Cheapest Possible Configuration for 1st Timer?

jimi_t

Been playing around with the idea of getting a runabout and am wondering what is, realistically, the cheapest possible way to get on the road as a 20yr old male, 1st provisional?

I really couldn't care less what car it is, but if I could pick up an old-style mini cheap that would be ideal - I haven't a clue as to insurance and such.

zod

11,000 miles !!

http://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/Nissan/Micra/1.0-GX/996370/

Senna

zod wrote: »

11,000 miles !!

http://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/Nissan/Micra/1.0-GX/996370/

probably the best €900 you'll ever spend:D
Great little cars, 16v engines and very economical.
You could probably sell it in a years time of €900 again.

Esel

jimi_t wrote: »

if I could pick up an old-style mini cheap that would be ideal -

You have a death-wish!

chris85

jimi_t wrote: »

Been playing around with the idea of getting a runabout and am wondering what is, realistically, the cheapest possible way to get on the road as a 20yr old male, 1st provisional?

I really couldn't care less what car it is, but if I could pick up an old-style mini cheap that would be ideal - I haven't a clue as to insurance and such.

Something like a micra would be nice to start off with. You can pick up some good deals on them such as the one in the link above. Since you are buying on the cheap try stick with a japanese manufacturer as the car will be good few years old and the japs make long lasting cars.

Insurance wise you will be paying high premium no matter what you drive tbh. Ring around and see you will give you the best price. I found hibernian good and if you do there ignition course you will get a discount.

JHMEG

My only reservation is that that one prob doesn't have a factory immobiliser and therefore has probably been stolen a few times aleady and will be stolen again.

bazz26

OP narrow down your choice to about 3 or 4 different type cars, then ring around the different insurance companies for quotes and seen which one works out the cheapest for before you actually go out and buy a car.

Nothing worse than going out and buying a car and then find that no insurance company will insure you on it or that you cannot afford to insure it.

jimi_t

bazz26 wrote: »

OP narrow down your choice to about 3 or 4 different type cars, then ring around the different insurance companies for quotes and seen which one works out the cheapest for before you actually go out and buy a car.

Nothing worse than going out and buying a car and then find that no insurance company will insure you on it or that you cannot afford to insure it.

Yeah, thats basically what I was trying to ask - being a 19yr old, male, first prov. driver, what is the car that has the single cheapest insurance, and what should I be expecting to pay.

christophicus

Hey man, I am in the same position as you. Once you decide upon the insurance company/car you are going to go with can you PM me, letting me know what you went with ?? atm I just did an opel Corsa ( just over 1liter ) and it was around €1700 with quinn Direct, whereas it was about €2100 with Hibernian.

joseph brand

The Micra is almost tooooooo easy to drive. The March version (Jap import) has power steering and Air Con. Prob visit the petrol station every 3 weeks. :D

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe that a 1.3 corolla might be cheaper on insurance as it is harder to steal.

Timmaay

joseph brand wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe that a 1.3 corolla might be cheaper on insurance as it is harder to steal.

I dont know if this is the case but if insurance is that expensive for a car only worth about grand, why would a young driver bother with anything other than TPO, inwhich case, the insurance company doesn't care if its stolen as they dont have to payout.

jimi_t

christophicus wrote: »

Hey man, I am in the same position as you. Once you decide upon the insurance company/car you are going to go with can you PM me, letting me know what you went with ?? atm I just did an opel Corsa ( just over 1liter ) and it was around €1700 with quinn Direct, whereas it was about €2100 with Hibernian.

If I can't get insurance in or around the 1200 mark/year then I simply can't afford to - but I'll let you know in any case.

cormie

Insurance wise, the best way to go about getting the best price is to first start with the likes of Quinn direct, get the best price possible and pay monthly, then apply for the provisional ignition test with Hibernian and once you pass this, you will be able to get insurance with them at a much better rate than Quinn and cancel what's left of your monthly repayments with Quinn and start your new policy with Hibernian from that point. Stay on this policy until you get and pass your test, then do the FULL ignition test where you will get even cheaper insurance upon passing. Then you'll have a full license to shop around with aswell as having passed the ignition course.

Once you pass the provisional ignition course, Hibernian will quote you as having a full license even though you don't. By Hibernian, I also mean their resellers (Tesco, Britton Insurance and the cheapest and who I'm with now, Insight insurance, based in Cork).

Stephen

Keep in mind that many (all?) of the insurance companies will load your premium if the car is over 10 years old.

bazz26

jimi_t wrote: »

Yeah, thats basically what I was trying to ask - being a 19yr old, male, first prov. driver, what is the car that has the single cheapest insurance, and what should I be expecting to pay.

There are too manual variables that insurance companies use when calculating insurance premiums depending on the individual for anyone here to give you an estimate of how much it will cost or what the cheapest car will be to insure. A car that might be cheap for me to insure might cost you or someone else twice as much. And vice versa.

Try some of the online insurance company quotes for ballpark figures but you will most likely have to ring them for exact figures. My guess though would be anything within the 1.0 - 1.2 litre supermini will be the lowest.

chris85

Stephen wrote: »

Keep in mind that many (all?) of the insurance companies will load your premium if the car is over 10 years old.

Never ever heard of this :rolleyes:

Have been insured on olders cars and newer cars and have noticed no difference on similar car sizes etc

christophicus

Stephen wrote: »

Keep in mind that many (all?) of the insurance companies will load your premium if the car is over 10 years old.

Really?? I was unaware of this. Will deffo keep that in mind when looking for a car.

Max_Damage

'Load your premium' is a bit much TBH. It does go up indeed, but not much. Insurance on my 18yr. old Micra is still quite cheap (€900 odd. Well, for my age anyway).

Eoin

My first car was a 1 litre mini, and I loved it. Was a nightmare to keep on the road though, they can be very high maintenance. That said, parts are very cheap and available. They are brilliant fun to drive.

A micra is probably the best option - you don't even need a Jap spec with power steering really - the steering is very light even without it.

pppspecial

just be careful that car has 11k miles and 3 owners. id get a 2nd opinion if i was you. your going down the right track here micra japs are the b est for reliability and everything else concerened.

PaulKK

chris85 wrote: »

Never ever heard of this :rolleyes:

Have been insured on olders cars and newer cars and have noticed no difference on similar car sizes etc

Its true, older cars tend not to have safety features etc that newer ones have, e.g airbags, poorer brakes etc or the security of newer cars.

I found when i was starting out that the newer cars were a little cheaper to insure by 100 or 200 at least.

HJL

On the Quinn direct website if you value your car less than €2000 its more expensive too. So if i was buying a car for say €1000, just value it at €2000, it makes no difference anyway because they wont payout that figure if it gets stolen.
I tried a car valued at €1999 and one at €2001, and the latter was cheaper, at first i was trying to see if the sub €2k car would be cheaper!
Forget now what the difference was, but its beter in your pocket than in theirs!