Quote from Crashgate3 :

Seems to be where I live that's doing it. If I put the address where the car is kept as my parent's house out in the country, that £1700 quote for the Mazda goes down to £700.


What's the likelyhood of getting away with saying it's kept at my parent's house? (which is a good 100 miles from where I live)

Well if it does get nicked you might have a few words from the insurance company, i'm not sure about the formality or "rules" on it though.

I'm also looking for a car, having just turned 17 I need something that can be bought and insured for < £1000.

Maybe I should get a Gee-Wiz.

you wont find a car and get insurance for less than £1k

I played this game with the GF and even with no penis the insurance still made it go over this

Quote from Crashgate3 :

I'm fairly skint so the absolute most I can spend is about 2 grand (but ideally closer to £1500) for *everything*. Having a play with price comparison websites, the absolute cheapest insurance I can find is around £1000 for a 30-year-old with no experience

Your interpretation of fairly skint is a little different to mine but I have had a lot of cars in my time & my bro is a mechanic so I would say you could get pretty decent car for £600-700 (just dont buy a lemon).

local ads like bargain pages & even ebay if they are local are always a good starting point. Keep searching for cheaper insurance as a grand is still a rip off @ your age. low insurance group car like 1.1 petrols & 1.7ish diesels are your best bet.

Quote from mcintyrej :

Well if it does get nicked you might have a few words from the insurance company, i'm not sure about the formality or "rules" on it though.

This is the thing - the only situation I would have to make a claim is if I hit someone else (the insurance would be 3rd party anyway), where the location of the car wouldn't come into it. I could also put my mum/dad down as a named driver to make it a bit more convincing. Also, I'm not going to be commuting in it and will state this when I insure it so they won't be asking any awkward questions about how I commute when the car is supposedly miles away.

http://search.autotrader.co.uk ... p;ukcarsearch_full=SEARCH

I did an 'Auto Trader' search with your requirements. And some that I thought would be sensible .

Quote from Crashgate3 :

What's the likelyhood of getting away with saying it's kept at my parent's house? (which is a good 100 miles from where I live)

But who's to say where it's kept? What's to stop you from 'keeping it at your parents house', but permanently visiting your own house?

A few things to think of. (some I learned the expensive way)
Fuel consumption is not important unless you drive alot. (repairs and depreciation is more costly)
A dependable car is cheaper to own than a rustbucket that needs alot of repairs to pass MOT.
Premium cars needs premium wallets (I swapped pads, discs and calipers on my sisters old volvo for cheaper than a friend swapped pads on his beamer)
A common cheapo car has cheap spares and can be repaired by a local unskilled car repair man, at a low fee per hour.
A proffessional at a dealer garage can often do the same change as above so quick that it will be cheaper in the end even if he is expensive per hour and using brand parts.
You can ride a lot of taxi and rental car for the money it costs to own a car.

(sorry for using strange wording)

Fuel consumption is always important, but you need to think of what your driving is mostly going to be like.
If you drive mostly in town, a 1.1 econobox is going to be far cheaper to run than a 6L v8. On the other hand, if most of your driving is motorways then something around 1.8-2L is going to (typically) drink less because it'll rev less at higher speeds. Depending on the make of engine, obviously.

And I don't know what Sweden is like, but a taxi or hire car here in the UK will cost hundreds of times what a bought car would. When I used to get taxis with the shopping (which was about a 15 minute walk from my house) it'd cost me £5. No way my car would use £5 worth of fuel to cover the same distance. And a hire car at even £50 per day is going to eat money faster too. My trains to rehearsals totalled about £15 to get me to and from rehearsals every Sunday (about a 70 mile round trip). £15 in petrol will do the same journey a handful of times.

Maybe once you take maintenance into account the figures start to catch up, but I still reckon surviving on taxis and hire cars is vastly more expensive than owning a cheap runaround.

I paid a taxi driver £5.60 to take me from the station to work. I would then had to have paid a few quid train fare in the first place and then would have had to find some way of getting from my house to the station (7 miles).

Driving there costs £2 in petrol.

Please note these corrections before my rage takes over and I kill someone

Quote from Jakg :

I paid a taxi driver £5.60 to take me from the station to work. I would then had to have paid a few quid train fare in the first place and then would have had to find some way of getting from my house to the station (7 miles).

