Ideas for a low insurance car for young driver

[fflump]

I am after a car for my wife but for whom my eldest (17) will be a named driver, and ultimately my other kids too. I appreciate I could just set AT to ≤Gp3 and pick out a low-powered Corsa but I read that low group does not translate always to low insurance if that particular car is subject to above-average claims by the demographic of the person being insured.

We live in a city (Edinburgh) and will park the car on the driveway. Only requirements are 4 seats and petrol, though would like to avoid A-segment matchboxes if possible. Budget pretty flexible.

If anyone has any suggestions including outside the usual that would be great.

I appreciate I may be going over old ground so if there are threads that deal with this please direct me-thanks!

[66HFM]

Sometimes it the thinking of something slightly different as that specific car has a low claims history, try something like a Volvo S40 or a Nissan Note / Pixo, rather than a C1 or 107

[dhutch]

So many past threads on this.

But yeah, a bit of thinking outside of the box can help, corsa are common first cars and hence often expensive.
Lots of modern hatchbacks are surprisingly quick compared to what I was driving for my first car only 20 years ago.

[fflump]

66HFM said:

Sometimes it the thinking of something slightly different as that specific car has a low claims history, try something like a Volvo S40 or a Nissan Note / Pixo, rather than a C1 or 107

Thanks-somerthing a bit different was my thoughts.
When I was a student me and my mates all bought Volvo 340s as for some reason insurance was much cheaper than a Nova or a Saxo.

Edited by fflump on Wednesday 14th February 12:00

[BoRED S2upid]

fflump said:

Thanks-somerthing a but different was may thoughts.
When I was a student me and my mates all bought Volvo 340s as for some reason insurance was much cheaper than a Nova or a Saxo.

This.

17, small hatchback computer says no. 17 big Volvo estate computer says erm… ok then.

[alscar]

I think it’s the Named drivers ages that will do your wallet the most harm.
Assuming no fronting debacle also trying to balance your wife’s need with the children’s might also be a factor unless it’s literally a set of wheels for them all.
Reducing the annual mileage collectively will reduce the premium a bit.
Adding a black box may do the same but that may not be what your wife wants !
Appreciate you live in a city and drive space limited and perhaps budget constraints too but if it were me I’d consider a car for your wife and then a car for the kids ( insured in their name with you both as Named drivers ).
If however just one car then a Ford Focus might tick a few of the boxes.

[Brett748]

dhutch said:

So many past threads on this.

But yeah, a bit of thinking outside of the box can help, corsa are common first cars and hence often expensive.
Lots of modern hatchbacks are surprisingly quick compared to what I was driving for my first car only 20 years ago.

To be fair I bet engine performance has little to do with crashes, maybe the big ones but I bet most crashes are a simple lack of concentration which would happen in a Corsa or GT3 RS.

[Pent]

best thing to do is find a nice car .. and then look for the complete opposite.

at one stage as a young boy i had a great 2006 Nissan micra 1.2 sport.

amazing car , small , cheap , light , parts galore.. took it camping 'and all stuff

i think there are few tricks also, buying a 5 door might be cheaper , diesel , auto etc.. as above.. opposite of probably what the cool kids are driving

[fflump]

Pent said:

best thing to do is find a nice car .. and then look for the complete opposite.

at one stage as a young boy i had a great 2006 Nissan micra 1.2 sport.

amazing car , small , cheap , light , parts galore.. took it camping 'and all stuff

i think there are few tricks also, buying a 5 door might be cheaper , diesel , auto etc.. as above.. opposite of probably what the cool kids are driving

Showing my age but my first car was a 1.3L X-reg Datsun Cherry. Most looked very bland but I found a "Coupe" version which looked the business. Found a couple of pics on the internet. Mine was the same colour. I'd be sorely tempted to buy one if it came up in the classifieds.

[RazerSauber]

My other half found that the 2.0 Mk3 Mondeo was one of the most affordable cars to insure when we were looking for her. I believe it's something to do with not being massively powerful and not being crashed a lot. It's not the most exciting car to drive but they're cheap, reliable and robust.

[fflump]

Thanks. Been looking at cars with zero appeal to youngsters, reasonably inexpensive and under gp10 insurance. Skoda Fabia and Dacias Logan estates might be worth a closer look.

[Sprotacus]

fflump said:

I am after a car for my wife but for whom my eldest (17) will be a named driver, and ultimately my other kids too. I appreciate I could just set AT to ?Gp3 and pick out a low-powered Corsa but I read that low group does not translate always to low insurance if that particular car is subject to above-average claims by the demographic of the person being insured.

We live in a city (Edinburgh) and will park the car on the driveway. Only requirements are 4 seats and petrol, though would like to avoid A-segment matchboxes if possible. Budget pretty flexible.

If anyone has any suggestions including outside the usual that would be great.

I appreciate I may be going over old ground so if there are threads that deal with this please direct me-thanks!

I had been gearing up to do this very thing but got lucky as a friend of our asked me to help find a used TT for her as she wanted to treat herself. She had been driving a 2015 Nissan Note for the last five years and I jumped at the chance to buy it offer once I found a TT in GTI World for her. It has unexpectedly ticked a lot of boxes.

