Learning to drive...

randella

digitalscream said:

randella said:

It'll be nothing to do with your age; you're the 'right' side of 30 as far as they're concerned, and it shouldn't go back up until you're much older. 

Might be be something to do with the missus, they're not beyond fiddling premiums for the most bizarre reasons. Have you tried with and without her as named driver? Are you named on her policy?

I won't be named on her policy because she'll never let me drive her car, and she won't be able to drive my car (she's got an auto-only licence).

In which case that's fishy. Have you moved house or changed jobs in the interim?  @RaymondLin is right, it's all based on actuarial probability; based on my details there's naff-all difference in the car I choose as they've worked out that, by now, I'd drive a a1.6l Focus pretty much the same as a Golf GTi, but if I move three postcodes down the car is at much greater risk of damage or theft and up goes the premium.

Guy I used to work with lived in one of the less salubrious areas of town not too far from me and woke up one morning to find out someone had stolen his bonnet. True story.

digitalscream

Nope, not moved in 12 years or changed jobs in nearly 4.

Ridiculously, 18 months ago I could've had insurance on a 3.2l V6 Audi A3 at £630.

EDIT: OK, I've just proven it - if I lived next door (neither of the people living in that house have a licence), the insurance on that same Puma is £810. They're basing it on this house, or the only driver living in it. Cockends.

randella

It's your wife's accidents then. You and I both know that it's trivially easy to link you and her in about five lines of SQL, but it's naughty nonetheless. They're getting worse since I left the industry, can't say I miss it. 

As re. those Audis, the old man had one (V6 Quattro) and I wouldn't recommend one as a first car - brutally, brutally quick but snappy clutch and characteristically over-keen VAG brakes meant it wasn't the easiest drive. Fun for your £630 though

digitalscream

randella said:

It's your wife's accidents then. You and I both know that it's trivially easy to link you and her in about five lines of SQL, but it's naughty nonetheless. They're getting worse since I left the industry, can't say I miss it. 

As re. those Audis, the old man had one (V6 Quattro) and I wouldn't recommend one as a first car - brutally, brutally quick but snappy clutch and characteristically over-keen VAG brakes meant it wasn't the easiest drive. Fun for your £630 though

Yep. Twats.

I wouldn't have got the V6 A3 - it was just a matter of curiosity, really I'm looking at 1.2 - 1.7 cars. Ideally, I'd have a 1.4 Puma; fun to drive, not too quick, reasonably economical. Also relatively thin, so easier to fit between our not-very-wide gateposts; the first time I land it on the fence, the wife's going to give me all sorts of shit because I've - somewhat short-sightedly - taken the piss mercilessly every time she's done it (at least once for every car she's ever owned).

randella

digitalscream said:

randella said:

It's your wife's accidents then. You and I both know that it's trivially easy to link you and her in about five lines of SQL, but it's naughty nonetheless. They're getting worse since I left the industry, can't say I miss it. 

As re. those Audis, the old man had one (V6 Quattro) and I wouldn't recommend one as a first car - brutally, brutally quick but snappy clutch and characteristically over-keen VAG brakes meant it wasn't the easiest drive. Fun for your £630 though

Yep. Twats.

I wouldn't have got the V6 A3 - it was just a matter of curiosity, really I'm looking at 1.2 - 1.7 cars. Ideally, I'd have a 1.4 Puma; fun to drive, not too quick, reasonably economical. Also relatively thin, so easier to fit between our not-very-wide gateposts; the first time I land it on the fence, the wife's going to give me all sorts of shit because I've - somewhat short-sightedly - taken the piss mercilessly every time she's done it (at least once for every car she's ever owned).

Hahaha yeah, you've feathered your nest there. I did something similar which of course meant that it was cast in stone I would reverse into a tree at a French campsite a fortnight later. I wouldn't mind so much but for the po-faced Dutch caravanner who watched me do it without bothering to mention anything

I wasn't trying to be a smartarse about the Audi, I'm certain you'd be just fine; it was overpowered though. Horrible in traffic, it came together once you were driving it hard but by then you were well the wrong side of the law.

I never had a go in a Puma, but I did have a bash at the cooking Fiesta whose platform it shared which was a fantastic steer itself, leading me to believe the Puma deserves its fine reputation. 

Sambostar

Here is a tip that is legal, rather than being a named driver on another's policy, if your parents are still about, put them on the policy as named drivers, even in their early 70's it will most likely bring the premium down so long as they haven't claimed.  I do this on every car I insure but not the van can see a massive reduction, which is stupid as the risk is surely the same..

digitalscream

Sambostar said:

Here is a tip that is legal, rather than being a named driver on another's policy, if your parents are still about, put them on the policy as named drivers, even in their early 70's it will most likely bring the premium down so long as they haven't claimed.  I do this on every car I insure but not the van can see a massive reduction, which is stupid as the risk is surely the same..

