The Student Room Group

Car at home while you're at uni?

I have a car at the moment, and I'll be going to uni in the autumn. I've bought insurance till next April (can obviously cancel though), just about to do the next tax and it'll need an MOT in November so obviously if I want to sell I'd have to get that done again (nobody will buy with a month till the next one!). My car isn't worth much.

It's tremendously useful to have a car - I have a part time job as a waitress, which I'm probably going to stay on for in uni holidays, and I live in a rural area, so it's pretty much impossible to get anywhere without a car.

Even though I passed a year ago, AND they let me drive their cars while I was still a learner, my parents don't trust me with their cars. (It's not like we have expensive cars, they're just paranoid.)

So...I'm considering what to do with the car while I'm at uni, but obviously the main cost is insurance, and there's precious little point in me paying for it and not driving it for weeks at a time.

Is there anyone out there who keeps a car at home while they're at uni? Any neat ideas for only insuring in the holidays or anything else?

(FTR, I live near Basingstoke, and I'll be going to Cambridge or London. If I'm in London, I'll probably come home more cos it's a direct train, but if I'm in Cambridge I'll get longer holidays.)

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I'd pawn it, quit your job and try to get a more permanent piece of work in your uni city.
Reply 2
Get rid of the car, buy a bike.
save a few grand a year.
Reply 3
Get your parents to insure it in their name and become a named driver and pay them whatever it costs. I know a lot of you will see this is fronting, but you will spend more than half the year at university away from the car then there's not really an issue with it, especially if your parents drive it occasionally to keep it in good condition. This is exactly what I do, and drive it when I go home for the holidays.

I did this because I was paying about £900/year for my 1994 1.4 VW Golf when I was living at home in the middle of rural Devon. To insure the car in Swansea, where I live for university, would have more than tripled that to over three grand. I told Admiral they could go **** themselves and that I wanted my policy cancelled. Turning 21 this November I'm going to call around different companies again and see if I can get a slightly more reasonable quote to keep my car with me this coming academic year as I feel totally lost without it.
Reply 4
im pretty sure you can buy like 2 week insurance bundles, i think my friend does that. may be wrong.
Im keeping my car when i go to Uni :smile:

Need it throughout the summer so ill have to mot and tax it (due in june/july)

Ill only really be paying my insurance when im at uni (which is £45ish a month) so not too bad!

Ill defo need it during the holidays too. I live in a really rural area with hardly any buses!
Reply 6
Take the car to uni. You'll need it.
I just get short-term insurance for the holidays. Although seeing as I'm going away for a year next month I'll probably sell my car, which will be sad as I love it so.
Reply 8
Original post by Mr Dangermouse
I'd pawn it, quit your job and try to get a more permanent piece of work in your uni city.


Probably not possible - I have a great job already, and if I'm in Cambridge then I won't be able to work in term time and I'll be living at home in the holidays. London, depending on rent I may stay there if I'm paying the rent anyway, but hopefully that won't be the case, so I'll live at home in the holidays too.

Original post by almasy
Get rid of the car, buy a bike.
save a few grand a year.


Not feasible - I'm talking about having the car for at home, not at uni. I live in a rural area, you can't cycle places.

Original post by Nuffles
Get your parents to insure it in their name and become a named driver and pay them whatever it costs. I know a lot of you will see this is fronting, but you will spend more than half the year at university away from the car then there's not really an issue with it, especially if your parents drive it occasionally to keep it in good condition. This is exactly what I do, and drive it when I go home for the holidays.


Possible if my parents drive it for me, though surely it's still fronting as I would still be driving it more than them and probably using it for more time too?

Original post by enigma1122
im pretty sure you can buy like 2 week insurance bundles, i think my friend does that. may be wrong.


Any idea where?

Original post by JC.
Take the car to uni. You'll need it.


Pointless - Cambridge is tiny, and car in London?! No thanks.
Original post by Periwinkle
Probably not possible - I have a great job already, and if I'm in Cambridge then I won't be able to work in term time and I'll be living at home in the holidays. London, depending on rent I may stay there if I'm paying the rent anyway, but hopefully that won't be the case, so I'll live at home in the holidays too.



