First Car
Author
Discussion

Apw_debug

Original Poster:

14 posts

39 months

Saturday 1st March 2025
quotequote all
Hi All,

19 year old daughter has been saving hard and has a budget of 4k for a car, with up to 2k for insurance on top.

She hasn’t passed yet, but is desperate to buy and continue learning in her own car.

She will be doing a daily commute of 30 miles (round trip) once passed.

I would rather she buy something that is on the lower end of her insurance budget so either she has something spare or put more towards the car purchase.

She has been to one dealer today and he wouldn’t engage until “you have an insurance quote”.

Clearly she has to like the car, but I am trying the “it’s your first car, when you have more money and experience you can change it”. I doubt I win that argument.

I am sure this has been asked a 1000 times, but recommendations would be great so she can read the post and continue her search.

Thanks.

Deerfoot

5,171 posts

207 months

Saturday 1st March 2025
quotequote all
My son is 18 and passed his test in December.

He's got a 2013 Skoda Citigo which cost us £2500 from FB marketplace.

It's a decent car, it was owned by a nurse who had upgraded to a Scala.

Insurance is, of course depends on many criteria but for him, with a semi rural Wiltshire postcode on 5000 miles per year (which includes commuting to college during peak times) he's paying £700 fully comp.

This is with a telematics policy which uses his mobile. It's pretty good to be honest, we can see how he's doing.

We also looked at Aygos etc but we felt that the Up!/Mii/Citigo felt a bit better to us..

Over over under steer

787 posts

146 months

Saturday 1st March 2025
quotequote all
Firstly, leave that dealer well alone, what a strange thing to say.

£4k is the absolute most I would spend on a first car for a 17 year old. Aside from serving as cheap reliable transportation, it needs to do two things for her 1) be safe in the event of a crash and 2) be something that won’t break the heart when it inevitably gets scratched, dinged and curbed.

I’d suggest one of the following, which are reliable and I believe in budget

- Toyota Aygo 1.0 2012 ish (Yaris for similar money are all 2006-7)
- Volkswagen Up 1.0 2013 ish
- Kia Picanto 1.0 2013 ish
- Hyundai i10 1.0 2014 ish

Good luck!

ThingsBehindTheSun

3,155 posts

54 months

Saturday 1st March 2025
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From experience the above were the cheapest cars to insure when searching for cars for my 17 year old daughter.

Terzo123

4,649 posts

231 months

Saturday 1st March 2025
quotequote all
I've recently bought an Aygo for my 17 year old daughter. There's plenty of room upfront, not so much room in the back. Performance is adequate, MPG is good and tax was £0. Insurance was also reasonable. I quite enjoy driving the wee thing.


Apw_debug

Original Poster:

14 posts

39 months

Saturday 1st March 2025
quotequote all
Thanks to everyone for their input so far. It’s appreciated.