Good tip. That brought it down to £780!

RaymondLin

Sambostar said:

Here is a tip that is legal, rather than being a named driver on another's policy, if your parents are still about, put them on the policy as named drivers, even in their early 70's it will most likely bring the premium down so long as they haven't claimed.  I do this on every car I insure but not the van can see a massive reduction, which is stupid as the risk is surely the same..

This is the oldest tip in the book.

For me, my sister and brother in law lower it more than my parents did.  Until this year when it cost more having them on so now the policy is just me.  £420 fully comp.

RaymondLin

Oh, another tip, see if Top Cash Back or Quidco have offers on.

Foster

I'm amazed at some of the prices quoted here! My car costs me £215 a year to insure and the van about £300.

Cheapest i've ever paid was £100, most expensive was £1,100 (first year of driving, 18, 9 year old rover metro)

My advice, get an old car. Something from 1995 will probably be considered as a classic car now - as long as the car is 21 years old and you're over 25 the insurance will be about £100 - you do have limited mileage and some companies insist that it's not your primary vehicle, you also don't get an annual 'no claims bonus' as the insurance is cheap enough anyway.

digitalscream

Foster said:

I'm amazed at some of the prices quoted here! My car costs me £215 a year to insure and the van about £300.

Cheapest i've ever paid was £100, most expensive was £1,100 (first year of driving, 18, 9 year old rover metro)

My advice, get an old car. Something from 1995 will probably be considered as a classic car now - as long as the car is 21 years old and you're over 25 the insurance will be about £100 - you do have limited mileage and some companies insist that it's not your primary vehicle, you also don't get an annual 'no claims bonus' as the insurance is cheap enough anyway.

As a first-time driver, this is not true.

Just tried - with my dad on the policy, as above - on a 1994 Honda Civic 1.6, with 5000 miles annually. The best price was £944 with a £300 excess.

randella

digitalscream said:

Foster said:

I'm amazed at some of the prices quoted here! My car costs me £215 a year to insure and the van about £300.

Cheapest i've ever paid was £100, most expensive was £1,100 (first year of driving, 18, 9 year old rover metro)

My advice, get an old car. Something from 1995 will probably be considered as a classic car now - as long as the car is 21 years old and you're over 25 the insurance will be about £100 - you do have limited mileage and some companies insist that it's not your primary vehicle, you also don't get an annual 'no claims bonus' as the insurance is cheap enough anyway.

As a first-time driver, this is not true.

Just tried - with my dad on the policy, as above - on a 1994 Honda Civic 1.6, with 5000 miles annually. The best price was £944 with a £300 excess.

Believe me, I'm not deriving any schadenfreude from this - I once got bent over for nearly £1,400 for a year's fully-comp on a 2L Mondeo with two years' no claims - but I'm glad those days of stupid premiums (for me) are gone. After a year or two you'll be golden, but I guess you've just got to suck it up in the interim. I feel for you!

Foster

digitalscream said:

Foster said:

I'm amazed at some of the prices quoted here! My car costs me £215 a year to insure and the van about £300.

Cheapest i've ever paid was £100, most expensive was £1,100 (first year of driving, 18, 9 year old rover metro)

My advice, get an old car. Something from 1995 will probably be considered as a classic car now - as long as the car is 21 years old and you're over 25 the insurance will be about £100 - you do have limited mileage and some companies insist that it's not your primary vehicle, you also don't get an annual 'no claims bonus' as the insurance is cheap enough anyway.

As a first-time driver, this is not true.

Just tried - with my dad on the policy, as above - on a 1994 Honda Civic 1.6, with 5000 miles annually. The best price was £944 with a £300 excess.

 The tricky bit here is that price comparison websites will throw up silly prices - Give someone like Adrian Flux a ring, they're pretty good at figuring out which of their insurers is best and how to make sure you get a decent premium. You'll be amazed at how much you can lower your price by selecting the best title for your job. Also, IIRC, the days of claiming the car lives in the garage overnight to lower the premium no longer works, it can be cheaper to be honest and say it lives on the road.

randella

Foster said:

 The tricky bit here is that price comparison websites will throw up silly prices - Give someone like Adrian Flux a ring, they're pretty good at figuring out which of their insurers is best and how to make sure you get a decent premium. You'll be amazed at how much you can lower your price by selecting the best title for your job. Also, IIRC, the days of claiming the car lives in the garage overnight to lower the premium no longer works, it can be cheaper to be honest and say it lives on the road.

