What small car? Insurance friendly! Pointers appreciated.

[Tickman]

Chuck passed her driving test on Friday and her Learner driver policy is now void. It was really quite good value for what it was.

 

I got a quote for full insurance for her on it and it was £1356. That will be a no then!

I have done a few quotes on cars and there is very little to make a trend between what is suitable.

Because of this I am looking at Corsas, Micras, Clios and anything else that is within the very limited price range.

Does anyone have any advice of cars to avoid?

I don't mind general fixing and a bit of welding but I would rather a 'reliable' car that I can keep ticking along.

 

Cars are ridiculously cheap at the moment but I am looking for the cheapest insurance to make it a possibility!

 

Currently watching a Honda Jazz on ebay that is much cheaper to insure than an older Clio.

 

[Junkman]

Avoid small cars like the clap.

Also, £1,400 for a beginner is a very good quote, with which insurerererer is that, please?

[Tickman]

Avoid small cars like the clap.

Also, £1,400 for a beginner is a very good quote, with which insurerererer is that, please?

That was with someone called MY POLICY.

 

I have managed to get a £750 ish on a Vauxhall Corsa but as with a lot of Gumtree sellers deleting the advert when it is sold is too much trouble for them!

The Jazz I am watching is £850 ish to insure.

 

Yes I know I am after the holy grail but a inflexible budget is the driving factor.

[adw1977]

Isn't it sometimes cheaper to insure a slightly bigger but small engined car?  Something like a 1.4 Focus, say.

Really you just have to keep trying different options on the quotation websites, insurance quotes have so many variables.

[reb]

Cars I have been insured on;

Cheap (~£1000 or less):

- NA Diesel Polo

- NA Diesel 205 Jr

- TDI 850

 

Expensive (OMGHOWFKNMUCH)

- Mk4 TDi 110 Golf

 

The pattern I see in my admittedly limited experience is that if yoofs drive it you're stuffed. It certainly isn't the power, although the Golf is basically more powerful than the pug and the polo combined, the Volvo has another 30bhp on it and that was the cheapest of the lot. Just as a named driver though.

 

Edit; as above, bigger engines don't necessarily mean higher premiums, the above cars range from a 1.8 to a 2.4

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LessThanEqual]

VW Lupo/Seat Arosa 1.4 8v are quite cheap. So is the Yaris. A lot of it is down to luck as insurance prices seem to change on a daily basis for no reason at all. My first car was a 1.6 Polo 6N and I paid £850 for insurance at 19 just after passing my test, but had quotes for as little as £500 on a 1.8 Mk3 Golf Driver though those were too rare.

[sierraman]

Avoid anything remotely 'fashionable' Corsa etc. Insurance works purely on statistical risk, loads of new drivers smash up Corsas etc every year hence to their eyes there's a good chance you'll do same.

 

Consider something like a Focus 1.4, Skoda Fabia, Citroen Xsara etc. I'll not go into what might be reliable or otherwise etc as at a £6-700 anything could be a money pit, go with your instincts. Could be something like a Vectra Mk1 could be cheap on insurance, basically worthless and most kids won't be seen dead in one. Can't see they have many claims on them as the excess would be more than the going rate for a good one.

[Junkman]

Isn't it sometimes cheaper to insure a slightly bigger but small engined car?  Something like an Opel Kapitän, say.

 

 

EFA

[Ghosty]

Go for an R8 Rover 200, if you can get a cheap one (without HGF).

Try autos too, that seems to reduce premiums a bit.

[xtriple]

Big cars are often cheaper 'cos they ain't popular wiv the yoof and so, don't get crashed every 5 minutes... all goes on statistics dontchknow! My Kia was £200 with no no claims, see what it comes up for you - LC57AAV.

[PiperCub]

Avoid anything remotely 'fashionable' Corsa etc. Insurance works purely on statistical risk, loads of new drivers smash up Corsas etc every year hence to their eyes there's a good chance you'll do same.

 

Consider something like a Focus 1.4, Skoda Fabia, Citroen Xsara etc. I'll not go into what might be reliable or otherwise etc as at a £6-700 anything could be a money pit, go with your instincts. Could be something like a Vectra Mk1 could be cheap on insurance, basically worthless and most kids won't be seen dead in one. Can't see they have many claims on them as the excess would be more than the going rate for a good one.

 

Was going to say the same thing, try looking at something a bit less obvious/trendy - ie: not what everyone else has or goes after for the reasons both SM and xtriple say. 

