Some new driver questions

Dist

Dist

Dist

Soldato
Joined
1 Jun 2005
Posts
5,152
Location
Kent
I've nearly finished my studies and it's time I need a car to get around and have the mobility to look for jobs in a wider area and I'm hoping I could get some advice on a few things. Currently I still only have a provisional licence (had it for about 7 years now but not really needed it) but I plan to get a full licence sometime over the next few months.

First off, should I try and get my own car to practice in (with a full licenced passenger of course) on top of instructor training, and if so what sort of car (specific makes/models to look out for would be useful) should I be looking out for for ease of driving, low insurance (low for a new driver, I don't expect any amazing deals) and one that will hopefully last long enough that it won't break down 10 min after purchasing.

Secondly, my parents are willing to help me out so when it comes to insurance as a new driver and helping pay for my first car, should I be looking into being put on my parents policy along with the car I plan to use (I won't be using my parents car)? or do I have to have my own policy in my name?

And finally, is there anything else I need to be aware of as a learner driver and getting my first car? Should I bend over and ready myself for the insurance companies or is there anything I can do to help reduce the costs which seem to be at insane rates right now?
 
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I've got another couple of questions if people can help.

For a new driver, what is the average yearly costs for a car minus petrol (MOT, upkeep, tyres, tax, insurance).

And is there much of a difference in terms of insurance if I was to drive only a couple miles to a train station every day compared to a 64 mile trip each day?

I'm trying to compare the costs of traveling into/around London by train if I can eventually get a job, or by car. When a parking permit at the train station costs £1200 a year, and the train tickets would cost between £3500 and £4500 a year, I'm thinking the train/parking costs would be greater than the costs of owning and maintaining a car and paying for petrol.
 
You can't really come up with an accurate figure, I reckon I roughly spend between £1000-£2000 on just running the car a year. Maintenance, MOT/TAX/Insurance/Fuel, with fuel and insurance being the big ones.
 
Dist said:
I've got another couple of questions if people can help.

For a new driver, what is the average yearly costs for a car minus petrol (MOT, upkeep, tyres, tax, insurance).

And is there much of a difference in terms of insurance if I was to drive only a couple miles to a train station every day compared to a 64 mile trip each day?

I'm trying to compare the costs of traveling into/around London by train if I can eventually get a job, or by car. When a parking permit at the train station costs £1200 a year, and the train tickets would cost between £3500 and £4500 a year, I'm thinking the train/parking costs would be greater than the costs of owning and maintaining a car and paying for petrol.
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Sorry, none of this makes any sense :confused:
All of the things you have listed vary massively depending on your personal circumstances and the model of car, and the car's condition/age, and where you take it for servicing, and the list goes on (each varying to the tune of hundreds or thousands of pounds).

If you are driving to the train station anyway you will likely be paying most of the car ownership costs, despite only driving a relatively tiny amount.

Answer is, look up insurance/tax etc once you're looking at a particular car, you can't make any reasonable guesses to ownership costs until you have something to consider.
 
Dist said:
For a new driver, what is the average yearly costs for a car minus petrol (MOT, upkeep, tyres, tax, insurance).

And is there much of a difference in terms of insurance if I was to drive only a couple miles to a train station every day compared to a 64 mile trip each day?
Click to expand...

Impossible to say as it of course depends on the car, condition and how much it's driven. Personally I got lucky enough to get a well looked after Focus for my first car and had it for about a year. In that time I drove about 40,000 miles and the only things I ever spent money on were a cambelt change as soon as I got it (it only had 17500 miles on the clock but was 10 years old so it was best done just in case), a service and a new set of tyres - total cost, under £700. This is probably more miles than the average person does over 3 years though so I consider that pretty good going. My current car has only had a few services and tyre changes in the 55,000 miles I've done in it over the last 13 months.

As for insurance, yes, the declared mileage can make a massive difference to your premiums but again this varies on many factors such as the car, the area you live in and whatever the insurance companies feel like. Run a few quotes online and play around with the declared mileage to see what effect it would have on premiums for you.
 
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I know it heavily depends on the type of car and condition but right now I'm not looking at any car specifically, I'm just trying to get a rough idea of what is affordable when looking for what locations are within reasonable commuting distance. I wasn't expecting an accurate figure but I thought that perhaps there are statistics out there which would show things like national average costs for a new driver, or what would be the rough minimum I would be likely to pay for car upkeep.

But anyway, thanks for trying to help, perhaps I'll come back if I can find a reasonably priced (and insurable) first car.
 
All I have to add is really that's it's probably a good idea to get the car now whilst till on a provisional. At least when you pass the test an get hit with the massive insurance hike you have already covered the cost of the car and thats out of the way!
 
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