Young marmalade vs buying used
Discussion
Hi, I passed my driving test last thursday. Third time lucky. Glad I've gotten it out of the way, but it's opened a can of worms.
Here's my current situation:
Car: Skoda Felicia 1.3 N reg, group 4 - bought it last september for £450.
Insurance: Quinn Direct, mum as main driver (she uses it for work in the daytime), me as named driver.
Cost: £170 per month - total cost if we keep it until renewal time: £2500 odd.
Now, as a new driver, I was intending to use this everyday to drive to work and back in the evening. However, I don't feel safe in the Skoda. It hasn't got an NCAP rating, I don't think it has an airbag, it doesn't have an immobiliser so should anyone want to, it'll be easy to nick. It hasn't even got power steering. It's an awful car.
So, I'm looking to buy a new one for myself, with the insurance in my name, so I can build my no claims bonus.
So I'm left with a few options:
1) Spend £2000 on a 2000-2002 reg small engine, low insurance group car and then spend another £2000-3000 on the insurance for myself.
2) Buy a better used car on finance for so much a month, and like above, spend £2000-3000 on the insurance.
3) Young Marmalade.
I came across this company in the DriveOn magazine you get when you pass. http://www.youngmarmalade.co.uk/index.php
Basically, they're offering new/nearly new cars complete with 12 months fully comp insurance for £200~ a month. The only catch I can see is that you really need to be 18 (three months away from me), you need to be taking or have taken the PassPlus thing (I plan to do this in the meantime till I'm 18) and you need to pay for the second and third year of insurance on top of the car.
Option 1 is going to cost me £9000-ish over the course of three years. Option 2 will cost me a bit more, £12000 or so. Option 3 looks to be the cheapest to me. First year - £4500, second year £3500, third year £2500-3000. So, £10K overall for the three years. Then I can either buy the car outright for the market value agreed at the start, or give it back and cut my losses/give it back and get another for the next three years.
The way I'm looking at it, it just seems YM is the best deal. At the end of it, I'll have a brand new car and 3 years no claims fully comp insurance. The insurance on the other two options would have to be TPTF.
Can anyone spot anything I haven't or suggest a better option?
Thanks.
EDIT: I've just done a quote on DirectLine and gotten a fully comp quote for £130 a month with just me on it, as if I'd be driving with YoungMarmalade for a year. So that'd be a decent car and insurance for £350 a month, or £4200 a year. Third quote is £90 a month, or £300 month basically, so £3600. So the total for the YM option would be £13K ish, for the three years, and I'd have three years no claims bonus, and the option to get another brand new car.
Good deal?
Here's my current situation:
Car: Skoda Felicia 1.3 N reg, group 4 - bought it last september for £450.
Insurance: Quinn Direct, mum as main driver (she uses it for work in the daytime), me as named driver.
Cost: £170 per month - total cost if we keep it until renewal time: £2500 odd.
Now, as a new driver, I was intending to use this everyday to drive to work and back in the evening. However, I don't feel safe in the Skoda. It hasn't got an NCAP rating, I don't think it has an airbag, it doesn't have an immobiliser so should anyone want to, it'll be easy to nick. It hasn't even got power steering. It's an awful car.
So, I'm looking to buy a new one for myself, with the insurance in my name, so I can build my no claims bonus.
So I'm left with a few options:
1) Spend £2000 on a 2000-2002 reg small engine, low insurance group car and then spend another £2000-3000 on the insurance for myself.
2) Buy a better used car on finance for so much a month, and like above, spend £2000-3000 on the insurance.
3) Young Marmalade.
I came across this company in the DriveOn magazine you get when you pass. http://www.youngmarmalade.co.uk/index.php
Basically, they're offering new/nearly new cars complete with 12 months fully comp insurance for £200~ a month. The only catch I can see is that you really need to be 18 (three months away from me), you need to be taking or have taken the PassPlus thing (I plan to do this in the meantime till I'm 18) and you need to pay for the second and third year of insurance on top of the car.
Option 1 is going to cost me £9000-ish over the course of three years. Option 2 will cost me a bit more, £12000 or so. Option 3 looks to be the cheapest to me. First year - £4500, second year £3500, third year £2500-3000. So, £10K overall for the three years. Then I can either buy the car outright for the market value agreed at the start, or give it back and cut my losses/give it back and get another for the next three years.
The way I'm looking at it, it just seems YM is the best deal. At the end of it, I'll have a brand new car and 3 years no claims fully comp insurance. The insurance on the other two options would have to be TPTF.
