Help with Young Driver

[griffgray]

My son is 17 on Sunday and has his first driving lesson booked for Sunday week. Two dilemmas

1. Buy and old banger for £500- £1000 and maybe have a few expensive problems or lease a brand new Citroen C1 through work for £95. I cannot get my head round getting him a brand new car but it seems to make financial sense. No big bills, no late night break downs.

2 Insurance. Is there an answer to getting quotes down from around £3k!!!!

I would be grateful to any thoughts and ideas to overcoming this financial black hole.

Cheers

Graham

[mirach]

choose something a bit obscure ie not boy racer ish, daewoo matiz, another option is an old land rover diesel so slow he wont get into much trouble racing around also fairly reliable, a lad in our village insured one at 17 for £1200 also put you or mrs on as a named driver the only other thing to say is good luck!

[Stubby Pete]

Don't the C1 deals include insurance?

Worth popping in to a dealer to see what you can do.

[AerialAndy]

Not looked into it myself but spoken to few people at classic shows and there youngsters are driving classic vehicles and receive good insurance rates as they're more likely to take care of the vehicle and belonging to the dedicated club helps. They can also learn a bit of home mechanics on the simpler classic. It seems to be becoming a popular alternative to Saxos, 106s etc A nice classic Golf or original Mini I would of taken any day when I first started driving, Morris Marina was my first car

[lee st]

http://www.youngmarmalade.co.uk/
maybe worth a look if you are going the new car route

[marcosV8]

mirach said:

also put you or mrs on as a named driver the only other thing to say is good luck!

I agree with this - for my 19yr son - putting myself, my wife and even my eldest daughter on the policy brought the cost down. Easy to do on a price comparison site - where you can see the difference each one makes.

Kids ehhhh!!!!! LOL

[Stefluc]

Try collingwood who specialise in only insuring young L drivers,I was paying £80.00pm for my son on a 52 plate Ford Focus 1.6.
You can do it over 1 to 3 mths perhaps longer now the car is fully comp and he accumalates his own NB if he goes up to 1yr,which all adds to his premium for when he passes his test. You could also go along the route of having a black box fitted when he is on his own and you want a piece of mind some of the big insurance companies do them.
Good Luck

[lee st]

I have never payed over 1200 quid and have owned some very high insurance cars. Also sorted out my brothers insurance for him and he has a astra Vxr now at 19 for 1400. Lots of tricks for cheap insurance. Park on the street. Will save up to 800 pound. Put the excess to maximum. Not only will this lower the price but will have a much bigger bearing on how the car is driven as it will be payed out of his own pocket if it's pranged. Use a 10 month bonus accelerator. Less initial cost and you will get 12 months no claims in 10 months not only that but usually when I bought a car all the costs come in the same month. This will help stagger this. Pick a non boy racer car. My brother went for a mini cooper and I went for a 2.0 focus. Stay away from the stereotype cars Saxo,206,fiesta etc. Do bear in mind that as soon as he passes his test the insurance will go up and if you wanted you could cancel the policy and a few months in, start again and declare some driving experience for a saving but august to December is the cheapest times to insure a car anyway. You could try the link above which I thought about doing but it depends on if you want to go pay monthly or not. Good luck

[griffgray]

Cheers boys for all the ideas. It is difficult and the more people I speak to about the matter, everybody has a different idea or solution. Talking to someone in the village they have just got their son and older VW beetle on a classic type insurance.

God its a long way back from me getting given my Grandad's Ford Anglia with 33k miles on the clock. Great first car. Will keep looking and will have to shop about.

Oh the C1 free insurance, 17 year old don't qualify, typical.

[griffgray]

marcosV8 said:

Kids ehhhh!!!!! LOL

Rod

How the devil are you, been fishing lately. Next road trip you must bring the Marcos.

Cheers

Graham

[griffgray]

Just had quote from Endsleigh, who specialise in young drivers on Citroen C1, group one car with Pass Plus £8579

[LFB531]

marcosV8 said:

mirach said:

also put you or mrs on as a named driver the only other thing to say is good luck!

I agree with this - for my 19yr son - putting myself, my wife and even my eldest daughter on the policy brought the cost down. Easy to do on a price comparison site - where you can see the difference each one makes.

Kids ehhhh!!!!! LOL

My 21 year old still has Grandma named on his policy as he has since he started at 17, always made a useful difference. The fact she doesn't even know what car he drives seems to be irrelevant!

