First time driver looking for a car

mask of sanity

Anyone got any ideas on a suitable car for a first time driver? I'm a 23 year old male who doesn't care what his car looks like, just wants one that's cheap to run and insure.

So far I've had two offers:

2000 1L Nissan Micra for £900 - 25K miles, Only a few knocks, with an MOT (not sure when till though). Can get full comp insurance for £1050

2002 1.2L Fiat punto for £800. Had a new gearbox and clutch recently and is MOT and Taxed. But it has a mileage of 140K. Full comp insurance for £1058.

Any thoughts on these two or a more suitable option?

Cheers, MoS

Smokin Joe

Buy on condition, not on mileage. "Only a few knocks" on the Micra smells of a less than careful owner, new gearbox on the Punto is not a good sign either as a box should really last the life of the car and a replacement may be because of less than careful use.

There are plenty of second hand cars about in excellent condition and don't be rushed into buying something with a dodgy history. Others to consider are Vauxhall Astras (I have one) or the last of the Ford Escorts which had refined into very reliable motors before production ceased. Cheap to buy and run and easy to repair which should reflect on insurance costs.

No doubt others will have plenty of suggestions.

LangerDan

Fully comp on a car worth a few hundred quid? - wouldn't bother. What would 3rd party F&T cost. The savings should be enough to get up the car-buying ladder a little bit.

Limburger

Holy crap! How much does insurance cost?
When it costs more than the car then something is wrong. Maybe you can look at older cars. Plenty of low mileage one knocking about. My sister got a 1994 'hairdressers car' (Tigra) with 13k on the clock for not much more than you have there but I guess the insurance is lower.

FWIW I am the same age and pay €350 this year fully comp on a 7.5k car having just passed my test in October. The car is hardly economical though but that was my choice.

zanes

Be careful with the Micra- if it's a K11 (from memory it deffo will be at that age) they were beggars for rusting the front cross members away (cross car brace above and below the radiator) and the sills could be dodgy too.

To avoid rust either get an old VW (pre-german reunification) polo which were made with decent grade steel, or I know FIAT cinquecento and seicentos were galavanised, might be worth checking if Puntos were the same.

JohnnyAllez

Nissan Micra - worlds most reliable car And you can get a bike in the back with the seat down, what more do you need?

If it`s a short MOT, or you`re not sure what you`re looking at, then get it tested / MOT checked first.

Pross

It does seem pointless paying more than the car is worth to insure it fully comp, depending on how much Third Party, Fire and Theft costs it may be worth taking the chance - not sure what the excess would be but even if you claimed and only had to pay £100 excess next year's insurance would be even worse. Worst case is you would have to buy a new car at a similar price, best case is you could save several hundreds of pounds. If you aren't bothered how the car looks then it would only be worth claiming if you had an accident that made the car unusable or illegal in some way.

Tom Butcher

My mum has a W reg Micra and don't think it's ever had to spend time in the garage - well apart from the time she backed it into my car. Compared to my Fiat (ok not a punto) I think I'd take the NIssan every time.

But if you can get an old Polo definitely worth thinking about - I had 250k out of one - I abused the **** out of it and in the end it only gave up because it had an oil leak and I was a bit lax on keeping it topped up.

rake

i used to say the same things about fully comp being expensive, untill i discovered my £800 car was more to insure on tpft because there are no discounts with it. think about it, theyre not going to spend more than a couple hundred quid repairing an old car whatever insurance you have, so it makes very little difference.

Dunk_911

LangerDan wrote:

Fully comp on a car worth a few hundred quid? - wouldn't bother. What would 3rd party F&T cost. The savings should be enough to get up the car-buying ladder a little bit.

It cost me £4/month extra for fully comp on my first policy when i was 18. it was for a £500 1.1L fiat punto 1995ish era. cost £85/month to insure

You could surely get a lower premium than that. I use Bell.co.uk for my insurance they do a deal that for every 10 months you are with them you get 12 month no claims. an attractive offer to someone in your situation.

As for small cars i liked my fiat. it didnt handle, it was terrible but it had a good boot for fitting bikes in. the car i had after that was £350 saxo, handled way better but was difficult if i wanted to take my bike anywhere. premium on that was lower though (£75/ month i think), even after i wrote the fiat off!

Now i have a focus 1.6 zetec se estate and its £66/ month. and not because im much older, still only 20 so i doubt its particularly age based!

best suggestion, try bell.co.uk

Fat Head

Micra is the better option out of those two but open the bonnet and have a look at the crossmember (the bar running from left to right, right at the front and base of the car) and make sure it is not all rusted as a previous poster says.

Make sure if you do decide to go for the car, to offer the seller less than s/he is asking for. Take cash with you and offer £900, s/he will be desperate to sell before Xmas and you will get it for less than £1050

keef66

Third Party insurance won't be much cheaper than fully comp (or might be dearer!) for a low value vehicle.

A small petrol engined Fiesta / Corsa / Focus / Astra would be my suggestion for a first time car. Lots to choose from, fairly reliable, and cheap / easy to fix if they break.

If you don't know anything about cars, take somebody more knowledgeable with you to look at any prospective purchase. And definitely test drive the thing.

beverick

Limburger wrote:

Holy crap! How much does insurance cost?
....quote]

Believe me these are 'reasonable' quotes.