[bub2006]

I've been driving for two years and have no ncb. I've found certain large cars expensive, some family cars expensive and some small cars to be absolutely silly. The kia was around 90 a month which wasn't so bad, Vectra C and Picasso, both 1.8 where about a ton a month. Focus 1.6 was high at 110 pm, mk1 scenic was nearly 120 pm and the volvo 1.7 was nearly 200 pm. Smaller cars I've found to be expensive with the corsa b, punto and micra I've owned to be around 85 pm, saxos were silly expensive at 95 pm for my furio and 100 for the diesel. Cheapest cars I've had were the xantia at 70pm,audi a4 at 60 pm. The c2 I've got now was by far the cheapest at sub 40 pm fully comp which is surprising considering the c2 is still in favour with the youth of today yet the saxo was old hat and a lot more money.

[bub2006]

Oh and the c2 has a good crash rating should the worse happen, good spec (mine is an sx and has auto wipers, air-conditioning, reach and rake steering wheel,multi adjustable rear seats, front fogs, rcl) good on fuel too.

[Kiltox]

This Passat I have is outrageously expensive for insurance - almost twice what I pay for my Duster

 

It'll be going once my trade policy expires!

[Robson3022]

Try a Suzuki ignis I know of one for sale 🙃

[sierraman]

Had a quote when I was 20 for a Renault Safrane 2.0 Executive, premium was same as the 1.8 Mondeo I was driving at the time despite the Safrane being a bigger more powerful car. Similarly a Cougar V6 worked out £60 a year more expensive due to low perceived risk. Therefore I'd advise you find a Safrane V6 Questor. There's only 1 or 2 on the road hence on the basis of statistics your premium would be about 25p. 😀

[rml2345]

Another vote for Yaris, MK1s should be fairly cheap and they're hardy wee things. Also good NCAP.

[Brodders]

Mirroring what the others have said, try to go for a car no young person would drive. In my case, a top of the range Rover 75 1.8 worked out cheaper to insure than the typical Corsas, Clios and 206s which litter the sixth form car park.

 

The cheapest insurance quote I ever got was for the now TooSavvy Toyota Carina II 1.6. As Ghosty said, R8s are very cheap to insure, especially the 1.6s for some reason.

 

If you want something modern, something completely undesirable like a Proton Gen-2, Hyundai Accent or, if you want the ultimate in undesirability, a Chrysler Sebring, may be cheap to insure, as nobody tends to own them, let alone crash them.

[Lacquer Peel]

Are insurance groups largely meaningless?

 

Tata Safari is my suggestion.

[doobietoo]

Another vote for the Yaris ... utterly reliable, good fun but very neutral even with the 1.0 vvt. MrsD has one and it is all kinds of fun for no money...chain not belt too so cheap servicing...

[Brodders]

Are insurance groups largely meaningless?

 

Tata Safari is my suggestion.

I have found that in some cases they are, but in others they aren't.

 

I don't think that I will ever get over that would have cost me less to insure a Ferrari 458 than a 2.5 Vectra B when I first passed my driving test. I would like to meet the person who programmed the computer system which thinks that a 17 year old in a £100k +, almost 200 mph capable, supercar, is less of a risk than one in an 18 year old Vauxhall Vectra.

[JayW]

I've run quotes on all sorts for my daughter. All the usual kids dross (corsa, clio, fiesta, 106, paxo, KA) were all +/- £1500! However, a 1600cc "new" beetle and 1600cc Bini were both £1300.

 

The (old) Ignis, Cinquecento, early new Panda, Ibiza and Focus dizzler were all around a grand.

 

4.0 Jag X300 LWB was £4500...

 

As said before, avoid trendy motors, think outside the box (suzuki, daihatsu, daewoo) and don't assume a small engine is cheaper!

 

Anyway, as I had one in backstock, she's getting a one-owner 37k Cinq Sporting, which has the bonuses of being "retro" and different (to her peers).

[sierraman]

A lot of the small stuff rots like fuck, they're all bad in that respect, Fiesta, Corsa, Saxo etc.

 

I'd look at Astra/Focus size at least. More metal round you in the event of someone going into the back of you.

[LessThanEqual]

A lot of the small stuff rots like fuck, they're all bad in that respect, Fiesta, Corsa, Saxo etc.

 

I'd look at Astra/Focus size at least. More metal round you in the event of someone going into the back of you.

Early 2000s VAG stuff isn't too bad apart from the front wings being injected with salt from factory (just tape them m8).

[SiC]

Clio II seem to not rot. Generally reasonably hardy things too. I see a lot strumming around on the roads still! Avoid diesels. Wet seats mean sunroof is leaking - not around the roof seal but the frame seal. Easy to repair if you have some DIY skills.

 

I'd say the 1.4 petrol is the pick of the bunch. No dephaser issues as on 1.6, 1.2 tend not to be looked after and diesels are bad.