'My First Shitter' - what car?

[inconsistant]

Maybe worth a look though... Surprisingly there are a few 924 owners running the standard 2 litre 924 as first cars, and they've got insurance at less than £1000. In fact they chose the 924 because of the cheap insurance. The cars themselves can be had still for about £1500 for a reasonable motd runner. They're under most peoples radar and seem to have low insurance relative to other cars, not sure why, maybe lack of claims for that model or something? They're durable and well built compared to much other old stuff, and on the whole straightforward mechanicals if you avoid the turbo or 2.5litre 924S. Also pop up headlights for fanny magnetry.

[3VOM]

Check the insurance on a lower power 1.1 Clio, the one that puts out 60 or 65 bhp compared with the more common 75 bhp.

[Ghosty]

What about the Cavcraft Polo? Cheap enough to buy, fix a few things as you go, and I reckon you could turn a bit of profit on that.

 

You're not the first one to suggest it, it was about £1500 to insure. Alas it's gone now. Same for Richard's 1.9D, stupidly expensive insurance for what it is.

 

924 is £3000+. Would have to look into classic policies, but it's all round bad value. 

 

Still not finding anything better than the Pride/other small Asian hatch route. I'm annoyed about the barge loophole being closed. I wouldn't have minded a Safrane or something.

loserone: yes, it is your old one I believe. 

[cms206]

Pride is the answer. 1324cc, 0-60 in 10.6 seconds and they really are comfortable to pilot even for someone my size. They do rust but they are unburstable.

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[vulgalour]

Obscurity can go in your favour.  I've been trying to think of things that might work, regardless of what they are and here's some for you to try out.  You may have no luck at all finding any of these.

 

Mazda 121.  Not the one that looks like a hat or is a rebadged Pride, this one.

 

Perodua Kenari.  It's basically a Suzuki Wagon R.

 

Perodua Nippa.  This has to be on of the cheapest cars I've ever looked to buy or insure.  A wet shoebox is probably safer, more comfortable and faster but we'll just call it character building.

 

Honda Legend.  I expect this will be too expensive.  However, I did find one or two insurers offered surprisingly competitive quotes when compared to the Xantia.

 

Proton Aerodeck.  Very cheap to buy when they do pop up, usually, and tend to be cheaper than the Saga to insure.  Your mileage may vary.

 

Hyundai Accent.  I imagine the four door is going to be cheaper than the two door, I'm not sure.  I can't imagine these costing a lot to insure.

[danthecapriman]

Just read through this and I'm so glad I'm not your age anymore Ghosty!

 

When I was younger I went for, as Vulgalor suggested, obscure stuff or stuff that the average youngster wouldn't want.

At the time (2002ish) most of the people my age had a Nova 1.2, Fiesta 1.1 that sort of thing. I didn't really care for such cars at the time and because they were high risk cars the insurance was expensive.

I bought a Volvo 340 1.7GL which was a mint 1 owner car and got insurance for significantly less than what they were paying on a 1.2 Nova. It was less than £1000 on my own insurance policy!

They all laughed and said it was an old mans car of course but the reality was I had a much nicer car than them, I had a much bigger engine than them and I had rear wheel drive and they didn't, and I was paying less for it.

 

I don't know if it would still work like that nowadays but I'd heavily recommend an old Volvo. Another plus point is that they are seen as an old mans car and a safe car (compared to their contemporaries) so should be looked at by insurance companies as a safe car to cover, less risk.

I know not everyone likes old Volvo's but they have a lot to offer, but if they still do nothing for you try to think outside of the obvious choices I'd say, the Proton in Vulgs post would be another good one.

[Ghosty]

121: not competitive, and I'm not sure I'd find one. Also having grown up in a sad face Fiesta I've had quite enough of that misery.

 

Isn't the Kenari a Move, not a WagonR? Either way they aren't awful. The smaller Peroduas (Nippa/Kelisa) are on the list, as are their Daihatsu brethren, though the Dais seem oddly expensive for what they are.

 

Legend: NEW RECORD! £4800.

 

Proton, we're up in £1600s again. There's one on eBay for £50 at the moment!

 

Accent is on the list, early coupes are sub-£1000 to insure.

 

 

Volvos are £££. I can't find any 340s on the interwebs which I think says a lot, few 440s around and again they're around £1600 to insure.

[purplebargeken]

Did you get a quote on a Mk3 Golf?

