First car.

[Nasher]

With the greatest of respect - Where is the learning experiance for kids that get given a brand new car to drive?

What does that teach them other than to rely on somebody else to give them something that they can't fix, maintain, or take responsibility for themselves?

Nasher.

[PeterM]

Originally Posted by Mollers

Fleet policy, you gotta love 'em. Kids can drive all vehicles on policy fully comp. :-)

Be careful with this - most fleet providers are looking to restrict any driver fleets to any driver over 21 and any ' quicker ' cars to over 25 or even 30 .

As been said- could well be any driver for business ...but not SD&P .

Was in Nashers situation earlier this year - I ended spending a little more to get something newer ( but still 'dentable') . An 04 1.1 pug 206 - 5 door . five makes it much more useable - but blimey its slow to drive.

She had to pay her own insurance (admittedly from savings donated over the years) to give some appreciation of cost etc .

[colcreate]

Originally Posted by Nasher

With the greatest of respect - Where is the learning experiance for kids that get given a brand new car to drive?

What does that teach them other than to rely on somebody else to give them something that they can't fix, maintain, or take responsibility for themselves?

Nasher.

In our case it was a 2nd hand C1 which cost less than a restored classic mini and is hopefully a lot safer, reliable and more economical.
The learning experience? "the rewards of working hard", doing well at her exams, keeping a part time job for two years and getting a choice of two University places. Which will hopefully lead her to a career in Dentistry so she can afford to pay someone else's sons or daughters to; fix her cars, plumb, paint, build. etc.

What did that teach her? To keep following her chosen career path even though it's bloody hard!

I didn't and have diversified all my life. I can fix or fabricate most things mechanical, but I draw the line at DIY dentistry, tried it once.... so you see it's all part of my cunning master plan!

or if you want a nautical analogy, "ship's captains should be at the helm not down in the engine room stoking boilers".

[Portholme]

Thanks colcreate, nice response! I agree as well but this one wants to be a vet!

[bedajim]

Originally Posted by Portholme

Thanks colcreate, nice response! I agree as well but this one wants to be a vet!

Don't ever mention you've got a temperature

Suzuki Jimmy any good?

[Searider]

Have you tried upping the budget a little - say to £1500 and see if the insurance cost comes down?

[Nasher]

Thanks guys.

Unfortunately we just don't have £1500 between us to put towards it with the expected £2K insurance on top.

Suzuki Jimny was in my first post, he'd love one, but doing 50miles a day and the gp7 insurance put's an end to it.

Nasher.

[Chris Caton]

Originally Posted by Nasher

Thanks guys.

Unfortunately we just don't have £1500 between us to put towards it with the expected £2K insurance on top.

Suzuki Jimny was in my first post, he'd love one, but doing 50miles a day and the gp7 insurance put's an end to it.

Nasher.

well Nasher, you can only do what do what you can do, no use looking at stuff thats out of reach of your budget! good luck with whatever you find, I hope he looks after it and enjoys his 1st motor, happy days eh

[Hightower]

I can't believe no ones mentioned the good old Vauxhall Corsa, they used to be fairly street cred a few years ago and a group 1 insurance if you fancy driving the 1.0L model. Space enough inside for a taller person to drive and just what you are looking for on the easy of maintenance stuff.

[rossymtb]

Regarding the Vw golf 1.4 version

Its mpg isn't that bad I average between 37.9 and 42mpg that's around town and mountain biking in the hills and not at all hanging around.

Great car well spec'd out and I think its something like gp4 insurance.

Safe enough to drive with abs,esp,edl and a range of air bags.

Umm I also know someone who's looking to sell theirs .....

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Rib.net

[Searider]

Have a look over on pistonheads.
There are lots of suggestions on how to get the insurance down, such as:

Up the budget for the car - if you have more money in the car you are more likely to look after it and be more careful = less risk = lower premium.

Stay away from the obvious group 1 cars. There are lots of young people driving these - because of the low insurance group. However, lots of young drivers means lots of accidents which means that a group 1 Corsa may be more expensive to insure than its group may suggest.

Look at oddball cars. Volvo 340 - who knows what they are - all driven by 80 year olds who bought them when they retired in 1989. Might be off the radar risk wise for new drivers as young drivers don't drive them.

Larger, less popular car, 1.6 or 1.8 petrol Mondeo. Same as above.

