Car for 17 year old dd?

[Grandadwasthatyou]

We live some distance from public transport and are considering a small car for dd once she passes her test. I notice a few neighbours have bought little Fiats for their dds. I am not close enough to the neighbours to ask cheeky questions about cost, finance, pcps etc.
Would love some advice about what would be the best way to finance a little car and if there are any particularly good deals at the moment, possibly including insurance. Don't really want to buy second hand as need something reliable for her.
Thank you in advance.

@Grandadwasthatyou

We live some distance from public transport and are considering a small car for dd once she passes her test. I notice a few neighbours have bought little Fiats for their dds. I am not close enough to the neighbours to ask cheeky questions about cost, finance, pcps etc. Would love some advice about what would be the best way to finance a little car and if there are any particularly good deals at the moment, possibly including insurance. Don't really want to buy second hand as need something reliable for her. Thank you in advance.

Obnoxious.

We bought our daughter a nearly new Toyota Aygo and shopped around online for learner drivers car insurance. Adding her to our policy was going to be more expensive. With driving lessons and tests not allowed during lockdown and the resulting backlog expected to be long, you might want to wait until the summer to look at deals and financing.

Oh those Fiats are such an obvious choice for a teen girl

Twee af

Chesapeake, what is obnoxious about the opening post? She is just asking for information. I don't 'get' why you said that.

The Fiat 500 is supposed to be a bit crappy.

The Toyota Aygo or Peugeot 106 or there's another one that's all effectively the same car is supposed to be much better, likewise the Skoda citigo, VW Up or Seat Mio, again all the same car, although there might be subtle differences in costs and equipment, styling etc. But all as cheap as possible for insurance.

I disagree about needing to buy new to get something reliable, but sometimes the PCP deals on new are so good that there's little difference if you do have to spend on a second hand car. But if you get a pre 2017 one, the tax will be £30 or less.

I got a new citigo on PCP a few years ago for £130 pm including servicing and breakdown with no deposit, but I don't know what current deals are.

@Chesapeake . don't quite understand what's obnoxious but never mind. Everybody is allowed choice.
Thanks to others for advice, it's good to be fully informed before making such a big decision.

Toyota are very reliable and have good safety ratings. I think the best for a teen is a Toyota Corolla but that is quite pricey - a Yaris or Aygo is probably more likely price wise. But you can get hybrid Corollas and Yarisses (how do you pluralise car names?!).

I would buy second hand from that brand with no issue (there are other brands I would only buy new).

At her age I shared a secondhand Volkswagen polo. It was ok and fairly reliable, not as good as the corolla I drove for work.

My doctor bought his daughters Mini Coopers when they got their licences. I don't know if they were any good but they looked great

My first car was a mini - 08 plate. Very unreliable, a year after it broke and i got a new mini cooper on finance, didn't have a single issue with it in 4 years, cost £1250, £1000 £800 and then £700 insurance for the years i had it and £250 a month on finance, it was brilliant and i really loved him!!

Get prices from dealers.... Toyota, Hyundai etc. Don’t bother with fiat. See what offers they have.

Look at carwow too to help negotiate a price.

In the nicest way don't get a Fiat. Your DD will be judged as it's typically a mummy and daddy are rich and I'm spoilt vibes. They are also crap!

Just remember to check insurance quotes before committing. I bought Dd a second hand car last year and the insurance was more than the car! And that was the cheapest insurance we could find, for a 20 year old polo!

We got a new Seat Mii as our second car when DD started to drive. We have a pcp of about £130 a month. We covered insurance initially (she was added as a named driver) but she paid for petrol. She now pays the insurance which is now in her name.

@JacobReesMogadishu

Just remember to check insurance quotes before committing. I bought Dd a second hand car last year and the insurance was more than the car! And that was the cheapest insurance we could find, for a 20 year old polo!

Insurance is not necessarily cheaper for older cars (can be worse safety features or more likely to be badly maintained) and the replacement cost of the car is far from the insurance company's main risk re cost of claim.

Their nightmare scenario for young drivers especially is the driver crashing while driving a car full of their mates around and them all surviving with life changing injuries, because they then have a multi million pound payout for a lifetime of specialist care, adapted housing, pain and suffering and loss of earnings to cover.

Or the young driver could crash into and seriously damage another car worth many times the one that they are driving.

Electric bike so she can get herself to public transport easily.

Car insurance is hideously expensive for teens for a reason.

You also need to think if she's off to uni, she won't want a car there.

Depends a lot on what the insurance quotes are like, and, importantly the terms and conditions of the insurance such as whether she can keep the no claims she earns with a 'free' insurance policy.

The insurance can vary madly and unpredictably between models and in reference to the 20yr old polo above, older cars are often more expensive as they tend to have bigger engines and poorer safety equipment.

The only real way is to do some legwork and crunch the numbers for her particular circumstances, set up a profile on one of the insurance comparison sites, and a spreadsheet of likely models and add up the cost of the insurance and purchase/hire/pcp for each car.

Don’t buy one of those Fiats - they are shite, bits fall off them etc.

Just to counter the anti Fiat sentiment, I had one for four years and nothing ever went wrong with it except a bill going that cost a few quid to sort.

Look at a Mazda 2. They are very reliable compared to European brands. My dd loves hers. It was 10 years old when she got it and insurance was £1150

I have two daughters and the best cars either had were Ford fiesta, I would definately consider second hand, the 1.0 ecoboost is cheap to run and cheap to insure, we have admiral multi car and has always been the best, no black box.

Love my Fiat 500, have had it for 5 years and it was 3 years old when I bought it secondhand - it's been totally reliable, it's fun to drive and it makes me smile.

Toyotas are overall consistently the most reliable cars. Consider buying one that’s a year old it will be much better value and come with a decent warranty from a main dealer. The other poster called you obnoxious as you are basically admitting you have spare money, don’t worry about it,

We started by looking at NCAP ratings, test drove a few from the top of the list, looked at payment options and insurance costs and decided upon a Ford Fiesta as the best option for us. Bought new on PCP deal and we're very happy with it, like pp we also have admiral multi car insurance

Audi A1 & mini coopers are popular first cars for girls round here and in my family.
Audi a1 are lovely cars and I think finance wise you’d be looking around £200pm for one a few years old with a good spec.
Not sure with the mini but assuming it will be cheaper.
I don’t like fiat 500s personally.

@queenofthelamas really? I always got the cheap first car vibe from them.