I have been driving a year after passing my test again last year and since then I’ve been a named driver on my partners car. But due to me getting a SP50 it’s knocked her insurance a lot for renewal as split in half it would be £2500 with me on or £500 just for her. Now the only time I use it is if she can’t be mivered driving or if she is off and the weather’s rubbish I’ll use it instead of the motorbike.

Now I’m thinking of getting my own, tried alsorts of different cars, old farts cars, estates the usual Corsa, group 1 insurance cars and the cheapest I can get is £1900.

Worth it or just try to plod on with motorbikes and hope it comes down when I hit 30 year old.

My sister pays £1500 comp on a Hyundai I10 and step daughter £ 1800 on a 1.2 corsa both are under 20.

£2000 a year insurance? if you can live and work fine without it then sod it. Make sure you have an alternative method to get to work if the weather goes bad.

After bills etc I’d be left with £857 a month fuel and disposable income after that. Work is doable during winter in a car, motorbike it’s downright scary. If I’m on early shifts 2/3 times a week 0700 – 1445 public transport is not an option, taxi is £30.
Late shift 1330-2130 public transport is doable in winter.

And with my accident record I’m scared of injuring myself on the motorbike.

Worth it or just try to plod on with motorbikes and hope it comes down when I hit 30 year old.

that is a myth…

The only way to get it to come down normally is by earning NCB, if you are not getting the bonus on her insurance then you will have to start high. You will get a drop when the points go but not much else. In general experience getting older/wiser just means the premium doesn’t go up as much.

If a return taxi journey is £30 then it should be doable by bicycle by young man like yerself and save you 4k?ish a year for 130+ taxis or a deposit on a house nearer your work.

You say passing your test again? Did you lose your licence? If so premiums may stay high for a very long time. A mate who is now 40 couldn’t insure anything cheaply in his early 30’s did to getting a drunk driving ban in his late 20’s.

Winter commuting on a motorbike…
Plenty do.
Kittted up it’s not that bad.

But you need to start building up your own car bonus.
Buy yourself a banger & insure that.
Get your own bonus going.
In a year’s time it will be worth it.

And in younger day’s I was often left with a lot less income than that after bills. 😐
Best of luck mate.

Yeah lost my license a couple of years after passing for speeding. Plus my current SP30 and 50. Under no illusions that it would be expensive. Serves me right for driving/riding like a tool when I was younger.
The cheapest I have found is £1400 Fully Comp on a 1 litre Corsa . Very guttless car but might be a good thing with my track record.

Cycling is possible in the future, it’s 15 mile each way. But current fitness levels absolutely no chance.

There is usually a drop at certain ages, but as mikewsmith says, not as magnificent as some think. As its for speeding, I would have expected the cost to come down after five years when you can answer ‘no’ to the ‘any convictions in the last 5 years’ question.

Cycling is possible in the future, it’s 15 mile each way. But current fitness levels absolutely no chance.

Just get on with it, you’ll be fit enough in no time. Maybe bike in/bus home, bus in/bike home for the first couple of weeks.

Just get on with it, you’ll be fit enough in no time. Maybe bike in/bus home, bus in/bike home for the first couple of weeks.

That. With the money you save you’ll be able to buy yourself a very nice commuter bike and kit. 15 miles is almost a perfect commute distance

Wow. Car insurance has gone ballistic in the UK. Has the accident rate gone up or what? What’s the reason?

+another one for the bike.

You could even start with just two, then three days a week until you barely register it as exercise.

Wow. Car insurance has gone ballistic in the UK. Has the accident rate gone up or what? What’s the reason?

I think there are circumstances beyond the normal. Eg. I pay £150 per year, fully comp.

My motorbike insurance is £280 for the next 12 months. Multibike policy. Suzuki GSR 600 and Honda CBF 125 is my current winter hack. Suzuki stays Garaged from November – April after my accident in 2013.
I personally would keep riding motorbikes, but keep getting whinged at by parents to get my own car. But I’ve never needed one.

Costs me nothing to park at work, car would cost £120+ per year and your not guranteed a space.

Both bikes cost cost £500 to service per year (£250 each) and tyres £300 a year. Have considered chopping the 600 in for a Honda CB500F or X but again I’d be scared of dropping it in winter. The 125 not so much, cheap to fix.

And with my accident record I’m scared of injuring myself on the motorbike.

Then you’ll need to suck it up and pay the insurance premiums…, sorry.

One way to get them reduced is for you to insure a car and get a named (safer) driver put on – try adding your wife to YOUR insurance rather than the other way around.

Adding the missus makes it more expensive due to her accident in 2010. £1600 is with my mum and Dad as additional drivers me as main.
Cold and frosty is fine on the motorbike, wet and windy is fine in winter though.

Wow. Car insurance has gone ballistic in the UK. Has the accident rate gone up or what? What’s the reason?

It’s not necessarily a general issue (for example I’m something like £100 per year for a 1000cc motorbike and £200 per year for a 2.5L petrol car, and that’s with 3 points on my license) but more related to the OP’s driving record.

Am I reading this right? You’ve been banned for speeding once and are currently half way to your second ban? I’d say £1500 was cheap a gutless car is a good idea.

Yeah the sp50 I got a £300 fine but zero points. And a two week ban. I seem to get the red mist when tailgated and blast off. This time the tailgating vehicle was a unmarked 3 series estate.

Since the above I now ride like a granny. And think the 600 is far too powerful for my commute.
When thinking about it, £1600 is a fair price, given my poor track record.
But is it worth it just for the November to March inclement weather?

Yeah the sp50 I got a £300 fine but zero points. And a two week ban.

