Mini cars

[mister p]

Originally Posted by Kernow Buoy

Insurance company's are hot on this now mister p it's called 'fronting', if the car is really owned by the youngster and the insurance company prove it cover (claim) is gone.

Originally Posted by PeterM

100% agree...am currently trying to unravel a fatal case where everything was not as it was made out to be. The insurer has to deal with the claim from the thirdparty by law, but they (insurer) are now going after the driver personally for around £130k ( at this stage) ....

makes doing it right look cheap .......

Certainly does look cheap. My neighbour who is a fire chief bought his son a Golf VR6 ( an old one Mk4 I think) on the understanding that he ( the lad ) paid the insurance. £2500 a year. The boy's happy to pay it by working after college and, so says my chum, stops him thrashing the nuts off it, one accident and no more insurance.

[mister p]

By the way chalkie, as has been mentioned here by Kernow Buoy and PeterM, having your boy as the main driver and having him named as an additional driver is illegal.......but as long as he's only buzzing about every now and then you will be ok.
Still reckon a £2500 a year premium may be cheaper than bus fares though!!!

[Mollers]

Originally Posted by mister p

By the way chalkie, as has been mentioned here by Kernow Buoy and PeterM, having your boy as the main driver and having him named as an additional driver is illegal.......

No way would I take the risk.

If someone should die, and the ins. co. should wriggle out, someone is going to jail.

My Old Dad was a man from the Pru for 35yrs, I was taught that you don't mess with insurance companies, they have very deep pockets and sharp claws.

[mister p]

Incidentally though, it does help to hunt around. For the same cover on a recent purchase, we were quoted £265 by ESURE and £5600 by Lloyds.

[Downhilldai]

Old Mini:
Bodywork issues: Rusty subframes, doors, sills, floorpans, rear valances, battery boxes, roof gutters.
Mechanical issues: Failed engine steady bar mounts, overheating due to poor mechanical fan, steering rack balljoints, suspension balljoints, exhaust - manifold joint, driveshaft couplings, 2nd gear synchromesh, gearbox oil seals where the driveshafts and the gearchange selector rods enter, .....

Oh and you need gynaecological skills to get to most of the bits mentioned above.

[Mollers]

Originally Posted by mister p

Incidentally though, it does help to hunt around. For the same cover on a recent purchase, we were quoted £265 by ESURE and £5600 by Lloyds.

For kids, it's all bad.

Until recently, girls were a lot cheaper, but EU equality rights put pay to that. There was no meeting halfway, girls and boys are now both astronomic.

If you can find five vehicles, go for an NFU fleet policy, they're gold plated.

[matt h]

I did hear that the way to go was classic cars, im not sure what the reg year has to be but there is a company .. well known in the classic car world that do superb rates,I read it in the Portishead international times that a 18 year old bought a Vauxhall viva early version and the ins was 350 per annum fully comp.. under 2500 miles p/a..worth doing some research on this

[Mollers]

Originally Posted by Downhilldai

Old Mini:
Bodywork issues: Rusty subframes, doors, sills, floorpans, rear valances, battery boxes, roof gutters.
Mechanical issues: Failed engine steady bar mounts, overheating due to poor mechanical fan, steering rack balljoints, suspension balljoints, exhaust - manifold joint, driveshaft couplings, 2nd gear synchromesh, gearbox oil seals where the driveshafts and the gearchange selector rods enter, .....

Apart from that, they're great!

[jezza2011]

get him this.... Fiber glass body and easy to fix :-)

RELIANT SCIMITAR GTE SE5A | eBay

and a bit of a fixer upper lol

[mister p]

Originally Posted by matt h

I did hear that the way to go was classic cars, im not sure what the reg year has to be but there is a company .. well known in the classic car world that do superb rates,I read it in the Portishead international times that a 18 year old bought a Vauxhall viva early version and the ins was 350 per annum fully comp.. under 2500 miles p/a..worth doing some research on this

Classic insurance is the way forward.....try Lancaster, as I've mentioned before.

[Downhilldai]

Originally Posted by Mollers

Apart from that, they're great!

Spend so much time fixing them, you don't have a chance to drive them, so a limited mileage policy could be an option.

[Mollers]

Originally Posted by Downhilldai

Spend so much time fixing them, you don't have a chance to drive them, so a limited mileage policy could be an option.

Could go for the Black Box option if you could find something solid to screw it to.

[Leapy]

Back in the day, had a Mini saloon then van then pick up. All great fun for their day but hopelessly outdated now. My lad at 17 bought a Fiesta diesel ... cheap to run, expensive - £1600 - to insure and at 21 now runs a ClioSport R27 F1 thanks to his own no claims discount. Dodgy insurance doesn't cut it for me having been on the wrong end of a guy losing control of his full fat Range Rover.

Interestingly, with his old man as an occasional named driver, my lads insurance is £60 a year cheaper

[HUMBER P4VWL]

Even if you own it, if he's a named driver and crashes, they look at your circumstances. If you own another car and he doesn't, they start looking in to whether he was the main driver. They ask school if he parked there, they ask your work what you turn up in, its pretty simple. They prove he was the main driver and they don't pay. Happened to a friend of mine and it was only for a £350 claim!

To get cheap insurance for kids some firms are offering very cheap cover for a) driving only between set hours of say 7am an 7pm, work and school fine, but not evening "cruising" b) a black box camera installed that shows speed and the incident. You crash, they look to see why! Speeding? they don't pay. Fair enough really.

[mister p]

Does make sense and good call.

[thomas]

Get him to put you as a names driver,, it'll bring the cost down a little if there is a responsible adult on the policy

[paddlers]

One of the blokes I work with has a son who has,
A. Waited until he's 18.
B. Got his Mum & Dad on his policy.
C. Passed his advanced driving course.
D Bought a SMART car.
Costs him £2000 a year for insurance !

[Tim M]

Norwich Union used to (when I passed my test in 2004) do a 50% discount with pass plus. I just turned 26 but still pay a relative fortune. Having my girlfriend as a named driver brings it down by around £200 a year.

[jokaboat]

The Admiral multi car policy worked for us. Two daughters, one new driver an the other with less than three years experience on a Clio was only £550. Wife and I as named drivers.

[gotchiguy]

Best for insurance are Renault 5s and old Beetles apparently. Doesn't make them desirable though

Provisional insurance is relatively cheap ~£60/week (hopefully only need it for a couple of weeks! Best quote I've had from confused.com for anything is around £5000/annum! 110 was over 8k, and a 2grand bmw 8 series 18k!!

Looked at a Mito but there don't seem to be many reasonably priced yet, they've just come out with a 2cyl version, so hopefully next year a nice one will come up, insurance is still astronomical though

I originally looked at an old Mini but the issue is that you will get killed if you crash at least in a Land rover it's the other person that suffers (unless you roll over..)