First time UK buyer in need of help
Discussion
Hi everyone,
I've been browsing these boards for years and it helped (or just entertained) me at least a thousand times.
I've been living in the UK for a over year now and with my fiance moving over, we'll be relocating further away from my work so I'll need a car.
Here's the deal:
- I want an automatic because my commute will be 35 minutes of stop&go boredom
- My previous cars were Chevrolet Aveo (plastic coffin), 2012 Corsa 1.4 100hp and my latest love, 2014 Fiesta ST <3
- I'm 27, driving since I was 18 but I have no insurance history as all my cars were registered and insured on my grandfather.'s name. Back home we don't have the rule that the person who insures the car has to drive it so it's way easier to get cheap insurance. Will my age help at all with insurance costs or will they count me as a new driver because of the lack of insurance history? My car will be in a secure car park both at work and at home so that should help a bit hopefully
- I'm planning to have my next car for at least 5 years
- It needs to be comfortable, reliable and not too dull (I know it won't be like my FiST, but it should at least be a bit fun)
- Size of the car doesn't really matter to me
- I'm willing to spend up to ~10k, but I wouldn't mind spending less
I'm open to any suggestions, thank you in advance!
I've been browsing these boards for years and it helped (or just entertained) me at least a thousand times.
I've been living in the UK for a over year now and with my fiance moving over, we'll be relocating further away from my work so I'll need a car.
Here's the deal:
- I want an automatic because my commute will be 35 minutes of stop&go boredom
- My previous cars were Chevrolet Aveo (plastic coffin), 2012 Corsa 1.4 100hp and my latest love, 2014 Fiesta ST <3
- I'm 27, driving since I was 18 but I have no insurance history as all my cars were registered and insured on my grandfather.'s name. Back home we don't have the rule that the person who insures the car has to drive it so it's way easier to get cheap insurance. Will my age help at all with insurance costs or will they count me as a new driver because of the lack of insurance history? My car will be in a secure car park both at work and at home so that should help a bit hopefully
- I'm planning to have my next car for at least 5 years
- It needs to be comfortable, reliable and not too dull (I know it won't be like my FiST, but it should at least be a bit fun)
- Size of the car doesn't really matter to me
- I'm willing to spend up to ~10k, but I wouldn't mind spending less
I'm open to any suggestions, thank you in advance!
Edited by vv44kk on Thursday 16th May 17:55
Insurance may not be too bad. Although I guess it could depends on where you got your license from and if you now have a UK licence. You might find you need to ring around a few places to get a good price.
Until you know the cost of insurance it will be hard to guide to a car. Why don't you try running a golf GTi dsg through comparethemarket and see how it comes out price wise. Just find an advert for a car in budget and use the reg from the pictures and yours details.
Until you know the cost of insurance it will be hard to guide to a car. Why don't you try running a golf GTi dsg through comparethemarket and see how it comes out price wise. Just find an advert for a car in budget and use the reg from the pictures and yours details.
It's worth getting some quotes, but my experience regarding insurance :
In my early 30s decided I needed a car insured in my own name. Had mostly been insured on bikes for most of my adult life, owned a couple of cars insured in the g/f's name because she had NCD.
Couldn't use NCD from my bikes for my car, so was being quoted with no NCD - and I was getting quotes of ~£1k to insure a 1.0L Fiesta, even though I was in my 30s.
In the end, I decided : If you're going to screw me like that, I'll buy a car I want. Bought a 12 year old 911 and bizarrely, that was only £1,500 to insure which seemed pretty good compared to the stupid quotes I'd been getting!
(This was all about 18 years ago though, so who knows - maybe things have changed for the better).
In my early 30s decided I needed a car insured in my own name. Had mostly been insured on bikes for most of my adult life, owned a couple of cars insured in the g/f's name because she had NCD.
Couldn't use NCD from my bikes for my car, so was being quoted with no NCD - and I was getting quotes of ~£1k to insure a 1.0L Fiesta, even though I was in my 30s.
In the end, I decided : If you're going to screw me like that, I'll buy a car I want. Bought a 12 year old 911 and bizarrely, that was only £1,500 to insure which seemed pretty good compared to the stupid quotes I'd been getting!
(This was all about 18 years ago though, so who knows - maybe things have changed for the better).
The main factor that will likely elevate your premiums is your date of UK residency - a recent date, particularly within a couple of years, can really bump up the price or turn some insurers off you altogether.
Your NCD is not a huge issue on account of your age. By far the most popular method of buying insurance in this country is via insurance aggregator website (Go Compare; Compare The Market etc.) which is great for Dave, 41, drives a Vectra and lives in Shefford.
But for people with a more unusual risk profile, a broker is usually better suited (Performance Direct, Adrian Flux) as they tend to have more wiggle room based on a more in depth understanding of the risk rather than simply a computer algorithm judging you and spitting out a price.