It’s the ban that’ll have affected the insurance – that’s why they do it. I think the idea is to keep folks like yourselves out of faster vehicles by making the insurance too expensive.

if your looking at a bike i would suggest something like a gs400 or something. you can get decent size rubber on it and its not fast.

although i used to ride all year round (slush was the only thing i didnt ride in) a car is much better if your doing shifts imo.

How about one of those three wheel commuter scooters, then? Supposedly more stable in winter, you can get one of those capes to cover your legs when it’s cold and wet…

stop whinging, we cant get you cheaper car insurance, MTFU and ride the push bike to work. 15 miles may seem hard but after a month it will be a breeze and you’ll wonder what the fuss was about. Shut up and get on with it.

😉

Your postcode has a big effect too, moving to london area mine went from 230 to 450.

I did 12 miles each way every day on the bike…..wee buns. Once you get used to it then it’s fine. Admittedly it can become a chore if you’ve been on the bike three or four weeks in a row, but it’ll help you no end on the mtb and it makes any other form of commuting seem like madness. I really miss it now.

According to Google it would take 1 hour 29 mins. So I’d have set off at 0500. No washing facilities for staff. And wouldn’t want to do smell like death. I’d take the train half way and cycle in. But on a early the train is a nogo.

Plus I’d have to buy a suitable road bike.

bwfc4eva868 – Member

According to Google it would take 1 hour 29 mins. So I’d have set off at 0500. No washing facilities for staff. And wouldn’t want to do smell like death. I’d take the train half way and cycle in. But on a early the train is a nogo.

Plus I’d have to buy a suitable road bike.

Google’s time will be based on an average leisure cyclist tootling along. You’ll do it in an hour easy. Get yourself some polygiene or merino or other form of anti-mcrobial base layers, and some dry shower and you’ll be sorted. It’s not ideal but still very doable. We only had one shower at work, so it was pot luck if you got to take a shower. Often any of the other 5 or 6 people who cycled in were in it.

I did it on a hybrid. I even through in the odd 40 miler on the way home. Sounds like you are putting all sorts of mental barriers in front of yourself. It’s more than doable. It takes about 3 or 4 weeks to get used to it, but once you do it gets addictive and other forms of commuting seem insane.

It’s your choice of course but there is no way in hell I’d be paying £1200 to insure a car unless it had 500+ BHP.

I suspect googles average speed for cycles is under rated. 15 miles is an hour max, I used to do exactly 15 into central london, through 68 traffic lights (which I did stop at before anybody says it) every day and was usually under an hour. A cheap road bike is still a lot less than the insurance. Its a real mans mileage in the winter but a joy in the summer.

Don’t get me wrong I’d prefer to cycle in winter and motorbike in summer. And never bother with a car ever. Family seem to be pushing me to get one to stay safe.

There are enough dangerous crap drivers around as it is. Please don’t get a car until you’ve grown up a bit.

^^what he said.

Sounds like a 1 litre Corsa is what you should be driving.

No washing facilities for staff. And wouldn’t want to do smell like death

When I had to cycle in without a shower (10 miles) I used to have a shower before leaving and put clean cycling kit on, and not over-dress. Also I didn’t wear anything on my back. That was enough to be no sweatier than if I had walked around town on a hot day… so I didn’t feel I needed a shower.

I had a ban for speeding once too (many years ago now). Suck it up drive a crappy car, and pay the massive premiums was my approach, but just after the ban I needed to travel lots on road (Watford to Cambridge was not practical by bike). Also, learn to drive like a Nun!

Or

15 miles is possible and you don’t need a shower after that length of ride unless you are just plain killing yourself all the way. I’d opt for a cyclocross/commuter style bike too so you can put guards and a pannier rack on it.

Most importantly though, learn to relax when driving, if someone tailgates you either a) move out of the way, or b) if there is no where to get out of the way just slow down more.

From someone who learnt the hard way there is only one easy way not to be prosecuted for speeding.

I commute 15 miles each way into work – only 2-3 days a week but it’s into some “mountains” and involves a coupla big climbs. If your route is pretty level you can fly along at >15mph no bother, its big climbs as an unfit/fat knacker that drop your speed and increase the travel times. I average 50-55 mins in and 45mins home.

For 2K you can get a decent road bike (CX only if you have lots of climbs, otherwise the gearing is too low), a load of decent winter kit and lights and a still have >£500 left over.

I’m not a serial speeder. Usually I’m calm driving, I don’t tailgate, not constantly on the brakes. Just get really wound up if I’m tailgated myself.

Apart from one massive hill it’s mostly downhill and flat on the way there. But rises uphill gradually on the wayback from work.

The only other alternative is to stick to what I’m doing now and add cycling into the mix and get a car in five years when the sp30/sp50 drop off. Without them I’d pay £800 for the first year, £500 the second year with a years ncb.

You’ve already provided evidence to the contrary.

Apart from one massive hill it’s mostly downhill and flat on the way there.

Perfect. You’ll hardly have broken a sweat by the time you get to work.

It might be worth looking at whether you can use transfer the motorbike NCD to a car. Tesco seem to:

Tesco insurance

bwfc4eva868 » I’m not a serial speeder.

Really, banned and now on 6 points? What would a serial speeder be?
I used to commute across London just under 20 miles each way, with nearly 160 sets of traffic lights. It did get a bit much every day as it ended up being about a 14 hour day, but I did get it down to 1hr 5mins for a brief period in mid 2012 (when everyone left London for 2 weeks).
You need to sort yourself out, I’m afraid.

There is usually a drop at certain ages, but as mikewsmith says, not as magnificent as some think.

There is. The difference when you get over 45 is considerable. Whatever you drive, fully comp, about £200. Protected.

Mind you, I’ve spent 30 years or so not being banned, and not writing stuff off all over the place.

All right, 20 years. I was young once. And it cost.

3 points for the SP30.The SP 50 was a heavy fine £300, and no points.