<p>We want to get a third car for use by our teen driver.</p>
<p>What year / model have you found to be the most cost effective, ie, cheap car, but will run for a few years with minimal repairs?</p>
<p>Also, what is the most cost-effective insurance arrangement? </p>
<p>I called our insurance agent, and she said that it would lower the insurance costs if we signed statements that teen would only drive cheap car, not father’s or mother’s car.</p>
<p>Any words of advice? We are in Massachusetts.</p>
<p>We have a 2001 Subaru Forester for our teen (we’re also in MA). It just needs regular maintenance - we haven’t had any problems with it. We bought it used with 70,000 miles on it. </p>
<p>We bought it because if its reliability, but also because if its safety. I wanted 4 wheel drive for an inexperienced driver in MA winters. It’s worked well for us so far, and d will probably take it to Rochester after her freshman year.</p>
<p>Insurance options in MA are limited, as you well know! We didn’t put the restriction on d’s driving, since we tend to shuffle cars around depending on who is going where and what they need to carry. So we’ve just eaten the insurance costs.</p>
<p>We bought a '99 Ford Escort 2 door 5 speed for our D. The Mitsubishi 5 speed engine has a pretty good reliability record and has pretty good gas mileage. We knew she wouldn’t drive a big tank that ate gas, so we looked for a small car. Although the crash test ratings are just average, we found from experience that the bumpers on this car seem to made of iron–she’s had several small scrapes and one fender bender and the bumpers are holding (although a little worse for the wear). We found it to be a good little car for the money (just over $2,000 at the time) and although she can’t bring it to school we decided to keep it in storage for her so she can drive it when she’s home. Similar cars are the Saturn SL1 and SL2 and the Chevy Cavalier–we’ve had experience with both of them as well.</p>
<p>Our third car was a used (and very old) Volvo. In CT, the insurance company assigns the drivers to the cars, and typically the teen gets assigned to the most valuable vehicle. When we added our son to our policy it increased the premium by about $1800 per year…almost doubled the policy payment and he was an honors student who took drivers ed. When I called to inquire, I asked about the increased premium and the agent quipped “Are you still breathing?” It’s expensive to insure boys when you have a car dedicated to their driving. When we added DD to the policy later (no we didn’t buy another car) it was a very small increase…girls are cheaper and we didn’t have a car dedicated to her use. Of course two years later when she totaled the car, our premiums increased again. DS (the “expensive one” to insure) is a more careful driver!!</p>
<p>D (now 24 and self insured,finally,this year!!) was given a 2001 Hyundai Elantra(bought used).She’s driven it cross country 2X,all over the West on a extended camping trip,from St Louis to Fayettville Ark quite a few times,St Louis-NY,etc.No problems,new tires only.Just inspected for change in insurance coverage,passed with flying colors. Very sturdy reliable little car and great on gas!</p>
<p>S bought himself a used (very old) Volvo. His six month premium was reduced by more than the cost of the car! And I got a multi-car discount which reduced my insurance over $100. The insurance company put his car on a separate policy.</p>
<p>You don’t say how much you want to spend for the car. A good place to start looking is the Consumer Reports from April 2007, the car issue. Their best cars in many price ranges starts on page 80. They also have their “bad bets” and cars to avoid.</p>
<p>Look over your deductibles and make sure they are as high as you can comfortably handle. </p>
<p>If you get it down to one or two models, run these by your agent. Car “A” might be more prone to a lot of damage than car “B”. Car “B” wil be cheaper to insure for collision than car “A”.</p>
<p>Look at your own policy and see what kinds of things give you a discount. Daytime running lights, automatic seatbelts, things like that. On my policy, the good grade discount had to be checked on every year.</p>
<p>One thing my insurance company (USAA) advised me is that a student who takes his car out of state may be much cheaper for insurance costs by being on his own policy. We would have to register him as the sole owner of the vehicle, rather than being part of our policy. Because he has fewer assets to protect than we would, it could be a substantial savings in premiums.</p>
<p>We bought a CR-V for our kids. We actually bought one last week and then ended up winning a bid on one on Ebay so…let me know if you want a CR-V!</p>
<p>Another happy Volvo owner. DD drives an 89 240DL which is a small tank. We carry only liability insurance which keeps costs down. If she totals it, then it is gone. A throw away car.</p>
<p>Maybe we are unique but when we owned a Volvo, it was in the shop a lot and repairs were expensive…great driving car though, loved the heated seats. Maybe we had a lemon.</p>
