The Car thread

[Manini]

I’ve had to park the BMW/A-class dream for now as the insurance for my new postcode is just stupid . I’m 25 and I passed when I was 17, got 3 years no claims but then sold my car When I went to uni and I haven’t had one since, so I’m basically back to square one even though I’m not classed as a young driver anymore. I’ve got 2 years named driver experience on my mrs car but that means bob all really. 
 

I’m eyeing up some nice sporty Corsa’s and new shape clios now. The VXR Corsa’s are lovely and my Mrs has an Adam so I know the smaller Vauxhall’s drive quite nicely. On the plus side the car will be loads cheaper, insurance will still likely be touching a grand though 

[simFox]

Car prices have gone up lately, seems to have been pent up demand and used cars have flown of the forecourts. Everyone must have been saving their furlough money.

 

I keep an eye on car prices and mind is now with y more than what I paid last year. Mental.

[Kopic]

2 minutes ago, Manini said:

I’ve had to park the BMW/A-class dream for now as the insurance for my new postcode is just stupid . I’m 25 and I passed when I was 17, got 3 years no claims but then sold my car When I went to uni and I haven’t had one since, so I’m basically back to square one even though I’m not classed as a young driver anymore. I’ve got 2 years named driver experience on my mrs car but that means bob all really. 
 

I’m eyeing up some nice sporty Corsa’s and new shape clios now. The VXR Corsa’s are lovely and my Mrs has an Adam so I know the smaller Vauxhall’s drive quite nicely. On the plus side the car will be loads cheaper, insurance will still likely be touching a grand though 

on the bolded bit, that seems to vary based on insurance company. I'm 27, been driving consistently since I was 17 with full no claims. I took out a policy with the AA this year as it was considerably cheaper than anyone else (£100+ cheaper even than my renewal). My policy according to them is a young driver policy, which as far as I can tell just meant I had to provide a hell of a lot more information than usual. But the ages for cheaper insurance seem to change all the time. When I passed my test my first year was 1k (with an 11pm-6am curfew blackbox), its been dropping slowly each year since I passed but considerably less than i thought it would. I thought age 18, 20, 21, 23, 25 would've made a much bigger difference to my price than it did. But yeah every insurance company does it differently.

[Manini]

34 minutes ago, Kopic said:

on the bolded bit, that seems to vary based on insurance company. I'm 27, been driving consistently since I was 17 with full no claims. I took out a policy with the AA this year as it was considerably cheaper than anyone else (£100+ cheaper even than my renewal). My policy according to them is a young driver policy, which as far as I can tell just meant I had to provide a hell of a lot more information than usual. But the ages for cheaper insurance seem to change all the time. When I passed my test my first year was 1k (with an 11pm-6am curfew blackbox), its been dropping slowly each year since I passed but considerably less than i thought it would. I thought age 18, 20, 21, 23, 25 would've made a much bigger difference to my price than it did. But yeah every insurance company does it differently.

I’ve only ever had insurance with admiral (my car and my Mrs is also with them) and 25 seems to be their cut off by the looks of it....well on quotes they’re not adding young driver excess anyway. My first year was about a grand too so it feels a bit gutting knowing I’m probably going to end up paying nigh on the same 8 years down the line, but they’ve got you by the balls because they know you have to pay it and you need to start somewhere in my position. 

Edited 10 August 2020 by Manini

[Kopic]

7 minutes ago, Manini said:

I’ve only ever had insurance with admiral (my car and my Mrs is also with them) and 25 seems to be their cut off by the looks of it....well on quotes they’re not adding young driver excess anyway. My first year was about a grand too so it feels a bit gutting knowing I’m probably going to end up paying nigh on the same 8 years down the line, but they’ve got you by the balls because they know you have to pay it and you need to start somewhere in my position. 

