Im a 20 year old student. Been driving 2.5 years. No no-claims bonus and no points on my
license. Had an accident last summer (other driver claimed responsibility).

I am going to buy a new car soon and have £1500 to insure it.

Was thinking of a Calibra 2.0 16v (150bhp) worth £3500
or
Mk3 Golf GTi 8v worth £4000.

Do i have any hope in insuring the above for max £1500?
Maybe someone like Rum* (Schofields) can help?

Thanks very much in advance,

Kos.

 

Best thing to do is go to Tesco online and check it out - www.tesco.com/finance just go to motor insurance and get online quotes, there is an amend vehicle option so you can quickly see what any car will cost etc. without even speaking to anyone. I also found that insurance group isn't everything some group 13 cars cost more than 15s etc.

One thing to consider though is that insurance on fast cars goes down LOADS at 21 though, you'll find at 20 they won't even quote you for a group 15+ car but at 21 suddenly they'll quote you reasonably for anything!

I'm 21 with 0 no claims and had my licence for 2 years, no accidents etc. so pretty similar to you (although I do have a cheap postcode), here's some quotes with Tesco (found them to be the cheapest):

'95 UK Impreza turbo 2000 - £1750
Calibra 4x4 turbo - £1500
Golf mk3 VR6 - £1600
Corrado VR6 - £1700
Saxo VTS - £900
Saxo VTR - £600
Astra mk3 GSI - £1200

At 20 they wouldn't quote for for any of these cars at all except maybe the Saxo and even that was about £1500

Might even be worth waiting a year eh?

Hope this helps

 

Oh yeah value of the car makes almost no difference to quote either - £15k or £3k doesn't seem to make more than £100 odd diff. to the quote...

 

Cheers mate.

Anyone else?

 

Kosy,

Might be worth starting with something a little different to keep costs sensible.

Calibras and Golf GTI's generally have "pinch me" written all over them and most insurers instantly turn their nose up at the prospect of a 20/21yr old looking to insure one. There are often terms and conditions attached to the insurance group of these vehicles which bump up policy excesses to silly levels for young drivers and sometimes hike up premiums further.

I would try going down a slightly different route such as the following (if they are not too image unfriendly)...

- Ford Fiesta 1.6Si (1995) - Grp 9/10 - 110mph/10.0s 0-60
- Peugeot 106 1.6 XSi (to 1998) - Grp 6 - 120mph/10.0s 0-60
- Seat Ibiza 1.8 GTi 16v (to 1997) - Grp 12 - 130mph/7.8s 0-60
- Seat Ibiza 2.0 Gti 8v (to 1999) - Grp 10/11 - 121mph/8.8s 0-60
- Vauxhall Corsa Sport 1.6 (to 2001) - Grp 9 - 119mph/9.4s 0-60
- Ford Escort 1.8Si 16v (to 1999) - Grp 10 - 122mph/9.1s 0-60
- Peugeot 306 XSi 2.0 (1996 on) - Grp 12 - 122mph/9.2s 0-60
- Vauxhall Astras can be fun but the handling is unbelieveably
nose-heavy
- Citroen Saxos are good little go-karts and the VTR is good
value at only group 6/7 and with 115mph/9.4s 0-60 performance.

Problem is that you have to have the fog lights on all the time and p1ss off every other motorist and put Kenwood logos all over the windows.

One of my faves in this field is the Rover 218iS - same engine as the standard MGF/Lotus Elise and various Caterhams, great little handler, 123mph top and only 8.5s 0-60s - sounds great above 4k revs and all falls into group 9.

Looks good (in 3 door), understated, quite rare in this form, fast enough to scare off Golf GTIs (leaves VTRs standing !) and the engine is very tweakable (go the air filter and manifold route and you have a beast !). I had a funny encounter with a CLK230 once - the look on the driver's face was a picture when eventually caught up at the next junction.

The Vi is better but is Grp 14 !

If you can keep yourself down to a lower insurance group with your lack of NCB then you could get a car that gives you a real buzz and not pay nigh on £2k to insure it. If that can keep you amused for a couple of years then you should be able to choose from a wider range of insurers to get a nice Scoob insured sensibly.

Hope this lot helps.

Cheers,

John

 

Thanks John, great reply!
If i can't get quotes under £1500 i will probably start looking at
your list!

Saxo VTR/VTS seems a sensible choice but i would be struggling to
find one under my limit of £4.5k.

Cheers again,

Kos.

 

You would get a VTR for that kind of money, maybe even and old and heavily driven VTS. Someone I knew at uni managed to run and modify a VTR on part-time job wages.