How To Get Your Dream Car
Posted in: Car Insurance, Driving Tips, News.
If you’ve just passed your test, there’s a good chance you aren’t necessarily in the market for purchasing your dream car. Just like in the show, The Inbetweeners your first car might not be the powerhouse you dream of due to the exorbitant cost of insurance for new drivers, however, where there’s a will there’s a way, so below we’ll look at the three most popular ways to get the car of your dreams on your driveway.
There is one cautionary consideration however, which is that as a new driver you are statistically much more likely to have an accident than an experienced driver, and whilst nobody wishes to spend their early driving days dealing with compact auto body repair due to a collision, it is a daunting reality many new drivers face, and for this reason it can be better to get a cheap runaround at first, until you find your feet.
The further benefit to this, is that it is much better in a financial sense as insurance is a little more realistic for a small engine car than it would be a large engine; however, insurance tends to work on the insurance category, and a 1.8 diesel estate car (which is a very powerful and sturdy car) might be the same as a 1.2 economy petrol.
The thing to look out for, therefore, is the insurance group the car belongs to rather than the engine size – as the insurance group is worked out using a very complex algorithm that takes many factors into account such as the amount of claims for that particular car, the demographic of owner, and even the reputation of the car; on this basis, it’s interesting to note that a 1.2 Fiat Punto can be in a higher insurance group than a 1.6 Volvo V40.
It therefore pays to do some research into insurance groups, then, in terms of getting your dream car there are three main routes.
- OWNING
This is perhaps the most realistic choice for new drivers, as a lot of rental and leasing companies require the driver to have held their licence for a minimum of two years. There are also financial benefits, as whilst a car is a depreciating asset, meaning it is losing money each year – at least it is yours, and you can sell it on, at a later stage. Whereas, renting a car is a lot like renting a house; once the money is spent for that month, it is spent, and you don’t have anything left to show for it – whereas, if it’s your own house (or car for that matter) you have something you can sell on at the end of the term.
Buying a brand new car can be an expensive option as there are a lot of fees to pay, and the car loses a significant proportion of its value as soon as it is driven off the forecourt. For this reason, buying a nearly new car would make a lot more sense, as you still have the benefits of driving a nice new car, but you are getting much better value for money.
- RENTING
If you are over 25, then renting a car can be a very fun experience that doesn’t cost too much. You can rent a car from the age of 23 (twenty-one in some places) but often this is subject to a young driver surcharge which makes renting a vehicle much more expensive.
That said, when you consider how much insurance costs – renting a car that comes with fully comprehensive insurance, particularly if it’s a fast car in a high insurance group, can actually end up saving you a lot of money, particularly for inexperienced drivers without a no claims bonus.
- LEASING
Leasing is a great option of acquiring your dream car, however, similar to renting a car there tends to be quite strict criteria for new drivers – meaning you might struggle to lease a car in the first few years of driving, or at a young age, but it is possible… and you’ll be amazed at what great deals you can get on premium cars through leasing.
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