Which are the cheapest cars to insure?

[thepurplehen]

We have two 17 year olds who we are considering getting a cheap runaround for once they've both passed their tests. The idea being they share the car.

What are the cheapest cars to insure?

I

[TurnThatOffNOW]

Hah, the Mazda5 is cheap, the newer models of the Ford Fiesta, a Dacia Sandero or a Corsa (newer is better)

[specialsubject]

are you sure about the Corsa? I thought insurance on those were going up due to the high crash rate, due to the usual drivers. No offence, those are the facts.

OP - if you don't already know, your teens need to take it in turns to be principal driver and named driver each year. That way they both build up no-claims. As long as they are driving it roughly equally that's fine. Might also be worth putting yourself on as a named driver, this can lower premium.

[SisterMoonshine]

Small engine.
My daewoo matiz is only about a 7 hundred and something engine. I know - it only has 3 spark plugs!
My last car was a Fiat Cinquecento, that was cheap to run too.
I can't say that they're cool though.

I'm not sure about newer is better though. Maybe best to insure a car with a value of about £500.

[nottheOP]

I think car insurance is decided on group so you might want to start there. All the super mini with the 60bhp engines should be cheapest

Vw up/fox
Seat mii
Skoda citigo
Peugeot 107/8
Citroën c1
Toyota aygo
Ford ka
Nissan micra
Hyundai i10
kia picanto
suzuki alto

[justanotherjane]

I have a 17 year old close to passing and after a lot of searching around/messing about with trial insurance quotes a Citroen C1 looks like it's going to be both the cheapest to insure and run. Looking at about £1400 for insurance (although I have just changed to admiral so will check with them if it will be cheaper to go down the multi-car route) and £20 road tax a year. The other cars in band 1 seemed to have insurance all within the £1400-1700 range but the cheap road tax (and great mpg) make the citroen look the most appealing, and as DD says 'at least it looks quite cute as well' .

[circular]

We thought same car wise, the Citien C1, Toyota Aygo and Peogot 107 all being the 'same' car. But couldn't find a decent one at a reasonable price. Didnt want to go above £2k. Car DD1 has ended up with (Kia) still similar price to insure and economical on fuel, but £110 road tax and probably a bit less street cred. One slight disadvantage we've found on her (2006) model, is that the indicators / wipers are on opposite sides to other cars. Think it changed in later models. But that seems to throw me more than a 17 year old.

[specialsubject]

it might be smarter to forget 'street cred' and 'cool' and think about the other costs and aspects too. A lot of the silly girly cars are expensive for parts, have nowhere to put anything and are really badly designed.

the rule about 'if it is marketed to women, don't buy it' is well worth remembering in this case!

[UsedToBeAPaxmanFan]

Our ds has a 6 year old Fiat Panda. It costs £850 to insure with Tesco and has a black box fitted. We paid £2k for it.

We found one of the big issues when looking at a car was height of ds (6 ft). In lots of small cars, he either didn't fit in at all, or had to drive with the seat right back. The panda is small but with headroom, and he doesnt have to push the seat right back.

[hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman]

Something that not every other young driver drives so I would avoid things like Saxos and other common cars.

My two had the use of a Skoda Fabia for a while after passing their tests and insurance costs were relatively low.

[BackforGood]

You will be likely to get a better price on cars that aren't cool though circular

[19lottie82]

Tbh the actual car won't affect the premiums that much (within reason, obviously). The main risk of driving is that you will injure a third party who will then sue you (the insurance provider), which could potentially run into millions, rather than paying to replace the actual car.
There is no set "cheap" car to insure, your policy price will depend on many other factors, and will obviously vary from person to person.
However, I did ready that statistically, Citroen C1's were the cheapest, demographically. And obviously, a smaller engine is USUALLY the way to go, but again this isn't set in stone.

[SconessMcFloness]

Company cars are very cheap to insure, especially a small car - if you can get one. There is often no additional premium for 17 year olds.

