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MG Midget and Sprite General - 17yr old & insurance

Hi. I'm a bit early, but my eldest will be 17 in 18mths and i'm starting to plan what to do. is it cheaper to insure a 17 yr old on a Nissan micra or, a classic such as midget, F or minor? I'm sure a 5000 mile policy would be fine.

Anyone had any experience?

thanks
Dan Cusworth

don't think the specialists will consider 17yo's on a Classic policy, and doubt you'll get a sensible quote for the F or Midget. The Moggy should be similar to Micra, try CIS as they favour younger drivers.
David Smith

classic is often cheaper, if you can find an insurer who will combine classic policy and the young age.

I had my midget at 18, the first years insurance was in my dad's name with me as named driver, with norwich union and was 700 quid fully comp.

anything 'obvious' - micra or other small hatchback may be more expensive as they are standard young persons cars.

classics with limited mileage and not much inherent value that are slow and generally driven safely as they are seen as more dangerous and therefore less risk tend to be cheaper. Something like a morris minor or an austin 1100 (steer clear of minis) or even a land rover series.
Rob Armstrong

No personal experience but a mates son is now 17 and has a provisional license and their insurer wouldn't quote for him on a Peugoet 306 1.6 TDi. They did however find a 3rd party insurer that would cover him on that car, in addition to the normal cover, for £280 IIRC per 3 months. I think they're considering just paying for the driving lessons as they know someone that does very reasonable rates if booked in blocks of lessons and they can let someone else deal with the stress.
David Billington

Insurance for under 25s with Classics is a nightmare... However I'm told that if YOU (the parent) are an MG car Club member with an MG already insured through Malcom at Peter Best Insurance, you may get a policy for a sibling. I know I campaigned for this with various insurers a while ago, we need young blood into the clubs and what better way than introducing them to a Midget or a Sprite (or Mini, Minor, Herald, Imp etc etc....). The most positive guy I spoke to was Peter Best's son, Malcom.

Good luck.... we ALL need to push for this.

Mark.
M T Boldry

Check out 'Honest John' in the Telegraph, he has good advice regarding insurance and young drivers.

Ian
I Ball

I haven't passed my test for long (I'm 23 and was a late starter despite my love of cars! I had no money to learn). I think a lot of classic isurers refuse to insure learners or people who have had their licence less than a year. Fortunatly for me my Midget is in pieces whilst I accumulate my year of driving experience! :-)

Malcolm
M Le Chevalier

Gosh. Things have changed since 1988 when I was17! With my rusty midget !

Dan Cusworth

my first midget insurance when i was 18, was £180 tpft (1600cc ford engine) in 1984. just had a quote for my 18yr old of £1700 comp on a std midget! - same as we are paying on the ford KA
Mick struggling with the wiring

Just be thankful you arent in Northern Ireland

Remortgaging the house to insure a 17 year old in their own name would be appropriate considering what they want to charge. multiple 000's involved.

PeterJMoore

looks like it's the vectra estate for her then!
Dan Cusworth

Dan,
some underwriters, generally not the big companies, will tailor reduced premiums if you can reduce the risk by, for example, only providing cover for driving up to 9pm. Add that to the more commonly used restrictions, limited mileage, higher optional excess,tptf etc and it is possible to get a 17 year old's premium down a fair bit. Also adding a second named driver often significantly reduces the premium although I have never understood why.

Alternatively insure the car in your name with son as named driver. Then take out supplementary cover so that if he does have an accident your NCB is not affected. Only problem is that he doesn't then start to accumulate an NCB of his own.
Guy

The insurance thing does my nut. Being male and under 25 I am obviously going to go out to asda car park every evening and do donuts and run over grannies. Yet the moment I turn 25 I will drive like an undertaker.

My insurance went UP after passing my test! I have shown myself able to drive and it went UP! Makes you want to go and crash into some stuff to get your monies worth.

The subject of insurance for young 'uns like me makes my blood boil!

Sorry, rant over.

Cheers
Malcolm
M Le Chevalier

Funny that Dutch insurers see it totaly different then the the UK ones.
When I bought my MG, restored it and got it on the road with a Dutch nrplate (at the age of 23) I got a very affordable insurances (all-risk on a value higher then the salesvalue).
Cheaper then any of my mates in their golfs, astra's or whatever they where driving.

