Reply to: Best car for £1K?

[ZARDOZ]

Nephew, aged 18, has just passed his test and is looking for his first car. He has £1K to spend.
Of course knowing his favourite uber-cool uncle sasguru is a whiz about cars , he's asked me for advice.
What do the panel think?

I would go for a Citroen, very cheap second hand and more reliable than people might expect.

2004 CITROEN C2 LX BLACK | eBay

[northernladuk]

Can you not increase the budget to £2K? Looking on AT there seems to be loads more choice, newer, safer, etc.

At their age they ain't gonna be too fussy what they drive as long as they have some wheels.

qh

True but if they are expected to have an accident the last thing you want to do is give them a car that is going to be a major contributor to that accident. Brake pads/disks, corroded hoses, inefficient breaking systems, useless shocks etc.

[Troll]

Its probably slightly more detailed than that but WHS. I'm not sure what we will do when the twins get to that age but I'm dreading the fact I can only have 1 of them as the named driver building up her no claims discount.

Are they identical twins? Tell them to just get one licence and to take it in turns sharing the car.

Get 2 identical cars, SORN one of them and then stick duplicate plates on it - cut your insurance costs in half ...sorted

[Ticktock]

Its probably slightly more detailed than that but WHS. I'm not sure what we will do when the twins get to that age but I'm dreading the fact I can only have 1 of them as the named driver building up her no claims discount.

Are they identical twins? Tell them to just get one licence and to take it in turns sharing the car.

[eek]

Thats cos they regard you as a potential "fronter" when you are the main driver. They assume you are trying it on to get a reduced permium and that the younger driver will actually be the main user of the vehicle.

Its probably slightly more detailed than that but WHS. I'm not sure what we will do when the twins get to that age but I'm dreading the fact I can only have 1 of them as the named driver building up her no claims discount.

[DaveB]

I bought the kids a Yaris 1.0 when they passed their tests

As others say the insurance cost is eye watering - discovered last year that it was cheaper to have a 20 year old as the policy holder and me as a named driver rather than the reverse which seems counter intuitive

Thats cos they regard you as a potential "fronter" when you are the main driver. They assume you are trying it on to get a reduced permium and that the younger driver will actually be the main user of the vehicle.

[quackhandle]

Is there not a scheme to reduce insurance costs (esp for new/young drivers) where insurance co sticks a black box in the car to check driving style etc? Or just a sales gimmick?

qh

[sasguru]

That's nasty; the more expensive the car the more his dad'll have to fork out for the insurance. You obviously don't like his father.

Bah! Why is it so complicated? All I wanted to do is do a good deed. May just keep quiet and give him a nice Christmas present instead.

[Mich the Tester]

I was going to offer to pay the insurance as I thought it'd be about £1K.
But you've given me a good idea - I'll offer to top up the car buying fund to £2K instead.
His dad can sort out insurance

That's nasty; the more expensive the car the more his dad'll have to fork out for the insurance. You obviously don't like his father.

[sasguru]

Can you not increase the budget to £2K?qh

I was going to offer to pay the insurance as I thought it'd be about £1K.
But you've given me a good idea - I'll offer to top up the car buying fund to £2K instead.
His dad can sort out insurance

[mudskipper]

I bought the kids a Yaris 1.0 when they passed their tests

As others say the insurance cost is eye watering - discovered last year that it was cheaper to have a 20 year old as the policy holder and me as a named driver rather than the reverse which seems counter intuitive

Yep - on my daughter's insurance, adding me as a named driver reduces the premium.

[quackhandle]

Whatever car he buys for £1k I expect he will need a couple of hundred to get it through it's first MOT test.

I have to wonder what kind of parent lets an 18 year old lad buy a car for £1k when the insurance companys expect to have an accident within the first two years. A £1k car is likely to be a death trap in it's own right let alone the high risk driver behind the wheel.

Toyota Aygo (or similar) 8k new, insurance paid for the first 2 years. 3 year lease with some servicing through win. £154 a month. F**k 1k cars...

But you know all that already and didn't really want to know.....

Can you not increase the budget to £2K? Looking on AT there seems to be loads more choice, newer, safer, etc.

At their age they ain't gonna be too fussy what they drive as long as they have some wheels.

qh

[Troll]

I bought the kids a Yaris 1.0 when they passed their tests

As others say the insurance cost is eye watering - discovered last year that it was cheaper to have a 20 year old as the policy holder and me as a named driver rather than the reverse which seems counter intuitive

[Scrag Meister]

Nephew, aged 18, has just passed his test and is looking for his first car. He has £1K to spend.

Well that will pay for a third to half of his insurance!

The obvious choice is something old, reliable with a small engine. :-)

[northernladuk]

Noooooo! No! Do not do it! No seriously, it's awful. A soapbox with a washing machine engine would be better.

Man, you are angry! Best start a thread about them