What's the latest in people's lives?

[Mark]

Just curious. What do you guys pay on average for ins? My for my '91 Nissan and no violations in like eight years pay $286 every six months.

[Reliant121]

For a tiny car like the below ford Ka, with a 1.2 petrol (or a 1.3TDCi diesel), as a younger drive I'd be looking to pay around £2800. per annum for third party, fire and theft insurance. of Course, I would never drive something this new.



I have been looking at one of the below. These things come in a variety of engine sizes from 1.2s to 1.4s and finally an ancient 1.9SDi (diesel, no turbo). For the 1.2, I'd be looking at about £2500 per annum, third party fire and theft. For the 1.4 petrol, or the 1.9SDi diesel, I'd be looking about £2700 again. Car age isn't that important, its more the engines power and the size of the car.



Of course, girls pay about a third of that. And it drops quite a bit at the age of 21, and if you have no claims bonus.

[Mikey]

Yeesh. Over here, males get penalized until age 25; but our basic rates are nothing like that. I pay $1071/yr. for $500/$500 deductible collision, comprehensive (theft/vandalism/other than collision,) and uninsured motorist - for two cars, one of which is a 2006 Impala.

[Reliant121]

It depends entirely on what "Group" your car is, determined by the cars horsepower in relation to its weight. The bad thing is, many old cars are larger or heavier than newer cars with larger engines, so the insurance hikes upward. I looked at an old Rover 211 such as the below and they wanted in the region of £3600. Thats for a 1.1L engine. the only reason its so high is because its quite massive, and the engine produces around 79bhp which is deemed "too high" for a young driver to handle.

[Tyyr]

Weren't you talking about cars? What's with the picture of the golfcart?

[Reliant121]

There in lies the problem. I looked out of curiosity at the insurance on an imported American Crown Victoria.

It was in the region of £12,000 per annum.

We don't need huge cars as they simply don't work in our smaller, narrower environment. Our neighbour can barely fit their volvo in the road, and thats smaller than some American station wagons.

[Mikey]

79 bhp isn't even in the realm of possibility of American cars, unless you're talking about "per cylinder."

For us, insurance rates are based quite simply on the driver: age, experience, record; safety features of the car: ABS, airbags, etc.,; and for collision and comprehensive, rather than just liability, the value of the vehicle. True sports cars get a hefty hike, but that only includes the real deal - Corvettes, Vipers, anything with a body by Paninfarina, etc.

[Tyyr]

12,000 pounds per annum is ridiculous. Unless the average Brit new driver totals their car every 18 months.

[Reliant121]

Your cars are way way heavier and bigger than ours, hence we have smaller engines for smaller cars to fit smaller roads. You have bigger engines, for much biggers cars, for massively bigger roads. most diddy cars like the Ford Ka I posted would have an engine of 55-75bhp which would bring a zero to 60mph of 15-13 seconds. A bigger car like the Rover I had ideally has an engine of 75-120bhp. something like a Ford Mondeo or a BMW 3 series would range from 105bhp-200bhp.

The point of british insurance companies is simple: price youngens off the road. They dont want to insure anyone below 21 at all, so they make it ridiculously expensive. I wont be able to afford it, and my family is fariyl affluent (about $80,000 a year roughly, if i converted it). I can afford one year, but wont afford the next year.

[Reliant121]

It's also much more expensive to buy a car. That Ford Ka I posted earlier is in the region of $16,000.

Plus its more expensive to fuel it, with fuel being about £1.20 per litre.

[Mikey]

0-60 in 15 seconds? How the hell do you ever merge onto a highway?

[Mark]

I think my moped accelerated faster than that. Granted, it topped out at 45 mph, but it didn't take but maybe 7 seconds to do so, and that's with me (and my 212lbs). Now when my friend rode it, who's 60 lbs lighter, it goes noticably faster.

[Reliant121]

No-one gets higher than 55-60 by the end of the sliproad (usually about 1500yards I would guess). perhaps we're just more relaxed in driving style?

[Tyyr]

No, I think the question is how do you even get up to speed with acceleration like that.

[Reliant121]

Don't ask me, I don't drive. We manage it fine enough.

Heres a video of a motorcyclist entering a motorway. The Vauxhall Corsa in front is probably a 1.2 16v meaning it will be about 13 seconds 0-60. Its about 1.03 onwards.