Estate car for 19 year old - business use

[AB]

One of our new sales guys is 19, as part of the role he needs to be travelling round the country taking equipment with him for demos and training days.

We have a VW Transporter with business insurance for any driver which lives at the office - the only catch is our insurance company won't touch anyone under 25. There aren't even any temporary insurance companies that will insure him for 1/2/3 days at a time.

This will be something that becomes a 'pool car' and also lives at the office and will be business use only.

Something the size of a 3 series is what we need and I found a decent 2016 320i Estate which would have done the job but again insurance is eye watering for something which will spend a lot of it's time parked outside the office.

I'm hoping someone has done similar to save me spending hours getting insurance quotes on various things.

It needs to be able to do 500 miles in a day in relative comfort up and down the motorways and have no less space than an F31 BMW as mentioned above but just as important be relatively insurance friendly for a 19 year old with 2 years driving experience.

I haven't messed around with various scenarios such as insuring in my name with him as named driver etc as it's more than likely he will be doing the bulk of the miles in it.

Any ideas? Or suggestions for insurance companies/brokers I can contact?

Thanks

[ElectricSoup]

Well, I expect it'll be dismissed out of hand because of the badge, but a FIAT Tipo estate is a comfortable place to be on a long journey, and comes in at a very low insurance group. Probably the 1.6 diesel would be the pick for this job.

Also of course there are such things as the Astra and Focus estates which are cheap to insure and are far more comfy on a long drive than you might imagine. You don't have to go to premium brands for a comfortable workhorse.

You don't state a budget, but based on you looking at a 2016 3 Series, this is probably in the ball park. Lots and lots of practical load space for this class of car:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202005129...

[The Chevalier de Recci]

Just done similar for one of my sons.

2018 Skoda Octavia 1.0TSI DSG gets AEB as standard so the insurance companies seem more friendly towards it and is ins group 13 I think. Plenty of space if you go either for the hatchback or the estate.

Currently seem around £11,000 for the hatchback in basic S trim or a bit more if you want the estate or one with more buttons inside.

R

[mat205125]

Instead of an estate car, how about a small berlingo type van

[RizzoTheRat]

You mention the lack of companies doing short term insurance, does that imply he'd only be driving occasionally? If so can you find a hire car company that will let him drive? I think there's usually an additional surcharge for under 25's but it may still work out cheaper for occasional use than buying and insuring something.

[georgeyboy12345]

This Toyota Avensis 1.6 D4D is only group 9 on the insurance
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202108166...


These diesel estates are below group 20

VW Passat 1.6 TDI SE
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202102169...


Vauxhall Insignia 1.6 Turbo D
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202108236...


Skoda Octavia 1.6 TDI SE
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202108055...


Kia Optima 1.7 CRDI
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202108196...


Hyundai i40 1.7 CRDI
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202108266...


Ford Mondeo 1.5 TDCI
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202109036...


Audi A4 Avant 2.0 TDI
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202109046...

[AB]

RizzoTheRat said:

You mention the lack of companies doing short term insurance, does that imply he'd only be driving occasionally? If so can you find a hire car company that will let him drive? I think there's usually an additional surcharge for under 25's but it may still work out cheaper for occasional use than buying and insuring something.

It's going to be a fairly regular basis though, sometimes at short notice so ideally something that lives at the office.

Thanks everyone for the options, the Avensis looks like a decent option, I'll run some insurance quotes and see what comes back.

[Sheepshanks]

AB said:

- the only catch is our insurance company won't touch anyone under 25.

Is this 'proper' fleet insurance?

It's a few years since I left, but the company I worked for any employee could drive the company cars, we certainly had loads of people in the 21-25 age group.

It was tighter for non-employees, spouses/partners/kids etc.

[A500leroy]

Dacia Logan

[AB]

Sheepshanks said:

Is this 'proper' fleet insurance?

It's a few years since I left, but the company I worked for any employee could drive the company cars, we certainly had loads of people in the 21-25 age group.

It was tighter for non-employees, spouses/partners/kids etc.

No, we don’t have many company vehicles, my Taycan, a Boxster and the van. Nobody apart from those named can drive the Porsches and only anyone over 25 on the van but it’s a fairly valuable (£40K) van so to be expected.

Hence needing something cheap and cheerful and easy to insure. There’s also times when we will need both van and estate so it won’t be entirely for this guys use.

[MOMACC]

Best off getting a mini fleet policy
Premium will be silly year 1 but will give you the cover you need.

Best advice - speak to your local insurance brokers