First Post, so i hope i get lots of posts on this issue.
I am 18 and have a mini one, which is fine for me, of course i am slowly starting to look to get a cooper / S and go up the ranks but i have a problem. INSURANCE.
I would like to know without 'Fronting' the insurance copmpany whats the cheapest insurance you have found.
I have friends of my age in VW polo 1.8T GTI (new shape), Golf 1.8T GTI and some in Mini Cooper S and find it so hard to believe they got the insurance so i put it to all you guys to help me. To add to this i was reading my Modern Mini mag this month (issue18) and some where in it, it talks about a mini challenge driver ( just turned 17) owning a Mini Cooper S HOW!!
All depends on area, job and personal circumstances etc.
You have to do a good shop about with different companies to get the best deal that matches your circumstances.
I have found in the past that Tesco and Direct line to be competitive, also try Hastings too.
But for me this year I went through Adrian Flux and insured with NIG who are again a subsidiary of RBS company who also incorporate Direct Line/Tesco!
a 17 year old with a S must be about £3k to insure?!
I've looked at insuring our Cooper for my son when he's 17 and fully comp it's £5k
I think a lot of younger drivers rely on 3rd party, fire and theft which drastically reduces the cost of insurance. After a couple of years and (hopefully) no claims you can then get a better deal.
Only problem with 3rd party is, assuming your at fault, if you prang your car your not going to get any help with the repairs. Having said that, to get fully comp at a half reasonable rate, you have to up your excess to stupid money any way...
I guess this is why a lot of younger drives chose to have pimped up older cars... If they prang them they trash them and then move onto the next car.
Three years ago I was quoted £4,000 for the S, and instead I settled for the insurance friendly cooper. TBH I didn't have any NCB, and its only now that I've reached over 25 years of age I can get a Cooper S for under £1,000 with 3 years NCB. It will depend largely on where you live, annual mileage etc (I do 20,000 miles per year), etc etc.
I would imagine if you can wait a little while (getting at least one or two years no claims bonus) it will help considerably with the premium. I wouldn't even dream of only insuring yourself third party - if you can't afford the comprehensive premium don't buy the car. However you can lower your premium by increasing the amount of excess you have.
In some ways (and I know this is slightly off topic, and certainly no reflection on your first post Chris as a driver) but I'm glad that I only started with 60bhp, because lets face it if you're young and paying for a powerful car you're going to want to use it which is why it is so expensive because young drivers + powerful cars on average aren't the best mix. A couple of years of motoring matures most drivers a lot.
For the first two years my parents insured my car (Polo) and I was listed as the main driver.
Makes a big difference to the premium as there is another person there to pay the excess in the case of an accident.
Only trouble is that you don't build up any NCB, however if memory serves me right I may have recently seen a company advertising that all drivers receive a NCB discount.
May be a path to look into ...
i paid close to 3k when i got a cooper, 2 weeks after turning 17..and this year as i turned 18, the S i now drive costs 2.9k insurance under my OWN name..elephant.co.uk is the insurer..best of luck buddy!
I'm 24 (full license from 17) but have no official NCB as I have been driving company vehicles (and my previous MCS I had on my company's fleet policy from ages 22-24).
Also, I was a named driver on my late father's policy and had to claim when someone reversed into it when it was (legally) parked. Even though there was no question of liability (which the other driver accepted, not to mention my father's insurance company) when I got a quote for my GP from Bell Direct it added £170.00 to my policy! Thieving b*****ds.
However, Bell were still £500 cheaper than the next nearest quote. So, I am now paying over £1500 for my GP for a '10 month NCB accelerator'. Besides their charging me for making a claim on a previous policy that wasn't my fault, they were by far the cheapest. However, they are part of the Admiral Group, who don't like mods, which can be a real pain when insuring a MINI due to the huge number of options. I'm ok though, as the GP is completely as it was when it was built.
When I had to build up NCB after an accident I used Bell Direct, the 10 month accelerator policies are useful for building up the all important NCB. Since then, Direct Line has proven to be the cheapest for me, though I'm 22 now and only do about 6000 miles per year and have Pass Plus (though that only counts until you have 1 years NCB with most companies). Hope that helps.
Hi Chris.
Give Tesco a try ... you can get a quote easily on on-line. I have just switched to them from Norwich Union.
Also try Car Insurance | Compare Cheap Car Insurance Quotes | Go Compare to compare quotes from companies which you can tailor to your needs and circumstances. I didn't try it but it's worth ago.
Good luck!
Looks like im getting somewhere now , My Mini has been in the garage all week Radiator split and one of my passenger seat got stuck (not the first time)! Though im happy its fixed and back in my hands and all done under warranty! Gotta say Stansted BMW (Essex) are very good to me had a few problems but they have been 100% helpful.
Anyway Im looking at doing my passplus (might save a few bob on insurance) and then sell my car and get a Cooper i think the S is a lil bit out of my league unless anyone knows any going cheap?
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HOW!!
, My Mini has been in the garage all week 
Radiator split and one of my passenger seat got stuck (not the first time)! Though im happy its fixed and back in my hands 
