Owning a car for young drivers in the UK

[MenInG]

Seems like an expensive proposition especially in terms of insurance costs. Anyone with experience of this?

 

[shaz619]

I passed like 6 or 7 years ago and for my post code in Brum was getting insurance quotes of up 10 - 13K ! Finally managed to get a car this year, am also a bit older to so that makes the insurance quote come down. But even then it would be expensive in my hometown.

So what I did this year was, insure my car on my address outside the west midlands close to Uni where I've been living for a while and the insurance became so much more affordable. So perhaps a year from now if I were to get insured back in Brum, my quote would come down to what am paying now

I think it's entirely dependent on your age and location.

 

[shaz619]

I'd say get a car only when you absolutely need one, plus with time as you get older it would bring your insurance quote down as well. But if you absolutely need to get one and you're getting super high quotes, try to get insured on another address where you could be living

 

[shaz619]

[MENTION=43583]KingKhanWC[/MENTION] Did you get your first car insured in Brum?

 

[Markhor]

Too many idiots on the road, especially in heavily Pakistani populated areas where you have so many bad boy wannabes, pushes the cost of premiums up for everyone else.

My first car was a Yaris because it'd be cheaper to insure and Japanese cars have a reputation for reliability.

 

[90MPH]

The fuel is very expensive compared to most countries because of the high government tax.

Then there is a annual road tax despite the roads always being blighted with pot holes all over the place in some towns.

Lastly the insurance is a killer cost for first time and young male drivers because they are more likely to crash than any other group.
It's also high because many people are scamming the system such as making bogus personal injury claims where anyone claim whiplash in a minor car crash and that will cost them thousands in one claim.
Then you have the crash for cash scam where criminals deliberately brake in front of you and are always liable for fault - this scam is however being clamped down recently because of dash cam videos and police starting to take action in recent years.

So in conclusion yes it's expensive but we have no choice because for the vast majority of workers need a vehicle in the uk.

 

[shaz619]

[MENTION=23613]90MPH[/MENTION] Some cars are exempt from Road Tax although they tend to be a bit expensive, my car is generally quiet fuel efficient so I only pay £110 for the year which is not too bad

 

[90MPH]

[MENTION=23613]90MPH[/MENTION] Some cars are exempt from Road Tax although they tend to be a bit expensive, my car is generally quiet fuel efficient so I only pay £110 for the year which is not too bad

Yes true, small engine cars have much lower tax and electric cars are exempt I think.

 

[MenInG]

Would you advise an electric only car for London? Think they arent cheap to buy?

 

[Finisher]

Anything under £1500 would be a good quote for a young driver, especially if u are living in a majority Pakistani area.

 

[USofA]

I guess the fuel prices and insurance costs are really high. Also there is a post about road tax. Not sure what that is. I am sure when you add all this up, it probably becomes too much.

Cars don't seem to be a big thing in the UK to begin with. For the most part I have seen just basic small cars, perhaps due to the lack of wide roads and parking facilities. I do not see too many luxury cars like in the US. People here tend to buy larger and more luxurious cars than probably anywhere else. That is not the case in UK or most of Europe for that matter.

 

[Bewal Express]

I passed like 6 or 7 years ago and for my post code in Brum was getting insurance quotes of up 10 - 13K ! Finally managed to get a car this year, am also a bit older to so that makes the insurance quote come down. But even then it would be expensive in my hometown.

So what I did this year was, insure my car on my address outside the west midlands close to Uni where I've been living for a while and the insurance became so much more affordable. So perhaps a year from now if I were to get insured back in Brum, my quote would come down to what am paying now

I think it's entirely dependent on your age and location.

The reason quotes are high in Bham is because of car crime and mass fraud by the desis of the whiplash law.

 

[shaz619]

The reason quotes are high in Bham is because of car crime and mass fraud by the desis of the whiplash law.

Yeah am aware of that

 

[Pakistanian]

Dang, didn't know it was so hard to own a car in England. Here in America every 16 year old has a car, you can't really live without one, cars and gas are also cheap and insurance isn't too bad if you have a cosigner. #Blessed

 

[maverick85]

I think cosigning here is known as 'fronting' which is illegal but most young drivers do it as >£2000 insurance is too much which comes down to roughly £1200 as a second named driver for example.

 

[Suleiman]

Dang, didn't know it was so hard to own a car in England. Here in America every 16 year old has a car, you can't really live without one, cars and gas are also cheap and insurance isn't too bad if you have a cosigner. #Blessed

Guy in my class who was a freshman recently bought his own 2016 Mustang with his own money. Is a sharp kid, interned at Apple for the summer as well.

But yeah he just worked jobs at taco bell and a factory job like every other teen and now rolls up with an all black mustang.

