UKC

My daughter doesn't own a car, I am thinking of helping her to buy a reliable second hand car, and help with insurance etc. She is currently working as a reasonably successful model but has to get everywhere by train.
She hasn't asked me to do this, and doesn't know I'm contemplating it, so forget all the other costs, how much is a reasonably reliable second hand car in the UK these days?
Sorry that should have been 'first' in the Op but you still can't edit Op's

In reply to Al Evans:

Ok, I'll open with a very beatable £6000 for a low mileage Micra still under warranty...

http://www.arnoldclark.com/used-cars/nissan/micra/1.2-visia-5dr/2012-(12)/r...

In reply to Al Evans:

Whatever you think about Al, do a thorough search for various words and phrases like
problems with (name of car)

before committing

If you don't find much, that is the one to consider over others. (don't do it after you buy it)

before you even search Google will predict from the most often searched pharses. If there are none you are quids in, if there are lots bin the idea, if there are only a couple dig in they may be minor.

try it with
'problems with nissan micra'

Jim C

In reply to Al Evans:

Not sure about car prices, but every chance that if she is under 25 and doen't have a no claims bonus the insurance will be the virtually the same price as the car.

A work colleagues 18 year old son was quoted £1800 for a fiesta!

Al

In reply to Al Evans:

You can get a reliable but crap, small car for a grand or less if you're lucky. I paid £800 for my Corsa and it's lasted years, and costed pretty much nothing in repairs for the first 4 years. Starting to fall to bits now (about 6 or so years on).

In reply to Jim C:
>"problems with *any brand*"

When I try Nissan, Ford or Toyota google offer up a list of pretty much all their models.

In reply to Al Evans:

Second the exorbitant insurance; I bought a diesel 08 Nissan Note, fairly high mileage, for £4000 in October - and the insurance (being 24, first car and only recently passed my test) was £1500. Even worse was there was no sort of consistency in the quotes I got. I was going to be moving to London a few months later from Newcastle - some insurers refused to insure me in London (fair), some were quite a bit cheaper(!?) and some were slightly more expensive. It was a very frustrating process.

In reply to Al Evans:

All been said Al - insurance is the killer. Bought the youngest a car (£3.5k), taxed at £125, insured at £1495 (Staffs) - I then help with maintenance and fuel.

Cheersd, Roger G

In reply to Al Evans:

I just bought my first vehicle at 24, an old fiat doblo, cost a grand, since spent a couple hundred sorting it, new tyres and stuff. Insurance was 500.
Good luck!

In reply to Al Evans:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/

In reply to Al Evans:

As a bit of a thread hijack which won't help answer your question, we sold our car recently and a friend asked if we wanted to car share. I asked them to give me a quote when their renewal came up for adding me onto their insurance. Fair enough, I have max no claims bonus etc, but it was £2.50 for the year. Makes me think that car sharing should be more common.

In reply to Al Evans:

i've never spent more that £2,500 on a car and my current car has been going without too much hassle for the last 7 years. Due to inflation you're probably talking about ~£3,500 for something that will do the job. I'd look at a fiesta or corsa type thing, as suggested the insurance will likely be an issue so a small petrol engine will probably be on the cards.
Something like this would probably do nicely:-
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201403082343162/sort/default/...

or http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201401151057644/sort/default/...

In reply to Al Evans: Just a thought: how far does she have to travel to her modelling jobs? If, as others have suggested, for purchase and insurance cost reasons you have to aim for a small car with a small engine then that's not going to be particularly great for long journeys. If she just needs to pootle around a metropolitan area somewhere with occasional forays 50-100 miles further out then it should be OK.

I'm no expert on modelling but I'd have thought that turning up to a job looking frazzled and drawn after a difficult, long drive in a cramped, relatively underpowered car might not create the best impression on the client. Relaxing on the train might actually be a better option.

Does she not get travel expenses for her modelling jobs?

In reply to Al Evans:

I'd budget maybe £2k for the car, £1-3k PA for the insurance depending upon circumstances.

Something basic and new on finance with 1yr free insurance may be worth a look if she's young.

jk

In reply to Al Evans:

For reliable Al, most of my family are or were Mechanics and panel beaters, and they swear by German or Japanese cars every Time for reliability.

In reply to Al Evans:

For cheaper insurance think outside the box too, common first cars are fiestas, corsas and the like, this means they have more accidents therefore more claims which skew the insurance prices. So if you were to look at things like "big" cars like Mondeos, Volvos and so on, they're driven less by younger drivers thus less crashed thus a bit cheaper insurance.

In reply to Al Evans:

A 'Fist Car'? What kind of modelling is she doing?

In reply to Shani:



See Op edit.

In reply to Al Evans:

I would look at something like this:

http://www.dmkeith.com/used-cars/search/4081/skoda-fabia

fine for motorway journeys up to a couple of hundred miles, drives well, cheap to run, has enough warranty left to get over any teething troubles and should be reliable for a good few years anyway which I think is important for an inexperienced driver who is depending on the car for her income. Insurance will be the problem as others have said, does she have driving experience even if she has not been a car owner - that can help

In reply to Choss:


But they are all more expensive to buy second hand and when they do go wrong they are more expensive to repair as parts for things like fords are dirt cheap.
Also, how many recalls have Toyota had in the last few years?

In reply to gethin_allen:


But they go wrong less often and last much Longer.


Dont Know, they all tend to favour BMWs.

In reply to Mr Trebus:


At the tender age of 20 in 1989 I was quoted with 2 yrs NCB £2632 for an RS Turbo. Young people and cars have always been an expensive proposition!

In reply to Al Evans:

my 17 year old son got a corsa 1.2 petrol last year for £1500 which should last him a good while and insurance was £850. Got the price that low by adding myself and wife to the insurance and he's had to have a little black box in it which "monitors" his driving, this halved the price so is pretty much a no-brainer and stops him driving like a tw#t too.

Do spend a long time shopping around for insurance some quotes were ridiculous eg £2500+

In reply to Al Evans:

For someone working in that industry, the car insurance costs could be pretty high. They certainly are for folk in the performing arts - can be extremely (cripplingly) high. Worth considering, I'd have thought, before taking the plunge...

In reply to Al Evans:

You could consider buying a new one - you can get deals for £150 deposit and £150 a month, so £1800 a year - for little toyota aygo size of car. I think there are even cheaper deals around.

In reply to cander:

Thanks all, it seems my second daughter hasn't yet passed her driving test, so I guess it's all for lessons first.

In reply to Al Evans:

Just paid £1600 for a Skoda Fabia 2004 for a runabout and that would be relativly cheap to insure but as others have pointed out for a younger person with no claims that is very much relative, would recomend the car though.

In reply to Al Evans:
Dunno - but I guess things have moved on a bit - especially the insurance.

Aged 21, my first car cost me just over a weeks wages - and the insurance cost 2 weeks wages!

The car was almost as old as I was -- and cost £17 10s -- we still had 'old money' in those days. 3rd party insurance was £22

I did 10000 miles in 12 months and sold the car for £25. Petrol was under 3s (15p) per gallon. Only car I ever made a profit on!

In reply to Al Evans:

'How much does it cost to own your fist car in UK these days'

£4.99, apparently....

http://tinyurl.com/o4wgxgx

(sorry... i'll get my coat...)

cheers
gregor

In reply to Al Evans:

I'm 18 and run about in a 1L VW polo. My sister brought it 3- 4 years ago with 160,000 miles on the clock for £700! 20,000 miles later it's still going strong(ish). That said I still have to pay £1350 for insurance!