Advice Please. Young Ringway soon to start driving.

[flango]

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

Strangely enough I found insurance groups did not really matter for younger drivers (to an extent) what matters was how nickable the car was or how many of its type had been crashed. The Audi A3 Insurance group 10 was miles cheaper than a Polo Insurance group 3 so beware groups are misleading.

 

[Spinal]

Oh, I was also thinking.... if you are looking for an incentive for grades, your insurance "subsidy" could be related to grades...

8 A's = 70% subsidy
7 A's = 65% subsidy

or something like that...

M.

 

[ringway]

Many thanks indeed for the input everyone.

A lot of excellent points raised - I now need to consider the options for car model, and insurance.



Paul.

 

[LTD]

My daughter just got her policy renewed

2004 VW Golf Mk5

Full Comp, myself and Mrs LTD as named drivers.

£625 - Admiral

 

[Sonny Burnett]

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

2 girls i knew just died driving a Ka. hit a wall?
my younger brother is 20 now but when he turned 17 he got a c180 update esprite. was cheap as hell to insure, he still has it and nothing has gone wrong with it. and its a mercedes. we had a dad that instilled decent cars in us... to be honest your comment about not being quick = safe is way off. i cant tell you in how many situations power has gotten me out off also if he was to say .. be hit head on or side on by a 211 or even a 203 it wouldn't go no where in his favour. that's the thing that worries me about kids driving cars.

 

[Spinal]

My current C180 was my first car in the UK when I was 17. Cost £1200 to insure the first year if I remember well (with 3 years NCB; I had my first license/car at 14) - this was back in 2002, when C180 esprits were still worth around £4k-5k...

As such, the C180 gets another vote from me!

A little underpowered, yes. But then again, you don't want the car racing around, do you?

 

[BlackC55]

IMO it does not matter what car it is as long as it is safe. I don't care what the insurance premium is. I would not let my daughter drive a Ford Ka or equivalent.

My Ruby wont be driving a hot hatch when she is 17. (4 months old now) she will be driving a safe car. That is what matters.

 

[andy_k]

i cant tell you in how many situations power has gotten me out off

99% of road cars do not have anywhere near enough power to 'get you out of trouble' in most situations.

However, 100% of them do have ample power to get you into trouble

On the insurance thing, the curfew policies seem a good idea - there is a lad near us who halved his premium by taking one out

 

[Sonny Burnett]

IMO it does not matter what car it is as long as it is safe. I don't care what the insurance premium is. I would not let my daughter drive a Ford Ka or equivalent.

My Ruby wont be driving a hot hatch when she is 17. (4 months old now) she will be driving a safe car. That is what matters.

this is exactly how i think. people think small kid small car if they have a Big accident its lights out.

99% of road cars do not have anywhere near enough power to 'get you out of trouble' in most situations.

However, 100% of them do have ample power to get you into trouble

On the insurance thing, the curfew policies seem a good idea - there is a lad near us who halved his premium by taking one out

whatever..
in my experience on the north circular it has gotten me out of a lot of trouble.

 

[HowardD]

There is a company called marmalade drive offering free insurance on a new corsa. Another option to consider if insurance is going to cost £1k+?

HD

 

[A1GSS]

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...

I work for an insurer.

Tip 1 - That's fronting and it's illegal. Don't do it, he won't be insured, you might go to jail for fraud, and both your names will rightly be on the bureau's database...

Tip 2 - An easy and effective way to get quotes and compare the costs of insuring various cars is to use one of the quote comparison websites (I used confused.com, your choice may differ). You can change the car details and get a requote in a few seconds. Play with excesses etc.

Tip 3 - My old and dear friend's 21 year old son was killed 2 years ago in a low-speed crash in an old Citroen Saxo. That was a shocker. My daughter will be driving soon, I'm in this place now. Spend some money and get a newish 5-star NCAP car.

 

[Sonny Burnett]

There is a company called marmalade drive offering free insurance on a new corsa. Another option to consider if insurance is going to cost £1k+?

HD

2k for 202 1 k on insurance, instead of 10k on utter crap it makes seance to me

 

[flango]

IMO it does not matter what car it is as long as it is safe. I don't care what the insurance premium is. I would not let my daughter drive a Ford Ka or equivalent.