[circular]

Not the cost if the car to replace that makes the difference to insure.
More how fast it is likely to be driven, so how much damage it can do.
Have a feeling safety factors would come into it too, (passengers suing for injury) which is quite likely why some insurers are refusing very old cars for young drivers.

Since posting, DD has passed. Cancelled learner insurance with refund promised within a week. Had to requote for qualified policy as test date changed and my details (named driver) changed slightly. Thankfully same price as originally quoted.

[Rascalls3]

In addition to the above we were told that the newer, the car the cheaper the premiums. Due to enhanced safety features and an assumption that the car will be better looked after than an old banger.
We went with Direct Line for my dd's Aygo ( initially 2x17 years olds and 20 year old) One of the 17year olds was the main driver (big sis at uni) 1st year about £1700 and 2nd year £67 per month.
Direct Line credit additional drivers with no claims discount if they go on to insure their own car with them apparently.

[Rascalls3]

Sorry x post with circular

[yellowdaisies]

Direct line have a great website where you can put in the numberplate of any car you're thinking of buying (or make, model and year if you don't know it) and they give you a quote. The type of car does make a huge difference for the insurance for teens - even if you only want third party insurance.

Generally they need to be really small engine size, and quite new to be cheap(er).

My Kia picanto is half the price I was quoted for my Vauxhall Astra (I'm paying £800 a year comprehensive, with DSD (17) on the insurance for it). That's with a black box fitted to monitor the driving - also allows me to track where she is in it .

[Ruhrpott]

We got a ford KA and insured it with direct line and had the black box fitted. The black box saved 25% and as said above you can track where they are (if you have the password). The insurance was still well above £1000 though and both get no claims built up but the named driver can only use them for another direct line policy.

Third party insurance was actually more expensive than fully comp.

[Ruhrpott]

As far as I recall putting mine and DH names as named drivers down also decreased the quote and means we can drive it when needed.

[UsedToBeAPaxmanFan]

We bought a Fiat Panda when ds passed his test, and have it insured fully comp with Tesco Black Box insurance. It cost £800 for the first year - I'm hoping it will be less this year as he's now turned 18.

I'm a named driver so I do drive it occasionally, and that brought the price down a little.

We do the comparison thing where we put registration numbers of potential cars into the Tesco insurance website and it gave us quotes. There was hardly a difference between all the cars we looked at (all small cars, all less the 6 years old, value approx £3k). They all came out at between £800 and £900.

The car is parked on our driveway every night and we live in a postcode that has relatively cheap insurance.

[circular]

I think our postcode is highish, hence £1240, but car is 8.5 years old.
Was £1540 before adding me. If we'd also wanted to add DH would have put the price back up again.
With Tesco black box, next quote up around £2k.
Would be interested to know if anyone has been through the renewal process after having black box for a year, and whether they felt it worked out fair.
One thing I'm not clear on, is whether the black box info is passed on to a different insurer.

[cheapskatemum]

Hi! DS4 is about to turn 17 and I feel like a bit of an old pro at this. Black box info doesn't get passed on, in my experience. OP, it sounds like you &/or your DH won't be on the policy as named drivers as the 2 17year olds are going to share the car. The downside of this is that the insurance costs more, particularly the 1st year. The upside is that they start to build up their own no claims bonus. Yy to newer cars being cheaper to insure and also fully comprehensive being cheaper than 3rd party.

[thepurplehen]

Thanks for all the replies. I think we might insure them to drive my car which is a 1.4 engine as there doesn't seem to be much between putting them on as named drivers on that or a 1 litre runaround.

Dp wants to insure it for them whilst they're away at uni. I think it's daft to pay out for a years worth of insurance just so they can use it a few weeks in a year.

Do some insurers do monthly insurance?

[Whatdoidonow96]

Mu daughter has a Toyota Aygo and loves it. Cheapish to insure, economical and only £20 for road tax