Been tasked to find a first car for someone - help!
Discussion
Hi,
My girlfriend's father has asked me to find a first car for his son. He's 20 years old, passed his test a couple of years ago but is yet to buy a car. I'm assuming insurance will be a nightmare!
I've got £1,500 to spend, I'm guessing I'll need £1,000 for the insurance for the year on a cheapy car.
Any suggestions on what I should be looking at? I had a look at a 1.0 litre Seat Arosa, low miles, 2002, in budget, insurance was about £1k. Not much of a car though really! Would a Classic be cheaper to insure? Can you get much of a classic for £1,500? He will want a cool car but he considers Corsa's and Clio's cool so that's not a great start!!
What do you reckon?! Anyone help me at all?
Dan
My girlfriend's father has asked me to find a first car for his son. He's 20 years old, passed his test a couple of years ago but is yet to buy a car. I'm assuming insurance will be a nightmare!
I've got £1,500 to spend, I'm guessing I'll need £1,000 for the insurance for the year on a cheapy car.
Any suggestions on what I should be looking at? I had a look at a 1.0 litre Seat Arosa, low miles, 2002, in budget, insurance was about £1k. Not much of a car though really! Would a Classic be cheaper to insure? Can you get much of a classic for £1,500? He will want a cool car but he considers Corsa's and Clio's cool so that's not a great start!!
What do you reckon?! Anyone help me at all?
Dan
You might find something like a 1.9 TDi Ibiza in reasonable condition for a grand.
306 D-Turbo's are cheapy cheap too and pretty reliable, not to mention cheap to insure and pretty capable of keeping up performance wise in terms of the cars his peers will doubtless be driving.
Mind's gone blank apart from that to be honest.
Try to think 'outside the box' to get a motor that is cheap to insure. The famous '13 year old with a Jag' thread on here is quite enlightening regarding insuring alternative cars for 17-year olds.
306 D-Turbo's are cheapy cheap too and pretty reliable, not to mention cheap to insure and pretty capable of keeping up performance wise in terms of the cars his peers will doubtless be driving.
Mind's gone blank apart from that to be honest.
Try to think 'outside the box' to get a motor that is cheap to insure. The famous '13 year old with a Jag' thread on here is quite enlightening regarding insuring alternative cars for 17-year olds.
Nickyboy said:
I'd say £1k for insurance is a little optimistic
Well that's what the Seat was. They do live in a good post code!Just wondering if there's a car, or type of car, that would be less to insure than others. I get the feeling Clios and Corsas would be more expensive to insure as they're often used as first cars.
FreeLitres said:
Link doesn't work. Don't know what a micro car isFirstly, £1k may be optimistic. Secondly, given the budget you should forget about looking for "an X" (that's on the cool list) and look localish and look for bargains that feel right in good condition.
For my sister we purchased a fiesta (it had to be a fiesta for some reason) and it turned out to be a bad'un so that was £1,200 off to the scrappy.
I started in a Yaris and it was an excellent first car. Easy as anything to drive, very economical, didn't ever let me down. In addition the insurance was cheaper than clios/fiestas and the like, and as the image isn't saxo-by-racer I didn't ever get pulled by the police.
Part of the consideration should be "is the son mechanically aware" as most of my generation are not. My father was called out to fix the Fiesta a few times - a pain.
Something like this looks nice: http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3581593.htm if it checks out that it has indeed been in the family as they state.
For my sister we purchased a fiesta (it had to be a fiesta for some reason) and it turned out to be a bad'un so that was £1,200 off to the scrappy.
I started in a Yaris and it was an excellent first car. Easy as anything to drive, very economical, didn't ever let me down. In addition the insurance was cheaper than clios/fiestas and the like, and as the image isn't saxo-by-racer I didn't ever get pulled by the police.
Part of the consideration should be "is the son mechanically aware" as most of my generation are not. My father was called out to fix the Fiesta a few times - a pain.
Something like this looks nice: http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3581593.htm if it checks out that it has indeed been in the family as they state.
In the same position with my son two years ago aged 20 when he needed cheap transport for to-from Uni.
Unlike my older boy who is more car mad than I, this son is not worried about cool or whatever. Just needed a fairly useful and cheap means of getting from A to B. His close friend gets around in a high mileage Rover 25 so he asked if I could find a cheap one for him. On returning from his early morning driving test as a teenager, he had a face as long as the proverbial. Expecting bad news as he came inside, he grunted in that way of modern teenagers "passed" ... never mentioned a car again until he needed transport.