Can anyone spot anything I haven't or suggest a better option?
Thanks.
EDIT: I've just done a quote on DirectLine and gotten a fully comp quote for £130 a month with just me on it, as if I'd be driving with YoungMarmalade for a year. So that'd be a decent car and insurance for £350 a month, or £4200 a year. Third quote is £90 a month, or £300 month basically, so £3600. So the total for the YM option would be £13K ish, for the three years, and I'd have three years no claims bonus, and the option to get another brand new car.
Good deal?
Edited by FatMikel on Sunday 8th February 17:54
FatMikel said:
Now, as a new driver, I was intending to use this everyday to drive to work and back in the evening. However, I don't feel safe in the Skoda. It hasn't got an NCAP rating, I don't think it has an airbag, it doesn't have an immobiliser so should anyone want to, it'll be easy to nick. It hasn't even got power steering. It's an awful car.
I would've been delighted with a 1.3 Skoda at your age, you ungrateful get!
Buy something cheap but a bit more solid, a volkswagen golf or polo for example. Airbags and NCAP ratings aren't the be all and end all of a good car. Steer away from YM, as much as they try to cover it up as a helpful initiative for young drivers it is still nothing more than a finance package which will lose you money and give you a boring overpriced underpowered hatchback with the latest registration number. If that's what you want though then fair enough.
Buy something cheap but a bit more solid, a volkswagen golf or polo for example. Airbags and NCAP ratings aren't the be all and end all of a good car. Steer away from YM, as much as they try to cover it up as a helpful initiative for young drivers it is still nothing more than a finance package which will lose you money and give you a boring overpriced underpowered hatchback with the latest registration number. If that's what you want though then fair enough.
What LHD said.
No point wasting so much.
£2500 is a bit high for your insurance? Switch it to FPFT as its only a banger anyway. Should be aiming to spend about £1200 on insurance though. Get a 1.1 newish car.
Actually, get a Fiat 1.2 pop for £129 from fiat and insurance should be about £1000. Over 3 years, that's what...£8500 squid?
My mate also managed to get a new shape Clio 1.4 sport from Renault for £200 a month plus £75 quid for 3 years insurance!
No point wasting so much.
£2500 is a bit high for your insurance? Switch it to FPFT as its only a banger anyway. Should be aiming to spend about £1200 on insurance though. Get a 1.1 newish car.
Actually, get a Fiat 1.2 pop for £129 from fiat and insurance should be about £1000. Over 3 years, that's what...£8500 squid?
My mate also managed to get a new shape Clio 1.4 sport from Renault for £200 a month plus £75 quid for 3 years insurance!
FatMikel said:
However, I don't feel safe in the Skoda. It hasn't got an NCAP rating, I don't think it has an airbag,
Well don't crash it then.FatMikel said:
it doesn't have an immobiliser so should anyone want to, it'll be easy to nick.
It has the ultimate security device on the grill - the Skoda badge. No one will want to nick it.FatMikel said:
It hasn't even got power steering.
Saves you getting fat, Mike.FatMikel said:
It's an awful car.
It's a first car - put up with it for a while, it'll make the next ones feel all the better for it.
Okay, I've just found this on Autotrader: http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/adve...
Confused.com gave me an average of £3000 for TPTF. Directline was the cheapest - £1800 for TPTF, or £2100 for fully comp.
I don't know why it's so high, just always is for me.
Confused.com gave me an average of £3000 for TPTF. Directline was the cheapest - £1800 for TPTF, or £2100 for fully comp.
I don't know why it's so high, just always is for me.
The lengths a yoof will go to to avoid driving his mum's Skoda. Do you really care about NCAP or do you just want a new car? 
I assume you're not taking maths at school/college/uni?...
I assume you're not taking maths at school/college/uni?...
FatMikel said:
Option 1 is going to cost me £9000-ish over the course of three years.
FatMikel said:
Option 3 ... First year - £4500, second year £3500, third year £2500-3000....Then I can either buy the car outright for the market value agreed at the start, or give it back and cut my losses/give it back and get another for the next three years
FatMikel said:
Option 3 looks to be the cheapest to me.