Thank you for your time

Quote from Jakg :

I paid a taxi driver £5.60 to take me from the station to work. I would then had to have paid a few quid train fare in the first place and then would have had to find some way of getting from my house to the station (7 miles).

Driving there costs £2 in petrol.

Yah but, you do have to factor in other expenses such as insurance and tax etc. However, it's true, owning a car is by far the cheapest form of motorised transport in the UK, and more comfortable than public transport, and means you don't have to mingle with the masses :P

Land Rovers are unbelievably thirsty when you run on the turbo. They quite torque-y motors when you are on the boost and when you're on the boost they fly given that you've waited for the lag to end, but the brakes are bad, the transmission on the Series 2 was DIRE, the half-shafts always rip themselves apart, and if you ever have to replace one, Land Rover don't even have the decency to carve an extraction groove on the half shaft, so you'll have to do it yourself unless you want a badass buildup of grease behind your wheel hub

Quote from Jakg :

I paid a taxi driver £5.60 to take me from the station to work. I would then had to have paid a few quid train fare in the first place and then would have had to find some way of getting from my house to the station (7 miles).

Driving there costs £2 in petrol.

Thats about 170 trips/year if we count on a car that only costs £1000 to own.

If you don't have a car and have not got lazy yet, and are using feet/bike/public transport for the most of your travels, you can sugar that with lots and lots of taxi when usual method is not practical.

I love my car but its an expensive tool.

Quote from Crashgate3 :

I imagine they're pretty thirsty though?

One has to comprimise something when looking for cheap motoring. I've known a fair few people run series3's for first cars purely because of the whole Lego factor of them, sure MPG isn't great, but you can easily drop in a better motor that better suits your needs.

Also, try taking a look all full comp, for some reason I've noticed that it has been cheaper for me than 3rd party. Although I have been using The AA for quotes.

What about a 998 mini. If you get one of the old 80's ones you could insure as a classic car for cheaper insurance. Depending on much you intend on driving that is.

Quote from P5YcHoM4N :

One has to comprimise something when looking for cheap motoring. I've known a fair few people run series3's for first cars purely because of the whole Lego factor of them, sure MPG isn't great, but you can easily drop in a better motor that better suits your needs.

Also, try taking a look all full comp, for some reason I've noticed that it has been cheaper for me than 3rd party. Although I have been using The AA for quotes.

If the engine was good in the first place, you shouldn't need to 'drop in another motor'

You really think I have the expertise, money or equipment for an engine swap?

I'd love an old Mini, but all it takes is for one idiot to hit me and I'd be dead - they're death-traps.

Quote from Crashgate3 :

I'd love an old Mini, but all it takes is for one idiot to hit me and I'd be dead - they're death-traps.

That's fair enough, just thought I would suggest it incase it was something you hadn't already thought about.

I'm told by the wife that once we've (read: 'I've') got a bit of money and some no-claims-bonus, we're getting a New Mini. Orders is orders..

Quote from Crashgate3 :

I'm told by the wife that once we've (read: 'I've') got a bit of money and some no-claims-bonus, we're getting a New Mini. Orders is orders..

Of course you have no-claims bonus, you don't drive.... So in actual fact, you have NO years claims bonus.

Quote from Crashgate3 :

I'm told by the wife that once we've (read: 'I've') got a bit of money and some no-claims-bonus, we're getting a New Mini. Orders is orders..

When you say a "New Mini" do you mean a BMW?

Yeah.

Crash: Do Pass Plus, it saved me 50% as it is seen as 1 year no claims by insurance folks. Although most people only get 30-40%, it is still a saving.

Quote from BlueFlame :

If the engine was good in the first place, you shouldn't need to 'drop in another motor'

Well the Series Land Rovers were a 1940's design, made until the 80's (techinically they are still made as the Defender cribs a lot from the LRS, just the engines and transmissions are a lot better now), so naturally the engine, like any classic vehicle isn't brilliant. Most owners I've talked to either drop in a V8 or a stronger diesel.

I got a saving of about £100, which in my case was only 5%


Plus my insurance company wont actually accept it this year either...!

Quote from P5YcHoM4N :

a V8

Just the thing to keep the insurance down


I think I'll definitely look into doing the pass-plus though. What kind of stuff does it involve?