What is the actual cost for a 17yo girl to own a car?

[rhapsodyinblue]

DD should (we hope) pass her test soon.

She's just found a pt job and wants to save enough to run her own car.

Can anyone give us actual figures of how much they've paid for a small runaround and what the insurance cost was in their first year of driving? What model car did they buy?

The bus fare to school costs £300 a year, and we've said we'll contribute half the purchase cost.

So how much will she need to raise (on her pt minimum wage plus tips!)

tia

[bidibidi]

I suspect you'll find the insurance will be the killer.
No experience, but this site looks good.

[SleighGirl]

oh yes the insurance!!!!

You need to get the cheapest bracket car for insurance purpose 1litre micra or seicento or similar, an older one that doesn't cost much at that. The insurance will be more than the car costs though.

[Standbyme]

My 17 y/o DS passed his test back in the summer. We bought an 02 reg 1.1l Peugeuot 106 for £1600 and insured it with Quinn for around £900 while he was learning. Sounds good, but you have to watch Quinn because they ramp up the cost of the insurance dramatically when they pass the test.

So we cancelled with Quinn when he passed and went to Elephant who only charged an extra £14 to take him on. He worked all summer to pay for his lessons and had to take his test twice, so total cost around £500 including fees for theory test and two practical tests plus lessons. It's a nightmare of expense!

For cars, we kept an eye on the web - various websites like WhatCar or Desperateseller.co.uk and ended up finding one at a local independent car showroom. However-word of warning, I think we were lucky. A friend bought at the same time from the same garage and got sold a right rust heap. Helps if you know someone who knows something about cars (we don't!) Or you could get an AA check on it.

[rhapsodyinblue]

Thanks standbyme.

We're with Quinn now (for my car) and someone else warned me they'd ramp it up when she passes, so will try Elephant, that's useful to know.

Dh knows a lot about cars and will start looking out for one.

You're right about the nightmare of expense, it's already well over £500 for learning, £500 for insurance - so she'll have to save herself if she has any ambition of a car of her own.

[rhapsodyinblue]

(and thanks to sleighgirl and bidibidi of course!)

Standbyme - is your son's car insured for 3rd party fire and theft, or fully comp?

And in his name or is he a named driver?

[CMOTdibbler]

Dniece has just passed, and is driving a corsa, and paying just less than 600 quid a year in insurance.

Don't forget tax, and a budget for new tyres etc.

With all young driver policies, check the wording very, very carefully and be sure to stick rigidly to any conditions. Quinn apparently have been known to have conditions about having car in perfect order at all times - down to washer fluid/wiper blades etc, and will reject on that basis.

Do not, whatever, be tempted to claim that a car mainly driven by your teen is your car and insure it with them as a named driver. This is illegal, and a real target with the insurance fraud units atm

[IneedacleanerIamalazyslattern]

I was also going to add what SMOT did about you being the main driver and the teen being a named driver pleae please don't be tempted to do this.

[IneedacleanerIamalazyslattern]

Where on earth did that S come from I of course meant CMOT my apologies for getting your name wrong.

[HotFlush]

We decided to fund a car for DS to get to college - 10miles with no sensible public transport.

So, we opted for safety - a newish (56reg) Peugeot 206 estate (for all the horse stuff) 1.4 - group 6 insurance. We paid £1000 for fully comp insurance with Admiral to include OH and me as named drivers. (I think sometimes an older named driver can help lower the premium).

Co-incidentally, as boys are more expensive anyway, we paid over £2000 for DS insurance under similar circumstances 2 years ago (1.8 Ford Focus - group 7). We used Churchill for him as they were the cheapest by far - fully comp again.
Insurance is indeed your biggest nightmare for young drivers, but I found when shopping around that tpft was only a few pounds cheaper than fully comp, so it's worth looking at both.

As for the question of premiums being ramped up when the youngster passes their test - I paid a small extra premuim on my insurance for him to learn but then a hefty hike when he passed (I think about £300 for the duration of the policy - 4 months). It is not unreasonable for them to do this as the young driver is then on their own with all the temptations of independence.

As for insuring in your name with them as a named driver - don't even think about it. When DS passed his test the Focus was mine, but Direct Line knew I already had another car. They were VERY unhappy for DS to be the main driver of the Focus and even stated that if he had an accident, depending on circumstances he may not be insured.

Well, that's my experiences with 17yo drivers - thank goodness I've no more to go through it!

[Standbyme]

Hi Rhapsodyinblue, we insured fully comp as we didn't want to take the risk of 3rd party!

[rhapsodyinblue]

Thanks everyone. I'm not planning to lie about me being the main driver if she does end up with her own car - at the moment, we're going to see how we get on with sharing my car because the school is near my office and I don't need it during the day - but we suspect it'll be too much hassle and that eventually she will have her own small runaround.

I'll check the Quinn policy wording too - thanks for the warning about that too, although I think if it came to it and we needed to claim, the Financial Ombudsman Service would not be very impressed about what seem to be unfair conditions.

[LaineyW]

Our DD is also 17 and bought a car at the weekend... Ford Fiesta 1997 1.2 for £900. She hasn't passed her test yet so it's sitting on the drive looking pretty but is a great incentive for DD to have as many lessons as possible.

She currently pays £23 for an hour's lesson then you have to add in cost of theory test, practical test, tax, MOT, insurance (best quote so far online was about £600 with Express Insurance) then of course petrol and maintenance etc. etc. She does have a steady Saturday job and worked all last summer to save up for the actual car but I don't think she appreciates that it will take up pretty much all of her earnings once she's behind the wheel...