It was really cheap to insure - It's a 1.2 petrol Accenta Premuim and group 06E. Parked on our drive with my wife as the main driver, me and my 17 year old provisional holding son who I'm teaching and the insurance was about £320'ish from the Post Office. This price unbelievably also included breakdown cover which we weren't looking for but gladly accepted as a bonus.

I hadn't appreciated that some cars may still be relatively expensive even if the have a low insurance rating as they are popular in that young age group. With the Nissan Note being up there with the Honda Jazz in the lack of street cred stakes I think I'll give up looking for anything younger and 'cooler' for this purpose and stick with what we have. I was planning on selling it on but after reading above comments I'll be hanging onto it for now.

Low insurance aside, it's also great on fuel, has loads of interior space with the sliding rear bench and has lots of toys like electric windows, aircon, USB, BT, eco mode, stop start and a really handy plastic lower boot floor for sticking things like a windscreen frost cover in. All in all really impressed with the wee thing for the money we paid for it. I'd never have considered a Note but if you can get a second generation one like ours for a reasonable price then it's definitely worth checking out

Edited by Sprotacus on Wednesday 14th February 16:43

[Square Leg]

fflump said:

Thanks. Been looking at cars with zero appeal to youngsters, reasonably inexpensive and under gp10 insurance. Skoda Fabia and Dacias Logan estates might be worth a closer look.

My 18 year old lad has a 2017 Fabia - big enough for 5 people, not overly fast, and £900 a year to insure (he passed his test in it too at 17)
Group 3 ins

[richard-8zwx3]

Sprotacus said:

I had been gearing up to do this very thing but got lucky as a friend of our asked me to help find a used TT for her as she wanted to treat herself. She had been driving a 2015 Nissan Note for the last five years and I jumped at the chance to buy it offer once I found a TT in GTI World for her. It has unexpectedly ticked a lot of boxes.

It was really cheap to insure - It's a 1.2 petrol Accenta Premuim and group 06E. Parked on our drive with my wife as the main driver, me and my 17 year old provisional holding son who I'm teaching and the insurance was about £320'ish from the Post Office. This price unbelievably also included breakdown cover which we weren't looking for but gladly accepted as a bonus.

I hadn't appreciated that some cars may still be relatively expensive even if the have a low insurance rating as they are popular in that young age group. With the Nissan Note being up there with the Honda Jazz in the lack of street cred stakes I think I'll give up looking for anything younger and 'cooler' for this purpose and stick with what we have. I was planning on selling it on but after reading above comments I'll be hanging onto it for now.

Low insurance aside, it's also great on fuel, has loads of interior space with the sliding rear bench and has lots of toys like electric windows, aircon, USB, BT, eco mode, stop start and a really handy plastic lower boot floor for sticking things like a windscreen frost cover in. All in all really impressed with the wee thing for the money we paid for it. I'd never have considered a Note but if you can get a second generation one like ours for a reasonable price then it's definitely worth checking out

Edited by Sprotacus on Wednesday 14th February 16:43

Wait till you see the price jump when he passes his test, its painful

[S366]

Volvo c30 2.0l petrols are cheap to insure for new drivers.

[ZX10R NIN]

fflump said:

I am after a car for my wife but for whom my eldest (17) will be a named driver, and ultimately my other kids too. I appreciate I could just set AT to ?Gp3 and pick out a low-powered Corsa but I read that low group does not translate always to low insurance if that particular car is subject to above-average claims by the demographic of the person being insured.

We live in a city (Edinburgh) and will park the car on the driveway. Only requirements are 4 seats and petrol, though would like to avoid A-segment matchboxes if possible. Budget pretty flexible.

If anyone has any suggestions including outside the usual that would be great.

I appreciate I may be going over old ground so if there are threads that deal with this please direct me-thanks!

The first thing to do is to have the 17 year old as the named driver, doing it the other way round doesn't normally save you money .

Now I got my son into a Mito 1.4 N/A Veloce & insurance was sensible (a smidge under 2k) now I tried the same for my nephew & the quotes for the same car were coming out at double the cost.

The 1.0 Corsa/208/Fiesta/Mazda2 were all working out at the 3-3.5k then I looked at the 2015 1.4 Astra Excite it comes with bluetooth streaming etc & at 99bhp it has a smidge of go.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202312054...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202308291...

These came out at 2.7k.

[CLK-GTR]

Have a look here:

https://www.parkers.co.uk/car-insurance/cheap-cars...

The lower the group number the better.

[Ezra]

I bought a used Skoda Citigo 7 years ago for no1 son as his first car. He had it a year, progressed, and it was handed down to no2 son who had it for 2 years, then it went to No1 daughter who's had it for 4 years. She'll sell it when finishing uni this year but its been almost faultless, its nippy, manual, petrol, 5 doors and insurance has been reasonable for all the kids. Doesn't owe us a penny now and still going strong.

Alternatively, Mrs Ezra had a Suzuki Ignis for 3 years and loved it. Totally reliable, lots of kit and tbh a decent drive. Deffo not unusual for me to opt to take the Ignis from time to time either and just enjoy the drive. Insurance was v cheap.