 

FFS don't buy a Pug 309 GL, they are seemingly uninsurable.

[vulgalour]

Wow, I'm impressed at the Legend quote!  Sorry about that one XD

[For Fiats Sake]

Surely you can't get lower than a group1 insurance quote?

 

I always thought repair costs were figured into the equation so rarer cars wouldn't necessarily be cheaper to insure?

 

Out of interest what would an early toyota aygo/c1 and whatever pug version was called be to insure, must be a lot of them about.

 

These have always tickled my fancy though:http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Seat-/18270/i.html

 

 

£320 quid!

[sierraman]

If it was me and it was a few hundred difference between a Kia Pride and a Volvo or something with a bit of metal round me I'd pay it.

 

Until you've seen something like a Fiat Seicento have a bang from something sizeable on the motorway you've no concept about how vulnerable they are in an accident. I know you can go on forever thinking like that but really something like a Rover 100 will cave in if someone hits you.

 

Get a Volvo...

[mikebee]

Winter 1985,a Friend offered me a car cheap.t&t he said,good said I.£100 later and cms22s was mine.light green metallic Renault 12 ts.head gasket had pinhole leak,fan belt bokd, radiator holed.had to run without antifreeze (wouldn't hold coolant anyway) had crap stereo,crap heater,crap battery,crap tyres and weird handling but was fairly comfy,quite economical and rust free.the engine froze solid one winters night and wouldnt turn over next morning.had it a year before binning after it failed mot (bushes worn out)

[DeeJay]

I went through this with my son a couple of years ago. One of the cheapest cars we found to insure was an 02 plate 1.0 Saxo at about £1100.

That was with a black box fitted and because he didn't drive like a tosser he got about £250 refunded over the year.

I'm sure if you are a named driver on another persons insurance you don't get credited with ncb.

[loserone]

Pride is the answer. 1324cc, 0-60 in 10.6 seconds and they really are comfortable to pilot even for someone my size. They do rust but they are unburstable.

 

I burst mine, but scary welded bits of something else into the cooling system and made it all better again.

 

I'm fairly certain insurance groups and engine size have little bearing on the cost of insurance for anyone under 25, but fuel economy might play into it somewhere.  

 

Granted I'd rather not imagine a high speed crash in a kia pride, but I'm not sure that a 25 year old volvo or anything else auto-shitey is likely to fair very much better, and I'd have thought you'll learn a lot about car control a lot faster in something where you can lock/spin the wheels and actually have some steering feel.

[vulgalour]

Insurers have cottoned on to new drivers being named on an old's insurance and charge accordingly in most cases.  It's usually cheaper to have plenty of olds on your own new policy plus you get to build your own NCD.

 

Another little tip is not to assume that TPFT is going to be cheaper than Comprehensive, because sometimes it's not.  My new policy is comprehensive and cheaper than my old TPFT policy by nearly £200.

 

Here's some more things I've found help:

 

Annual mileage - 5,000 or less

Social, Domestic and Pleasure only.  Be aware, if you're only insured like this and commute with the car, technically you're not insured and some insurers are arseholes about it.  Same if you're using the car for business use, ie: deliveries

Where you keep it - on a driveway at home is usually cheaper than in a garage or on the street.

Access to/own another car - this seems to bring the price down, presumably because you're somehow at less risk of claiming on the car you're insuring or perhaps you won't want that courtesy car because you'll have another you can use.

Post Code - this can make an enormous difference. Generally speaking, the lower the population density the lower the premium.

 

Also remember you can opt out of a lot of the extras.  Things like European cover, key cover and the like are usually not needed and can add a couple of hundred to a policy.  For the kind of car you're likely to have, in the event of any claim it'll be written off based on 'market value' so your only obligation really is the legal one which means you can go for a billy basic policy.

[vulgalour]

I'm fairly certain insurance groups and engine size have little bearing on the cost of insurance for anyone under 25

I'm over 25 and it still makes fuckall difference for the most part. There's certainly no longer a 'low risk' number to aim for, it's either high risk or hahahahahahaNOPE on the prices.

[Ghosty]

Did you get a quote on a Mk3 Golf?

 

FFS don't buy a Pug 309 GL, they are seemingly uninsurable.

 

If a Polo is around £1600, and based on quotes for other Golf-sized conveyances, it's not worth bothering, it'll be £1800. (I checked, £1700 for a 1.4).