 

[JoniInsafian]

Dang, didn't know it was so hard to own a car in England. Here in America every 16 year old has a car, you can't really live without one, cars and gas are also cheap and insurance isn't too bad if you have a cosigner. #Blessed

An advanced country is not one where the poor own cars, but one where the rich use public transport...

 

[Syed1]

Seems like insurance is a huge issue across the pond. I pay about 2800 dollars (about 1400 pounds) per year and that is due to me living in the city with highest premium in Canada and I had an at-fault accident about three years ago which is also effecting my premium. I've had no tickets (knock on wood).

How much would a 25-26 year old be paying in London driving a 2010 Honda Accord?

 

[Yossarian]

I guess the fuel prices and insurance costs are really high. Also there is a post about road tax. Not sure what that is. I am sure when you add all this up, it probably becomes too much.

Cars don't seem to be a big thing in the UK to begin with. For the most part I have seen just basic small cars, perhaps due to the lack of wide roads and parking facilities. I do not see too many luxury cars like in the US. People here tend to buy larger and more luxurious cars than probably anywhere else. That is not the case in UK or most of Europe for that matter.

Distance old boy, distance.

Scotland (and by that I mean the large population centres of Scotland like Glasgow and Edinburgh) is only roughly 400 miles from London at the opposite end of England. The major conurbation of London and it's surrounding suburbs are only around 100 miles from the industrial heartland of the Midlands, containing cities like Birmingham, Coventry, Nottingham, and only another 100 miles from the northern industrial conurbations of Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield.

Now contrast that with the distances between major towns and cities in the USA, including within the same states.

Driving (or being a passenger in) a small car for a couple of hours over a 100 miles or so is not particularly stressful or exhausting. But for longer distances you need to be in a larger vehicle with a greater comfort factor.

 

[shaz619]

Would you advise an electric only car for London? Think they arent cheap to buy?

They are a bit expensive, but I'd not go out of my way to buy them personally; there other alternatives which are fuel efficient and your road tax is low as well. Road tax on the Corsa Ecoflex is about £30 due to its low C02 emissions, very fuel efficient car. There are other similar options. As a first time buyer there were two criteria which were important for me, the car got to look good and number two excellent fuel efficiency; wasn't fussed about performance. Besides, things like handling are more important driving on the A roads then outright speed

 

[shaz619]

Seems like insurance is a huge issue across the pond. I pay about 2800 dollars (about 1400 pounds) per year and that is due to me living in the city with highest premium in Canada and I had an at-fault accident about three years ago which is also effecting my premium. I've had no tickets (knock on wood).

How much would a 25-26 year old be paying in London driving a 2010 Honda Accord?

For my first year am paying about £1000 but that's mainly because am insured beyond the west midlands lol £1400 is not bad for a city with the highest premium, that's really good.

London is so big, it must depend on your post code but compared to other city's I do expect it to be higher but not more then anything in Brum, maybe their premiums in London's inner city regions must compare. [MENTION=131867]London_Lahori[/MENTION] may be able to come up with a figure.

 

[USofA]

Distance old boy, distance.

Scotland (and by that I mean the large population centres of Scotland like Glasgow and Edinburgh) is only roughly 400 miles from London at the opposite end of England. The major conurbation of London and it's surrounding suburbs are only around 100 miles from the industrial heartland of the Midlands, containing cities like Birmingham, Coventry, Nottingham, and only another 100 miles from the northern industrial conurbations of Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield.

Now contrast that with the distances between major towns and cities in the USA, including within the same states.

Driving (or being a passenger in) a small car for a couple of hours over a 100 miles or so is not particularly stressful or exhausting. But for longer distances you need to be in a larger vehicle with a greater comfort factor.

Distance is only partially true. There are a lot of people who buy these large/luxury cars just for local driving. Consumerism is more like it. Americans are all about bigger, better, etc, etc. Jut tend to spend money on cars and technology more than any other country. Chalk it up to capitalism, culture I guess.

 

[KingKhanWC]

[MENTION=43583]KingKhanWC[/MENTION] Did you get your first car insured in Brum?

No outside of Brum for the postcode reasons youve mentioned.

You're aware but for others insurance is high esp for new drivers because of injury claims culture in this country. A tiny accident where there is a slight bump on the car will allow people to claim for injury even if the person is not hurt.

 

[Yossarian]

Distance is only partially true. There are a lot of people who buy these large/luxury cars just for local driving. Consumerism is more like it. Americans are all about bigger, better, etc, etc. Jut tend to spend money on cars and technology more than any other country. Chalk it up to capitalism, culture I guess.

Even 'local driving' in the USA is the equivalent of medium to long journeys in the UK. Never mind distances between towns, even towns with small populations in the USA, relatively speaking, are spread over vastly greater geographical areas than those with many times larger populations in the UK.

