Suitable car?

[dombooth]

They sound very picky..

I mean the multipla was IMO the ugliest car Fiat made,

But nowadays Fiat is an awesome brand. Talk 'em into it.

Where in the country are you?

Dom

[Gareth]

No way in hell they'll let me drive the car so often that I'll become the main driver.

You said that once you pass the test, the school run will drop from 60 miles a day to 30. The clear implication is that you'll be driving 30 miles a day.

The UK school year appears to have 190 teaching days which suggests you'll be driving a minimum of 5700 miles a year, probably more as it's doubtful you'll be using the car solely for the school run.

While the car is parked at the school neither of your parents will be able to use it. It very much looks like you'll be the main driver whether your parents like it or not.

[sussex2]

The insurance companies are well up to speed with the named drivers game and if the mileage stated is correct then to be anything other than the main driver would be IMO irresponsible.

[jont]

Ah yes, skoda.



Lots Of Trouble, Usually Skoda
/yes, that's the 20 year old plastic shed built by turkey farmers jump starting the 3 y/o skoda with a 3 month old engine. Yes, it needed a replacement engine. And lots of other bits. Yes, I know everyone else swears by them. Unfortunately we're more often swearing at it. Not that I'm bitter in any way

[trashbat]

All I'll say is that running with manufacturer stereotypes - even assuming that the experience from one generation of car will determine the next - will see you miss out on some very good cars, and happily accept some very average ones.

[watts93]

The Fabia model we were considering was the 1.6 TDI, with a road tax of £20.

You might want to look at the equivalent VW Polo. When we were looking for cars for my younger brother we found that the polo was cheaper to insure than the fabia as the polo comes with ESP standard, this might have changed though.

Never heard that...think about it from the insurance company's view, they are trying to gauge risk so will base the premium on who drives it the most...the owner is irrelevant.

You would think so, but In my recent experience of trying to add myself to to my parent's car insurance I found that having myself as main driver was actually cheaper than having me as a named driver, although that would be fronting in my situation. It seems either the insurance companies are trying to discourage fronting or that children occasionally driving their parents cars are higher risk.

[sussex2]

'children occasionally driving their parents cars are higher risk'

Massively higher and more so because they have no financial interest in it.

The only real way to do this is for the younger person to buy the car and insure it themselves. It is the only way they can show to insurance companies that they can be responsible and build up a record.

[sussex2]

Ah yes, skoda.



Lots Of Trouble, Usually Skoda
/yes, that's the 20 year old plastic shed built by turkey farmers jump starting the 3 y/o skoda with a 3 month old engine. Yes, it needed a replacement engine. And lots of other bits. Yes, I know everyone else swears by them. Unfortunately we're more often swearing at it. Not that I'm bitter in any way

I've never been a great believer things German necessarily being more reliable. In fact coming to think of it I have owned cars from the UK/Europe/Japan and none of them have been a shining beacon of reliability; especially given the mileage I tend to do.
Anyway that overly expensive Audi may well have been made by Seat and in Spain. I see them by the transporter load trundling up the A7 towards the French border not at all infrequently; and these are the more upmarket ones as well.
For me it is always a bonus if the thing starts when you turn the key
I

[trashbat]

Ah yes, skoda.



Lots Of Trouble, Usually Skoda
/yes, that's the 20 year old plastic shed built by turkey farmers jump starting the 3 y/o skoda with a 3 month old engine.

This picture warms my cold dead heart.

I only really have good things to say about my shonky 90s-era Italian car's reliability. It's on somewhere around 110k miles, 50k of them mine, and in my care it's only ever gone wrong once - injector blockages. Even then it was still driveable.

It's not perfect, I suppose. The aftermarket amplifier doesn't work when it's really cold.

I'll admit the positive reliability is entirely divorced from the costs of keeping it that way, but still.

[martine]

'children occasionally driving their parents cars are higher risk'

Massively higher and more so because they have no financial interest in it.

Is that a fact?

[jont]

I'll admit the positive reliability is entirely divorced from the costs of keeping it that way, but still.

