Advice Please. Young Ringway soon to start driving.

[ringway]

One of the young Ringway's (Les) will be 17, in a couple of months.

Naturally, he's keen to start driving lessons as soon as possible.

I need some advice on a couple of points.

1: When he has passed his driving test, he'll need a car. I'd prefer him to drive a solid 15, year old banger, say a VW Passat or Golf rather than a 5, year old Corsa, Fiesta..

I haven't got any insurance figures yet but perhaps an old, non-turbo Passat diesel would be less to insure than a 5,year old small hatch?


2: Should I register the car in my name and have him as a named driver, enabling him to build up his driving experience at a cheaper rate than insuring a vehicle for himself?
Or should I let him insure himself from scratch (costly, but he'll realise the benefits of driving carefully this way).

If I'm dropping a clanger with any of the above, I'd be pleased to know.


TIA.

Paul.

 

[Sonny Burnett]

ok when i turned 17 i bought a 97 c180 and it was in my mums name, i drove under her insurance, was about £1000
also the preupdate classics comes up a bit cheaper than say a update 202.
mine had full leather cruise and AC. so it was a great first car for £1500. ended up doing 56k miles problem free driving

 

[davethemus]

you should think about an old volvo, very solid and i believe insurance is quite cheap.

 

[Frank O' Phile]

HI Paul, I remember reading somewhere that having the insurance in your name with your son as a named driver is legal but can be contested if it is found that your son is the main driver.

This is obvious if a 17 y.o yoof is hooning around in a 1.3 corsa with full 'Barry' spec (multifit alloys, bodykit, roof spoiler etc) and after throwing it at the scenery makes a claim to the insurance company who fail to believe that it belongs to the aged mother.

I'm not making my point very well but it's still early morning.

Your choice of cars is spot on, but add on the VW polo. I still like the old coupe.

 

[Rayny]

Hi there,
Goggle 'Fronting'
I'm sure that you will then ensure that your son insures the car in his own name

 

[d w124]

I can see you already having sleepless nights about it Paul

 

[Simon_M]

I used to have 1997 Passat diesel, great car, cheap to run and he could easily do DIY fixes if he chose to. It was solid as a rock, my neighbour reversed his Focus into it pretty hard. I fixed mine with T-Cut, he claimed on his insurance!

It doesn't exactly have much street cred though, what about a mkIV Golf?

Oh and it was the 110bhp top of the range Sport, it was in no way quick but was cheap to insure!

 

[Benzowner]

Paul,
My next door neighbour has just gone through this, we did some 13 years ago and as far as I know, the option to go for is to insure the car in your sons name and you or your wife or both go on as named drivers. Expensive first year after which he then accumulates his own NCB.

Geoff

 

[EDZ649]

Paul, have you thought about putting him on you company fleet policy? I know there will be a large excess but that might be outweighed by the premium cost.

His car would have to be registered in the company name though.

I'm going to look at this when my son turns 17.

 

[trando]

We've just been through this with my eldest. We bought him an 02 reg VW Polo 1.2 with 50k miles on the clock. Insurance wise, we looked at every single option and in the end went for a third party fire and theft policy in his name only. Cost was £ 1,500 but if he manages to get through year one without a claim, this drops to £ 680. He also took and passed 'Pass Plus', which gave him a 10% discount on his initial premium. Pass Plus cost £ 150 but there's currently a scheme that means we pay half, the government pays the other half. The discount was worth about £ 150.

I'm not convinced there's a definite right or wrong way of doing this, but based on our requirements, this seems to have worked for us!

Good luck!!!

 

[flango]

Paul

I have been through exactly the same exercise only weeks ago but for my daughter, I am amazed how insurance premiums for boys are loaded but if you look at the police accident statistics of young drivers then girls are catching up fast.

Play the insurance companies at their own game, Polo's Corsa's Saxo, Punto all incredibly expensive to insure for a young driver. Look at Audi A3, Mercedes A class, BMW Compact VW Golf, Volvo S40 (not much street cred though).

The best way to reduce the premium, well don't get caught in the fronting trap, Car must be insured in his own name then you need someone on the policy who has advanced driving qualifications if possible, if not then you or Mrs Ringway or both of you assuming your license is relatively clean.

I went the Audi A3 route and could get Sarah insured in her own name with me as the secondary driver and SWMBO as the third driver for £804 TPF&T for a 1999 Audi A3 1.6 Petrol. Which was much better than I was expecting. Also when she passes her test the premium does not increase (thats somehting else you need to watch out for some policies can actually double the moment they pass the test as they can drive unsupervised and statistically pose a higher risk)

Hope that helps mate.

 

[Spinal]

With regards to who pays for the insurance, on my first car my father paid for half of the insurance and I paid for the rest. It meant I could afford a car while studying full time (and working part time); but it also meant that I realised just how much a car/insurance is worth...

 

[rees_A]

My son has just been through this. He has a 1.4 golf 2002. Insurance from most companies was close to £3000!!!.(It's ins group 4!!)

We found a company called i-kube that fit a tracker to the car and charge extra if you drive after 23:00 and before 05:45. The extra charge is £45 per instance. Insurance was £1800 so about £1200 cheaper than next cheapest policy. He hasn't used his car after 23:00 so not been an issue with time restrictions. You also get access to a website that you can look at to see distance speed etc so you can keep an eye on his driving too!!!

 

[h17n dj]

Hi mate.... When i was 17 my parents gave me their 1 year old Honda Civic 1.6 iV-tec thingy... was paying £2600 on dads name.... then a few months before i turned 19, i bought the W202 C200 Elegance ive got now and was paying a tad over £3000 to insure but in my name.... think carefully lol!

 

[crockers]

All I can say is DON'T front the policy - insurers are wise to this and in the event of an accident expect a severe grilling.
As it's a boy make sure you are sitting down when doing the quote requests...it aint going to be cheap - nor even reasonable. It's going to hurt !!!!
When I did this for my granddaughter (yes I know I don't look old enough ) - like Ian I discovered prices can rocket once she has passed her test. In the end I bought her a Toyota Yaris and insured through Tescos for £630. For a boy don't be surprised to see that doubled or even trebled.

Good luck

 

[splang]

I know someone who was insured on a mini 650 cc old banger that didnt exist (or didnt own etc)...

No chance of there ever being a claim of course....cheap ncb.

Don't recommend this of course!
S

 

[grober]

Buy as recent as you can to get the best safety kit. There were major developments in car safety in the mainstream models post 2000. Side and curtain airbags, belt tensioners, anti submarine seats, better passenger cell integrity etc etc. I reckon the small engined compact Volvos and Saab's might be good bets in that department. Have a look at the Euro Ncap site for the best older model ratings. HOME | Euro NCAP - For safer cars crash test safety ratinglarge family car class pre 2009 there are some "sleepers" there safety wise - rover 75[post 2001], saab93[post 2002], volvo s40[post97]etc tend also to be driven initially by fairly "sober" people so chances of picking up a reasonable one cheap quite high.

 

[stevieb15]

Having been through this with my two, if you can put him on the company insurance buy something aged but decent, if you can't 3rd party only and get a non depreciating runner that you can throw away with little loss if something big goes wrong!

 

[billysingh31]

If i was you - i would get an old banger and put the quote in your name....it will be a lot cheaper for him to insure once he has 12 months experience and is 18... there are companies out there that are designed for younger drivers though, and also companies that specialize in hot hatch schemes!!!

 

[lxi]

Been there - you need to find something insurance group 2 if you can.

I got my son a Ford Ka - cracking little thing (in fact like the tardis inside) - handled well, not very quick = safe and also cheap to maintain.

Insurance - has to be in his name