I myself owned a Ford Expedition, and a Chrysler Town & Country for my wife (taking the kids to school) when I was living in the USA. Driving a couple of hundred miles each way once a month or so to stock up on halal meat was a 'just a short drive to the shops'. Driving non-stop, there and back, in the Ford was not tiring at all. Doing similar distances non-stop in a smaller vehicle in the UK is far more tiring in comparison.

 

[London_Lahori]

For my first year am paying about £1000 but that's mainly because am insured beyond the west midlands lol £1400 is not bad for a city with the highest premium, that's really good.

London is so big, it must depend on your post code but compared to other city's I do expect it to be higher but not more then anything in Brum, maybe their premiums in London's inner city regions must compare. [MENTION=131867]London_Lahori[/MENTION] may be able to come up with a figure.

My car is a 1.9L sport, I'm 29, I passed 11 years ago, been driving for a decade and have about 3 years NCB, never had a crash Alhamdulillah and I'm paying £1200 a year. It's a joke.

 

[kingusama92]

I was paying a lot (IMO) as a teenager. It was approx. $2500/year.

Now it's come down to $1700/year with a clean record.

 

[Salman]

Would you advise an electric only car for London? Think they arent cheap to buy?

Yes electric cars are not cheap, another option is LPG , for the last 3 years i have both cars running on LPG without any issues, there are lpg gas stations pretty much everywhere now, the cost per litre is about 55-65p, i save up to 45% if i was to use petrol which offsets the high insurances costs even at my age.

It all depends on what your budget is, a 2005 1000cc VW polo or similar will be about £1500 or less to buy, it will be the cheapest car to insure for a new driver.

There is also very old insurance company called Engsleigh which was or is still part owned by the Students union and offered good discounts to students. https://www.endsleigh.co.uk

 

[Eagle_Eye]

Would you advise an electric only car for London? Think they arent cheap to buy?

My wife drives an electric car. Great all round runner for city driving. It is high cost for the car if you pay full though the running costs are low. It's no point buying it full upfront cost, these cars are meant to be bought on pcp agreement for a period of time and then you hand the car back and get the newer version with higher capacity battery with faster charging. Some manufacturers will ask you to pay battery rent if the cost of the battery is not included in the car price.

If you are thinking of buying for a young person then be mindful that it accelerates very fast and it is very quite to the extent that pedestrians will not hear even if it was driving right behind them. I would be careful handing this type of a car to a young driver.

 

[shaz619]

My car is a 1.9L sport, I'm 29, I passed 11 years ago, been driving for a decade and have about 3 years NCB, never had a crash Alhamdulillah and I'm paying £1200 a year. It's a joke.

Wow, that is ridiculous ; you should ideally be paying around £500. But that's London for you

 

[Haz95]

I passed when I was 17 and payed 2200 as a second driver, altho my car was pretty nippy and fast. The best way to get insured sadly is through links with car traders and etc. However if you're aged less than 21 getting insured is damn hard, even using loopholes. Not to mention taxxing, MOT, regular servicing, Fuel especially. All in all it would cost me roughly 100 quid a week to run my car at 17 (granted I abused the life out of it too lmao).

 

[Salman]

Wow, that is ridiculous ; you should ideally be paying around £500. But that's London for you

long gone are the days when there was such a thing as a £500 insurance premium anywhere in the UK, I renewed my father's insurance a few months back, he is 73 yrs old and drives a 2004 Mercedes 240 CDI, has been driving since 1950's on a clean licence with full no claims, the cheapest we found was over £650 and that was with a budget broker who will probably charge extortionate fee's if were to ever change vehicle or cancel the policy early.

 

[imrankhannsu]

My brother in law bought a car in the name of his Mother. Then added himself as a second driver, which brought costs of insurance down.

Also many people are leasing these days which I think isn't a bad option for someone newly passed and young, if going for a good model.

 

[bones]

For the young driver in the UK

Don't buy a car unless you absolutely have to. Buy a small engine car as your first car. Make sure you don't get any points for whatever reason and of course try to avoid having an accident, which means drive sensibly. A small engine first car for 3/4 years will give you a platform to buy something fancy later on. Unfortunately most kids think driving a VW Golf GTI is more important than other things. A Nissan Micra or Toyota Auris will do the job just as well. I didn't buy my first car till I was 26, when I had no choice but to.

In some countries fronting is legal, in the UK it isn't. So do it at your peril. Honestly I think it serves no one in the long run. New drivers generally don't have the experience to make the judgements on the road more experienced drivers too, they are far more likely to have accidents so why risk not being covered properly in that case.

I know of a kid who bought a '11 Golf but was fronting. After a long battle the insurance company agreed to cover the cost of an accident when it happened under the condition that paid for what a full and correct premium would have been. He got away with it, but you may not. Insurance companies are legalised thieves, they'll take your money in an instant but will take forever when they have to pay up. Don't make it easy for them not to pay up.