Have you gone through all the comparison websites? After my first year with the terrible black box I joined my dads Admiral multicar for ages which seemed like a great price. However the past 3 years having my own standalone insurance has been a lot cheaper than the admiral multicar (I always check, their prices seem to have skyrocketed recently). When I did my insurance a few months ago the AA were doing an offer through compare the market (i think 30% off?) which is why it was so much cheaper than my renewal. Its well worth checking all the comparison websites as they all have their own partners and special offers with each company.

Edited 10 August 2020 by Kopic

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

31 minutes ago, Manini said:

I’ve only ever had insurance with admiral (my car and my Mrs is also with them) and 25 seems to be their cut off by the looks of it....well on quotes they’re not adding young driver excess anyway. My first year was about a grand too so it feels a bit gutting knowing I’m probably going to end up paying nigh on the same 8 years down the line, but they’ve got you by the balls because they know you have to pay it and you need to start somewhere in my position. 

As Kopic pointed out, use the comparison sites, you'll be amazed the difference between prices. Another tip - I've found adding on another named driver (even with yourself as the main driver) usually whacks a chunk off for some reason. I've kept my ex on as a named driver for 2 years as she brings the cost down about £80

[The Bear]

I don't know if GoCompare's £250 free excess offer is still on but that bought down the cost for me a decent amount. You have to raise the voluntary excess until the total excess comes to £250 or just over, but doing that brings the price down a reasonable amount. 

[Kopic]

On the excess, I always wack voluntary to the max as I know even if I **** my car up, crash into someone else etc, i'll never claim for it. Someone ran into the back of me once and wrote off their brand new audi TT convertible, only cracked the rear light on my golf so I didn't tell insurance and sorted it myself. They were entirely at fault and claimed as such, i imagine, as this was 7 years ago and I'm yet to hear anything!

 

Insurance does piss me off though. My missus passed her test a year ago, same age as me, renewed recently and her yearly cover is £100 pounds more than mine this year, and I've been going 10 years with full no claims.

[Guest Fktf]

3 hours ago, Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo said:

As Kopic pointed out, use the comparison sites, you'll be amazed the difference between prices. Another tip - I've found adding on another named driver (even with yourself as the main driver) usually whacks a chunk off for some reason. I've kept my ex on as a named driver for 2 years as she brings the cost down about £80

Yup. When I was young I put my dad, mum, step mum all on the insurance. Easily made a 3 figure discount.

[Manini]

10 hours ago, Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo said:

As Kopic pointed out, use the comparison sites, you'll be amazed the difference between prices. Another tip - I've found adding on another named driver (even with yourself as the main driver) usually whacks a chunk off for some reason. I've kept my ex on as a named driver for 2 years as she brings the cost down about £80

Yeah this is a no brainer isn’t it  when I first passed my test I think I had half the cul-de-saq down as named drivers on my C2. 

[Manini]

10 hours ago, Kopic said:

Have you gone through all the comparison websites? After my first year with the terrible black box I joined my dads Admiral multicar for ages which seemed like a great price. However the past 3 years having my own standalone insurance has been a lot cheaper than the admiral multicar (I always check, their prices seem to have skyrocketed recently). When I did my insurance a few months ago the AA were doing an offer through compare the market (i think 30% off?) which is why it was so much cheaper than my renewal. Its well worth checking all the comparison websites as they all have their own partners and special offers with each company.

Done a search through go compare and compare the market this morning and one particular company has come up on both with the same price. It’s under what I thought it would be, still expensive but affordable for my current situation so I’m just going to keep an eye on it based on different cars I go and test drive. 

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

10 minutes ago, Manini said:

Done a search through go compare and compare the market this morning and one particular company has come up on both with the same price. It’s under what I thought it would be, still expensive but affordable for my current situation so I’m just going to keep an eye on it based on different cars I go and test drive. 

