First car

littleme

250,000th poster!
Hello Greg :) When my son passed his test he bought a Ford KA as his first car...He had low insurance through a company (Ingenie) that installs a black box type thing that monitors your driving (speed, times driven etc).
While a KA is small & nippy, please remember you can only get 2 friends in the back & the boot space is nearly nonexistent - they also rust a lot (& Fail their MOTs)! Some of sons friends have Corsas so they seem a popular first car....I also own one, but I preferred my KA (nippy)

Probably the best way of getting an estimate of insurance is to find a make & model at around the price you want to pay & put that registration into the quote......but beware, it can go up drasticly when you try to take the actual insurance out :)

Good luck!
 

Bob

Well-Known Forumite
There are insurance companies that can fit a box to monitor your driving, it picks up on things like harsh braking, dangerous cornering etc. A family member had one fitted and it reduced her insurance by about £500 but this is only providing the car is being driven safety. (I'm not sure of the details but I'm sure something will pop up on Google). Another option would be to get an older and more experienced driver to insure the car in their name but with a policy for any driver. Also try the more obscure companies, especially rural specialists like the NFU, who deal with farmers and more importantly young farmers who grow up driving tractors and landrovers round fields and are ready to take their driving test the day they turn 17.

Failing that and if you're going with a standard insurer, if I were you I'd consider something smaller, the lowest engine size you can find, get it cheap and cheerful and keep it for a year. Then when you have that first years no claims bonus and all important experience you can trade it in for the car you want.

With regards to getting quotes without the registration number you could contact companies directly over the phone where they could probably give you a general idea of what you're looking for, although that may be very time consuming. Or just keep an eye out when you're out and about for car that are the same make and year that you're looking for not the registration number and use it in a comparison site. But please check any legal implications of doing this as I have no idea.
 

Bob

Well-Known Forumite
Hello Greg :) When my son passed his test he bought a Ford KA as his first car...He had low insurance through a company (Ingenie) that installs a black box type thing that monitors your driving (speed, times driven etc).
While a KA is small & nippy, please remember you can only get 2 friends in the back & the boot space is nearly nonexistent - they also rust a lot (& Fail their MOTs)! Some of sons friends have Corsas so they seem a popular first car....I also own one, but I preferred my KA (nippy)

Probably the best way of getting an estimate of insurance is to find a make & model at around the price you want to pay & put that registration into the quote......but beware, it can go up drasticly when you try to take the actual insurance out :)

Good luck!

You beat me to it!

That'll teach me to start faffing with thing halfway through writing a post.
 

littleme

250,000th poster!
Another option would be to get an older and more experienced driver to insure the car in their name but with a policy for any driver.

With regards to getting quotes without the registration number you could contact companies directly over the phone where they could probably give you a general idea of what you're looking for
No no no! Don't attempt this!
This is called 'Fronting' & is illegal. :(

Insurers can't quote without car reg, & make & model.

(I used to work for an insurance company for my sins)
 

Bob

Well-Known Forumite
No no no! Don't attempt this!
This is called 'Fronting' & is illegal. :(

Insurers can't quote without car reg, & make & model.

(I used to work for an insurance company for my sins)


How is it illegal, if it's insured for any driver then any driver can drive it, surely that’s the point? I thought it was ok as long as the person whose name is on the insurance certificate drives it every so often? We were told by our insurance company we could do that for my husband's nephew but it bumped the excess up to a ridiculous level so we decided against it.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
How is it illegal, if it's insured for any driver then any driver can drive it, surely that’s the point? I thought it was ok as long as the person whose name is on the insurance certificate drives it every so often? We were told by our insurance company we could do that for my husband's nephew but it bumped the excess up to a ridiculous level so we decided against it.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2011/oct/14/fronting-car-insurance-costs-parents

http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/fraud-az-fronting

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/c/news/millions-break-the-law-to-get-cheaper-car-cover/0013822/

etc..

There is an element of greyness - but, sometimes the grey is very dark...
 

Bob

Well-Known Forumite
I didn't say lie about who the main driver is, just insure it for any driver, if you have to name a 17 year old as the main driver then so be it. It may still reduce the premium if it’s on the policy of someone with a substantial no claims discount.

I've always wondered what counts as the main driver.

Person A does the most journeys than B or C

Person B spends more time driving than A or C

Person C covers more miles than A or B

I'm presuming it is Person C and if that is the case C can rack up more miles in a day than A or B do in a week. Legally a 17 year old can have a car and not be names as the main driver if someone else used that car sufficiently.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
I didn't say lie about who the main driver is, just insure it for any driver if you have to name a 17 year old as the main driver then so be it. It may still reduce the premium if it’s on the policy of someone with a substantial no claims discount.

