Classic as first car?

daithismith

Is it possible to have a classic car as a first car rather than as a second/weekend car? Even so, I probably wouldn't be doing over 10,000 miles per year.

Most classic(70s) Toyota Celicas have 1.6l engines but how fuel efficient would this be compared to a modern 1.6l car?

Also, how reliable/unreliable would it be? I've heard that 80s Toyotas are as reliable as you can get but not sure about 70s models.

Thanks for any help.

Gary ITR

You'd find it hard to get insurance on anything older than 20 years old. Tried myself and struggled to find anything

daithismith

I've thought about that and I'm hoping that as I share another car with somone else I could get insured on that as my first car and hopfully get classic insurance on the classic but I would rarely use the other car.

Hifive

daithismith wrote: »

I've thought about that and I'm hoping that as I share another car with somone else I could get insured on that as my first car and hopfully get classic insurance on the classic but I would rarely use the other car.

That worked for me with Carol Nash insurance.
I'm a named driver on my wife's car and a photo copy of the insurance cert for that car was enough for them. The initial offer letter made reference to an engineers report for the classic, but I just sent back the check and that seemed to be enough. That was in 1997.

I now have cover for two classics, one is a 3.0 V8 and the other one is a 3.5 litre. both are covered comprehensively for €334.00.
If it wasn't for the €1490.00 for road tax on the younger one, and it's 13.5 mpg thirst, I'd say my motoring was great value:rolleyes:

8~)

Insurance is no problem on a 20+ year old car. Show a valid NCT cert and the majority of insurers are happy with that.

boatbuilder

First Ireland Insurance will insure you in a classic car as your only vehicle.

They need an engineer's report on the car though.

But yes, if you have another car, the best way would be to get insured on the other car and then get classic insurance for your classic car with Axa classics or someone like that.

Dustpuppy

Have my '67 beetle as only car insured with Linskey Ryan LtD. No report or NCT needed.

carchaeologist

FBD insured my datsun100A on their classic policy with no engineers cert or NCT needed,360euro for the year.Its basically a 3rd party policy, no limit to miles.

unkel

daithismith wrote: »

Is it possible to have a classic car as a first car rather than as a second/weekend car?

Yes it is, as others posted. In my situation, I have my 22 year old 4.7 litre V8 sportscar insured as a classic car for about €300 based on the fact that I am a named driver on my wife's 1.8 litre saloon car. I have no insurance on any first car

If you are not a named driver on another car, you can still have your car insured as a first car, but it would be a full insurance type of premium. My insurer was looking for about a grand for fully comprehensive insurance on the 4.7l Porsche. A bit too rich for me, that's why I went the classic insurance route

Dades

I was told a couple of years ago that the person whose car you were a named driver on had to be your spouse, before it would be allowed as a "second" car for classic purposes.

A mate or a family member wouldn't do. And a "partner" has no legal standing it would seem.