As most of you know, the Fabia was written off through vandalism, and i've since bought an 03 plate Octavia vRS.

Now at the time the insurance didn't go up when i swapped cars on the policy, but it's renewal time, and the cheapest i'm getting is more than double my previous policy. :(

(NCB wasn't protected :( )

So now i have the decision of, do i keep it, and cough up the extra (which i cant really afford to do, but would if it came to it)

Or

Sell up, and get something "normal" for a while.

Not quite sure what to do, as i love the car, but not enough to be skint for i dont think.

Pants.

:(

how much will you loose if you sell the car and change to a normal car, put that against the cost difference of what the normal car will cost to insure/run. And most importantly will you be happy just running a normal car? Will you miss the power/drive?

I take it you have tried the insurance brokers attached to briskie?

I probably wouldn't lose anything i would hope, the only thing i've had to pay out for was a new starter, and an oil/filter service, i've only had it a few months.

Yes, i'd miss the power/drive. But not as much as i'd miss the extra cash in my pocket i think.

Never had a "normal" car before. :(

Fancy a nice S60 Johnny?

I can't imagine the savings in running costs being *that* substantial though surely? Whats the premium coming in at?

I take it you've consulted the meercat to see what you can find?

I know your pain and I'm in a normal car for similar reasons along with the need for a derv.

If it was me I'd say work out how much you could sell the VRS for and how much you would have to spend on a normal car. Do you drive a lot of miles as if so a cheap derv might save you more too.

Also make sure you get a quote on the new normal car first as it might not drop too much anyway.

Fancy a nice S60 Johnny?

Yes

Premium is coming in at just under £800 a year. :thumbdwn:

Might not sound a lot to some, but to me, it is.

So thats £70 ish a month on insurance.

I spend around £250 a month on fuel, mainly commuting, so all in, it's a lot of money for whats not exactly a fancy car.

A second car is about to be bought for SWMBO, otherwise i wouldn't have minded spending this, but this, ontop of another car, i just cant afford.

Tried Insurance search engines etc, and the quote i'm on now was the 3rd cheapest, only chose it as it had better features on the policy than the cheaper alternatives.

Guess i should've done my homework before buying, but i really didn't expect it to go up this much !!

Dont think i even paid that much for my Cossie, and i was only 23 when i had that, 10 years on and i'm having to pay more ! :thumbdwn:

£800 , geeez , like being 21 again :(

What was it before on the last Octy ? , £200 or so?

Take it you cant insure it in your good ladies name?

Yeah, was around £260, thats with me, her, and my dad on the policy, all mods declared etc etc.

No point in putting it in her name, as she's getting her own car in the next month or so.

So potentially you could buy a diesel for 50mpg and £500/yr insurance, and save about £120 a month. The Octy is worth what, max £4k? Not sure what you'd really be looking at, I suppose £4k would get a nice Passat PD130 or something? Is it worth it?

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If you want to save a lot on insurance, then you're probably going to have to leave the VAG stable as they are a lot to insure. :(

Still if you're spending £250 on fuel then I'd say a good second hand derv in a low insurance group for a year would save you a small fortune until things improve.

The thing is, unless you take a punt on something cheap as chips, genuinely reliable £4k diesels are hard to come by, I think the PD130 engine is leagues ahead of anything TDCI/CDTI etc.

Yep, which is why i went for the Octy in the first place.

Most VAG diesels in the price range have silly miles on them.

Only other thing is something small/petrol.

Cheap diesel with those mileages mate!

I can only afford to run the VR6 cause I do naff-all mileage each day!

Have you got any cash anywhere? I know a lot of companies do a lot cheaper rates if you can pay your years insurance in one hit.

Not really, hence why i pay monthly. :(

Cant see it reducing that much to be honest.

Would've been fine if the damn Fabia was still here.

Buy the diesel with silly miles on and run it for a year or so to rebuild your NCB, the VAG diesel engine is incredibly reliable and good for well over 200K miles before needing anything major. This is why Taxi drivers use them, some taxis have more than 500K miles on them and still run fine. You will save loads of money on fuel, and insurance and part of this could be put towards the slightly increased running costs due to consumable items (brakes, clutch etc.)

My Passat had 140k on and drove perfect, Baker's Superb had similar miles on when I last saw it and it was peachy too.

Surely somebody has to come in better than £800 for a modified VRS. I appreciate I have not made a claim recently but a year on my MK2 when it arrives will be about £290 with no mods.

I know Stuart, but thats knocking away all my NCB that i had, plus a claim for just under £4k. :(

My previous insurer refused to insure me due to the payout too.

So it doesnt leave me with many choices.

Ah I didn't realise it knocked back all your NCB, though you may have just lost 1-2 years from max.

Be a real shame if you couldn't keep that VRS though.

The thing is, unless you take a punt on something cheap as chips, genuinely reliable £4k diesels are hard to come by, I think the PD130 engine is leagues ahead of anything TDCI/CDTI etc.

I disagree, having had 3 TDI's, 1 D4d and 2 TDCI's in the family the TDI's have been the least reliable of the lot.

genuinely reliable day in day out dervs can be had for 2k, but as I said you just have to lose the VAG brand.

Expensive VAG parts and prives = Expensive insurance for them.

Even in the same group a MK II Octy was £200 more than the equivalent mondeo and focus.

Just find a car with a decent derv in it at a low low price with a low insurance quote and run it until it dies or you've built up a better NCB

My ex's dad had an Astra 1.7CDti or what ever vauxhall call them with well over 200k on the cloak and still went like it should. Really dont be put of by high mileage. My dad's Rover 218D when he bought it, it had 180k on the clock took him to 220k before it died in an accident.

100% of the TDCIs I've owned have needed replacement DMFs at £700 a pop, twice.

The issue with a £3k/4k diesel is that when they need repairs, they can be a massive % of the cars value. I'd go for something like a clean TDDI Focus for around £2k and bank the rest.