Author:

Robin Roberts

What company and business car managers have always known is now filtering down to first-time private buyers – you must look at the whole costs of cars.

Forget buying on just the purchase price, consider also the insurance and running costs if you don’t want your pleasure to turn into pain.

Cars are one of the biggest expenses that people make in their life time, with 76% of respondents to the Confused.com survey stating this. However people are having to compromise on the cars they drive with big engines and car modifications no longer the new driver’s prerogative because of the cost of insurance and overall rising cost of motoring.

According to Confused.com’s research, car insurance is viewed as a ‘huge expense’ by 66% of people. This is because the cost of an average comprehensive policy is £1,869 for women aged 17-20 compared with £3,635 for men.

Confused.com’s research showed almost 70% of people chose their first car with an engine size of 1.3 litres or less with 15% of under 24’s citing insurance cost as the main reason for choosing a smaller engined car.

To keep costs down, new drivers are opting for the Ford Fiesta which was voted the most popular first car, followed by the mini one in our poll of 2,000 drivers (selected from a list of 52 different makes and models).

For a 17 year old male to insure a Ford Fiesta Encore 1.3 litre engine, the insurance premium would cost on average £5,372.96. This compares with the cost for a first-time buyer purchasing a Volkswagen Golf GTI 2 litre engine which would cost £12,144.75 for insurance cover; this is more than double the cost of insurance for a Ford Fiesta, the first-time buyers’ car of choice.

To help young drivers, Confused.com has put together some tips to give first-time buyers a helping hand:

·         First of all decide how much you can afford to pay for your first car; not just the sum to buy the car itself but also the running costs – insurance, MOT, vehicle excise duty, petrol, repairs and servicing.

·         Shop around on a price comparison site.

·         Add an experienced named driver onto your insurance.

If you want to know what its going to cost you to run a particular car or want to compare models, use our company  car tax calculator to get the right answer. You may also find it useful to look at our business car advice guide.