[Closed] Do i really need a car

CAR. The chances of having serious injuries or worse from motorbikes is very high compared to a car esp. in winter. A bonus is that you can always bung yer mtb in the car and hit the trail centres. Go back to motorbikes when you have more money and use it in the summer.

I'd probably bin my car if the quotes came back that high tbh. MrsOath had a couple of accidents a few years back and was getting similar quotes 6/7 years ago but now we just jumped insurers and went from £478 to £189. Def worth while looking around for quotes.

how far is it to work avoiding the motorway..?

mtfu, commute by bike and get fit

Quotes are high but they were higher than that when I first started 9 years ago. They are with 3 points from motorbike and a driving ban. Best I can get is £700 fully comp zero ncb on a 1.25 fiesta Zetec with mum as second driver me as main.
Works 20 miles by bike but my bikes for enjoyment not commuting. Plus no where to freshen up at work etc. My missus suggested by a shit car and the rest on a motorbike depending on what I get for a 7 year old Suzuki GSR with 4500 miles.

If you lost your licence due to totting up in your probationary period, you would not have been banned, you would have had your licence revoked.
Just mentioning it in case you are getting higher quotes than you need to be.

Do you currently have a license? If you don't getting one and getting onto some sort of insurance will help you to get the prices down.

If you need a vehicle then having a car is probably more practical. Though as you have one in the house already if you need one is up for debate.

Have a look at some older cars on 3rd party, less outlay and less insurance. It may even be worth buying something for £100 and parking it up for a year and insuring it.

bwfc4eva868 - Member

But as enjoyable as it is riding a motorbike it's not practical come winter.

I rode through 8 scottish winters, had some scary moments mind but I'd never say it's not practical.

But cars do make more sense for that sort of thing... I got my car licence and coincidentally we had a hard, snowy winter, so I parked the bike and never unparked it.

Yeah sbob it was revoked so I have start again. I have a full motorcycle licence with provisional car so taking lessons. Need about 10 according to instructor. I need a vehicle as missus works in Bolton and I work in Preston.

Insurance for £700 after a driving ban is cheap ... 🙄

I was charged insurance £1,500 (cheapest available at that time) with provisional license in the first year when I bought my Toyota Corolla 1.6 auto. Then last year it dropped to £1k plus then this year I got it for £645 (this price is for 6 mths full UK license plus 2 yr NCB) and all this because I did not know insurance was going to be expensive ... Got a foreign license though since mid 80s.

mikewsmith - Member
[b]Have a look at some older cars on 3rd party, less outlay and less insurance. It may even be worth buying something for £100 and parking it up for a year and insuring it. [/b]

I suggest you follow this advice ^^^ as the chances of getting lower insurance quote is higher. Wish I thought of this before. I am a fool dammit!

🙁

p/s: oh yes you need a car but you do not need an iPhone.

Incidentally, you can get some odd insurance effects with a full bike licence- my insurer asked "how long have you had a full driving licence", I checked and they accepted my bike licence- I'd had a full licence for 9 years but car entitlement on that full licence for about 9 minutes, but they were interested in licence not entitlement. They also accepted my bike no-claims. Those 2 things together took about £700 off my quotes.

yep, I have no experience of motorbikes, but maybe get a cheap car and do a bit of tlc on it yourself. Maybe look for something boring and heavily built - that maybe insurance companies trust. It could be possible Z tec feistas are liked amongst inexperienced drivers and therefore often crashed - and hence more payouts occur hence higher prices...maybe..

I'm not too fussed about insurance prices really. I budgeted about £150 a month. Max which is way above what I've been quoted.

Any thoughts on a 1.25 fiesta Zetec. Need something small and similar economy to my bike at 40mpg.
I do love motorbikes in summer but my head is winning now. Plus as someone's already mentioned, bike in boot and straight to Gisburn.

in terms of insurance - that is a big mistake. If you are just looking for a basic run about A to B car, then imo you should consider insurance prices. They can tend to rise too, despite the fact you get older..more NCB etc..and over the course of say five years .. think of the effect..