My sentiments exactly I have witnessed 2 fatalities one in a Ford Ka the other in a Fiat Cinquecento. In both cases if the car would have been a Golf or similar it would not have been fatal, both cars were destroyed beyond belief from a relatively minor impact. NCAP ratings are very misleading in that respect.

When I choose a car for anybody the first question I ask myself is would I put my wife and daughter in that, what would happen if it were rear ended at 50 mph by a truck? That usually rules out anything smaller than a golf.

You can't put a price on the safety of your loved ones

 

[crockers]

I work for an insurer.

Tip 1 - That's fronting and it's illegal. Don't do it, he won't be insured, you might go to jail for fraud, and both your names will rightly be on the bureau's database...

Tip 2 - An easy and effective way to get quotes and compare the costs of insuring various cars is to use one of the quote comparison websites (I used confused.com, your choice may differ). You can change the car details and get a requote in a few seconds. Play with excesses etc.

Tip 3 - My old and dear friend's 21 year old son was killed 2 years ago in a low-speed crash in an old Citroen Saxo. That was a shocker. My daughter will be driving soon, I'm in this place now. Spend some money and get a newish 5-star NCAP car.

Tip 4. Add yourself and your wife to HIS policy. It will reduce the premium.

 

[corned]

2k for 202 1 k on insurance, instead of 10k on utter crap it makes seance to me

Is that a typo, or a very clever pun?

 

[A1GSS]

Tip 4. Add yourself and your wife to HIS policy. It will reduce the premium.

Interesting idea, I'll look at that. Thanks

 

[Sonny Burnett]

Is that a typo, or a very clever pun?

it only draws out the real smart people that correct my grammar for free..these people are like the house help of the internet

 

[iscaboy]

These are the worst things you can do, in no particular order.

1/ "Front" his insurance and give him a criminal record and an endorsed licence.

2/ Buy him a vehicle.

3/ Pay for his insurance.

4/ Assume that the modern driving test is worth more than 2p when it comes to safety or driving skill.

These are the best things you can do, in no particular order.

1/ give him driving experience while sat next to him.

2/ give him experience of skid pan, off road, and heavy goods and other vehicle driving.

3/ give him experience of the mechanical aspects of a vehicle, the physics of motion, etc.

4/ help him to select, buy and insure a vehicle that he can actually afford, where "help him" = a personal loan with fixed repayments and confiscation of the vehicle if he misses a payment.

5/ play the cop, every time he does something illegal, fine him, real cash money (put it in a pot towards his first decent car if you like) while pointing out he is lucky it isn't points on his licence and increased insurance premiums, "it's not fair dad" doesn't work on a copper who just pulled you for crossing unbroken white lines...

A WORKING 17 year old kid can just about afford to buy and run a crap car legally and safely, plus maybe 100 miles worth of fuel a week, plus some basic clothes, and £10 a week to mum for food, that's it.

Stress the fact that it is a crap car, if he sticks it into a lamp post at 30 mph he will maybe lose his legs, get him good and scared.

You are not doing him any favours sticking him in a decent car and picking up the bills and programming him with expectations way beyond his station and false assumptions about invulnerability.

NOT ONE OF YOU PEOPLE has talked about your responsibility as parents to other road users and pedestrians for the carnage your kids are likely to produce.

A reliant robin or rialto is affordable, fixable, economical, within his means, and exactly the kind of vehicle that won't get him into street racing and A&E.

If he doesn't want one, then HE DOES NOT WANT TRANSPORT from A to B, he wants a status symbol, without earning it himself.

 

[EDZ649]

"Not one of you people"

Where do you get off talking to us like that? Go and polish your halo somewhere else......

 

[iscaboy]

"Not one of you people"

Where do you get off talking to us like that? Go and polish your halo somewhere else......

I get off talking like that because it is FACT.

NOT ONE PERSON cared about anything but their own child's safety, NOT ONE PERSON expressed any concern about innocent third parties injured, maimed or killed by their children due to lack of driving skill and experience.

When pulled up on this SHEER HYPOCRISY, you go and tell me to polish my halo!!!