Insurance for a newly passed 21 YO driver

almost certainly not under £1000

The car will be a 5 door, Ford Zetec 2002 1.4l around 20,000 miles and only one owner (we bought it new).

The postcode will be a category B area too.

Will it be less than £1000?

almost certainly not under £1000

I got my car insured literally just after turning 22 as a new driver.

Catergory C area.

It was like 900 with a black box.
1,200 without a black box.

Oh god, not those

So this car is 13 years old and has 20,000 miles? That averages out at 1500 miles a year..this is extremely unlikely and very very low. Stay away from that car, its probably been tampered with unless you know that. A car of that age will have considerably more mileage.

My gran got it brand new and she doesn't drive very much and lives in London. That's why the mileage is so low. She's got a free bus pass, parking is a hassle and Central London's congestion charge never makes it worth driving somewhere which might require a longer trip.

She might drive to a supermarket every now and then to get some heavy goods but other than that, it's hardly used.

The car still feels almost brand new

Bargain then. I suggest you keep the FSH, MOT certs etc very safe since a lot of people will wonder about the mileage if you come to sell it in the future . Relating to your post, insurance wont be cheap. I'd advise you to go look at Tesco Bank insurance, they are mostly of the time, the cheapest company. And also have the most relaxed black box policy - i.e you do not get punished if it knows you are speeding etc. etc. It is just there to monitor your driving and award miles if you drive safely. Be aware when getting insurance though, some insurance companies have boxes that will cancel your premium immediately in certain situations. EG, Auto Saints cancel it if you speed twice in the UK in one year. I think thats just absolutely ridiculous.

Thanks for this, I will do

As for car, it probably won't get sold for some time. I think cars are a bit of a money pit and apparently Ford Zetecs are nice to drive? If that's the case, it'll be around for a good few years but that's good to know about the documents

Anyway, I need to pass first ha!!

Passing is no problem Just relax, go at a suitable pace and look around a lot. Also build something between the instructor and yourself, talk to him/her and make conversation.

Don't know much about driving Fords, I considered getting one but opted for a 207. Fords are generally reliable cars though, and at 20K - I doubt you'd need to do much on it. Maybe a service but that should be all.

I have quite a nice instructor

Basically, as my mum is loaning me money, she was adamant that I should go with the AA. In my first (and only) two hour lesson, I pull away and pulled up a total of 4 times, changed from 1st to 2nd once and that was it. Max speed 15mph. At the same time, the instructor was snapchatting and messaging former students and having a good time (taking up at least 30 minutes I'd say). He has 24 years experience and I thought that was outrageous.

I actually thought it was good progress until I started messaging friends and only then did I know how slow that progress was.

Switched to another local chain (in part because I need to be at test standard within a month as I'm starting work and he couldn't give me my desired amount of hours (6-8hrs a week) and in my first 2 hours I got to 3rd gear, reversed, did some clutch control/edging etc and got to 30mph. I felt I had actually achieved something.

So much so that in my second 2 hr lesson which I've just had I've done left and right turns at T-Junctions. My steering at these turns is fairly good but it's just getting into the routine and also practiced some hill-starts which I did well.

Instructor said I'm doing good which is a good sign. But this just goes to show how bad the AA and some of these big guns are. I think their instructors are actually very good from a driving perspective but as they most likely give a massive cut to the AA, it turns them into complete morons. I think there's enough demand out there to be independent. I honestly don't see the perks of working for the AA as an instructor..

I would try and avoid the companies if I were you. Private instructors are usually the best. They charge considerably less, usually have a larger student pool that they have taught - more experience and also value their pupils more since they are private and often have a reputation to keep up.

I tried several companies when learning to drive, unhappy with all of them. I used the DVLA registered instructors database and looked for one in my area. Had around 10 lessons with her, which included a free 1 hour taster lesson and passed my test. If you still feel like progress is slow, maybe try a private instructor .

I opted for the one without a black box ...

I see. Thats good then. Because black boxes are ****