Her First Car

[anaxcrosswords]

My daughter will, I’m sure, pass her driving test next year, but her age will inevitably mean a high insurance premium. I’ll be looking to buy a car for about £5000, but I need something that will be cheap to run, reliable, low insurance group, low tax… but not boring! Any suggestions?

[Buenchico]

You'll probably find this useful:
http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/insurance/car-insurance-groups/
You can either enter a particular make and model, to find its insurance group, or choose and group and find all models within it.

I'd be looking for something like a Ford Ka. They're generally cheap to run.

Remember to add yourself (or another experienced driver, with maximum NCD) onto your daughter's policy, as it should see it cut by anything up to 30%:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/car-insurance/young-drivers

[anaxcrosswords]

Very, very good point about adding myself, B. Added my mum to my policy and saw a significant drop in premium.

[anaxcrosswords]

Just wondering, btw... if I bought a car and added my daughter to my policy, would the cost be different to having the car in her name with me added to her policy?

[FrogNog]

Yes. If she is the main driver and you declare yourself as such, they can legitimately refuse your accident claim.
It's best to be honest and shop around.
I couldn't have afforded a deposit on a house for what they charge the young insured now.

[Buenchico]

>>>if I bought a car and added my daughter to my policy

If your daughter was actually the main driver of the car you'd be guilty of what is commonly known as 'fronting' but what the police officer arresting you and your daughter would call 'fraud by false representation'. The maximum penalty is 10 years imprisonment.

[EDDIE51]

How old is she? Teenage drivers can expect to pay several thousand £s for even the cheapest car insurance. The insurance will certainly be a lot more than the price of the car!

[FrogNog]

Not necessarily Eddie.
The nicer and newer and more sensible the car, the lower the premium, but I agree, it's in the thousands now

[EDDIE51]

^^ To add to Buenchico's post you would also have the insurance voided if you made a claim and end up paying the entire claim yourself, possibly over a £million if there were personal injuries.

[Mass_Hysteria]

2 things anax. Your no claims is currently being used on the car YOU drive now. If you bought another car you would have to start a new policy with zero no claims. (Some companies may allow some of your current no claims but not all. Would still possibly be cheaper but also your daughter would not have a policy, therefore accruing Zero no claims over the years. If that makes sense?

[hc4361]

Have a look at 'black box' insurance for your daughter. Read the small print carefully as some penalise for late night driving but it can work out much cheaper.

http://www.money.co.uk/car-insurance/black-box-insurance.htm

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-2407945/I-got-car-insurance-500-How-blackbox-help-young-drivers.html

[ChillDoubt]

My first car was a Daihatsu Charade.
One litre, 3 cylinder and went from North Wales to Dover on one tank of petrol.
Had to change the back box once, nothing else service/maintenance-wise for the 10 years I had it.
I don't know what the modern equivalent would be but there do seem to be favourable reliability issues with Asian cars and what comes as standard is often an extra on others.

[EDDIE51]

I didn't see that the car was going to be £5000 but another £3000 for insurance would be about the cheapest.
Also it is worth noting that most insurance companies now will not allow a child under 25 to be added to a parents insurance as a named driver, even if the child really is only a occasional driver of the car. Too many people were getting round the high insurance for young drivers that way so they have stopped it.

[anaxcrosswords]

Thing that amazes me is that I'd be committing an offence by choosing a different way of arranging insurance - I'd only regarded it as a way of minimising cost. Amazing what you learn on here, and thanks for the info!

[Hopkirk]

Will she be driving a lot, or just occasionally?

Some policies allow you to add a driver for short periods.
For example Aviva let you add someone for periods adding up to a maximum of 30 days per year.

If this isn't enough others may allow longer.

Swinton brokers could advise, but they add a big admin fee each time you activate a period so it is probably cheaper to deal direct with an insurance company.

[EDDIE51]

Not a 'different way of arranging insurance' it is fraud ! pure and simple!

[Hopkirk]

You can't go far wrong with a Ford Fiesta

[silliemillie]

Ford Ka is a little different, very low insurance and tax.

[TWR]

Her First car, I would not be spending that sort of money until she gets a bit of experience Anx, start off with a cheap one then work your way up from that, a cheap car is cheap to repair, think about that, and again, when you decide to buy, take someone with you that knows a bit.