THE HIGH PRIEST OF BANGERNOMICS
James Ruppert
s a parent I was shocked
to discover that more
than three quarters of
us here in Blighty either
buy their child’s first car outright or
contribute money towards it.
According to the people at Money
Saving Heroes.co.uk, £1500 was
found to be the average amount given
for a car purchase. It was also found
that one in five parents received help
to buy their first car. Didn’t happen
in my case, but my parents helped in
so many other ways, especially my
mu m , w ho d id n’t t e l l my d a d t h at I
painted car parts on a rug, leaving
some obvious overspray.
T he b ot t om l i ne i s t h at pa r e nt s
want to guarantee that their
offspring have the safest and most
reliable set of wheels possible. As I
have often explained, it’s all about
the insurance – that’s the beginning
and the end of it. Don’t think you
can buy a cheap classic and sit back;
insurance companies hate them,along with some diesels and less safe
older cars. You will have to spend
hou r s of y ou r l i fe ge t t i n g i n s u r a nc e
quotes, too. For the moment, though,
let’s spend £1500 on something that
is first-driver friendly.
A Volkswagen Polo. I’ve bought
one of these for a teen and the 1.4 was
a c t u a l l y pr e t t y c he ap t o i n s u r e. S o
a 2004 1.4 Twist with 75,000 miles
isn’t half bad at £1500. A one-owner,
t o o. T he n a ga i n , a 2 0 0 4 Ford Fie s t a
1.4 LX with 94k miles at the same
money is also worth considering,
because servicing will always be
very affordable. Otherwise there is
t he Vau x h a l l C or s a , a 2 0 07 D e si g n
with over 100,000 miles that isworth considering as a more recent
alternative to the Ford.
What may be less reliable and less
cheap to fix is a 2007 Citroën C3 1.4i
Cool with a fresh MOT and proper
service history. It even has a warranty
for parts and labour, so maybe we’ll
feel better about buying one of
these. You could, though, consider
a Chevrolet Aveo 1.2s. A 2009 with
less than 80,000 miles is within the
£1500 budget.Probably the best example of
a teen-friendly model would be a
2006 Toyota Yaris 1.0 VVT-I T3
with just shy of 100k miles. It has a
service history and it’s a dealer part
e xc h a n ge , s o t he y h av e a n obl i gat ion
to make sure that it is in roadworthy
and warranty-worthy condition.
My advice for buying a teen a car
is to do all the hard graft by checking
out the insurance implications in
y ou r p o s t a l c o de. W h at i s a f ford a ble
in one area of the UK may be a bit
pr ic e y i n a not he r. T h i s w i l l b e b or i n g,
but is more than worth doing – if you
are a proper parent.
Buying a first car for your offspring is all about the insurance
THE PARENT TRAP
Cheap servicing
helps the Fiesta’s
teen-friendly rating
Volkswagen Polos
are usually cheap to
insure for teens
`
The best example of
a teen-friendly model
is a Toyota Yaris
a
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DACIA DUSTER
1.6 ACCESS
Cheap when new, even cheaper
used. This 140,000-mile, 2013
D u ste r w i th fu l l h i sto r y i s u p fo r
£2795. It’s described as being in
good condition, but a few models
delivered between January
2013 and August 2014 suffered
rusty sills caused by poor paint
application. Dacia repaired
affected cars, so there should be
nothing to worry about.
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