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Post by tyrednexited on Aug 26, 2016 21:41:37 GMT
...as mentioned on another thread at the moment, youngest son is at home post Uni.
As of midnight last night, he became the owner of SWMBO's 2011 Fiesta (which has done only around 2000 miles in the last year, and most of that simply to keep it turning over).
He's been pretty low-key about it (I've made him fund the insurance, which is eye-watering, but he does have the wherewithal, having been largely funded by bank of mum and dad through Uni).
...and, though he's been low-key with us, all of his ex-Uni friends already know.
He passed his test 4 years ago, and, since his instructor is a friend, has had the odd refresher session since, but nothing for best part of 3 years.
So, today, he drove us out for a walk on a round trip of around 50 miles, and did pretty well (I'm not the best of passengers, but only bit through my lip a few time ;-) ) Most of the issue was simply getting accustomed to the car (which he drove for a month before his test on Learner insurance).
For all that, though I'm sure he's chuffed, he's not outwardly as excited as I was when I got my first car.
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Post by Humph on Aug 26, 2016 21:45:04 GMT
I've all that to look forward to. Apparently a Suzuki Swift would be much appreciated. Fiesta a good thing to cut teeth on though. Proper car despite its size.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 26, 2016 22:42:45 GMT
Things have changed, or maybe it was that we didn't have the money.
But there was no way my parents would have funded my first car. Equally there is not a way in hell I could have afforded the insurance. My first year premium on an Anglia was $44 or thereabouts.
Insurance cost to one side my motoring has always been entirely funded by me, on a shoe string mostly, until my career got its act together. And what I could afford in quality, I made up for in weekend after weekend lying under it.
Mind you, all of us (my peers & friends) were in the same position. So working on cars was quite a communally understood thing.
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Post by Humph on Aug 27, 2016 8:32:29 GMT
Same here, even my earliest cars were funded by part time jobs. I think the most I ever spent was £230 and even that was only achieved by buying and selling old cars and making a slight profit each time. I'd buy something tatty advertised in the local evening paper for say, £150, clean it up, run it for a few weeks and then advertise it for £175 and settle on £165 or something and buy another one the next day. Had some right dogs but the odd one was actually ok.
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Post by tyrednexited on Aug 27, 2016 8:44:35 GMT
...my first car was a 1968 Mini 1000 (Mk2), in fairly decent nick, and paid for by myself. It cost £430.
I didn't have the £80 required to insure it comprehensively (unlike now, TPT was fairly common and considerably cheaper) so my Dad lent it to me (it was paid back fairly quickly).
As my parents didn't run a car, it was a significant point in my life (and in theirs!)
I wish I had it now (though it would probably consist of a bit of crumbly rust in a cardboard box).
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Post by Humph on Aug 27, 2016 8:54:54 GMT
I learned on my dad's then new Volvo 240 but he wouldn't let me drive it once I'd passed my test. My mother didn't have her own car so I had to get my own. I wanted a Mini but couldn't afford one so ended up with a Wolseley Hornet which while similar, didn't really cut it on the style stakes ! It too was a 1968 model which I bought in 1976. An 8 year old low mileage car now would be a perfectly OK thing ( my wife's Qashqai is a 2008 model and is fine ) but back then cars that age had multiple issues with rust.
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Post by Humph on Aug 27, 2016 9:17:07 GMT
Talking of "ones you wish you'd kept" I guess I had about a dozen different cars in my first two years of driving. None of them all that special but a couple stand out in my memory, an MG Midget which I adored but which was eventually stolen and wrecked, and later an old SWB Land Rover which I hand painted orange and to which I applied big wheels, bull bars, Cibies etc. Petrol though. Thirsty as hell. Loved it to bits despite that..
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Post by Hofmeister on Aug 27, 2016 12:37:08 GMT
My rights of passage were from 13 to 17 where I had, fixed, rebuilt, and drove illegally and legally a series of scooters and motorbike of all types. Iconic names run off the tongue, Lambretta, AJS, Norton, Triumph, Ducati,
My 4 wheel experience of the age was learning to drive in a Mk1 Ford Escort, 1300xl whoch to this day is the most satisfying piece of kit to drive ever. Fantastic gearbox, pin sharp steering, super ride and handling, an age and light years away from any other stuff available on the road at that time.
From their, I went into a series of Ford capris, starting with a 1300l stepping all the way up to an RS3100. All of which i fettled on my drive, skills learned form my father over the previous 15 years of him battling to keep heaps of rubbish on the road.
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Post by Humph on Aug 29, 2016 11:59:34 GMT
I wonder if it's still possible to buy a usable, fairly reliable car for next to no money.? When I think back on some of my early cars they were very cheap, even by the standards of the day. Some were knackered, but others were actually totally fine, if a bit tatty cosmetically.
They were of course simple things mechanically, and I do remember tinkering with them all a bit, but of course they were tinkerable with, unlike modern cars.
How about a game of Autotrader finds ?
£500 upper limit, got to be usable without repair...
Gentlemen, start your engines...🤓
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2016 12:07:05 GMT
www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201608257125120Though I think these days the problem is insurance. When young, I would buy a car for £50 - £100, or something like that. Insurance was around £50 per year and as a welder I was earning around £60 per week. So car + insurance was around two weeks money. Now, if I understand it, Insurance is in the 000s. Got to be a show stopper. Wasn't the Citroen Saxo the first car that came with young driver insurance included in its finance? I think that's where children in new cars started.
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Post by Humph on Aug 29, 2016 12:20:40 GMT
That Focus doesn't have an MOT. Try harder !
😉
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2016 12:22:51 GMT
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Post by Humph on Aug 29, 2016 12:27:00 GMT
You know, if that goes, and someone just needed "a car" to tide them over for a few weeks or something, for £89...
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2016 12:32:47 GMT
£89, 5 months MOT, 3/4 tank of petrol, what's not to like? Goodness knows I have owned and driven much, much worse.
You could do worse than use something like that as a "station car". Not likely to get stolen, not very important if it does. It might not be great for a motorway journey, but I bet it'd be just fine for a commute to the local station of a morning.
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Post by tyrednexited on Aug 29, 2016 12:44:22 GMT
........but I bet it'd be just fine for a commute to the local station of a morning. ...especially if it's Warrington Bank Quay. ;-) £500 isn't much of a challenge, really. Lots of vehicles available at/below that cost, though a look on "MOT History" might make you reconsider on a fair number of them. I think a good benchmark is; would you consider buying one for one of your offspring? |
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