Car or Bike?
Author
Discussion

TomCooper

Original Poster:

547 posts

200 months

Friday 16th April 2010
quotequote all
Simple question, ill be 17 in August and cant decide whether to buy myself a car or to buy a 125 motorbike. I really want a car however with insurance costs of around the £3,000 mark it has put me off. A 125 motorbike would cost around £400 to insure which means a lot more money saved in comparison with the car.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Tom

LD1Racing

8,526 posts

249 months

Friday 16th April 2010
quotequote all
Will your mum let you ride a bike?

Office_Monkey

1,969 posts

240 months

Friday 16th April 2010
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Buy and insure the 125, use the money saved to do your car and A2 tests. If you've got these done already, then save it for a couple of years so that you can afford a half decent car and/or bike.

Vidal Baboon

9,074 posts

246 months

Friday 16th April 2010
quotequote all
When my son gets to 17, I'll want him to learn his roadcraft in a car first, then he can make his mind up as to whether he wants a two wheeled death machinehehe

It's just a tad too busy IMO & there are some proper muppets out there on 4 wheels.
After years of driving a car, you can generally spot the tell tale signs of someone whos stuck in la la land whilst driving along.

To my eyes, the roads of today aren't the ideal place to be learning on a bike.

That's not to say it's not impossible, just wouldn't be my cuppa teasmile


That said, I'd kill to be 17 again & have one of thesebiggrin





EDLT

15,421 posts

237 months

Friday 16th April 2010
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Shop around, do a pass-plus course and you might be able to get car insurance closer to £2000. Or get a classic, insurance is even cheaper (although some policies don't give no claims bonus).

B3njamin

1,129 posts

218 months

Friday 16th April 2010
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Well it'll be fantastic during the months clinging onto Summer, early Autumn... But winter won't be far away and if it's your only means of transport you may get fed up with getting cold and wet. You can cure those problems with good riding gear, but as is the he problem with being young, that tends to cost a fair bit of money that you likely won't have.

On the up side the tax and running costs will generally be lower and you can fix most issues yourself if you have the tools and the time.

Oh, and bikes only become vaguely a turn-on for girls when you get above 500cc... and even then it's on shaky grounds.

It was 3 years ago when I first insured a car but I only paid £1400 for the first year and that was driving a 1.4 16v 105bhp saloon - £3k seems very expensive, is it fully comp?

Bikes are great fun and I love mine to bits but I think you'd have to be committed to using it as your sole means of transport IMHO.

tws1

8 posts

199 months

Friday 16th April 2010
quotequote all
Office_Monkey said:
Buy and insure the 125, use the money saved to do your car and A2 tests. If you've got these done already, then save it for a couple of years so that you can afford a half decent car and/or bike.
Literally, exactly what I wished I had done. Although dont buy a *great* 125 because if you dont fall off and scratch it, you will want a bigger better one in a couple of years. Good points are that there is always going to be a strong market for second hand 125's.

TomCooper

Original Poster:

547 posts

200 months

Saturday 17th April 2010
quotequote all
Thanks for the help everyone smile looks like the majority are saying bike. If I had a bike I think I would also get insured on my mom's car to get some driving experience and some no claims. On a day like today a bike would be brilliant biggrin The money I save will probably be put toward a decent car when I can afford to insure one or a project or maybe even a kit car biggrin

Tom

obscene

5,180 posts

216 months

Saturday 17th April 2010
quotequote all
Vidal Baboon said:
When my son gets to 17, I'll want him to learn his roadcraft in a car first, then he can make his mind up as to whether he wants a two wheeled death machinehehe

It's just a tad too busy IMO & there are some proper muppets out there on 4 wheels.
After years of driving a car, you can generally spot the tell tale signs of someone whos stuck in la la land whilst driving along.
I agree with this, get a few years down in a car, do your DAS at 21 and jobs a good un. smile

HereBeMonsters

14,180 posts

213 months

Saturday 17th April 2010
quotequote all
TomCooper said:
Simple question, ill be 17 in August and cant decide whether to buy myself a car or to buy a 125 motorbike. I really want a car however with insurance costs of around the £3,000 mark it has put me off. A 125 motorbike would cost around £400 to insure which means a lot more money saved in comparison with the car.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Tom
Three grand? What the fk are you trying to insure?

Remember you're British, so scale it down a bit.

