My First Car

[Smartlad]

Hi Guys,

Matt here, Toffer's son. I passed my test back at the start of October, but having been at York at university, I've had no need to have a car.

I thought I'd ask for some advice regarding getting my first car, and car insurance. Obviously I know that it is essential to have a small car to keep the insurance costs down...but so far, despite looking at stuff like 10 year old Ford Ka's and so on, I am yet to find an insurance quote below about £1500.

Firstly, I have been looking for fully comp cover, with an excess of £500. I trust this is the appropriate level of cover, changing to 3rd party didn't make that much difference to total cost. Do you know of any insurance companies which specifically target young drivers, and any that offer surprisingly good deals... despite all the fanfares, Go Compare seems to be singularly useless.

Secondly, I am unsure what sort of car to look at. I don't particularly care, as long as it's relatively inexpensive to repair and is fairly economical. Having glanced through the PH classifieds, I have seen a number of nice cars, but the insurance is scaring me off.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks,

Matt

[newberry]

When getting quotes try putting as many older more experienced drivers on the policy as you can eg mum, dad, gran ect ect. This seems to bring the price down in most cases, this saved me about £200 and a friends 17 year old daughter saved a few hundred aswell.

[Smartlad]

newberry said:

When getting quotes try putting as many older more experienced drivers on the policy as you can eg mum, dad, gran ect ect. This seems to bring the price down in most cases, this saved me about £200 and a friends 17 year old daughter saved a few hundred aswell.

Thanks, but isn't it illegal to be a named driver, but the main user? I heard the insurers were getting tough on that?

[dougc]

Smartlad said:

newberry said:

When getting quotes try putting as many older more experienced drivers on the policy as you can eg mum, dad, gran ect ect. This seems to bring the price down in most cases, this saved me about £200 and a friends 17 year old daughter saved a few hundred aswell.

Thanks, but isn't it illegal to be a named driver, but the main user? I heard the insurers were getting tough on that?

It is illegal but thats not what is being suggested.

You are the main driver, all the others are named.

I had my Mum on my insurance for years after I passed my test as it knocked some money off...

[Griffophenia]

Hi smartlad,

I see you students are getting better all the time, as you state in your profile that you passed your test in October 2010!!



Phil

Edited by Griffophenia on Wednesday 7th July 20:31

[Smartlad]

Griffophenia said:

I see you students are getting better all the time, as you state in your profile that you passed your test in October 2010!!

Ah darn! Must've written that late at night!

[iluvmercs]

Matt,

As mentioned, be the main driver, with one parent as a named driver (just pick the one with the less convictions, as it will be cheaper.

As for cars, maybe something a bit different - a classic maybe? I'm not sure how that suits new drivers, though

How about doing as your nick name suggests....get a Smart car? Early cars are 600cc Turbo 3 cylinder. If you're at uni in York, it would ideal of city living.

Bumping up the litres a bit, what about a Mk2 Golf Driver, or even a GTi. Capri 1.6 Laser, perhaps?
As for modern things, I would guess something by Vauxhall or Ford would be a safe bet.

HTH

Good luck with your search!

Darren

[sayerbloke]

It might just be me, but I've always found most of the brokers and price comparison websites end up quoting me *far* higher prices than going to the insurance companies directly for quotes... At a time I was able to insure my old BMW for £400 with any number of places, all the sites giving quotes from multiple companies were coming back with prices over £1200!

Good luck finding someone who will come back to you with a reasonable price .

[Smartlad]

Well yesterday I am very thrilled to say that I found and got my first car.

I got a 2004 (54) Fiat Punto 1.2 8V Active Sport with 40,000 miles on the clock.

I'm absolutely ecstatic and am looking forward to giving it a good first clean and polish!





More pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=200174&i...

[willards]

looks nice and clean for the year mate , good luck with the insurance nd welcome along

[Chequred Demon]

Adrian Flux do a young/ VW Beetle insurance for around £1500 for a 17 year old recently passed, no named drivers and allows for customisation etc.

[MG Mark]

A good choice of first car - if you haven't done it, then do the "Pass Plus" lessons and test - details are here:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/LearnerAndNew...

Typically, for my lads about two to three years ago when they passed their test they did the Pass Plus straight away - aside from the experience gained of driving that you don't get to pass the normal test (motorway, night etc), it's well worth the money as by simply doing this it knocked around 40% off their insurance premium (even Adrian Flux quote "up to 40%" on their website.

Any registered driving instructor should be able to do it for you or tell you which ones do.

MG Mark

Edited by MG Mark on Thursday 26th August 22:04