Teen car

[EmmaStone]

DD turns 17 next week, and we've agreed to buy a small car (that will then be used by her 15YO brother when he's 17). We're looking to pay a maximum of £5k (thanks current secondhand car market!), and would love any advice that those who've already done it have.

Would you buy from a car forecourt/private seller, 3 door vs 5 door, good insurance rates and insurers? All advice gratefully received.

We looked at some cars today, she was keen on a Fiat 500, I was keen on a Hyundai i10, DH keen on a Skoda Citigo. All small engive sizes and low/no tax (actually, I really liked a Hyundai ix20, but it was a 1.4l engine, so probably not a great insurance prospect).

I’m looking at Ix10 and Toyota Aygo for DD. Can’t seem to get a low mileage decent one for under about 9k

My DD has a Citroen C1, its been bomb proof and very cheap to insure, i think there are Toyota and Peugeot equivalents, the wings and bumpers are held in place with v cheap breakable clips if they hit anything, the clips break first and anyone with a socket set can replace them.

14 plate and above has a slightly better engine (petrol)

As a first car, don't hung up on mileage, so long as its been looked after.

Buy from a forecourt and push for extra warranty.

Fiesta. Every time. Bomb proof, can be fixed by anyone.

Fab advice, thanks all! 😀👍🏼

I really wouldn't pay 5k for a teens first car, I know the market is mad but you can still pick up something perfectly fine for under half that.
The old old fiestas were great, I am not keen on the newer ones I think they're less reliable but to be fair anything that's mass produced and not too new will be easy to run, fix and have lots of cheap parts available.

Skoda citigo is brilliant, a rrally good first car, they are so easy to park

I'd love to pay less (we've actually told her our budget is £4k), but its's very challenging. Perhaps I'm looking in the wrong places, but neither of us is confident in buying used cars, we just want something that isn't going to cost £2k+ for a new engine within a few months!! Where would you recommend to look for a cheaper car?

I bought my own runaround a few months back for £2300 on autotrader which is going to be DP’s car when I’ve bought my new family car.
Its a Suzuki Swift 1.5 5 door 2008 and had under 45000 miles on the clock, full service history, few minor advisories on previous MOT, all of the invoices for repairs etc. Purchased from a small trade company, took it to my trusted local garage who did a basic check on it within the warranty period.
There were plenty of others cheaper on autotrader without too many more miles with smaller engines and 3 doors.
It’ll probably carry on for years to come, as have all of my old runaround’s.

My neighbour bought her teen her first car through cazoo, or was it cinch? One of them anyway!

The reason being they know nothing about 2nd hand cars - always bought new - snd wanted some form of comfort.

Had a choice of an Aygo or an Up in their price bracket which was between 5.5k and 6k I think. Teen D is delighted and zipping around over the place - importantly it was a stress free purchase.

I have a Toyota Aygo, , not expensive to run and insure. Lovely first car and has a reversing camera and all round beepers. Many first accidents are just reversing etc bumps, so its a good idea. Also a spy under the bonnet via the insurance company.

Thank you, unfortunately, the cheapest car they've got is £6k+ which is significantly over our budget :(

We are also looking for something similar, though hoping to pay a bit less as DS is using savings.

I've got a 10 year old i10 which is worth about £2.5k according to webuyanycar and I would definitely recommend them. I've had it from new and it's been a fantastic car.

Both DC had a Peugeot 107 , DS still has his . Both 5 door . Very basic but economic.
Both had learners insurance with Adrian flux , DD then went on multi car with me , DS stayed with Adrian Flux .

Oh my god £5K for a teenagers car. I remember slogging my guts out one summer cleaning trays at a butchers shop for £400 to buy an old Toyota starlet with a choke 20 years ago.

Anyway, not the point.

I have owned a Citroen C1 and it was an excellent cheap runaround but zero boot space.

Also, I am a paramedic and have seen lots of crashes and the car I'm most impressed with safety wise is a BMW mini. One teenager smashed head first into a van at 50ish miles an hour and the front of the car was totally crumpled (smoking etc) and they walked out without a scratch. Have been impressed with that car in many crashes. I would buy one for my teenager (they're only 4 at the moment!) no doubt (they'd have to contribute though!).

Fiat 500s can often (although not always) be more expensive to insure for young women, because lots of young women want and drive them so statistically speaking, this model tends to be in more accidents.

At this end of the market, makes and models matter less than history and condition. So I’d set the basic parameters — budget, number of doors, petrol or diesel — and see what comes up.

The ideal is the car that has the best (ie most comprehensive) history for servicing and MOT, good mileage and best condition for bodywork, engine, interior and so on. One that's had all the right work done at the right times — so cambelt done at the correct service interval, for example. (Be aware that some cars don't have cambelts, they have a chain.)

Thanks All, sounds like the cars we're looking at are on the right track.

@sunflowerandivy a Mini would be at the top end budget-wise for us, and we've had personal bad experience (complete engine failure) which has put us off. However, I am concerned about safety, apparently the Skoda Citigo, VW Up and Seat Mii are all essentially the same car and supposedly pretty good safety wise...

@NightmareSlashDelightful that's really helpful, thank you! Will add service history to our list.

Dealers that offer a warranty (and we'd probably purchase an extended warranty), do we think they're actually worth the paper they're printed on??

I’ve just brought two

One a Mini - private sale well looked after and quite solid little car. £2,000
The other a Mazda 2 - 1.2 engine and quite a decent car. £3,500 (it’s bright green)

What ever you buy may end up as problem

That's good @Threelittlelambs , what was the mileage like? I'm generally looking at under 60k mileage for a car 9-12 years old, so pretty low, perhaps that's my problem!

The Mazda has 52,000
The mini has 80,000

I think for a couple of years they’ll both be fine and can afford better.

Average mileage for a car that age would be 80-110,000 based on 9,000 per year.

And, if a small car has really low mileage eg 5000 per year or less, it may have done lots of very short journeys, adding to wear and tear.

Can you get someone who knows a bit more to help you look?

Minis are generally cheap to insure as they are less common as teen first cars - fiestas etc were more expensive when we bought our DS 1st car.

Just placemarking, if that's okay, OP.

Looking for advice for my purchase for DS.

Go for the brands you suggested, low milage about 10 yrs old should cost around £2k put it on your insurance with her as an occasional driver, when test is passed restrict to daytime driving for a while, ie:- no evenings out with friends.

Girls are usually sensible drivers

DD1's first (only) car was a Kia Rio. She needed to be able to carry her cello and sax and they wouldn't fit in the Picante. Kia offers a 7 year warranty and 6 years ago were great value.

It's a great little car. It fits 5 of us in it, normally does 50+ mpg and now both DDs drive, we are all insured to drive it. We bought it when it was almost 2 years old as it had been part-ex'd at the dealers. My DF bought it and paid around £6k. You could get an older model for less.