Recently passed my driving test and I am dreaming of my first car! I’m thinking of going the Bangernomics route and buying a car for weekend trips on the bike, but I’m a bit worried about reliability.

I was thinking along the lines of a Skoda or other VAG engine estate. I’d look to run it for a year, or a little bit less before buying something a bit newer. My current budget is around £1000, with tax, insurance etc on top. I’d prefer not to spend all of it if possible though.

Any recommendations or advice please? What sort of expenses would I be looking at if buying an older car? Are some better than others for reliability? Will I have problems getting breakdown cover on older cars?

VW Polo will cost you pennies to run. I have a 2004 Polo that was given to me. It has just over 100k on the clock, and a 1.9L SDI motor.

It has been excellent for the last two years that I have been using it, and with a set of used roof bars and a used bike rail (all Thule), I carry my mountain bike with ease.

don’t forget as a new driver, insurance is going to cost a lot – in many cases more than the car itself

As above, forget about the car until you’ve worked out the insurance – use Compare (or equivalent) and have a play with a range of cars.

Depending on how old and where you live, insurance could easily be more than the £1000.

Also check out comp insurance vs TP/TPFT.

Forget makes, buy on condition (being mindful of insurance /running costs) I would go private and scan the ads gumtree etc and buy from someone who has owned the car for a while (would not buy one that has been up for days, obs no-one else wants it), if anything doesn’t seem right then walk away, take someone who knows a bit about cars if possible

SaxonRider – Member

VW Polo will cost you pennies to run. I have a 2004 Polo that was given to me.

If the OP’s not interested then I will gladly take it off your hands for £0.
😀

We already have a 3 door 2008 Polo I’m a named driver on. It will cost £650 to get insured on it fully comp. Perhaps I will have to scale down my ambitions if that’s the cost to insure myself on a 1.2L car! It does run very nicely, but it would be nice to have a 4 door vehicle and to be able to put the bike in the boot when it’s just me in there.

I don’t live in a large city, I’m not a teenager, use is SDP and commuting only, and it’ll be parked off-street. Hoping I’ll be low cost for insurance because of that!

I currently take the train to work during Winter/Autumn. Means I can put the £500 I spend on it towards the car if I drive to work instead.

Means I can put the £500 I spend on it towards the car fuel & parking if I drive to work instead.

don’t forget the car needs to be fed 😉

I was in my 30s when i got my first car, I looked at classic learner boxes, polos and clios and the likes but it turned out cheaper to get my Focus estate – I assume just risk factors, no 17 year olds ever bought an 80bhp coalburning estate to pick up girls in, and if I wrote it off they could make the payout in loose change.

Vauxhall Agila was mentioned on here a few weeks ago. Something that the oldies drive should keep the premiums down.

Nissan Almera?
Toyota Corolla?

Be prepared to pay £2k or more for your first car insurance with 1.6 litre engine.

I like the sound of a Toyota for some reason.

How about something like this? What would be the pitfalls apart from the insane insurance quote of £974 annually?

Original Ford Ka? Can get a bike in the back with wheels off, small engine, low insurance group and a lovely car to drive (agricultural engine aside).

Just watch for rust.

What would be the pitfalls apart from the insane completely expected insurance quote of £974 annually?

FTFY, you’ve just passed, even if you’re not a teenager you will almost certainly be shafted for insurance in your first year.

Look at telematics policies – with a box in your car to monitor your driving. No use if it’s a shared vehicle used by someone else less cautious though.

Yeah, no point railing about it I guess.

Looking more and more like the answer is to stay on the existing car’s policy as named driver and wait for a year before buying a hunk of junk.

Ah well, it was fun while it lasted. Thanks for the responses everybody. Some useful insight anyway.

Looking more and more like the answer is to stay on the existing car’s policy as named driver and wait for a year before buying a hunk of junk.

Won’t really make a difference unless you can accrue NCD as a named driver, that first year will always hurt.

njee20 – Member

Won’t really make a difference unless you can accrue NCD as a named driver, that first year will always hurt.

This is it, really.
If you wanna accrue some NCD, then you just need to face a year of high insurance. I think my insurance halved after the first year (and that was 15yrs ago.

You should look though at ways to bring the cost down – policy with a tracker thing fitted, restricted hours or numbers of passengers so you can’t be ragging your car around the streets with 3 of your mates in at 10pm on a Friday night – that sort of thing.
Also add an older female relative as a named driver; have heard that helps.
Make sure it’s on a drive if possible, keep the annual mileage down (but don’t lie about how many miles you do) etc….

You do with these folk, but you have to stay with them to get the NCD. It’s not transferable to another insurer. Hopefully will translate into a saving because of having multiple cars at that point.

£974 sounds quite reasonable for the A4. My brother is 21 and his insurance has only just dropped below £2.5K. His first year in a 1.4 Fiesta was nearly £4k, the car was only worth £2k.

I could get insured on a new Aston Martin for what he pays on his MX5.

I thought the reason for the high cost was because of the risk to other people from you driving, not the value of the car?

Seeing as saving money is the main aim it seems a bit perverse to spunk £650-£1000 insuring a car that I’ll only drive about 20 times a year. Could just carry on using the Polo and spend the money I save on a bike holiday instead.

Seems cars (like bikes) do something strange to the rational part of my brain!

You need a Peugeot 206 estate, with the 2l hdi engine. Cheap tax, insurance and sips fuel. An 85k miles 2005 plate, which has just breezed its mot with no advisorys, will set you back maybe £2500. I happen to have one if it appeals… (really, it is an excellent car, just surplus since buying a van)

also, I case you hadn’t already, as a new driver name your mum or wife or any other female on your policy. It pulled my insurance down loads.