@Foster - I really like this idea, but I'd struggle to think of anything 21 years old that wasn't going to throw big bills every 12 months at the MOT. Kind of offsets the cost a bit, especially if you're not getting your NCD. Mrs R. and I pay about £250 to insure a modern Ford about two miles down the road from where I got mugged for that £1,400. No-claims for me is invaluable.

That said, I've always desperately wanted a Lotus Carlton...

RaymondLin

@foster where about are you?

try your theory and put in Bradford city centre as the post code for a 17yr old and see...

Foster

randella said:

Foster said:

 The tricky bit here is that price comparison websites will throw up silly prices - Give someone like Adrian Flux a ring, they're pretty good at figuring out which of their insurers is best and how to make sure you get a decent premium. You'll be amazed at how much you can lower your price by selecting the best title for your job. Also, IIRC, the days of claiming the car lives in the garage overnight to lower the premium no longer works, it can be cheaper to be honest and say it lives on the road.

@Foster - I really like this idea, but I'd struggle to think of anything 21 years old that wasn't going to throw big bills every 12 months at the MOT. Kind of offsets the cost a bit, especially if you're not getting your NCD. Mrs R. and I pay about £250 to insure a modern Ford about two miles down the road from where I got mugged for that £1,400. No-claims for me is invaluable.

That said, I've always desperately wanted a Lotus Carlton...

Make it even cheaper then :P Anything pre 1960 is exempt from both tax and an MOT. 

Or, thinking on it - you could just get a brand new peugeot with that 'just add fuel' scheme, works out cheaper in some cases than paying insurance alone.

RaymondLin said:

@foster where about are you?

try your theory and put in Bradford city centre as the post code for a 17yr old and see...

I live in lovely Doncaster. Known throughout the UK as a centre of culture, technological advancement and having the lowest crime rate in Europe. No wait, it's a shithole.

EricTheWeary

Foster said:

digitalscream said:

Foster said:

I'm amazed at some of the prices quoted here! My car costs me £215 a year to insure and the van about £300.

Cheapest i've ever paid was £100, most expensive was £1,100 (first year of driving, 18, 9 year old rover metro)

My advice, get an old car. Something from 1995 will probably be considered as a classic car now - as long as the car is 21 years old and you're over 25 the insurance will be about £100 - you do have limited mileage and some companies insist that it's not your primary vehicle, you also don't get an annual 'no claims bonus' as the insurance is cheap enough anyway.

As a first-time driver, this is not true.

Just tried - with my dad on the policy, as above - on a 1994 Honda Civic 1.6, with 5000 miles annually. The best price was £944 with a £300 excess.

 The tricky bit here is that price comparison websites will throw up silly prices - Give someone like Adrian Flux a ring, they're pretty good at figuring out which of their insurers is best and how to make sure you get a decent premium. You'll be amazed at how much you can lower your price by selecting the best title for your job. Also, IIRC, the days of claiming the car lives in the garage overnight to lower the premium no longer works, it can be cheaper to be honest and say it lives on the road.

We have the camper van insurance through Adrian Flux. Very helpful and much cheaper than any direct quote we got.  I'd never even heard of them 6 months ago. Price comparison sites utterly wank as far as I can see unless you like cuddly meerkats. 

digitalscream

Just FYI...I got a quote of £2640 from Adrian Flux. Not ideal

Sesh

I was well into my 20s before I bothered to learn. Passed on 4th attempt, which is terrible I know. I blame one failure on the fact I had to push the gear stick against the test man's ample thigh to get into 1st and 2nd as he was a bit chap in a little corsa. It was very off putting.

digitalscream

OK, might as well update this...

First lesson was last Thursday, in flat country with 80mph winds. Entertaining. Stalled it five or six times, even I'd describe my clutch control as "fucking terrible". Most other stuff was OK - BSM do this "rating out of five" thing for how much prompting or intervention you need, and everything was a 4 or 5 except clutch control (which was a 3).

Second was today. Much better on the clutch, got all the parking manoevres right first time, had a bit of fun figuring out exactly how hard I could push the car (turns out "not far" is the answer to that - it's a 1.3l Astra). Stalled it once, but restarted the engine while we were still moving and pulled away before anybody behind us really noticed.

Got 5 on almost everything (that's "does the job without prompting"), the rest were 4...and then she decided that, since it'd gone so well in Peterborough, I'd have to drive home on the A1, with a nasty crosswind, and goddamn lorries bouncing all over the road.

Oh well, I'm still alive. Which is nice.

Still at the stage of thinking about some things instead of them being automatic responses. Most gear changes are fine, but roundabouts are a bitch...changing gear half way round while watching the mirrors, drifting across lanes, checking mirrors and signalling sends my brain into "ohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuck" mode. Still, didn't hit anyone, so I count that as a win.