Getting a kid on the road (car).

[A100man]

My second son approaching 17 has some car driving aspirations, not huge ones but is being fuelled by my lazy-arse ex-wife..

40 years since I embarked on this so I know nowt. Although I realise the greater part of the equation is the insurance. So, how to best this trap?

1) what is the best type of car to get? (assume low value, small engine, compact) eg. 15 year old Corsa 1.0 or something more historic/classic?

2) Does he insure himself or named driver (suspect latter is frowned upon)

3) Black box recorder or other technology aided reductions?

Cheers all
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Now: A100, GT250A, XJ598, FZ750

Then: Fizz, RS200, KL250, XJ550, Laverda Alpina, XJ600, FZS600

[stinkwheel]

Remember risk is assessed on the number of claims/payouts they've made on that sort of car so common learner cars aren't necessarily always the cheapest to insure.

So see how you come in with slightly left of field cars which are less likely to be commonly crashed.

All the youngsters I know of with cars have dobber boxes fitted to get them reduced premiums. Speed, mileage and daylight restrictions.

Micras were always a good bet for a learner. Parkers have a list of cars by insurance group and sure enough a micra is in there in group 1... But so is a smart four-four and I bet they have fewer smashes in those.
https://www.parkers.co.uk/car-insurance/group-1/
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Ste]

1 litre shitbox corsa will cost a small fortune to insure as they frequently get crashed by inexperienced 17 year old kids.

He wants something that's not a typical first car so maybe a 1.4 or 1.6 saloon family car or something equally dull. Insurance pricing is all about statistics as insurers have their big table of stats which tells them who's going to cost them what.

Playing around on price comparison sites getting quotes for lots of different vehicles will pay off as he needs to find the anomalies. Don't make any assumptions, typical first cars will cost at least eleventy billion pounds to insure. He might find that a big old classic V12 something-or-other is dirt cheap to insurer as they're not a popular car for 17 year olds so the stats could be to his advantage.

When I say he needs to get quotes for lots of different vehicles I really mean it.

Insuring as a named driver aka insurance fronting is fraud and insurance companies are wise to it so he'll be up shit creek without a paddle if he has to make a claim. Whoever puts their name to the policy will be fucked as well.

[A100man]

[A100man]

[andys675]

we went down the fiesta 1.4 diesel route with a black box
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Some people feel the rain, others just get wet.

[Freddyfruitba...]

[A100man]

[Freddyfruitba...]

[DaddyStu]

Have a work colleague in this predicament with quotes of 2-3k to insure a 1.0L car.

He has found that by adding himself/his wife as named driver/drivers it reduces the insurance significantly. Might help in your case.
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Daddystu
Zontes 125-G1 (part-ex'd). Yamaha Tracer 700.

[Robby]

It's been a long time since any of my knowledge would be current, but a combination of my memory and things I've gleaned from other people going through the process:

1. If you're talking about a car to learn in, don't bother. Let the driving instructor handle all that, only get him a car when he's passed his test. There are all of the considerations about teaching bad habits etc, but the main one for me is cost - the cost of insuring an appropriate car for a learner, then changing the insurance after passing his test, will cost more than 10 more lessons.

2. Finding a cheap car to insure is about hammering comparison sites with a load of different makes and models until something looks good. My cheapest insurance in my younger years was on an old 4 litre jag. The most expensive was a 1.6 escort.

3. Don't be surprised is he has no interest in learning in a manual. Manual cars are a dying breed now. Everything electric is automatic, I don't know if there are even manual hybrids.

4. Your knowledge will be well out of date.

[blurredman]