Not feasible - I'm talking about having the car for at home, not at uni. I live in a rural area, you can't cycle places.



Possible if my parents drive it for me, though surely it's still fronting as I would still be driving it more than them and probably using it for more time too?



Any idea where?



Pointless - Cambridge is tiny, and car in London?! No thanks.




Why not try get a job in Cambridge in term time?
Reply 10
Original post by Periwinkle

Pointless - Cambridge is tiny, and car in London?! No thanks.


Suit yourself.
When I was at uni I had 2 cars at all times. At one point I had 5.

I didn't think it was "pointless", but then it'd be a boring world if we all thought the same way. :wink:
Reply 11
Original post by Periwinkle
Possible if my parents drive it for me, though surely it's still fronting as I would still be driving it more than them and probably using it for more time too?


Even if it is still technically fronting, the car is registered to a different address to where you'll be living and you'll be driving the car so little that it would be very hard to make a case against you, if at all if your parents use it as a second car.

It's certainly far more legal than leaving your registered address as where your parents live and taking your car to uni with you, like most of the people I know do.
Reply 12
Original post by Mr Dangermouse
Why not try get a job in Cambridge in term time?


University students aren't allowed, and from what I've heard, you wouldn't have time anyway. Plus, shorter terms mean you're at home for more time anyway.

Original post by JC.
Suit yourself.
When I was at uni I had 2 cars at all times. At one point I had 5.

I didn't think it was "pointless", but then it'd be a boring world if we all thought the same way. :wink:


I see that it would be fine in other places, just not in either of the unis I've chosen :smile: Cambridge is very small and you can walk/cycle everywhere, and in London you'd have even more grief finding somewhere to put it, plus congestion charge, plus the traffic - it's probably just better to stick with public transport.
Reply 13
Original post by Periwinkle
nobody will buy with a month till the next one!


Yes they will, it'll just affect the amount you get for it. Set a price and then someone will more than likely just barter with you and ask for £50 off the asking price to get an MOT...up to you where you take it from there.

I'll be starting this September and will be taking my car with me...I'm a 23 year old male from Manchester so taking it with me will actually save me money just by getting out of Manchester lol. If you're going to keep the car then the cheapest thing to do will probably be to take it with you and try to keep usage low. You can get single-month insurance but it's very expensive...or you can cancel your insurance, lose what you've earned towards the no years bonus and then take out insurance for the summer and cancel it again when you return to uni...that'll cost you a lot as well as you'll lose a deposit if there is one or you'll have a cancellation fee if there is one.

If you cannot afford to keep it at uni or can't find anywhere to park it then you're best selling it, using the cash to live a bit better at uni and get lifts to work in the holidays.
Original post by Periwinkle
University students aren't allowed, and from what I've heard, you wouldn't have time anyway. Plus, shorter terms mean you're at home for more time anyway.



I see that it would be fine in other places, just not in either of the unis I've chosen :smile: Cambridge is very small and you can walk/cycle everywhere, and in London you'd have even more grief finding somewhere to put it, plus congestion charge, plus the traffic - it's probably just better to stick with public transport.


University students aren't allowed to have a job?
Reply 15
Sell the car and buy a moped.
Reply 16
Original post by M4LLY
Sell the car and buy a moped.


Don't do this if you have a shred of dignity in you.
My boyfriend declares his car as off the road for while he's at uni and then on the road for the summer holidays so he only pays tax and insurance for the 4 months of the holiday (pays for the year then at the end of the year they refund whatever insurance was paid for the time off the road, other than the third party cover). Obviously you'd still need an mot though
Reply 18
Original post by scbond
Don't do this if you have a shred of dignity in you.


Obviosly not considering the money you'd save then
Reply 19
Original post by M4LLY
Obviosly not considering the money you'd save then


I'd rather have no money than be lurching over the handlebars of a slow moped as if doing so will make it go faster than 30 MPH?! Not to mention the shell suit you're expected to wear.

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