Kids today eh ~ don't know they'ze born :lol:
Had a search on ebay two years ago and decided on a tidy 02 Silver Rover 25 with Electric Windows and AirCon. Located in a remote part of Wales so bidding was not vigorous. It was cheap because of the "They all do that" damaged cylinder head gasket. No big deal. Moderate mileage and so £410 later and a few hours fitting a new cylinder head produced a surprisngly good little car. We even arranged insurance for about £800.
He benefits from a year no claim bonus ( no fronting in this family ) so Insurance quite reasonable and his little Rover has not missed a beat. I drive it occasionally to give it a onceover as all father's should do.
It is possible to arrange cheap transport for youngsters today if you're patient. Drive something uncool ( Whatever that is ) and earn a decent NCB. After a year or two, youngsters can afford to insure something a bit more .... cool ... whatever that is ...
..
Unlike my older boy who is more car mad than I, this son is not worried about cool or whatever. Just needed a fairly useful and cheap means of getting from A to B. His close friend gets around in a high mileage Rover 25 so he asked if I could find a cheap one for him. On returning from his early morning driving test as a teenager, he had a face as long as the proverbial. Expecting bad news as he came inside, he grunted in that way of modern teenagers "passed" ... never mentioned a car again until he needed transport.
Kids today eh ~ don't know they'ze born :lol:
Had a search on ebay two years ago and decided on a tidy 02 Silver Rover 25 with Electric Windows and AirCon. Located in a remote part of Wales so bidding was not vigorous. It was cheap because of the "They all do that" damaged cylinder head gasket. No big deal. Moderate mileage and so £410 later and a few hours fitting a new cylinder head produced a surprisngly good little car. We even arranged insurance for about £800.
He benefits from a year no claim bonus ( no fronting in this family ) so Insurance quite reasonable and his little Rover has not missed a beat. I drive it occasionally to give it a onceover as all father's should do.
It is possible to arrange cheap transport for youngsters today if you're patient. Drive something uncool ( Whatever that is ) and earn a decent NCB. After a year or two, youngsters can afford to insure something a bit more .... cool ... whatever that is ...
..
Thanks for all the posts.
Yaris and Rover 25 both seem very good suggestions.
He's not mechanically minded, neither is his father. I suspect any work required to the car would be carried out at a garage. Neither of them really know anything about cars so I'm working with a blank canvas really!
He's an apprentice plumber, so does now require a car to get him to his boss's house at the start of the day, although the car won't be used to get him to jobs, so no business use.
Yaris and Rover 25 both seem very good suggestions.
He's not mechanically minded, neither is his father. I suspect any work required to the car would be carried out at a garage. Neither of them really know anything about cars so I'm working with a blank canvas really!
He's an apprentice plumber, so does now require a car to get him to his boss's house at the start of the day, although the car won't be used to get him to jobs, so no business use.
My first car was a Rover 25 1.6.
Very reliable, until it drank all it's coolant
Quick gasket change and it was back to normal. Really enjoyed driving the car as it was bigger / quicker than my mates standard stuff.
Insurance for me was £1400 though (in 2005), but that was after I managed to find a hedge with it
Very reliable, until it drank all it's coolant
Quick gasket change and it was back to normal. Really enjoyed driving the car as it was bigger / quicker than my mates standard stuff.Insurance for me was £1400 though (in 2005), but that was after I managed to find a hedge with it
danyeates said:
Thanks for all the posts.
Yaris and Rover 25 both seem very good suggestions.
He's not mechanically minded, neither is his father. I suspect any work required to the car would be carried out at a garage. Neither of them really know anything about cars so I'm working with a blank canvas really!
He's an apprentice plumber, so does now require a car to get him to his boss's house at the start of the day, although the car won't be used to get him to jobs, so no business use.
I would have said a Yaris or a Pug 306HDI. Never though of a Rover 25. Quite good looking cars and at least it wi,l be newer than the Pug. Also slightly bigger than a Seat or a Fiesta and than can be useful for getting more stuff in and a bit more comfortable on longer trips. Yaris and Rover 25 both seem very good suggestions.
He's not mechanically minded, neither is his father. I suspect any work required to the car would be carried out at a garage. Neither of them really know anything about cars so I'm working with a blank canvas really!
He's an apprentice plumber, so does now require a car to get him to his boss's house at the start of the day, although the car won't be used to get him to jobs, so no business use.
This?
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3536382.htm
Actually the insurance on one of those can't be bad surely?
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3536382.htm
Actually the insurance on one of those can't be bad surely?
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