Seat - you mentioned these, if they are selling quickly, it's for a reason - you need to be quicker!

Obviously easy for me to advise with 5 years until I need to do this for real :-)
Have told my oldest he might be heading for a pensioner spec Honda Jazz

[Rokraider]

When I was looking around for my daughter for insurance, I found that the quote for the insurance wasn't too bad whilst she was a learner, but rocketed once she passed her test. When I questioned this, they said that whilst she was a learner, she would have an experienced driver in the car with her, once she passed, she was free to be solo and go as mad as she wanted.
I was going to build her a diesel Jeep but couldn't get any insurance quotes at all. Land Rovers weren't much better. Eventually got her a 1.9 diesel Polo, which was cheap to insure pulled like a train and was fairly economical to run.

[Ian M]

Kids round my way all seem to gravitate towards Fiestas, around the 2000 - 2002 vintage. So when I was in the same position as you this was one of the cars on the list for eldest sprog. I also had low powered Corsas and Toyota Yaris's on my shopping list, as all seemed to have "reasonable ()" insurance premiums. The tactic was to grab the first half decent one of whichever type I could find. After seeing some right dogs, I found a 2001 Fiesta with 30,000 miles on the clock - absolute minter. Had to be quick mind, as there was a queue by the time I had sealed the deal
My point - with not a lot to spend have a range of motors that you (he) will accept, you might then strike lucky.

[Avocet]

Scurvy Crew (our eldest) passed his test just over two years ago and, initially, wanted a 2CV (which, coincidentally, was my first car). Mrs A, however, felt that it didn't meet modern safety standards (she was right: it didn't even meet historic safety standards!) so that was out.

Scurvy Crew's next choice (his decision) was a Nissan Micra (not the original 'square' version but the one between that and the more feminine current version). Having looked at a number of crocks (of which a couple had been in accidents and repaired) we finally found an R reg two owner (elderly mother had passed it to middle aged daughter when she gave up driving) with FSH. Snapped it up for just over £1,000.00 and (touch wood) its gone without a fault since then with Scurvy crew running his band to gigs all over the South coast and beyond (he's the only one of the band that can drive). He now has two years NCB and we reduced the premium by putting Mrs A and me down as named drivers - presumably on the basis that we would take responsibility for Scurvy Crew despite the fact that neither of us have ever driven it.

[mick]

Try and insure the excess separately not done it myself yet but been told about it.

[colcreate]

Originally Posted by Rokraider

When I was looking around for my daughter for insurance, I found that the quote for the insurance wasn't too bad whilst she was a learner, but rocketed once she passed her test. ......

Same here: Wife's Renault Scenic 1.9 diesel, named driver at age 17 £1800 to learn and 4 months later it went up by £3.5K the moment she passed! Cancelled the policy immediately and got a pro-rata refund.
Part ex'd the Renault for the C1 and waited until she turned 18 (17 - 18 age made a big difference, as does months since passed test).
Insurance in daughters name plus wife and self as named drivers, £1300.

When shopping online put insurance start date a couple of weeks in the future, a month is better. I found some companies quote more if you put today or tomorrow, they think you are desperate for cover and will pay a bit more. The quote is valid for up to the date you put as well which can be longer than normal.

Also noticed better prices quoted when inquiring in the last few days of the month, I think they are trying to meet sales targets so quote better.
We shopped around for months after she passed her test and waited until the day after her 18th birthday before hitting the buy button.

[mick]

What about these Black Boxes they put in anyone got experience of them

[Portholme]

Yep. We've got a black box and it halves the insurance. Only issue is that it doesn't know who's driving, which isn't really a problem but it means our sons insurance is sometimes in his parents hands if the little car is easiest to get to!! Makes you concentrate on the speed limit and smooth driving though,so hopefully it does for him too.

[Nasher]

As an update to this thread thought I'd let you all know about the little project my son and I have taken on.

He's doing his lessons still and will hopefully have his licence soon.

Went to have a look at this nice clean little Ibiza 1.4 and picked it up for a song.

Collecting it tomorrow with a trailer and will start spending a small amount of cash on it.

SEAT IBIZA 1.4 PETROL 5 DOOR METTALLIC BLUE | eBay

Nasher.

[John Kennett]

Looks very tidy. I'm sure you'll get it ship shape soon enough