First car for son.

jamiehard1989 said:
Have a look here to see insurance groups, really you want to stay in between group 1-4.

Use go compare and put you as a name driver, which should knock the price down a bit.

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/insurance/car-insurance-groups/
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to be honest I'd say stay under group 20! but it's all pot luck, literally.. it is cheaper for me to insure a 2.0 mazda sport than it is to insure a 1.4 fiesta.. ! 1.6 focus for example is 200 more/year and so on!

best to get a handful of cars that you like, in your budget etc and just do quotes on them all on something like moneysupermarket..

tips -;

use moneysupermarket
quote 3-4 days in advance(1-3 days give increased premiums from 900 to 200 on average)
try different cars, stay under group 20 and you'll be golden.

cheapest I found -;

mazda 3's(mk1's)
corollas(1.4's)
mini's(one/cooper)
yaris(1.0 to 1.3's)
 
Best thing really is to walk around some used car places, get a feel for some cars he liked within budget then go home and do insurance checks on them.
 
PooKer said:
I don't understand why when you pass a bike test you get restricted but cars? nah you can buy anything you want.
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Lol, the OP's son is talking about something like an Astra. It's not like he's looking to jump straight into a Porsche 911. A 1.4/1.6 Astra or Focus is hardly a rocket ship and they're not that big either. He has a couple of grand to spend on a car and another couple of grand for insurance. Doesn't sound unfeasible to me.

The age restrictions on bike classes is there to stop some 17 year old passing his test and then buying some sports bike that does 0-100mph in 2 seconds or whatever.
 
PooKer said:
I don't understand why people "want" bigger cars as a first car. I started with a Ford KA then a Pug 107. Small but cheap to run and insure while I built up no claims. Then 1.6 Mitsubishi Lancer after that.

I mean you can pick up a Toyota Aygo for £1500. Then keep the other £1500 for later on. It'll be insurance group 1. And the little 3 cylinder engine is fine for getting around in on your own.
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Whereas I started with a 1.6 Astra which I kept for five years before changing it for a Mazda3 Sport 2.0. If I'd started smaller I'd have probably wanted/needed to change cars far sooner than that.
 
Corsa's (C's in particular) have an insurance group of 2 iirc

1.2, cheap to own, run and insure.

I'm 23 and my 106 was £640 for the year. That was a 1.4 also. Could be worth checking it out.

Elephant and Admiral seemed to be the cheapest on insurance by far. Go direct on elephant and have a fiddle with the sliders and what not. You'll be suprised tbh.
 
I found polos to be the cheapest to insure when I started driving. Just have to do some quotes and see!
 
I got a mk 4 Ford Fiesta, cheap as chips to run, just as cheap on repairs (it's just when they start to need repairing to often it starts to burn a hole) get one with just over 100k on the clock, most perishables should have been replaced.

My insistence for first year was £1080 with direct line when I was 17 and then £445 for second year.
 
I had a new Corsa for my first year driving, and a new A3 for my second year. Not had an accident yet that I wouldn't have had anyway. Yeah, getting the bumper on my A3 sorted after a bump in a car park wasn't cheap but I'm not going to drive around in a tiny shed with wheels forever. I struggle to comfortably fit me and 3 friends in my 3 door A3 so god forbid trying to get people into a Ford Ka.

I technically didn't pay for either car as they are leased via Motability, but I still appreciate and look after the cars.

EDIT: I got quotes on a brand new 120i M-Sport and a 2004 Corsa SXI 1.3 CDTI and the difference was a massive £100.
 
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I always laugh at the people who say get a small car for new drivers, Get what he feels conformable driving. I started driving an Astra 1.7 Cdti after only a few months of owning a Fiesta 1.4 Tdci I have never hit anyone or anything and none of my mates have never had trouble starting with a big car. I would say it depends how good of a driver he is.
 
matty114 said:
I always laugh at the people who say get a small car for new drivers, Get what he feels conformable driving. I started driving an Astra 1.7 Cdti after only a few months of owning a Fiesta 1.4 Tdci I have never hit anyone or anything and none of my mates have never had trouble starting with a big car. I would say it depends how good of a driver he is.
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True, but in a lot of cases it's much easier to get to grips with driving in a smaller car first, they give you more room for error. If I stated off with a big first car I doubt I'd be as confident or as good driving as I am now. Also I quite like having a small car. Means you can squeeze through smaller gaps and I can afford to park next to this idiots that half park in a space taking up some of the other space.

But you are right get whatever he feels comfortable in. My only negative is at 6ft 3 the fiesta is a little small but I'm used to it now.
 
matty114 said:
I always laugh at the people who say get a small car for new drivers
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Exactly lmao. A **** driver is going to be a **** driver whether or not his car's a few inches narrower than an S-Class.

Convincing yourself you'll not have an accident in a Corsa rather than an S-Class is simply giving yourself an utterly false sense of confidence.

You should practice in the biggest thing you can find. Get a van if you have to. If you spend your years driving a small girl's car, when you're eventually faced with having to drive something big you're going to be ****ing yourself and you wont have a clue.

In fact the constant pain in the arse you get from driving a girl's car would probably be the cause of me having an accident.
 
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