experience of purchasing insurance on a provisional licence and which cars you found to be the most cost efective to insure / tax / run.

At the moment she has set her heart on a Clio but wants a newer shape (S/T reg onwards I think). Any advice

Lokolo

LOL. You are suprised that insruance is costing more than the car!?

My J Reg Fiesta (it has a manual choke (!!!)) cost me £300, had to be repainted by a friends dad. My insruance cost me £1500.

Best advice, don't spend too much cause chances are you'll bang it up and some point and then you'll be going, crap, why didn't I get a cheaper car.

Go for around a 1.1/1.2, anything more and you will get insruance through the roof. Clios/Fiestas/Corsas are the sort of cars you want to look for.

You're lucky you h ave a girl, she is likely to get insruance a lot cheaper.

Who are you getting quotes from? A lot of first year drivers found that directline are the best, then after a year or 2 it is best to switch to someone else, when you have some no claims under ya belt.

pinkshoes

If insurance is that much, she's probably better off buying something for around £300, and insuring it 3rd party only. That way if it's in an accident, it won't matter as you'll only "lose" £300, rather than a huge excess on the insurance.

An old 1L fiesta would be a good idea.

skylight

I second Pink Shoes. 3rd Party only and as cheap a car as possible. She is going to prang it at some point in the first year. It may not be someone else, but it will certainly be a wall or gate post, car parking etc......

OH 1.1Sporting (thats the issue!) ciqunto (sp?) was over £1500 for SD to drive and its only valued at £300!!!!

welf_man

I learned in a Daewoo Matiz, and it was great - small, cheap and easy to manoeuvre, but surprisingly nippy and could accommodate my Rottweiler!

Mel.

Bamber19

Thank the stars it's a daughter you have and not a son, insurance would be even higher then...despite the fact men are obviously better drivers

If she's going to be getting lessons then I wouldn't bother with a car just now to be honest, it wont be worth it in terms of what use she'll get out of it. Obviously if a parent is teaching her in her car then this doesn't apply. The odd (although it makes sense once you think about it) thing is that insurance tends to rise slightly once you pass your test.

tinkerbel

welf_man wrote: »

I learned in a Daewoo Matiz, and it was great - small, cheap and easy to manoeuvre, but surprisingly nippy and could accommodate my Rottweiler!

Mel.

Ditto this - if i remember rightly it has a 4.5m turning circle! Perfect for parking and turn in the roads!! My mum bought it as a run around and then my sister learnt in it, my mum got the newer model, i learnt in it and then inherrited the old one and now my brother's learning in the new one. It doesn't go too fast and it doesnt look cool but its quite nippy, narrow for parking and bigger inside than it looks! Everyone at school used to be jealous of my ability to parallel park into the spaces on the roads that they drove past!
Also, not too expensive and I think my insurance in my name was about £700 maybe in the first year.. I'm a girl and I think i used diamond but - its deffo worth getting a quote with tesco. they have a lesser known about tesco value policy which suited me quite well and it now costs me about £700 with a year no claims for me and my bf (who's 20 and obviously - a boy!) and thats on a 1.6l mini.
the only other thing I can say is not everyone has a scrape/bump in their first few years!! I've had my license for nearly 2 years and the only thing i've ever hit was the curb and something on my own driveway!!
Just to maybe go back to the topic though and to try to help you out, i went to an all girls school and people tended to drive (which must mean the insurance was reasonable..)
Ford Kas
Fiat puntos
Mini ones
ford fiestas
vauxaull corsas
renault clios
citroen saxos
citroen C2s
cinquicento (sorry I have no idea how to spell this!)
Toyota Aygo...

Don't forget quidco for insurance cashback when it comes to buy the insurance!!

hope this helps, Tink xx

eta:
Also, the matiz is now owned by chevrolet.
Also, when my mum rang up to addmy lil bro to her policy, they told her it would be cheaper to add him at the end of the month as they could do more deals as they were more desperate to meet their quotas and targets/whatever! Don't know how true this is but hey!

Blacksheep1979

have you thought about insuring the car in your name with her as a named driver - whilst she won't earn her own no claims discount this will be far cheaper, especially whilst she's a learner.

beckyboopboop

I have a Nissan Micra 1 litre, last year my insurance with Direct Line was about 740 (640 with quidco cashback!) for 3rd party, this year I have managed to get fully comprehensive with Churchill for 490 (390 with cashback!) with my 1 year no claims, both on a provisional licence.

sophisticated.

Amanda65 wrote: »

I just wondered if anyone had any experience of purchasing insurance on a provisional licence and which cars you found to be the most cost efective to insure / tax / run.

Not so much a cheap car recommendation but to give you an idea of a typical "young driver car"...

I have an 1.25l W reg Fiesta. I had it insured third party fire and theft when I was 16 for £1200 for the year. I passed my test four months later and the cost didn't change when I informed my insurance (Endsleigh at the time). I reduced the cost to £88 a month when I completed Pass Plus.

Now I've got a years no claim bonus I'm still paying around £86 a month but this time for fully comp with Tesco Tax is £120 a year I think??

Hope this was some help!

C_Ronaldo

tinkerbel wrote: »

Ditto this - if i remember rightly it has a 4.5m turning circle! Perfect for parking and turn in the roads!! My mum bought it as a run around and then my sister learnt in it, my mum got the newer model, i learnt in it and then inherrited the old one and now my brother's learning in the new one. It doesn't go too fast and it doesnt look cool but its quite nippy, narrow for parking and bigger inside than it looks! Everyone at school used to be jealous of my ability to parallel park into the spaces on the roads that they drove past!
Also, not too expensive and I think my insurance in my name was about £700 maybe in the first year.. I'm a girl and I think i used diamond but - its deffo worth getting a quote with tesco. they have a lesser known about tesco value policy which suited me quite well and it now costs me about £700 with a year no claims for me and my bf (who's 20 and obviously - a boy!) and thats on a 1.6l mini.
the only other thing I can say is not everyone has a scrape/bump in their first few years!! I've had my license for nearly 2 years and the only thing i've ever hit was the curb and something on my own driveway!!
Just to maybe go back to the topic though and to try to help you out, i went to an all girls school and people tended to drive (which must mean the insurance was reasonable..)
Ford Kas
Fiat puntos
Mini ones
ford fiestas
vauxaull corsas
renault clios
citroen saxos
citroen C2s
cinquicento (sorry I have no idea how to spell this!)
Toyota Aygo...

Don't forget quidco for insurance cashback when it comes to buy the insurance!!

hope this helps, Tink xx

eta:
Also, the matiz is now owned by chevrolet.
Also, when my mum rang up to addmy lil bro to her policy, they told her it would be cheaper to add him at the end of the month as they could do more deals as they were more desperate to meet their quotas and targets/whatever! Don't know how true this is but hey!

what about puegeot 106's, are these cheap