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crosslandkelly

Full Member
Jun 9, 2009
26,652
2,532
North West London
My daughter who turned seventeen in January, has just started driving lessons. Are there any other members out there in the same position, who can advice me on a decent cheap to insure car for her. Also any advice on insurance companies who deal with young drivers. Thanks in advance.
Colin.



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Car wise, balance out cheap to run with safety.

A diesel 106 is uber cheap to run and insure. Unfortunately it has the structural integrity of a crisp packet.

Just a thought.
 
Not as bad in a crash as the 106 but still not great. Frontal area is soft on them, especially steering column deformation in a frontal impact.

The other issue is they were so popular with the young crowd that they were hammered to death and run on a pocket money budget. Also, insurance tends to be high.

Talking of which, what sort of purchase price are you looking at?
 
I don't know how close the insurance companies philosophy there parallels those here but here goes:
1-It's your DAUGHTER. Girls are usually seen as lowere risk and therefore cheaper to insure than boys
2-Automatic transmisions (gearboxes) are generally less likely to be seen as racing kit and therefore are cheaper to insure
4-Sedans (4 door cars) are similarly seen as more sedate and thus safer (cheaper) to insure than coupes (2 doors) UNLESS! It's a pick-up. They're generally viewed as a more practical working and/or farm vehicle and thus cheaper to insure.
 
When we were looking into it about 3yr ago in GB, the vauxhall corsa 1l were cheapest to insure and Quentins were the cheapest insurance by a mile.... girls were cheaper to insure because of the lower risk factor but thats been legislated against as 'discriminatory'. Parkers site lists the current insurance groups- they do change depending on the dynamic of the buyers so the corsa may well have gone up a bracket or 2 as all the young 'uns pounced on them!

The new insurance grouping is explained at Parkers here and you can use the selector here to find group 1 (the cheapest) cars. Watch the different models with older cars as they can bump up a premium if they're rarer/ more upmarket models which are harder to source the usual damage suspects (eg colour coded/ painted and different shaped bumpers, light units)

It might be worth checking AAs black box scheme for a long term insurance reduction if she's a careful lass, I have no idea if it'll be reasonably priced though! Good luck to you both!!
 
I don't know how close the insurance companies philosophy there parallels those here but here goes:
1-It's your DAUGHTER. Girls are usually seen as lowere risk and therefore cheaper to insure than boys
2-Automatic transmisions (gearboxes) are generally less likely to be seen as racing kit and therefore are cheaper to insure
4-Sedans (4 door cars) are similarly seen as more sedate and thus safer (cheaper) to insure than coupes (2 doors) UNLESS! It's a pick-up. They're generally viewed as a more practical working and/or farm vehicle and thus cheaper to insure.

I think it's pretty much the same here. Female drivers were viewed as a lower risk by insurers, until the EU d@@kheads decided that insurers could not offer premiums based on gender. An auto box may be an option down the line, but for now she needs to learn and practice in a manual. I don't know how it is is the US,
But in the UK, if you pass your test in an automatic, you are stuck with automatics. Pass your test in a manual, and you can drive both. :burnout:
Atb
Colin.
 
The last time I was in an automatic was when I was 12 - the last one I saw was Drews...
Automatics are as rare as hens molars around here....

If you can find a boxy old Volvo going cheap then insurance companies quite like them - and the safety features are pretty good too!
Avoid Ferraris.
 

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