Try and buy off a friend if possible, definitely take someone with you who knows about cars though if you are going out looking. Maybe Mr Bandage might know someone selling a little citroen saxo or peugeot 106, ideal 1st car i would think.

also look into what group the car insurance is it might be a cheap car to buy but cost a fortune to insure
if she has passed her test it is worth taking the pass plus this can mean big savings insurance wise

price of

brakes
tyres
exhaust
service

too

if lucky these are all that'll need replacing but you can get caught out, particulalrly with exhausts - and you dont have to go to kwikfit to get these done either -save some cash and go to a garage

or take someone like mr bandage to check it over and look out for tell tale signs like big exhausts, lots of mods cos then it just screams out BOY RACER so its been thrashed to within a inch of its life.

dont forget the nissan micra very underestimated car

Our lass just bought a cheeky ford escort off her mate for £300 bar, can't fall off really.

Costs about £600 for the year to insure.

think a escort might be too high a insurance group for a first car

'accept that im in a better position to judge stuff. '

?

£300 to buy and £600pa to insure?

To me if a car costs twice as much to insure as it does to buy then it's a sure sign that the whole country has gone nuts.

ripper thats why so many youngsters drive with no insurance it is cheaper to take the fine than to insure the car
a 19/20 year old with no no claims and trying to insure a corsa 1.2 will be quoted £1000 plus
average for a first time driver is 1500+

Thats the crack when your young Mr R, insurance is sky high for young drivers.

My mates all got cars for cheap in there teens and in some cases the insurance was double the cost of the car.

Just had my renewal quote from my current insurer, 700+ quid for 3rd part, f & t or 1100+ quid for Fully Comp.

When onto moneysavingexpert.com, followed his 4 step guide for cheaper car insurance and managed to get fully comp for 603 quid. Take the 52 quid cashback from quidco and thats 551 quid for the year.

Martin Lewis may be a egotisitical twat but he saves me a bucket load of cash!

That's cos you drive like a woman.

And what do you mean by that??

Anyway, back to the question...apparently you can hire an AA man (or woman) to come and inspect a car for you before you buy it, and give you advice. Of course if he advises you not to buy it, you're then forty quid lighter and back to square one

I did that a long time ago, when Clock Garage was still one and not the Club Offices. I was interested in a Lancia Beta, but at the time there was a big story about them being prone to rust. So I got an AA man in, he gave me a list of about 30 faults, so I didn't bother buying it.

for clock garage a car with only 30 faults was a car of the week

I've just sold my car 3 and a half weeks ago. You just missed out!

thats it miss tigga kick a man while he's down