Unless you love cars and want something a sporty etc..in which case wait a bit until you've built some NCB

You could well find that something like a basic jap boring hatchback maybe ( even with for example a 1.6 engine) is cheaper to insure than a feista, more realibale for a given mileage and age , and more econimcal on a motorway run too, as well as being cheaper to buy ( as they are not trendy amongst te younger driver) and also have more bike space for weekends )

bwfc4eva868 - Member

I'm not too fussed about insurance prices really. I budgeted about £150 a month. Max which is way above what I've been quoted.

Any thoughts on a 1.25 fiesta Zetec. Need something small and similar economy to my bike at 40mpg.
I do love motorbikes in summer but my head is winning now. Plus as someone's already mentioned, bike in boot and straight to Gisburn.

Yes, budget per month is fine but if you can afford to then paying annual will reduce the price too.

Personally I would go for Suzuki Swift, Nissa Micra, Toyota Yaris, Mazda or Honda something small as I am biased towards JapLand's car. I bet something with Zetec will be expensive to insure base on you history ... I guess.

chewkw - My ( maybe niave opinion ) is that often these small jap cars, as brilliant as they are, are overpriced on the secondhand market as they are always in demand and probably no less economical than slightly larger 1.4 engined ( jap ) cars, that people do not tend to want so much , hence lower prices and more choice... Although I maybe wrong..

I remember looking at how overpriced cheaper ( ie older ) Nissan micras were..a while ago..crazy prices for what they were..

iamroughrider - Member

My ( maybe naive opinion ) is that often these small jap cars, as brilliant as they are are overpriced on the secindhand market as they are always in demand and probably no less economical than slightly larger 1.4 engined ( jap ) cars, tat people do not tend to want , hence lower prices and more choice... Although I maybe wrong..

That depends. Yes, they can be overpriced if you don't negotiate hard.

Anything up to 1.6 engine should be fine but beyond that I don't know. I used to drive Daihatsu Nippa (660CC) in the far east and it was economical until the aircon was switched on as the engine struggle. But with aircon off the car is very economical but then I would sweat like a "pig".

fair enough.. Something like that maybe cheap to buy and also insure..and run..

Do you know of anything else like that at all...interested myself..

And yes that would probably make sense if they cost little to buy. Think it's just demand for little Nissans always seem to be high.. which is ok if you don't intend keeping it long as resale value is so good.

1.4 is probably best for the OP I guess for a mid sized car.

A small 660 cc would i guess be alot better for fuel in town,, but maybe not on the m/way as the OP suggested. A little engine revving hard or a larger engine at minimal revs..not too sure..

"pig"?? - cannot see a problem (in the UK)

Any suggestions I could run quotes on. Needs to be reliable and economical

iamroughrider - Member

fair enough.. Something like that maybe cheap to buy and also insure..and run..

Do you know of anything else like that at all...interested myself..

And yes that would probably make sense if they cost little to buy. Think it's just demand for little Nissas always seem to be high.. which is ok if you don't intend keeping it long as resale value is so good.

Of all the small japLand brands the order of preference (in the far east) seem to be like this:

Note: Petrol engine only by the way.

1. Daihatsu - Cheap as chips and reliable but you will look like a clown. i.e. Nippa. I bought one because I couldn't stand the monsoon rain.
2. Toyota Yaris or Starlet - reliable and cheap to maintain.
3. Honda Civic- reliable but expensive parts.
4. Suzuki Swift - reliable but expensive parts because Swift was only recently introduced.
5. Mitsubishi Colt - reliable and parts reasonable if you know where to find otherwise parts can be slightly expensive but not as expensive as Honda.
6. Mazda 2 - reliable but nothing fancy and parts cheap too.
7. Nissan Micra - surprisingly not common in the far east but generally reliable ...

Korean car ... hmmm ... Hyundai i10, i20 and i30 are reliable as they used JapLand older engine if I am not mistaken but beyond that I would go JapLand brands.

😀

thanks alot. 🙂

There you go OP, just look for small and small-mid sized cars..based on this list..google the insurance groups - 2 is cheap, 13 is expensive, google for reliability and fuel consumption.Might be worth looking at parts prices too...Sounds like alot of work but shouldn't take long at all.
Areas affect prices quotes too, sometimes in strange ways.. just get some quotes then..