Dubious maths aside, is that really the cheapest insurance quote you can get for a Group 3 car? Are you sure that it's not just that it cost that to get you added on to an exisitng policy that may not have been geared to young drivers? Try a few internet quotes, I'd have thought you could get it cheaper. Why sign yourself up to £10.5-£11k of debt, and still not own a car?I don't know the statistics on the potential for a teenager having a car accident. But looking at the insurance quotes you've received, suggest it is high. It would make sense therefore to get something real cheap and cheerful until you have got some real life driving under your belt.
alfabadass said:
Dont worry about NCAP ratings. As long as you have an airbag, you'll be fine.
Don't hit anything and you don't even need an airbag.IMO the OP's money is best spent on an old car, like a proper mini. Apart from being a damned sight more fun he'll learn a whole lot more about driving and car ownership than he ever will with a modern, sanitised eco-box.
FatMikel said:
Hi, I passed my driving test last thursday. Third time lucky. Glad I've gotten it out of the way, but it's opened a can of worms.
Here's my current situation:
Car: Skoda Felicia 1.3 N reg, group 4 - bought it last september for £450.
Insurance: Quinn Direct, mum as main driver (she uses it for work in the daytime), me as named driver.
Cost: £170 per month - total cost if we keep it until renewal time: £2500 odd.
Now, as a new driver, I was intending to use this everyday to drive to work and back in the evening.
Naughty, naughty. Very naughty. Here's my current situation:
Car: Skoda Felicia 1.3 N reg, group 4 - bought it last september for £450.
Insurance: Quinn Direct, mum as main driver (she uses it for work in the daytime), me as named driver.
Cost: £170 per month - total cost if we keep it until renewal time: £2500 odd.
Now, as a new driver, I was intending to use this everyday to drive to work and back in the evening.
And you haven't "gotten" anything.
nig-gtv said:
The lengths a yoof will go to to avoid driving his mum's Skoda. Do you really care about NCAP or do you just want a new car?
I assume you're not taking maths at school/college/uni?...
I actually paid in full for the Skoda, so it's technically mine. I work at B&Q. I never got on at school.I assume you're not taking maths at school/college/uni?...
FatMikel said:
Option 1 is going to cost me £9000-ish over the course of three years.
FatMikel said:
Option 3 ... First year - £4500, second year £3500, third year £2500-3000....Then I can either buy the car outright for the market value agreed at the start, or give it back and cut my losses/give it back and get another for the next three years
FatMikel said:
Option 3 looks to be the cheapest to me.
Dubious maths aside, is that really the cheapest insurance quote you can get for a Group 3 car? Are you sure that it's not just that it cost that to get you added on to an exisitng policy that may not have been geared to young drivers? Try a few internet quotes, I'd have thought you could get it cheaper. Why sign yourself up to £10.5-£11k of debt, and still not own a car?Yep, the cheapest I've gotten so far is the Ka with Directline for £2000 fully comp or £1800 tpft. Confused and Moneysupermarket just give me £2500 and then £3000 upwards.
FatMikel said:
The way I'm looking at it, it just seems YM is the best deal. At the end of it, I'll have a brand new car and 3 years no claims fully comp insurance.
Wouldnt you have no car, but the option to buy a three year old one or take out a new lease?Get yourself a car for £1500 (there's plenty of choice). What insurance group are the 1998 onward Astras? Cheap and solid. Don't worry about NCAP - dont drive like a tw*t and try not to crash. Get a TPFT insurance quote for you in your own name for about £1300 a year. Total cost over 3 years is about £5400. And you still have a car at the end of it.
ETA: Actually, it'll be a lot less than £5400 over 3 years, assuming you dont crash, the insurance should come down significantly in years 2 and 3.
Edited by nig-gtv on Sunday 8th February 19:31
One of my mates has a Skoda Felicia 1.3, and it's actually pretty good, you can't really complain! It's certainly better than all of the 1.0 hatchbacks you could drive, and as he says, beats walking!
Also, if you feel "unsafe" in it, and you took 3 attempts to pass the test, you sound like the sort of person that will be having silly little accidents in it and melting the clutch. (sorry, I'm being a bit harsh)
Also, if you feel "unsafe" in it, and you took 3 attempts to pass the test, you sound like the sort of person that will be having silly little accidents in it and melting the clutch. (sorry, I'm being a bit harsh)
V8mate said:
FatMikel said:
Now, as a new driver, I was intending to use this everyday to drive to work and back in the evening. However, I don't feel safe in the Skoda. It hasn't got an NCAP rating, I don't think it has an airbag, it doesn't have an immobiliser so should anyone want to, it'll be easy to nick. It hasn't even got power steering. It's an awful car.
hole 
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