First off... sorry if this is in the wrong area, didnt know whether to put it in the car and motors forum
anyway...

I am coming up to taking my driving test soon (well only 5ish lessons off) and I am looking at buying a car, or at least considering it as an option rather than getting insured on my dads volvo s80

I am just after some advice as to what cars have cheap insurance, the best type of insurance and the best price to pay for a car (I have had friends who spend 2000 on a car only for it to die a few weeks later - and I have also had friends who have got bargains for about 700 and they are still running without fault 3 years later)

Cheeers

It depends on what tpe of car youd want tbh.

I think if I was going to get a saloon car just after my test, you couldnt really go wrong with a 1995 Volvo 440 1.6li as thats the lowest insurance grouped Volvo thatd be a cheap car. I think its group 6

Fiat Chiquecento is a good small car, I think grp 2 insurance and cheap readilly available parts too Id imagine

And they should go on and on, easy for a local cheap garage to work on if anything goes wrong. Parts are ok to find I think.

Some people think that 3rd party insurance, supposed to be the most minimal is going to be the cheapest, although Ive known 3rd Party insurance to be more expensive than 3rd Party Fire and theft and Ive known 3PTF cheaper than fully comp.

Id use confused.com for my insurance quotes and then call companies for comparisons and you might get a better price.

If you see Easy car insurance then Id stay away, they give you a great quote but then add a load of other charges onto the price of the insurance. (I learnt the hard way) So dont always go for the cheapest.

Still got my first car over a year on - a Rover 414  that cost about £300.00. Its not the nicest car in the world but it runs great and its not slow either and insurance was only £500 fully comp my first year.  

Try getting a quote from Endsleigh.

My 2002 Hyundai accent 1.3l (cost me £2400) only costs £610ish for fully comp (no no-claims bonus too).

The money I saved has been useful, since I crashed it a couple of weeks ago  :?

Cinq is a good 1st car due to the cost and how many of them are out there.
Bad points.  Parts can be a nightmare.  Things like engine mounts have been on back order with fiat for 6 months and have no delivery date, Handbrakes are universally naff and every single one will need work for MOT.

Personally, Id go get a Mk3 Astra 1.4.  No Frills, parts are very cheap and readilly available.  Not going to set your pants on fire or impress anyone but for cheap, reliable and economical motoring, they cant be beaten.

All insuracne companies base the car risk on groups and your age.
A group 3 car is cheaper than a group 7 to insure, if you drove a sportscar youd be looking at group 15 or 17 or more!

So check give you a prelimanry idea of which cars are better insurance risks use this website to enter the specific vehicle details and you will get the list which insurnace companies use to weight their polices!

http://www.abi.org.uk/carinsurance/help.asp

My first car cost me £75 ran for over a year and i only got rid as i wanted more power, it cost over £750 to insure tho.. thats like 10x the value lol

think old nissan micra, ford fiesta, fiat chinq or other tiny cheap low powered cars, and tbh it could be written off anyway at some point as your a "new" driver

thanks for the replies

yea im not going for something that looks nice, although it wouldnt be a bad thing

im going for reliability more than anything, i dont want the damn thing to breakdown in the first few weeks, and obviously its impossible to say for certain that some cars will or will not break down but ive heard that certain models can be more reliable

i got a quote on a corsa before... fully comp, £2490 was the cheapest :/
i want something around the region of £700-800 and then i can pay it off in 10 installments

Quote from: mr_rollI think if I was going to get a saloon car just after my test, you couldnt really go wrong with a 1995 Volvo 440 1.6li as thats the lowest insurance grouped Volvo thatd be a cheap car. I think its group 6

They dont have that much power but for a first runabout they are totally adequate and generally have cheap insurance to boot. Used to rate a group 1 but may have edged it up since the changes.

IF you buy a cheapie then try to insure it 3rd party fire/theft or just third party only and put some security on. It generally isnt worth claiming if you get a car for under £500.

^^thats true

they would most probably write the vehicle off, i have no choice but to be extremely careful and not drink while intoxicated haha

Slightly larger "Family" Cars are cheaper to insure over the smaller ones.  Especially for new drivers.

My Ka was £1300 at renewal when I sold it, My Astra Sport was £700.

yea, the astra seems to be a popular one
do they do 3dr cars? or just 5dr?

gonna take a peek on autotrader now

I wouldnt consider spending less than £1k on a car.  I did on my first cars and they were sh*t.

You should honestly work on the basis you will crash your first car.  I never did crash mine but a lot of friends did.  Lost a couple of friends in car crashes not long after they passed and many many more who flipped them or went off the road.

God I sound old, but if youre sat in the car and can see bare metal in front of you, spend a little more.  Theres no point in dropping £800 a year i insurance and having a £800 car.  The running costs are so high for a car that you may as well drop a bit more on the purchase.



As for the cars mentioned in this thread:

Fiat Cinquecento - sister rolled one when swerving round a rabbit the day after passing her test.  It survived very very well (write off of course but didnt collapse even though it was on its roof in a field).  The passenger got put through the windscreen (no seatbelt) but was fine and my sis just got a bit shaken up.  Respect to that car for not crumpling consdiering its size and cost.

I personally wouldnt drive it but if looks arent your concern this would be a very good choice these days and you could pick up a semi decent one for not a lot of notes.  Second hand car prices are down hugely.  They weight nothing so fuel isnt going to eat away your weekly pocket money.


I went down the larger family cars route to get cheaper insurance.  You get a lot more car for your money and they cost less because not many young people drive them and theyre much harder to steal.  Astras are good.  1.6 Focuses are very good if you can get them in your budget/insurance group.

^^^ God, who DOESNT wear a seatbelt these days?! Serves the person right.


My 1995 1.4 seat ibiza has been a perfect first car! £400, cheap insurance, easy to get parts for (its basically a VW) and its not too bad! Built like a tank too.

^^cool

gonna look at a seat now
the astras on autotrader are all 5dr, dont know if they do a 3dr