First cars

[nabsterkid]

Hello, i was just wondering about insurance and stuff for a first car, would it be easier/cheaper to get a unusual car rather then your standard corsa or similar, do the insurance companies see these cars like corsa's etc as "boy-racer" cars so they charge you more.

Please help me out.
Nick

[Ozzie Osmond]

You are right - it's best to call some insurance co's and ask them what they will insure you on before you start. Sometimes they will cover quite good cars at sensible rates if they're not the cars typically bought and crashed by young drivers.

[twazzock]

nabsterkid said:

would it be easier/cheaper to get a unusual car rather then your standard corsa or similar

Sort of, yes. Don't go for a Corsa/Saxo/Fiesta, but equally I wouldn't go for the Volvo estate that is often suggested on here. It may not be driven much by younger drivers but in my experience will still generate a massive quote (as will pretty much anything with a large engine or indeed larger dimensions).

I'd recommend sticking with a small-engined hatch, just deviate from the usual. I've had a few cars this year, cheapest to insure was the Cinquecento Sporting. Peugeot 205 was good, as is my current 309. Think the best quote I ever had was on a 'breadvan' Mk2 '80s Polo with a 1043cc engine. Likewise, classic Mini is great.

Obviously the exact car will depend on your budget.

You can also look at going down a more 'specialist' route, with something like a classic or kit car on a limited policy. There's potentially big savings to be made, just bear in mind classic policies don't tend to accrue NCB, and such cars are usually a bit harder work than a modern hatch. If you are looking at specialist stuff, make sure you ring around specialist companies - you're unlikely to get good quotes on comparison sites as the companies that use them are typically looking to cover pretty mainstream stuff.

I personally found Admiral were the cheapest by far. I did find this out through comparison sites, but make sure to go direct to the indiviual company's quote generator as it allows you to provide much more detail which will likely bring the quote down.

Edited by twazzock on Monday 24th October 23:47

[EDLT]

Lots of quotes on lots of different cars, it helps if you don't mind driving around in something crushingly uncool for a year, like a JRG 1.6 Volvo S40 (get a quote on one, they are incapable of moving under their own power, so it must be cheap).

[nabsterkid]

Thanks for the info, I'm not sure if this is going to help but i have had a moped for a year, will that help with NCB at all?

[twazzock]

As far as I know bike and car NCD isn't transferrable, but some insurers may at least take it into account so it's worth mentioning.

[Meridius]

My first car is a Mk2 Golf 1.3l, I thought it was a great choice, cheap tax, petrol, cheap parts, easy to fix, a friend had one at the time I got mine and I loved it, brilliant to drive even with only 55hp. Then it came to insurance, most companies had just cotton'd on to young people getting classic insurance and raised the age to 25, so that went out the window. The car is group 7 (in the 1-20 scale) which is a group higher than the EP2 1.6 Civic Sport (fake type R) with twice the hp and 10x the boy racer image. I'm paying 2K and I'm 20, just had to bite the bullet unfortunately.

However its still a brilliant car, hacks everything you throw at it and keeps on going. Has the looks of the GTI and is way better than the other tat people my age were getting even though most see it as an old banger, from the seat of their picantos and daewoo kalos' with halfords special black alloys and window tint!

[steeveeboy]

My first car that ive insured is my Mercedes e200, with a limited miles policy, lowest postcode rating and dad as a named driver, parked ont the road, £950 fully comp!