Their theory is that classic car owners (despite their age) are more carefull on their cars then "normal" car owners which is true and makes sence.
Arie de Best

but Arie -- that was 20 years ago!!! ;-)
Mick struggling with the wiring

I am currently looking for insurance for my daughter (she is 18 in a few weeks time). She has had insurance offor a year since her 17th birthday and passed her test in January.
Her insurance went up when she passed too. I can only assume it is because once you have passed your test you can drive alone (or with your mates in the car distracting you).
The best quote I have got so far is around £1020 from Herts Insurance Consultants (HIC) with limited mileage (5000 I think) and in her name. HIC are a sister company of Adrian Flux who won't touch under 25s! The policy is with Sabre.
I have yet to find a company who will add an under 25yo as a named driver. I have also heard that no claims bonus earned on a classic car will not transfer to a 'normal' car.
Membership of a club (MGOC, MGCC etc.) helps, so does passing the advanced driving test.
Insurance of youngsters is a total nightmare.
D Brown

D B (Is that tractors of Astons? )
Try A-Plan insurance brokers. Mainly southern based so they should understand you. Check on line for your local branch. They seem to try very hard to get really good deals, and recently for me managed to undercut the next best price by more than 25%. OK, that wasn't for an 18 year old. They also managed to get a really good multi-car policy at just over £400 for my son for his two Maseratis - one of which is known as the ASBO car!
Guy

Morris minor is the way to go. The MMOC have a young drivers scheme through footman james. FJ will not normally insure 17 year olds on classic policy, but I have spoken to them and they do not seem to have a problem as long as you are a MMOC member. My 16 year old is currently rebuilding a MM convertible in readiness for his 17th. Dave
DM Gibson

A friend recently had a quote of £900 for his 18yr old with one years experience, and this was on an MGB. I think the quote was from Peter Best.

Carl (With a keen 16yr old)
C Bintcliffe

I have a 1275 Midget in the garage which I would love my 23 year old daughter to drive. She already has her own Peugoet 206 1.6 on the road (£900). She has been driving for 4 years with no claims. I have failed to find an insurer that will take her on with the Midget unless she is the registerd keeper of the vehicle. This is to avoiod the named driver tactic. Otherwise she has to wait until she is 25. What a rubbish system this is.
Neil K

when did it get impossible to simply insure a classic? My first car was a Morris Minor, it cost 150 quid for TPF&T 'normal' insurance, not even a classic policy, and the car was 23 yrs old then (in 1990)!



RUS(59SPRITE)

In Australia you are better off in a classic car for insurance as a young person. There's an insurer who will cover you at any age in any car, but at a high price (Just Car Insurance - insured me at 18 in a Mazda with rotary engine conversion and other mods - but cost for 3rd party insurance was similar to my current cost for comprehensive on the Midget!) and the regular classic/enthusiast insurers will take you on if you have an enthusiast car and can talk them into it. Alternatively, if you're named on a parents policy with an enthusiast car, and/or can show you're a member of a car club, and/or have a CAMS (competition) license, then you're in without any worries.

I'm 25, and my insurance for my Midget (comprehensive, agreed value $14,000AU, unlimited kms, modifications including 5 speed gearbox, Weber carb, cam etc all listed on the policy) is only about $400AU a year - I live in a dodgy area in Western Sydney, and insurance on my Holden Commodore ($4000 agreed value, comprehensive, V8, similar mods to Midget) and my wifes BMW ($12,000 agreed value, stock) are each around three times the cost for the Midget! Both list myself and my 24 year old wife as drivers. I do not have a good driving history either, no accidents, but a lot of speeding tickets... I actually enquired a while back about taking my wife off the policy for the Commodore, as I am now 25 and she is still 24, but the difference in price was negligible. Nor did it change much when I turned 25 either.
AndrewF

Neil I might have the wrong end of the stick but if you insure your Midget in your name you can have your daughter as a named drive and with an additional excess for her being under 25 (21-24, £150 with Peter Best)

She should not be the main driver with this you should or that would not be within the term of your contract with the insurer

After the main terms and conditions the other parts vary with insurer and policy so you have to shop around on these and not generalise

I name Pest Best as I've just renewed with them and have a good policy at a low price that includes, no garage, modified vechicle, legal cover, UK and Europe breakdown cover, agreed value, unlimited mileage and only £100 excess
N Atkins

This thread was discussed between 07/06/2011 and 09/06/2011

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