'Classic car' insurance for younger drivers

[JTRE]

Hi all,

Turned 21 a few days ago and have been saving up for a wee while with the plan to learn how to drive. Always been well into the mechanical side of it (repairing dad's '68 Morris Minor) but have never had enough to pay for lessons, car & insurance all in one go. I'd had a few runabouts in the Moggy when I turned 17 but other than that I've been off the road for near enough four years.

Anyway, I've been reading a lot about insurance and how to get it cheap, etc etc - a lot of places mention classic car insurance as the way to go for a young'un. Now, as much as I'd like an XR3i from 1988 - I imagine that won't quite work. Not that I could afford one, anyway. What I have been looking at are Peugeot 205's - they seem to be fairly cheap (for a good one, that is) quite manual to drive (which I like) and most of all a bit of fun. They have very small engines and from what I've read online seem to be fairly revered for their reliability.. although they are French.

Does anyone with a little more experience have any advice? Should I bite the bullet, buy one and (try) to go for classic car insurance? Most policies I've looked at seem to be 21+ but a fair few are 25+. Obviously since I haven't learned how to drive yet when I get my license I'll have 0 NCB and will in risk category number one to every insurer I talk to. Has anyone else tried to go down the same route? Any & all help would be greatly appreciated.

[Miserablegit]

Definitely don’t buy before you’ve checked insurance.

When I was your age (many years ago…) the insurance on a hot hatch worked out at about £5000 and I couldn’t afford that so I looked at classics. I was surprised that an old V8 Stag was only about £500. I had been driving on my parents’ policies for about 4 years.

[maxdb]

I've had classic insurance on my old kit car and it was indeed cheap, but the mileage was capped at 2K per year and you didn't get any ncd each year either.

I don't think there's going to be many companies that will insure under 21's on a classic policy though.

[wong]

I think that a classic car needs to be your 2nd (or 3rd, 4th, 5th etc) car. You need to have another daily use car - Not your one and only car.

[LooneyTunes]

Miserablegit said:

Definitely don’t buy before you’ve checked insurance.

When I was your age (many years ago…) the insurance on a hot hatch worked out at about £5000 and I couldn’t afford that so I looked at classics. I was surprised that an old V8 Stag was only about £500. I had been driving on my parents’ policies for about 4 years.

This. I remember paying less for my classic at 19 per annum than my mates were per month… but get quotes before you buy.

205 would be a great choice. Especially if budget/insurance on a GTi works!

[eliot]

wong said:

I think that a classic car needs to be your 2nd (or 3rd, 4th, 5th etc) car. You need to have another daily use car - Not your one and only car.

makes sense