The other nice thing about Lotuses seems to be the lack of depreciation. In fact my old Elise is probably rising in value - prices started rising just about the time I sold it

[jameslb101]

What's the reason you (or your parents) want to change cars? The Clio diesel must surely be one of the cheapest to run vehicles on the road in terms of TCO.

[Angus]

Going back to "fronting", are insurance companies actively discouraging it?

When my daughter went off to university, we sold her car and put her on my wife's insurance.

It would've been less to insure the car (VW Polo GT) in my daughter's name with us as named drivers than to insure in my wife's name, with me and my daughter as named drivers

My daughter was 20, with 3 years NCB in her own right, tho' had only had a full licence for just over 2 years.

[sussex2]

'children occasionally driving their parents cars are higher risk'

Massively higher and more so because they have no financial interest in it.

Is that a fact?

Oh yes!

[TheInsanity1234]

Just a head's up, it's looking likely that we're moving up in size. Mum's now looking at a either a B-Max, or a Skoda Yeti. (Don't ask me why, I've repeatedly told them that I'm going to be learning to drive in whatever car they purchase, meaning it should ideally be small. Ignored.)

They sound very picky..

I mean the multipla was IMO the ugliest car Fiat made,

But nowadays Fiat is an awesome brand. Talk 'em into it.

Where in the country are you?

Dom

They can be.
It is the ugliest car Fiat made!
I'm in West Berkshire

No way in hell they'll let me drive the car so often that I'll become the main driver.

You said that once you pass the test, the school run will drop from 60 miles a day to 30. The clear implication is that you'll be driving 30 miles a day.

The UK school year appears to have 190 teaching days which suggests you'll be driving a minimum of 5700 miles a year, probably more as it's doubtful you'll be using the car solely for the school run.

While the car is parked at the school neither of your parents will be able to use it. It very much looks like you'll be the main driver whether your parents like it or not.

That was before I spoke to my parents about the insurance issue.
Also, my mum has gotten a job offer as a member of bank-staff at a school very close to mine, meaning we will share the car there and back, and her job will supposedly start some-time in March, which is when I hope to pass my test.

You might want to look at the equivalent VW Polo. When we were looking for cars for my younger brother we found that the polo was cheaper to insure than the fabia as the polo comes with ESP standard, this might have changed though.

We were going to look at the Polo, but it has been turned down by my sister, as she is very short, and she tried driving a Polo once as a learner, and the chair doesn't go far enough forwards for her to reach the pedals. (She's 5' if that helps anyone suggest cars).

What's the reason you (or your parents) want to change cars? The Clio diesel must surely be one of the cheapest to run vehicles on the road in terms of TCO.

In case you didn't read what I'd posted, it's 7 years old, has 120,000+ miles on the clock, and is pretty much falling apart.
- Gearbox is not working well, and gets stuck in 1st, 2nd, 3rd occasionally.
- The clutch is starting to cause issues, and it's probably just worn (but the parents want to use this as an excuse).
- It's a truly terrible car to live with, as a lot of things are not exactly standard. For example, the headlight clusters are actually inaccessible without specialised tools, meaning we have to take it to the garage and pay every time we need a headlight bulb changed (and for some reason, the headlight bulbs seem to break every 5 minutes.)
- The fan blowers are starting to go wonky, and you need to bash the dashboard with a fist to get the fans running.
- The AC system is broken, and it's going to cost quite a bit to repair it.
- The footwell lining in the back has come loose, and now moves about and to get it fixed again, we'd have to get the garage to look at taking the plastics in the back off, mounting the floor lining again, and putting the plastics on again.
- Lots, and I repeat, lots, of rattling noises coming from various places, especially the air vents.
- The plastic on the inside of the front left wheel-arch has cracked, and is hanging off a bit, and it seems to be getting slightly worse now.
- There is a horrible grating noise coming from the steering whenever we're turning at full lock, we suspect it's to do with either the broken plastic, or the steering pump on it's last legs.
You see why we want to replace the poor car now?