Good luck.

I do like Toyota Yaris's having driven one and my dad owning three. Will a bike fit in one? Same for Suzuki swifts. Budget is probably £1500

bwfc4eva868 - Member

I do like Toyota Yaris's having driven one and my dad owning three. Will a bike fit in one? Same for Suzuki swifts. Budget is probably £1500

Toyota Yaris Verso or Starlet will be my choice for that budget. Very reliable.

Ahemm ... don't add Turbo to them ... 😆 That's what my boy racer friends tend to do with their Starlet.

should add I've never owned a Jap car.. so unsure of service prices etc etc.

iamroughrider - Member

should add I've never owned a Jap car.. so unsure of service prices etc etc.

Not expensive as they are designed for ordinary mortal like me. With good regular service it will last you a long time.

There very high milage the Yaris's 100k and beyond.

Plenty at Auto Trader for your budget with less than 90k on the clock... opps ... just checked the price only slightly beyond your budget at £1,590. But you can negotiate down the price easily.

+1 on not buying a Fiesta.

I have an '05 1.25 Style (Zetec is a trim level these days) and the insurance is high. Popular with 'boy racer' females according to the insurers I've spoken to. Engine is good for 45mpg and reliable but the rest of the car is poorly built. My dad's got an X-reg Yaris that he picked up for £1500 with only 30k on the clock, far superior in build and driving quality. The thing looks factory fresh!!!

Last week on the radio they had a statistician on talking about the risks of cycling. The summary was that in terms of getting your head knocked off, an hour of cycling was about as risky as two hours in a car. Or five minutes on a motorbike...

And plus one for not looking at obvious small cars. Insurers look at the risk profile of people like you in that model of car. Things like Mondeos and other cars with decent engines but no cool factor of any kind are often much cheaper to insure.

My son has just passed his test, so some observations:

1 Only you can find the cheapest quote/car, for you
2 It's irrelevant what somebody else got on that car
3 Where you live has a bigger impact than what you drove
4 Cheapest cars don't always have the cheapest insurance
5 Smallest/slowest cars don't always have the cheapest insurance
etc
etc

Some thoughts from a long look last week:

1 The cheapest car (using GoCompare/Confused) for my 20 y/o son to insure was an old Passat 1.8 I already own.
2 Fiestas are cheaper to insure than the Jap cars listed further up the posts.
3 Comp insurance was the cheapest, especially when you take a large excess - this should always be done when buying a cheap car, as you only lose excess when claiming for damage to your own car that you've done.
4 Where he lives added over 50%/+£1000 to the majority of the quotes - he lives in Pontefract, and I in the Scottish Borders.
5 If you pay monthly, look for the cheapest monthly quote - not cheapest quote.
6 Don't just look for high mpg, look at TCO (total cost of ownership).

And I use to commute by M/C, but always had a back-up plan for ice/snow - used my car or went by train.

Why is the motorbike not practical in winter? I ride mine all year, it's not particularly pleasant in winter but it still works.

And for the doomsayers above: the OP's doing most of his journey on the motorway, hardly the most dangerous of territory even on a bike...

I used to ride all year round, only snow and ice would stop me, which is actually pretty rare. Did that for years

My wife used to drive our only car.

Now I've got a different job I've got a car as well so tend to take that cos I'm lazy and there's less faff and lots of practical benefits, nowhere near as much fun though, i'm on my motorbike today. I've got 4 options for getting to work - car, motorbike, bicycle, train.

Its definitely possible to use a bike year round, particularly if you have access to a car

I used to ride all year round, only snow and ice would stop me, which is actually pretty rare.

+1, although in Bolton/Preston the situation might be different.

Was £1300 for a Toyota Yaris in the mid range trim (GS) unfortunately Darwen has a lot of fraudulent crash for cash claims so high insurance prices. Winter wise last year we had a fair few days of heavy snowfall and even the m65 was shut after heavy snowfall took over two hours in a car to get from Preston to Darwen (17.2 miles) the next heavy one I misssed because I broke my leg on a frosty morning on the motorbike.