We went the mid '90s Clio route with him to start as in 1.2 form was about the cheapest car to insure we could find. Had his own policy from the start, hurt initially but paid off eventually as his premium now is almost reasonable.

[Willie Dee]

griffgray said:

Just had quote from Endsleigh, who specialise in young drivers on Citroen C1, group one car with Pass Plus £8579

It's just their way of saying they dont want your business without actually saying it. I paid £1600 when I was 17 and these days it's not often I hear of most kids paying less than £2k

[LordGrover]

AerialAndy said:

Not looked into it myself but spoken to few people at classic shows and there youngsters are driving classic vehicles and receive good insurance rates as they're more likely to take care of the vehicle and belonging to the dedicated club helps. They can also learn a bit of home mechanics on the simpler classic. It seems to be becoming a popular alternative to Saxos, 106s etc A nice classic Golf or original Mini I would of taken any day when I first started driving, Morris Marina was my first car

IME classic policies don't accumulate NCD though. I'm sure there are policies available that do, but I'd check before accepting the first cheap quote.

[lee st]

I was struggling to believe all this so ran a quick search myself for a 17yr old male holding a provisional license with mother and father on the policy and driving a mini cooper (group 8 iirc) valued at 5grand doing 5k a year parked on the street with maximum excess no mods and no convictions or accidents. My findings:
Bell 1,401.32
Elephant 1,402.38
Admiral 1,485.06
Diamond 1,491.42
Hy-performance 1,917.49
Esure 1,952.00
Sheilas wheels 1,952.59
Netpig 1,962.45
Lots more at 2,000 plus
So it isn't too hard to find insurance at sub 2grand of even 1500 quid especially as these are search engine prices not phone haggled deals. You just need to look for them.

[AerialAndy]

LordGrover said:

IME classic policies don't accumulate NCD though. I'm sure there are policies available that do, but I'd check before accepting the first cheap quote.

Thats right a classic policy doesn't normally accrue NCD as they're normally second or third cars and they mirror your discounts. No from what I've heard from just talking to some enthusiasts and 'yooofs' at shows taking a classic older car like a Mini, early Fords, Skodas etc, nothing desirable or hotted up mind, but is now sort of retro cool, you can get quite a good deal on them as a daily driver. You have to research what model is best but a 70's Escort or Fiesta, Mk2/3 Golf are quite cool but nice to insure. You'll probably be more careful with the car also and although any moving vehicle is dangerous, you might take a little longer to get into trouble then with the modern cocooned euroboxes of today that desensetises you from the road.

[mirach]

also bear in mind that whatever car you choose, when he does finally pass his test the insurance will go through the roof as they consider the liability much higher when he hasn't got mummy or daddy sat next to him keeping his right foot delicately placed as opposed to "planted".
check a few sites for a quote for "recently passed driving test"

[dervpoweermk4]

i got quoted 6450 on a golf but i got ont the phone to adrian flux and there gonna do it for 1800 wich is a fair bit of saving might be worth giving them a ring buddy

[S2Mike]

mirach said:

also bear in mind that whatever car you choose, when he does finally pass his test the insurance will go through the roof as they consider the liability much higher when he hasn't got mummy or daddy sat next to him keeping his right foot delicately placed as opposed to "planted".
check a few sites for a quote for "recently passed driving test"

.
Exactly what he said.
Been a few of these threeads recently.
"Just passed my test need a little help" is one of the more recent ones, where classic cars were investigated.
But I heard on the radio about the Citroen C1 brand new from dealer with free insurance, anyone checked the small print on this ??

[griffgray]

lee st said:

I was struggling to believe all this so ran a quick search myself for a 17yr old male holding a provisional license with mother and father on the policy and driving a mini cooper (group 8 iirc) valued at 5grand doing 5k a year parked on the street with maximum excess no mods and no convictions or accidents. My findings:
Bell 1,401.32
Elephant 1,402.38
Admiral 1,485.06
Diamond 1,491.42
Hy-performance 1,917.49
Esure 1,952.00
Sheilas wheels 1,952.59
Netpig 1,962.45
Lots more at 2,000 plus
So it isn't too hard to find insurance at sub 2grand of even 1500 quid especially as these are search engine prices not phone haggled deals. You just need to look for them.

I think you will find once passed test these premiums will rocket. Tried Elephant £3k plus when passed on VW Polo 1.2

Narrowed it down to Vauxhall Corsa 1.0 when passed test quote just on £2k with excess up at £750. Direct Line. Also just me as named driver NOT me and the wife!!

Maybe this is why there is so many drivers driving without insurance!!!!