 

Well, I was getting £1600-2000 for 205s so I imagine a 309 would be similar.

[Ghosty]

I'm only checking comprehensive - I've found it to be cheaper across the board.

[inconsistant]

CityRover?

[Richard]

Insurers have cottoned on to new drivers being named on an old's insurance and charge accordingly in most cases.  It's usually cheaper to have plenty of olds on your own new policy plus you get to build your own NCD.

 

Another little tip is not to assume that TPFT is going to be cheaper than Comprehensive, because sometimes it's not.  My new policy is comprehensive and cheaper than my old TPFT policy by nearly £200.

 

Here's some more things I've found help:

 

Annual mileage - 5,000 or less

Social, Domestic and Pleasure only.  Be aware, if you're only insured like this and commute with the car, technically you're not insured and some insurers are arseholes about it.  Same if you're using the car for business use, ie: deliveries

Where you keep it - on a driveway at home is usually cheaper than in a garage or on the street.

Access to/own another car - this seems to bring the price down, presumably because you're somehow at less risk of claiming on the car you're insuring or perhaps you won't want that courtesy car because you'll have another you can use.

Post Code - this can make an enormous difference. Generally speaking, the lower the population density the lower the premium.

 

Also remember you can opt out of a lot of the extras.  Things like European cover, key cover and the like are usually not needed and can add a couple of hundred to a policy.  For the kind of car you're likely to have, in the event of any claim it'll be written off based on 'market value' so your only obligation really is the legal one which means you can go for a billy basic policy.

What are your thoughts on Legal Expenses cover? It sounds to me like what you would expect the insurance company to do anyway, but I've always chickened out of deleting it.

[Ghosty]

CityRover: again £1600ish. Can do a lot better than one of those for the same purchase price.

[Dave_Q]

RE: Legal expenses, deffo not worth it, as Ben said you should be able to claim on a no win no fee basis if required. 

 

Also, your friendly local ambulance chasers will probably use something call After The Event insurance: http://www.boxlegal.co.uk/what_is_ate_insurance/

 

This will cover any risk of out of pocket expenses under a no win no fee arrangement.

[vulgalour]

Same as above, I don't get why you'd have to pay for the very thing Insurance is supposed to offer, so I opt out of it.

[monza]

8,000 miles. £895. look after it, loose no money.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SUZUKI-ALTO-1999-8000-MILES-ONLY-12-MONTHS-MOT-/131936079850?hash=item1eb800cfea:g:dRoAAOSwOdpX1mq3

[purplebargeken]

Skateboard will be the only transport available to you. 

 

Insurance. What a bloody rip off. 

[captain_70s]

Sometimes I wonder why insurance is so insurance is so bloody crazy for us younger folk, then I hear stories like this from a co-worker.

 

17 year old lad crashes his car, properly crashes it, to the point of putting his passenger in hospital with a smashed pelvis and two broken legs. Over the weekend he ramped his courtesy car over two speed-bumps most likely doing 60+ in a 30 zone and rolls it... The mind boggles.

[Ghosty]

It's all lowest common denominator isn't it? I with there was some way I could point out I'm not some mong with a lead foot (and I don't mean telematics), to decrease premiums.

[loserone]

It's all lowest common denominator isn't it? I with there was some way I could point out I'm not some mong with a lead foot (and I don't mean telematics), to decrease premiums.

 

Easy.  Buy a Kia Pride, or a Talbot Tagora, or a Citroen XM, Matra Rancho, Laguna II etc. etc.  

[ShiteRider]

Might get flamed for this, but so be it. Are any new cars/lease motors available with free insurance?

Was a thing with saxos when i started driving, i know your going to be essentially renting a car you'll never own but you can build up a history/ experience of good driving and a warranty means your not paying yourself if the gearbox decides to fall out.

My first* car was an orion 1600 ghia, dropped on it's arse with an rs kit. It cost £695 fully comp, i did pass plus and like a cheeky twat i had it insured at my aunt and uncles farm near mold. My home address had a liverpool postcode, hence megebucks.

*someone who looked a lot like me, and even shared my name and address may have been driving around in various illegal shite bought from audleys scrapyard. The pinnacle of which was an XJ40, which allegedly spent many late nights/early mornings drifting around skem........

[Ghosty]

I'm not leasing a car, end of. Nothing I want, not something I'm getting myself stuck in, etc.