Just started to drive any tips???

[Ttaskmaster]

£3200?? Are you insuring a Bentley to be street parked just off the Oxford Road or something?!

That is the lowest price when trying quotes for:

- '92 Mercedes C250 Elegance
- Toyota Yarris
- Honda Jazz
- Skoda Fabia 1.6 diesel
- Supra MkII or MkIII
- RX8
- Corsa 1.4LS

Tried Lower Earley, Woodley, Grazeley, Norcot, Calcot, Caversham and Pangbourne, all garaged on private property.

[DanceswithUnix]

That is the lowest price when trying quotes for:

- '92 Mercedes C250 Elegance
- Toyota Yarris
- Honda Jazz
- Skoda Fabia 1.6 diesel
- Supra MkII or MkIII
- RX8
- Corsa 1.4LS

Tried Lower Earley, Woodley, Grazeley, Norcot, Calcot, Caversham and Pangbourne, all garaged on private property.

Blimey!

Getting old generally sucks, but I must say insurance premiums are about the only place I see a benefit and I used to live in one of those areas until a few years ago. Perhaps premiums are in line with how much hair I have left

My son will no doubt start driving in another 4 years when he is old enough, guess I had better get saving now!

Edit to add: to a biker a kit car might seem like luxury, and then insurance is generally lower (go through A-plan in Thatcham, they are a specialist).

[k-c]

My few little tips would be:

* When overtaking other vehicles, don't feel you need to rush to pull in the second you've gone past their bonnet, even if that BMW is looming behind you flashing its lights. It's much safer to make sure the driver you are overtaking has braking distance, and in the case of lorries etc you will need more space to ensure there isn't a biker/scooter etc hidden in front of it. A few seconds extra is much better than risking hitting someone, particularly the more vulnerable road users! (I guess you would be more aware of this than most Ttaskmaster, but the other new drivers may not)

* Keeping with the de-icer/shovel theme, keep a scraper handy! Even if you don't need it when you leave the house, you might need it later.

I also have a high-vis vest, a first aid kit (I keep it in the driver's side door so if I have an accident and am trapped, I can still reach it), 2 space blankets in case I break down on a cold night, or in case someone else is broken down/crashed and look like they need it, a pen and paper in case I need to take down insurance details (hasn't happened yet but you never can be sure!), a bag of sweets for particularly bad traffic jams, and one of those little automatic tyre inflater things in case of emergency.

Come to think of it, my car is essentially a miniature survival bunker.

Oh, one other thing I found out by playing around with comparison site drop down boxes is that insurance drops the longer you've owned the car, even if you haven't actually driven it (which is why you have to tell insurance companies when you bought the car). So if you can buy it a little while before you pass your test, you *might* be able to save yourself some money. Have a try and see!

[PorcupineTime]

Hey Ttaskmaster, you know people like Carole Nash do car insurance too? When I had a bike and a car I got them both insured there as they'd transfer or clone the No Claims Bonus. It might be something worth looking in to.

I remember receiving quotes like that in the past. If you are as old as you're making out then a year or two should see the price plummet.

[Ttaskmaster]

Edit to add: to a biker a kit car might seem like luxury, and then insurance is generally lower (go through A-plan in Thatcham, they are a specialist).

Will check those out.
Most ready-built kit cars seem too expensive to buy though and I don't have anywhere to build one. Those listed above were all ones recently offered to me for under £1,000!

Hey Ttaskmaster, you know people like Carole Nash do car insurance too?

I am EXCEPTIONALLY aware, given how they kept telling me about it in daily emails!!
I likely won't touch CN these days, though, as they already screwed me on renewal fees once before.
Same for Churchill, my current lot - Mess me about and you lose my business. They aren't getting my renewal this time round, either!

If you are as old as you're making out then a year or two should see the price plummet.

The biggest difficulty is apparently in the fact that I've "not had car insurance before"... well I won't if people keep making it unaffordable!!

[PorcupineTime]

I apologise, Carole does have a way of banging on and I'm happy I'm no longer on her spam list.

Like DanceswithUnix said above, a kit car might be a good bet. You've got people like Adrian Flux who'll insure them and may do you a deal on bike no claims too. It's been a long while since I had to worry about this, which is good and sad.