I love riding but I've had to have a cast on march till may, a brace may till June, back to work for a month the knee arthroscopy end of July and I go back to work next week while I wait for a microfracture of the knee which means another 12 weeks off.

Socant really run the risk on a motorbike again, maybe summer blasts but not all round commuting.

£1600 for a 1.6 ford focus. Missus has one and it's a nice drive and has been very reliable and more economical than my bike. I'd happily have one of them.

I misssed because I broke my leg on a frosty morning on the motorbike.

I love riding but I've had to have a cast on march till may, a brace may till June, back to work for a month the knee arthroscopy end of July and I go back to work next week while I wait for a microfracture of the knee which means another 12 weeks off.

Nasty, can see why you want a car! (And I'd be very wary of summer blasts, my gut feeling is that's when most fatal bike accidents happen - you're out of practice, take a curve a bit too fast or misjudge an overtake...)

Days like today are great (20 degree celcius and glorious sunshine in Darwen) and rain doesn't bother me. Just everytime it's frosty I'm scared of throwing it down the road. I did contemplate a second bike which I wouldn't care if I lobbed it. But I could still end up injuring myself. So thinking car. Plus more practical and it's tight that missus has to do all the driving if we want to go somewhere.

+1 for lookign at uncool cars too...

when we were last looking for a wagon to get around in I was really surprised at the difference between insuring a Golf and insuring a Bora...

they are basically the same car, only difference being one is hatchback, the other is the saloon version.

same engine, same trim, same age, same colour, same drivers, same address and... Golf was ~£300 - £400 more expensive to insure than the Bora!

That was reflected across most of the insurers (was adding my GF on as a relatively new driver insurance <200 for both of us now) purely because they seemed to think Golfs are driven by twits and boy racers, and Boras by your grandad.

Find a good solid reliable boring cheap car and insurance shouldn't be too bad.

Days like today are great (20 degree celcius and glorious sunshine in Darwen) and rain doesn't bother me. Just everytime it's frosty I'm scared of throwing it down the road. I did contemplate a second bike which I wouldn't care if I lobbed it. But I could still end up injuring myself. So thinking car. Plus more practical and it's tight that missus has to do all the driving if we want to go somewhere.

I see I have two options. Sell bike and buy car.
Or
Buy winter 125 or bike I don't mind binning

". Daihatsu - Cheap as chips and reliable but you will look like a clown. i.e. Nippa. I bought one because I couldn't stand the monsoon rain.
2. Toyota Yaris or Starlet - reliable and cheap to maintain.
3. Honda Civic- reliable but expensive parts.
4. Suzuki Swift - reliable but expensive parts because Swift was only recently introduced.
5. Mitsubishi Colt - reliable and parts reasonable if you know where to find otherwise parts can be slightly expensive but not as expensive as Honda.
6. Mazda 2 - reliable but nothing fancy and parts cheap too.
7. Nissan Micra - surprisingly not common in the far east but generally reliable ...

"

that is a list of just about all the most expensive small cars you could hope to insure as a new driver.

[i]Buy winter 125 or bike I don't mind binning [/i]

and still hurt yourself...

I've always had a car as a backup, as in I always bought new M/C's but ran old cars. In 2011 I missed less than 5 days riding due to frost/snow, but I then lived down near London - so far warmer and more traffic to keep the roads clear.

I now live north of you, and if I was contemplating a M/C for commuting, based on 2012/13 I'd need a backup plan for at least 4 months.

Anyway, did you check how much the premium lowered but putting a high excess on fully comp quotes?

Last year i think we had a week of snow. Loooks like it may have to be car then. Yeah fully comp took prices even higher.

Cheapest quote is a 1.0 Litre Corsa at £700 TPFT, 1200 Comp
2nd Is Yaris £1,000 tpft, 1300 Comp
1.6 litre Focus £1500 tpft and 2200 comp.

trail_rat - Member

that is a list of just about all the most expensive small cars you could hope to insure as a new driver.

😆 I think it depends on your postcode etc ...

I think I still have some of the JapLand small cars missing from the list so look around.