My mate's 18 year old son was quoted nearly £1800 to insure a 5 year old Corsa.

Bob

andy162

Gotta be the Micra, a Punto with interstellar mileage wouldn't get my vote. That's a lot of wear & tear to consider. Even a car with 60k on the clock in this bracket can really be showing it's age.

One of the few benefits of getting older is cheaper car insurance. My first car cost £1500 in 1990, & cost 1/5th of that to insure...happy days!. Now my insurance is 1/47th what my motor cost...but I'd rather be 18 again!

I have an apprentice working for me that pays about £1500 to insure a 2003 Pug 206 worth £2k. Ouch!

Suffolkwheels

Diesel fiesta - get your insurance in your dads name with you as a named driver. A winning formula.

zanes

Suffolkwheels wrote:

Diesel fiesta - get your insurance in your dads name with you as a named driver. A winning formula.

Using a different definition of "winning" to the rest of us, maybe....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/m ... 052569.stm

http://www.independent.co.uk/money/insu ... 91714.html

etc

domhnall_dearg

zanes wrote:

Suffolkwheels wrote:

Diesel fiesta - get your insurance in your dads name with you as a named driver. A winning formula.

Using a different definition of "winning" to the rest of us, maybe....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/m ... 052569.stm

http://www.independent.co.uk/money/insu ... 91714.html

etc

I think I've read that this can work the other way round. Putting an experienced driver on as a named driver might reduce the premium. Or equally likely, I might have dreamt it.

zanes

Domhnall Dearg wrote:

zanes wrote:

Suffolkwheels wrote:

Diesel fiesta - get your insurance in your dads name with you as a named driver. A winning formula.

Using a different definition of "winning" to the rest of us, maybe....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/m ... 052569.stm

http://www.independent.co.uk/money/insu ... 91714.html

etc

I think I've read that this can work the other way round. Putting an experienced driver on as a named driver might reduce the premium. Or equally likely, I might have dreamt it.

Indeed. Insurance in my name with my parents as named drivers is approximately £200 cheaper than just me as main driver with no named drivers, and perfectly legal.

shouldbeinbed

Insurance isn't about replacing the car, it's the risk factor for human injury and compensation. A newer car with better safety features & rating is cheaper to insure.

VWs and fiestas are ubiquitous solid and pretty cheap for parts and labour and with a better rep for solidity.

BTW best quote for my 18yo was £2100 worst was £23000 for a. W plate £750 1.3 fiesta

beverick

shouldbeinbed wrote:

Insurance isn't about replacing the car, it's the risk factor for human injury and compensation. A newer car with better safety features & rating is cheaper to insure.

VWs and fiestas are ubiquitous solid and pretty cheap for parts and labour and with a better rep for solidity.

BTW best quote for my 18yo was £2100 worst was £23000 for a. W plate £750 1.3 fiesta

The primary risk factor for young drivers is the damage they're likley to cause to other roadusers and the scenery when they lose control and crash into something else.

The value of the car they're driving is pretty much irrelevant when calculating the premium.

That said, a 10% reduction in the premium for a young driver is usually going to beneficial to the tune of £100-£200.

The best way to reduce the premium is to build up no claims discount but, in the meantime, the follwing tips may help:

Look for affinity schemes such as the manufacturer's own underwriter, club membership (even AA or RAC), workplace or even student union arrangements;
Try your parents insurer. Many will offer an introductory discount for new busines;
As others have said get a low risk driver on your policy;
Go to a specialist broker/underwriter that specialises in young drivers;
Go straigh to the insurer/underwriter. Going to a broker is all well and good but you're paying them a commission;
Take off any unnecessary additional items the broker has added on. Many add on a few items such as additional legal cover, NCD bonus protection, business use, guaranteed value, breakdown recovery or even travel insurance. Some of these are useful, some not; and
Ask how the policy can be reduced. The underwriter may be able to give specific advice as to reducing the premium such as mileage limits, fitting tracking devices or add an additional voluntary excesses.

Bob

rake

Suffolkwheels wrote:

Diesel fiesta - get your insurance in your dads name with you as a named driver. A winning formula.

if your dad has his own policy on his own car, they wont let you do this now because they know its fronting. hed have to get rid of his own policy first.
micras were very reliable, i dont know much about the newer models though. my mates old model micra kept going when he put atf/power steering fliud in the engine when we didnt have any oil. And he wondered why they wouldnt take it back if he didnt want to keep it very long :roll: .

berliner

Re Insurance- the pricing for that should come first. Buy a cheapy car, basic, not in anyway modified. Good for insurance and poss resell. . A newish Ford Ka will be about the same as a 11 year old one. Your insurance is based on what you might do to someone else not your lovely car. Try adding drivers ie spouse/ partner to get price down. Try fully comprehensive price with a massive excess - £1000. Chances are you wont claim anyway. If your excess is £250 and you do £500 damage - well you get back half damage cost and you lose the no claims discount so whats the point. Don't have any frills - just straight forward insurance and build your no claims bonus., Before purchase ask company about amendment fees and cancellation fees.

Oh and move from a big city and become a female. Be aware you internet quotes are logged ie other fronted quotes. Be straight.