TomCooper

Original Poster:

547 posts

200 months

Saturday 17th April 2010
quotequote all
HereBeMonsters said:
TomCooper said:
Simple question, ill be 17 in August and cant decide whether to buy myself a car or to buy a 125 motorbike. I really want a car however with insurance costs of around the £3,000 mark it has put me off. A 125 motorbike would cost around £400 to insure which means a lot more money saved in comparison with the car.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Tom
Three grand? What the fk are you trying to insure?

Remember you're British, so scale it down a bit.
The cheapest quote I have had so far is £2,826.73 and that is for a 1.2 ford KA and thats on 3rd party fire and theft. Its been a big put off for me getting a car frown also its very frustrating how girls insurance is half the price of lads.
If anyone has any tips on how to get cheaper insurance they will be much appreciated biggrin

Tom

EvoDelta

8,288 posts

221 months

Saturday 17th April 2010
quotequote all
This makes me feel so old. When I was a lad I got my 1.4 Renault 5 TX insured TPFT for £350, that was only 14 years ago. Has the pound inflated that much?

TomCooper

Original Poster:

547 posts

200 months

Saturday 17th April 2010
quotequote all
EvoDelta said:
This makes me feel so old. When I was a lad I got my 1.4 Renault 5 TX insured TPFT for £350, that was only 14 years ago. Has the pound inflated that much?
Aha, looks like it!
I really wanted a renault 5. A friend of ours used to have a turbo and i loved it, a standard one would on been fine for me though smile however its hard to find a decent standard, non-turbo, one that isn't rotten. And most the decent non-turbo models have been brought and wrecked by boy racers and chavs frown

Tom

HereBeMonsters

14,180 posts

213 months

Saturday 17th April 2010
quotequote all
TomCooper said:
HereBeMonsters said:
TomCooper said:
Simple question, ill be 17 in August and cant decide whether to buy myself a car or to buy a 125 motorbike. I really want a car however with insurance costs of around the £3,000 mark it has put me off. A 125 motorbike would cost around £400 to insure which means a lot more money saved in comparison with the car.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Tom
Three grand? What the fk are you trying to insure?

Remember you're British, so scale it down a bit.
The cheapest quote I have had so far is £2,826.73 and that is for a 1.2 ford KA and thats on 3rd party fire and theft. Its been a big put off for me getting a car frown also its very frustrating how girls insurance is half the price of lads.
If anyone has any tips on how to get cheaper insurance they will be much appreciated biggrin

Tom
Get a slightly left-field car. Try some quotes for something a bit bigger, for instance. As I said in a similar thread yesterday when I was 17 I was insuring a Nissan Bluebird Turbo for the same price as my mates in their Fiestas and Corsas.

zip929

670 posts

208 months

Saturday 17th April 2010
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I'd say get a car now, make your mistakes and you will cos we all do and then get a bike later when you have a bit of road sense.


TomCooper

Original Poster:

547 posts

200 months

Saturday 17th April 2010
quotequote all
HereBeMonsters said:
TomCooper said:
HereBeMonsters said:
TomCooper said:
Simple question, ill be 17 in August and cant decide whether to buy myself a car or to buy a 125 motorbike. I really want a car however with insurance costs of around the £3,000 mark it has put me off. A 125 motorbike would cost around £400 to insure which means a lot more money saved in comparison with the car.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Tom
Three grand? What the fk are you trying to insure?

Remember you're British, so scale it down a bit.
The cheapest quote I have had so far is £2,826.73 and that is for a 1.2 ford KA and thats on 3rd party fire and theft. Its been a big put off for me getting a car frown also its very frustrating how girls insurance is half the price of lads.
If anyone has any tips on how to get cheaper insurance they will be much appreciated biggrin

Tom
Get a slightly left-field car. Try some quotes for something a bit bigger, for instance. As I said in a similar thread yesterday when I was 17 I was insuring a Nissan Bluebird Turbo for the same price as my mates in their Fiestas and Corsas.
Okay ill give that a go. Thanks for the help smile
If I could get cheaper insurance then I would defiantly get a car so lets hope this works!

Tom

TimmyWimmyWoo

4,364 posts

212 months

Saturday 17th April 2010
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You can spell remarkably well (not just for a young chap, but for anyone on the internet). This means you're probably quite sensible. Get a bike. G'wan! I took my bike test at 23 and doing my car test has been firmly forgotten about…