James Ruppert
Best buy to keep up your no-claims
If he wants to save money, go cheap and buy a cockroach
There have been some pretty fun questions pinging my way recently and I thought this one was worth sharing: “I’m about to lose my eight years’ no-claims bonus because I only drive commercial vehicles. I need the most economical solution to keep it.”
That’s interesting because you never think about someone who might drive professionally and may never normally need a private car. That is, until they do. The only way to solve this is to go and buy a car, and the conundrum is perfectly summed up by the bloke who, at the moment, isn’t in the driving seat.
“So do I go for a £500 motor plus £400 insurance and tax? Or a £3000 classic with £200 insurance and tax, possibly MOT exempt and with higher resale?”
Firstly, as explained previously, possibly more than once in this column, we rather like MOT tests and avoiding them, even legally, does not help anyone at all. If our professional driver can’t stump up £50 a year to make sure his daily is safe and sound, then I wonder how secure his load is?
I suppose it is possible to do both: to buy an interesting car that will ultimately become classic. The trajectory for all cars seems to be banger, then ironic classic which is celebrated on social media, before becoming a ‘true’ classic and appearing in an auction catalogue with a ridiculous reserve. If the car is not going to be used much, it needs to be reliable, simple and fairly bomb-proof. If he wants to save money, then go cheap and buy a cockroach. I know I should be concentrating on something Japanese but that is too easy and, right now, could make classic status more of a long shot if it is a boring hatch. Instead, a Citroën ZX is enough of a curio to become unironically interesting, especially in coupé form. You’d struggle to pay more than £1000 for that and you read it here: the breeze-block styling guarantees future interest.
Upping the budget a bit and aiming for one of those reliable Japanese cars, it has to be a Honda, but not a Civic. For £2500, you can bag a 1998 Prelude 2.2 VTI Montegi. A few years ago, these were comfortably three figures. Here, though, is a fullservice-historied 100k-mile example with a full year’s ticket. The only way is up for one of these. It looks very different, is compact compared with everything around today, is very nice to drive and has a VTEC engine.
There you go: two wonky suggestions to fill an automotive hole in someone’s life. I mean, why go without wheels and jeopardise your no-claims?