<p>I would recommend a older Honda or Toyota. We have had both and have gotten great service out of them with few repairs needed. My S is currently driving a 1996 4wd Toyota pickup truck with 186,000 miles that runs like a champ. </p>
<p>Don’t know if it’s really true but I remember our insurance co. (State Farm) telling us that a 2 door car was more expensive to insure (if you are getting Collision insurance in addition to the req. Liability) than a 4 door for a teenager…the thinking apparantly was that most sports cars are 2 door and more likely to be driven faster and wrecked than a sedan.</p>
<p>Pre-2000 Volvos are generally good cars if they were properly maintained. But in 1999, Ford bought Volvo and the quality started going down. That’s why we moved away from Volvo after having bought several and loved them.</p>
<p>Re the 2 door v. the 4 door - I think it’s a matter of parts and their costs. A door for a 2 door is more expensive than a door for a 4 door. So if you get hit in the rear panel, you only have to replace one small door, but you have to replace the entire large door. It may not have as much to do with how often it’s hit, but how much it costs to repair.</p>
<p>We live in NJ, put S as primary driver on my previous car, older large SUV, took the collision off of it. Having added a third car (my new one) but him being primary on oldest, lowest insured car, we added a total of $160 a year to our insurance costs. He would have been secondary on one of the newer, fully covered cars, and the rates would have been higher there. We had intended to get rid of the SUV, but cannot beat the rates, and S does not have to worry about the car when he parks it at school. Gas mileage is not good, but cost much less than replacing it with newer car and insuring it.</p>
<p>We also went the Escort route and it has worked out fine. S wrecked the first one ('97) and airbags deployed - nobody harmed. Had to go freshman year with no car because of this (fine with us!). He has now been in a '99 Escort for more than a year and it has made several 9 hour trips to school. They are cheap, fairly reliable, cheap to insure, and can be pretty sporty looking although not fast. Great AC by the way. Both cars were around $2000. An advantage of getting a cheap car is the lack of need for any insurance beyond good liability.</p>
<p>Another BF (before Ford) Volvo and USAA family here. Our 1995 850 Wagon recently turned over 150K miles and we expect it to last for another few years. It will be son’s this year for his senior year in high school (only fair since daughter used it her senior year before he got his permit). They can share it again next summer and then it will become daughter’s for her senior year in college so that she can get to grad school music auditions on her own. He will not need a car his freshman year in college and we will worry about the next car for him around May of 2009. My wife and I have both switched to Hondas now that Volvo is owned by Ford. </p>
<p>We have been very pleased with the price and service offered by USAA but did get a bit of a shock when our rates almost doubled when our son got his license. We are hoping things will get more reasonable when he is a freshman in college with no car.</p>
<p>When you put a car in your child’s name, and have them on their own insurance policy, are they disallowed from driving the rest of the family cars?</p>
<p>I would like to do this for my S when he goes back for Junior year. He has an accident on his record, and someone suggested that his rates could be better with a lower liability, since he has no assets to protect as I do.</p>
<p>fourkidsmom, my daughter would LOVE the CR-V.</p>
<p>However, my husband is hoping to spend only around ~$1.2K.</p>
<p>He knows someone at work who is planning to buy a new car soon, so he is hoping to buy her Acura with about 200K miles on it – advantage is that he knows this car is not a lemon, and that it will be cheap…</p>
<p>jaybee, our insurance company told us that our son could still be on our other cars listed as an “occasional driver” (summers/school breaks). But
to pay for him to take a car out of state and leave him on our current policy increases the already hefty premiums substantially.</p>
<p>Plus he’d be taking it to New Orleans, which has alot of liability all on its own.</p>
<p>Jaybee - we put our gal in her ‘own’ vehicle - with her ‘own’ insurance - she is OOS - far from home - It actually saves my insurance premiums that way - as the rates would be on the most expensive vehicle if she were on my insurance - and the liability issue is much improved. And yes - she can drive our vehicles when she is at home - if she needs to - no problem at all.</p>
<p>Initially my gal had a Jeep Wrangler - believe it or not - good for safety - not so good on gas tho- so she traded it recently for a Subaru Forester - Love it, Love it - good safety and great gas milage - she drives alot It is all in her name.</p>
<p>Toyota Camry,…any year after they installed air bags. or, Honda Accord…same requirement. Great cars that run and run and run.</p>
<p>I HATED my 1998 Volvo V70. I was always waiting for something else to break. Especially anything “electrical.” Sold it and am glad to be rid of it.</p>
It is all in her name.</p>