I would check aggregators and Direct Line, who are the biggest motor insurer but don’t play on the aggregators. Ensure NCD set to 0 and where asked residency date is accurate - check and double-check as getting this wrong will make an insurance worthless.
Cross-check with some specialist brokers - they may be able to give you an introductory NCD based on prior driving experience....
Your NCD is not a huge issue on account of your age. By far the most popular method of buying insurance in this country is via insurance aggregator website (Go Compare; Compare The Market etc.) which is great for Dave, 41, drives a Vectra and lives in Shefford.
But for people with a more unusual risk profile, a broker is usually better suited (Performance Direct, Adrian Flux) as they tend to have more wiggle room based on a more in depth understanding of the risk rather than simply a computer algorithm judging you and spitting out a price.
I would check aggregators and Direct Line, who are the biggest motor insurer but don’t play on the aggregators. Ensure NCD set to 0 and where asked residency date is accurate - check and double-check as getting this wrong will make an insurance worthless.
Cross-check with some specialist brokers - they may be able to give you an introductory NCD based on prior driving experience....
JacobCollier said:
if its valid then why change it??
I've been advised to change it before brexit happens, just in case. I'm not gonna do it yet as I'm trying to get more info on the matter, but I've been told it might be a good move both from people in the UK and EU.
davek_964 said:
It's worth getting some quotes, but my experience regarding insurance :
In my early 30s decided I needed a car insured in my own name. Had mostly been insured on bikes for most of my adult life, owned a couple of cars insured in the g/f's name because she had NCD.
Couldn't use NCD from my bikes for my car, so was being quoted with no NCD - and I was getting quotes of ~£1k to insure a 1.0L Fiesta, even though I was in my 30s.
In the end, I decided : If you're going to screw me like that, I'll buy a car I want. Bought a 12 year old 911 and bizarrely, that was only £1,500 to insure which seemed pretty good compared to the stupid quotes I'd been getting!
(This was all about 18 years ago though, so who knows - maybe things have changed for the better).
I must say I've seen a similar pattern so far, the difference between a 70bhp can and a 200bhp newer vehicle really isn't as big as I thought it would be.In my early 30s decided I needed a car insured in my own name. Had mostly been insured on bikes for most of my adult life, owned a couple of cars insured in the g/f's name because she had NCD.
Couldn't use NCD from my bikes for my car, so was being quoted with no NCD - and I was getting quotes of ~£1k to insure a 1.0L Fiesta, even though I was in my 30s.
In the end, I decided : If you're going to screw me like that, I'll buy a car I want. Bought a 12 year old 911 and bizarrely, that was only £1,500 to insure which seemed pretty good compared to the stupid quotes I'd been getting!
(This was all about 18 years ago though, so who knows - maybe things have changed for the better).
I'll still do a bunch of research and check all options, but I might just go for whichever can I like in the end because I'll get screwed over on the insurance either way.
Fiisch said:
The main factor that will likely elevate your premiums is your date of UK residency - a recent date, particularly within a couple of years, can really bump up the price or turn some insurers off you altogether.
Your NCD is not a huge issue on account of your age. By far the most popular method of buying insurance in this country is via insurance aggregator website (Go Compare; Compare The Market etc.) which is great for Dave, 41, drives a Vectra and lives in Shefford.
But for people with a more unusual risk profile, a broker is usually better suited (Performance Direct, Adrian Flux) as they tend to have more wiggle room based on a more in depth understanding of the risk rather than simply a computer algorithm judging you and spitting out a price.
I would check aggregators and Direct Line, who are the biggest motor insurer but don’t play on the aggregators. Ensure NCD set to 0 and where asked residency date is accurate - check and double-check as getting this wrong will make an insurance worthless.
Cross-check with some specialist brokers - they may be able to give you an introductory NCD based on prior driving experience....
Thanks, that's fantastic advice!Your NCD is not a huge issue on account of your age. By far the most popular method of buying insurance in this country is via insurance aggregator website (Go Compare; Compare The Market etc.) which is great for Dave, 41, drives a Vectra and lives in Shefford.
But for people with a more unusual risk profile, a broker is usually better suited (Performance Direct, Adrian Flux) as they tend to have more wiggle room based on a more in depth understanding of the risk rather than simply a computer algorithm judging you and spitting out a price.
I would check aggregators and Direct Line, who are the biggest motor insurer but don’t play on the aggregators. Ensure NCD set to 0 and where asked residency date is accurate - check and double-check as getting this wrong will make an insurance worthless.
Cross-check with some specialist brokers - they may be able to give you an introductory NCD based on prior driving experience....
I was mostly looking at aggregator sites before, didn't know there was such a big difference.
I'll check out all the brokers and do a bit of digging, at least now I know where to look.
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