How rising costs across the board affect newly qualified drivers
With used-car prices, fuel and insurance costs all becoming a lot more expensive, which cars are affordable for younger drivers – and which would they rather own?
The day you pass your driving test is a rite of passage. It’s taken me longer than most to reach the milestone; in February, at the grand age of 30, I finally passed my test. In the rush from school to university to London, it wasn’t a priority. No need, where trains and buses are plentiful. Moving to West Sussex gave me the opportunity to get on the road (big thanks to Steve Pearce at 1st Castle School of Motoring for his patience as I overcame my fear of lorries and slip roads on the A27 near Chichester in a Nissan Note). Years after my peers peeled off their L-plates, I now have a licence to simply buy a car and drive off into the sunset.
So, what set of wheels should I set my sights on, as a newcomer to the road? At school, I was cripplingly envious of a girl with a yellow convertible Beetle. A Mini or Volkswagen Polo would top my list of dream cars to zip around in from Chichester to Brighton and London (although in reality I’d be perfectly happy with any typical – ie less glamorous – new-driver car like a Nissan Micra, Fiat 500, a Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall Corsa, Kia Picanto or a Citroen C1, as long as it got me from A to B).
Although most cars will soon be automatic, I decided to learn in a manual. I felt that mastering the soon-to-belost art of using a clutch and stirring a gear lever would help strengthen the neural pathways in my brain correlating to multitasking (plus, everyone told me it was a good idea). I feel more in control driving a manual, so I’m pleased I followed their advice. Plus, according to young driver car insurer Marmalade, manual cars are currently cheaper to insure across the board (this is because insurers are finding repairs more expensive on electric cars, and because there are fewer qualified technicians to complete those repairs).
But it’s unfortunate timing that, just as freedom is within my grasp, petrol and diesel prices have hit an all-time high. Concurrent to that, car insurance is soaring, and the price of used cars is more sky-high than ever. Second-hand car prices have risen 30 per cent over the past 12 months, according to usedcar marketplace motorway.co.uk; an average Mini Cooper would have fetched £5,056 in February 2021. In 2022, the average price is £9,627. A Volkswagen Polo Match 60 that would have netted a sale price of £3,508 a year ago will generate £6,229 on average today.
Factor in tax, MOT tests, parking and the cost of running a car once you finally have a set of wheels is significant. According to Alex Hasty, a director at comparethemarket.com, the typical annual cost of running a car for a young driver has now reached £2,341 – the highest figure since the start of 2020. At 30, insurance prices for me will be slightly lower than for an 18-year-old, but to give you an idea – according to the Car Insurance Price Index, the average car insurance quote for a driver aged under 25 was £1,717 in December 2021.
To keep costs down, Marmalade recommends opting for a black box policy (which records the way you drive), or sharing a family car while building up a no-claims discount. With that in mind, I plan to take a six-hour Pass Plus driving course (which costs around £200 to complete). Although Hasty at comparethemarket.com stresses that Pass Plus shouldn’t be viewed as an automatic route to cheaper car insurance, it’s an investment in becoming a better driver, which could mean I’m less likely to have an accident and make a claim.
Madeleine learnt to drive in a manual car because she felt it gave her ‘more control’