car buying

[Dave Stones]

yes, since i started working once again i have been squirreling away little bits of money, saving up funds for a car + insurance. anyway, i have some questions that have been raised recently by my random reasearch...

having done various projects and things looking at insurance costs for my automotive engineering module at uni, i know that i would be lumped with a stupidly high insurance premium, because of the way i live, because i havent driven since i passed my test over 2 years ago and because of my lack of no claims. so i know that whether i go for a £200 banger or a £10,000 new car i will be lumped with an insurance fee floating around the £1500-£3000 mark. damn insurance companies. (based on test-insuring a used Scooby WRX and a fiat Punto).

So is it better to take out a hire purchase or something similar agreement, and get a newer car and pay a bit more in the long run, or take the chances, spend little money and get something that has done 300,000 miles and might blow up in 3 weeks time? opinions/advice are *most* welcome

[MetaWraith]

don't know if this applies or not, but what i did was get a very old banger, non runner, insure it 3rd party, let it decompose somewhere (eg parents driveway) and hey presto at the end of a year i have one years no claims bonus and then paid a scrap metal dealer to take the car away.

Your never better off to buy a car on HP. Your always better off to buy what you can afford and leave some spare for problems. Best advice is to get something 8-10 years old as the insurance does come down with the age of the car, and is of a low insurance group. You might want to consider a Diesel too, for example a 306 Turbo Diesel Sport is about group 3 insurance, a reasonably nippy car that does 500 miles on a tank full and should do in excess of 250,000 miles

[Chimaera]

One way to bring your insurance costs down - put either of your parents on the policy! That way you are the policy holder and you will build your own no claims bonus - and having your parent on the policy reduces the risk to the insurance company. I saved quite a bit on my daughter's insurance (about £200 I think for the first year?)
Might be better to go for an older car - not saying that this applies to you - but statistically you are more likely to have a prang in the first year after passing your test than at any other time in your driving career.

[bopdude]

Originally Posted by MetaWraith

don't know if this applies or not, but what i did was get a very old banger, non runner, insure it 3rd party, let it decompose somewhere (eg parents driveway) and hey presto at the end of a year i have one years no claims bonus and then paid a scrap metal dealer to take the car away.

To what end mate you could have bought a runner, insured 3rd party and used it !!!!

Dave, having worked in the 'banger' trade for a while previously, I would say stay well clear. Yes, you can get a decent runner but they're far and few between, lets face it, why would you get rid of an old car to a dealer ? ( coz they give you more than a scrapy ! )

I don't know about better options but what about some kind of lease contract with insurance and maintainence ' thrown ' in ? Might work out cheaper in the long run when you tot it all up.

Originally Posted by Chimaera

One way to bring your insurance costs down - put either of your parents on the policy! That way you are the policy holder and you will build your own no claims bonus - and having your parent on the policy reduces the risk to the insurance company. I saved quite a bit on my daughter's insurance (about £200 I think for the first year?)
Might be better to go for an older car - not saying that this applies to you - but statistically you are more likely to have a prang in the first year after passing your test than at any other time in your driving career.

Really? surely your daughter is the highest risk and therefore the premium rating is based on her as the risk?

Dave, also consider limited mileage insurance cover if you know you will be doing low miles. UNder 6000 miles policies can be a lot cheaper

[MetaWraith]

Originally Posted by bopdude

To what end mate you could have bought a runner, insured 3rd party and used it !!!!

I was named driver on another insurance, was at uni whilst the car I bought decomposed, also had no intention of using it, hence it could be a non-runner.
Then when I bought a brand new car a year later the cost of the insurance and the reg of the old car was repaid sixfold :-) quite a nice saving.

[Chimaera]

Originally Posted by gary_580

Really? surely your daughter is the highest risk and therefore the premium rating is bast on her as the risk?

Nope we did 2 quotes with the same company, online, first with her alone on the policy and second time with me as a named driver. We rang the company (Admiral) to make sure we hadn't got it wrong and they confirmed that it is cheaper to put an experienced parent on the policy too. Several of my friends have done this with their kids as well. And insurance for young'uns is also cheaper if they take the Pass Plus scheme - extra lessons on motorways, country lanes, adverse weather conditions etc.

[SMHarman]

Have you been insured on anyone elses cover? Some policies give you a head start NCD if you have and their policy is still showing full NCD.

Also consider whacking the policy xs up Being as you are trying to build NCD, you are not likely to claim for damage under say £500, so make that the policy XS, on my £600 policy the rate went down to £500 for a £420 XS.

Fully Comp is not usually much more than TPFT as the real cost of insurance these days is human, not damage.

Consider whether you can go for one of these deals where the first years insurance is thrown in, but this all depends on what you need the car for, if it your main transport for work, then you are probably better buying newer, possibly new - January is a great time to be buying cars as nobody else wants to - and getting the reliability etc. If it is for social use, then the older car is probably more appropriate.

Also make sure you buy the right cover. You can buy Social, Social + Commuting, + business, + travelling salesperson.

Try www.confused.com great for insurance price comparison.

Easy solution, get one of your parents to insure it and have you down as a named driver, you have to be carefull and what you can use it for with some companies, like social and domestic use. Give it a go if your dad has been driving for some years he'll get it for a much lower price.

Originally Posted by Chimaera

Nope we did 2 quotes with the same company, online, first with her alone on the policy and second time with me as a named driver. We rang the company (Admiral) to make sure we hadn't got it wrong and they confirmed that it is cheaper to put an experienced parent on the policy too. Several of my friends have done this with their kids as well. And insurance for young'uns is also cheaper if they take the Pass Plus scheme - extra lessons on motorways, country lanes, adverse weather conditions etc.

guess they must rate it based on the fact that you might drive some of the time so therefore its a lower risk

Originally Posted by bopdude

Yes, you can get a decent runner but they're far and few between, lets face it, why would you get rid of an old car to a dealer ? ( coz they give you more than a scrapy ! )

Scrapys often charge you now!!

Depends on the dealer, some wont put cars over 5yr old on the forecourt so these can be picked up from the auction for a bargain

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by Nidge

Easy solution, get one of your parents to insure it and have you down as a named driver, you have to be carefull and what you can use it for with some companies, like social and domestic use. Give it a go if your dad has been driving for some years he'll get it for a much lower price.

But make sure you are named as the primary driver or there can be big problems.

[AndrewJ]

Get a Nissan Micra :P nice cars ,and free insurance for a year.

[Dave Stones]

named drivers and all that is a no no pretty much, hence the high premium. dad hasnt driven in 10 years, and mum isnt allowed to drive now cos she has no depth perception

i would not be doing much more than 5000 miles a year, tootling back to and from work and driving around birmingham mainly, occasionally zipping off home for the odd weekend.

it's not so much the insurance which i am pondering about, i know i am gonna get whacked in the balls either way with that, its more financing the car in the first place. i might do automotive engineering at uni but i'm still inexperienced at servicing engines and don't want to get something that is likely to blow up soon. i want to avoid anything over 100,000 miles while i own it if possible... complicated arent i?