Small car recommendations

[eek]

Buy her an old Landrover, then insure it through NFU.

They won’t insure 17-19 year olds.

I only know that because our friends son is a champion off-road driver and the NFU wouldn’t insure even him.

[David71]

Eldest daughters first car was a 4 seater FIAT Panda. I drove it for a while and loved it - I'm 5ft 8 and had loads of headroom. Insurance for her was well cheap as well once she passed her test.

[NotAllThere]

We've got a Citroen C1. Which is the same as an Aygo. Great little car. Fun to drive.

[TheDude]

We are looking at a VW Polos registered in 2021 which VW dealers are offering from 16-18k depending on mileage.

Most dealers (not just VW) seem to lose a lot of interest when you tell them you are a cash buyer.

Most of the Polos we have seen are covered in dings and one had the bonnet completely misaligned and virtually bald tyres on a car with 5k miles on the clock.

Again the sales people don't seem to give a toss. I wonder if these things eventually sell themselves because they seem to put zero effort in.

[malvolio]

We are looking at a VW Polos registered in 2021 which VW dealers are offering from 16-18k depending on mileage.

Most dealers (not just VW) seem to loose a lot of interest when you tell them you are a cash buyer.

Most of the Polos we have seen are covered in dings and one had the bonnet completely misaligned and virtually bald tyres on a car with 5k miles on the clock.

Again the sales people don't seem to give a toss. I wonder if these things eventually sell themselves because they seem to put zero effort in.

Agreed. VWs aren't all that reliable either, - a triumph of marketing over reality perhaps? Our daughter and son in law have both rejected new ones for various significant faults. We looked at a Polo for SWMBO a while back and went with a Mazda 2 in the end. Same price as a mid-range Polo but far nicer to drive, quicker and included stuff like sat nav, cruise, climate control, serious DAB radio and partial leather, all of which were (expensive) extras on the Polo. And a less spartan interior!

[ladymuck]

We are looking at a VW Polos registered in 2021 which VW dealers are offering from 16-18k depending on mileage.

Most dealers (not just VW) seem to loose a lot of interest when you tell them you are a cash buyer.

Most of the Polos we have seen are covered in dings and one had the bonnet completely misaligned and virtually bald tyres on a car with 5k miles on the clock.

Again the sales people don't seem to give a toss. I wonder if these things eventually sell themselves because they seem to put zero effort in.

A Seat or a Skoda is better value for money than a VW but has a lot of the same parts. I loved my 2006 Ibiza FR, great little run around until I fell for the 350z and chopped it in.

I did also have a Polo GTI that was a little pocket rocket until some drunk driver rammed me off the road (the A27 near Lancing to be precise) and wrote it off.

[Protagoras]

Most dealers (not just VW) seem to loose a lot of interest when you tell them you are a cash buyer.

There's a work-around. Sign up to the credit deal then pay off the finance company within the cancellation period.

Dealer gets their commission and you might get some value add to the purchase.
I got a discount, servicing and road fund for 12 months and car mats!

Just check the small print in the finance contract carefully!

This is quite a well known approach and I'm sure that the dealer knew that was my plan.

[Lance]

They won’t insure 17-19 year olds.

I only know that because our friends son is a champion off-road driver and the NFU wouldn’t insure even him.

and NFU aren't even a good price. Loads of people have recommended them for my Disco but never been competitive. Maybe if I was ploughing fields with it they'd be more useful.

[wattaj]

There's a work-around. Sign up to the credit deal then pay off the finance company within the cancellation period.

This is what I did. I took the Shillling in order to close the deal, then refinanced from ~12% APR to the HMRC official rate of 2.25%.

[edison]

Most dealers (not just VW) seem to lose a lot of interest when you tell them you are a cash buyer.

Automotive retailing is a low margin business. Dealers make much of their profit from selling financial services, extended warranties and of course servicing. Not so much margin on car sales. Marshall, one of the big automotive groups, made about £20m profit on over £1.5B sales in the year before covid.