That topic again (young drivers insurance)

[Landy Mann]

Well it looks like I've got some money burning a hole in my pocket, which I'd quite like to spend before my second year at uni (yes I know it's not a good idea) and my house is going to be 2.5 miles away which although I'm planning to cycle most of the time a car would come in handy! So I've been playing around on a certain comparison website and after trying all sorts of modern things in it and getting quotes of around £2200 upwards I put in the reg of an Austin Allegro Well that came out at around £1500 so I set about looking at other classics as I quite fancy one. It seems that there damn cheep to insure and interesting cars to own, I'll also have a garage next year .

So any other ideas for cars I should try, they need to have a cheap purchase price and insurance, preferably less than £2k for the combo, and yes I know that you should phone insurers up rather than use websites but this is just for a general idea.



Many thanks David

[Aar0sc]

Could try 3rd party F&T - although those are very very good prices anyway!

[Landy Mann]

I've found that in general TP or TPFT are more expensive, probably beacuse it makes it seem like I won't care for the car.

[TerryG]

We have an office junior at work (just turned 18) who i have been talking to about cars for the last few months. We found him a tatty 1.0 mini with a years ticket for £900, £1200 to insure it. That's not too far off your £2k target.

[Luxobarge]

I've always found "price comparison" sites pretty expensive for classic cars, as that's not what they specialist in. I'd try phoning folk who do specific cassic policies if I were you - I rate RH insurance specialists very highly, there's also Footman James and the other likely candidates. It's a faff having to phone them, but I've never had much joy trying to insure classics on line.

Cheers

[1275midget]

I've always found "price comparison" sites pretty expensive for classic cars

Absolutely. I've found comparison sites to be a complete waste of time. Try ringing up insurers who are likely to understand what's going on, footman James, Peter Best, Adrian Flux. I'm 24 and I've got the landy (just like your bottom quote) on Adrian Flux for £160 for the whole year valued @ £1K. Footman James do my Midget, £500 ish for the year valued @ £7K. That's with all (rather extreme) mods declared.

Stuff that's cheap to insure is often a bit random, You've got a good list there, try spitfires, dolomites, midgets as well - you might be surprised. Rack the annual mileage down and the excess up (while remembering what that means) and avoid expensive looking things like massive windscreen cover. Always get an agreed value - not just write in the box value but a proper one with pictures - it's worth it's weight in gold if the worst should happen.

When phoning up I found ot pays to interrupt their silly script at the start and just say: Right I'm 24, car is over 30 years old and its heavily modified - can you insure me? That saves a lot of the faffing about for them to just go NO!. Try and get pre-1973 and you'll even save on road tax

I've also found that fully comp is cheaper than TPF&T. Weird.

[TriumphDriver]

The thing is to be sensible and rational. Go for the most basic model you can find, don't fall for the hype that you have to have the fastest sportiest model available, no matter what certain magazines seem to push at every opportunity. If you want wide wheels, sporty exhausts and the hottest cam don't complain if you have to pay for it. Remember the old bumper sticker: "This car may not be fast, but it's paid for and it's still in front of YOU"? Factors such as a soft-top may look nice but they're an unnecessary expense at this time - there'll be plenty of time for that later when the premiums start to come down. Limited mileage doesn't tie you down as much as you might think, and it saves money. I drove a Mini City for a while, my girlfriend may have laughed about the embarrassment but it was cheap to run and she DID marry me eventually...

Incidentally price comparison sites are a con - they only have 'member' insurers. not just any company is searched, so the prices are always.. shall we say.... not far off each other...

[Landy Mann]

The thing is to be sensible and rational. Go for the most basic model you can find, don't fall for the hype that you have to have the fastest sportiest model available, no matter what certain magazines seem to push at every opportunity. If you want wide wheels, sporty exhausts and the hottest cam don't complain if you have to pay for it. Remember the old bumper sticker: "This car may not be fast, but it's paid for and it's still in front of YOU"? Factors such as a soft-top may look nice but they're an unnecessary expense at this time - there'll be plenty of time for that later when the premiums start to come down. Limited mileage doesn't tie you down as much as you might think, and it saves money. I drove a Mini City for a while, my girlfriend may have laughed about the embarrassment but it was cheap to run and she DID marry me eventually...

Incidentally price comparison sites are a con - they only have 'member' insurers. not just any company is searched, so the prices are always.. shall we say.... not far off each other...

I agree with the price comparison site thing, but my logic is if I can find the cheapest car on a price comparison site I should get a pleasant surprise when I phone up the specialists! Also I'm not particularly into sporty cars, I have an unhealthy interest in Land Rovers but it seems that from my experience what ever I get it'll probably end up being an enthusiast about them! Though the reaction of some of my friends has been interesting when I've mentioned the types of cars that I've been looking at!

[TerryG]

Have you found yourself a quote on a Series III Diesel?
You will definitely only need TPFT on that, they are so solid you can hit more or less anything and not notice!

[FrazzleTC]

Get in touch with Footman James if you're after something which is around 2 litres at our age. Peter James insurance are very cheap if you have certain cars. Look at Dolomites, ado16s and so on, and you'll find some rather cheap insurance deals. I'm 19 and my insurance for the Rover is £924 per year TPFT, on a limited mileage policy.