 

Don't forget about estimated mileage too - the lower you keep it the more discount you'll get. Don't put less than you'd actually drive as you might not be covered in an accident if you're much higher than stated, but no point telling them you drive 15,000 miles a year when you might only do 8,000

[Manini]

7 minutes ago, Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo said:

 

Don't forget about estimated mileage too - the lower you keep it the more discount you'll get. Don't put less than you'd actually drive as you might not be covered in an accident if you're much higher than stated, but no point telling them you drive 15,000 miles a year when you might only do 8,000

Was actually having this conversation with my mum the other day. She always puts 10000 miles a year “to be safe“, she worked it out the other day and over the last 3 years she’s averaged about 4000. 

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

1 minute ago, Manini said:

Was actually having this conversation with my mum the other day. She always puts 10000 miles a year “to be safe“, she worked it out the other day and over the last 3 years she’s averaged about 4000. 

That's it - if for any reason you need to up it part way through the policy you can always phone the insurer up to adjust the policy

[The Bear]

17 hours ago, Kopic said:

On the excess, I always wack voluntary to the max as I know even if I **** my car up, crash into someone else etc, i'll never claim for it. 

I agree. If you hit someone else and cause enough damage to get the insurance involved then the excess is a small price to pay when it was your fault in the first place. 

 

I've never thought of this before but if you're at fault for a smash do you have to pay your excess for their claim against you? 

[SpacedX]

5 minutes ago, The Bear said:

I've never thought of this before but if you're at fault for a smash do you have to pay your excess for their claim against you? 

Not if you have one of these in your rear windscreen...

 

[FLAN]

Spent £480 on MOT, service and front brake replacements today. Also the light on the panel showing mileage isn’t working so asked about that. Needs new LCD cluster which is about £350!  I assumed it needed a bulb 😂

[The Bear]

It probably does just need a new bulb. Or the relevant fuse has gone. 

[ajthefox]

13 hours ago, Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo said:

 

Don't forget about estimated mileage too - the lower you keep it the more discount you'll get. Don't put less than you'd actually drive as you might not be covered in an accident if you're much higher than stated, but no point telling them you drive 15,000 miles a year when you might only do 8,000

To a point. I checked when I last renewed and between 5000 and 7000 made no difference. 

 

5 hours ago, The Bear said:

I agree. If you hit someone else and cause enough damage to get the insurance involved then the excess is a small price to pay when it was your fault in the first place. 

 

I've never thought of this before but if you're at fault for a smash do you have to pay your excess for their claim against you? 

I didn't have to when I was at fault in an accident.

[tom27111]

How did it go with the Jag @Izzy

[Izzy]

1 hour ago, tom27111 said:

How did it go with the Jag @Izzy

Collecting it tomorrow at midday mate 

 

They haven't given me any info on the extended warranty/paint protection yet, so I'm expecting the hard sell on those when I pick it up 

 

Cheers

[tom27111]

6 minutes ago, Izzy said:

Collecting it tomorrow at midday mate 

 

They haven't given me any info on the extended warranty/paint protection yet, so I'm expecting the hard sell on those when I pick it up 

 

Cheers

 

Ah, thought it was today!

 

Hope all goes well, let us know 

[Izzy]

32 minutes ago, tom27111 said:

 

Ah, thought it was today!

 

Hope all goes well, let us know 

Yeah it was supposed to be today but they asked for an extra day just to tart up a couple of minor scratches I pointed out 

 

I feel like a kid on Xmas eve tbh 

[Frost]

Looking at picking up a '19 plate Focus ST-Line X over the next couple of months.

[tom27111]

42 minutes ago, Frost said:

Looking at picking up a '19 plate Focus ST-Line X over the next couple of months.

https://www.imperialcarsupermarkets.co.uk/used-car/ford/focus/2827381/15-ecoboost-182-st-line-x-5dr/

 

https://www.imperialcarsupermarkets.co.uk/used-car/ford/focus/2802830/10-ecoboost-125-st-line-x-5dr/

 

Got a couple in if I can be of any help.

 

Good time to buy from us as Cazoo have taken us over and we're in a transition period of just flogging whatever we've got.