Indeed. But people need to be aware that there can be investigations after a claim and, as in one of the examples above, should it be found that the named driver has, in reality, become the main driver without the insurer being made aware, then cover may be retrospectively refused. If they are made aware of the whole truth, then there should be no problem.
 

littleme

250,000th poster!
How is it illegal, if it's insured for any driver then any driver can drive it, surely that’s the point? I thought it was ok as long as the person whose name is on the insurance certificate drives it every so often? We were told by our insurance company we could do that for my husband's nephew but it bumped the excess up to a ridiculous level so we decided against it.
Its fraudulent.
MoneySupermarket

The Guardian

PremiumChoice

If the young driver DOES only use it say....once a week & the main driver uses it for the other 6 days then I believe this is ok, but if someone else pretends to be the main driver whilst the youngster is actually the main driver, this is fraudulent.......as a acquaintance of mine found out when her daughter crashed the car & the insurance refused to pay out as it was full of teenagers stuff & nothing a 60yr old would keep in a car.

Also of course, you can't insure a car that doesn't belong to you....
Your insurance company would of given you that (high) quote as you would of flagged up as possible Fronters , bet it was the NFU ;)

Best way ( & legal way) to do it is to insure as normal, but have an older & experienced (but pointless) driver as a named driver.
 

littleme

250,000th poster!
Must proof read before pressing post.
Lol, me too - I mean pointless as I not been awarded any points, not as in a useless driver!

Older ladies are brilliant pointless drivers, I bring my sons insurance down considerably more than husband does even though I haven't been driving for long myself (husband is slightly younger than me though ;) )
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Insurance can be very strange.

I didn't have a car for years, but I did drive a Motability car for a friend - you could name two main drivers, so, he named me and him. After five years, that came to an end and I decided to get a car again myself. Just on the off-chance, I tried to see if I could claim the five year's no-claims - no problem - I was rather surprised, I will admit. I expected to be told that it didn't really count.

Another friend has had his house loaded for flood risk, due to his postcode, but you would need about forty feet of flood water to get his lawn wet - just because someone at the bottom of the hill once claimed...
 

littleme

250,000th poster!
Insurance can be very strange.

.... see if I could claim the five year's no-claims - no problem - I was rather surprised, I will admit. I expected to be told that it didn't really count.

Its VERY strange, husbands just tried to use his 5Yrs no claims on his new car but the insurers won't accept it as he had a few months where he used a company car.....they reckon the company car voids the whole 5yrs no claims, but the previous insurance company took it with no problems! :strange:
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Its VERY strange, husbands just tried to use his 5Yrs no claims on his new car but the insurers won't accept it as he had a few months where he used a company car.....they reckon the company car voids the whole 5yrs no claims, but the previous insurance company took it with no problems! :strange:

That's what I was expecting. I was virtually trying it on, I thought. I asked the actual insurer who had covered us for the whole five years and knew exactly what the situation was and they were most happy to send me full confirmation of five years no-claims history in my name - even knowing that the other named party on the policy had had two claims in that time.

They just make it up as they go along...
 

gilbert grape

Well-Known Forumite
Anyywaayyyyy - back to the original question.
Choice can come down to opinion due to your own experience. Some of us have had bad experiences with certain garages and wouldn't touch them again, or recommend them. If you want a particular type of motor, AutoTrader could be a place to start then narrow it down to certain garages.
I've been driving for nearly 20 years now and I had my heart set on something small and basic to get me going. A mate was selling a Astra 1.6 SRI so, doh!, I bought that!
I'd say start off with something low-ish cc that you can handle until comfortable on the road. Do a few runs on dual carriageways before you hit the motorway too. Fiesta, Corsa, Ka, Fabia may be some that you could use to break you in, then move on after that to something bigger.
 

Trumpet

Well-Known Forumite
Failing that and if you're going with a standard insurer, if I were you I'd consider something smaller, the lowest engine size you can find, get it cheap and cheerful and keep it for a year. Then when you have that first years no claims bonus and all important experience you can trade it in for the car you want.
Plus the possibility of knocking a couple of corners off your first car in your first year on the road.
Can you still buy a knackered but legal (ish) mini for £30?:ohno:
 

photography_bloke

Well-Known Forumite
I'd definitely say something small, I passed my test last December and I've been happily driving round in a Fiesta 1.2 ever since - I can get to North Wales and back on a tank just fine, which doesn't cost a lot (although it does lack a bit of power if you're driving anywhere hilly! For example, North Wales...).

You'd be fine with any small car, although someone I know has been finding that the insurance on a Corsa tends to be higher than other similar cars. As others have said, keep it for a year or so then look at getting something more along the lines of what you'd like, after your experience has built up and your insurance has dropped a bit

If you want to get rough insurance quotes, I used compare the market - you can manually enter the make/model etc. of the car without the reg number to get a rough idea (still best to check it with the actual reg number before you commit to buying though)

Good luck :)
 
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