If your son or daughter passed their driving test recently

[Constellationsofmyheart]

How much did they pay for their first car?

Currently looking for a car for ds but everything is so much money.

Torn between just letting him get a banger that will hopefully do for a year or two, or lending him some extra money to get something a bit newer.

£6,500 but we all use it. It's tiny so uses almost zero fuel (Skoda Fabia 1litre)

We bought two recently, both around £3000. Both have had a few scrapes and dents initially so not spending a lot was the right thing for us

Cheaper to drive ours as already have a Focus 1 litre

£1500 on a 15 year old 107, 1 lady owner, cosmetic write-off, bodywork only. Husband is in the trade so able to sort the damage. Seems like a good little runner so far 🤞

Ds2 was given a 63 plate Hyuandai i10 (around 18m ago - worth about £3k) from my parents who went down to 1 car.
Insurance was £1,200, no black box. He was 18 & just starting work, having passed his test 10 months earlier.

Same car was then handed onto Ds1 6m ago. He was just 23 & had passed his test 10 months previous.

£7k for a nine year old VW Polo with 40,000 on the clock and a full service history. Immaculate body work.

I looked for ages but settled on the above because my AA man neighbour said they rarely go wrong (touches wood) and recommended this particular car. I know nothing about cars at all.

The question to ask is does your child really need a car. DD was desperate for one when she first passed but the notion quickly wore off when she worked out how much things would cost! I purposefully downsized my car when she was 17 so that if necessary she could also drive it. It has saved a huge amount, especially on insurance costs.

It’s been 2 years and she’s only just starting to think about getting her own as she is graduating university.

My daughter bought her own, a 53 plate Nissan Almera. 50,000 miles loads of history and uncomplicated to repair. She just finishing a two college course but is going to do a separate one year mechanics course before she starts her career so she is not so beholding to garages for maintenance.

We found exactly the same. The purchase price ended up being the easy bit.

We were looking at cars around £4-5k and quickly realised some of the “cheap” options would have cost far more once insurance, fuel and ongoing costs were factored in. One quote was almost as much as the car itself.

It surprised me how difficult it was to see the true cost in one place. You end up jumping between AutoTrader, insurance sites, MOT history and endless articles.

We’re actually building a little tool called First Car Scout because we ran into this ourselves while helping our daughter. The aim is simply to help families narrow down sensible options before they spend weeks researching.

I’d be interested to know how other parents approached it because it feels far more complicated than it should be.

Didn't buy a car for either of mine. They were both going to uni, nowhere to park at uni, nowhere to park outside the accommodation. They can borrow my car, I am insured to drive both mine and Dh's car so it doesn't leave me without a car.

Ds1 is now working, living at home and again no car as works from home 4 days a week, car shares with Dh when they go into the office which are happily on the same street and the car borrowing still stands.

The first place I would be looking to buy a car is Autotrader and lowest insurance group to find out what cars are available in that bracket for whatever price bracket I set. Autotrader is brilliant for showing how many cars are in each category as you filter years, mileage and price.

My son passed in March. He’s an apprentice so has a bit of money coming in. He chose a Vauxhall corsa, 2017. He paid £5k for it. It’s a nice little car. He paid £4k, my parents gifted him £1k and we paid for his insurance .

£1600 and £1500 for insurance x

Mine got a brand new car. He saved and we helped with half. What we have noticed is he drives more sensible than his mates with older cars as he appreciates it more.

He’s a bit older and doesn’t have a black box but does have a dash cam.

I agree @Blueeberry. I shared my car with DD (21) when she passed her test, then she went to university and doesn't need one there. DS passed last year and is doing the same thing - he hopes to go to uni next year.

If it's really necessary to get around, I'd personally give or lend them some extra money to get something better than an old banger as I wouldn't be comfortable with them breaking down at night, for example. We have some dodgy areas in our city.

2800 on a 2010 Fiat 500