Money’s tight at the moment, isn’t it? Feels like it has been for… well, quite a long time, actually. And so you’ll probably be used to seeking out the best deals when it’s time to change cars.
One way to save a bit of cash is to seek out a model that’s cheap to insure. But which of the cheapest cars to insure are also the best bargains to buy?
Well, I’ve had a comb through the CarGurus classifieds to try to find out. And if you’re a young driver or someone looking for a bargain, you’ll want to listen up. In fact, you’ll want to buy an Up – a Volkswagen Up, that is.
The Up features in our guide to the cheapest cars to insure because all models that have the least powerful engine – a 1.0-litre with 59bhp – come rated in Insurance Group 1, the lowest possible.
And Ups are looking like real bargains on the used market these days, with a welter of examples available at low, low prices.
One dealer I found was even offering a 2013 example for just £2,395 – almost half our CarGurus Indicated Market Value (IMV), which is a pretty good indicator as to how much it’s actually worth.
That particular car was an entry-level Take Up with 88,000 miles, and came with no history and a relatively short MOT, which is why it’s only one to take a punt on if you really know what you’re doing. But there were similar bargains to be had on cars that looked like absolute humdingers.
How about a 2015 Move Up, the mid-range specification with a few toys as standard, with a very reasonable 60,000 miles on the clock, a full history and nine months’ MOT? Yours for just £3,995 – that’s 27 per cent cheaper than it really should be, according to the IMV.
I also found another Take Up, this time a really early 2012 car, but with just 28,000 miles on the clock and almost a full year’s MOT, as well as a big sheaf of invoices. You’d have to pay a measly £3,489 for that one, a whopping £1,423 less than its market value.
As you can see, then, bargains are everywhere if you choose an Up – and with such cheap insurance, you won’t be paying over the odds when you get it home, either.
But what if you need something a little bigger? Well, how about the Up’s bigger brother, the Volkswagen Polo?
It’s another car that can be had with super-cheap Group 1 insurance, though this time you have to be careful about which model you choose, because it’s only the least powerful 64bhp variant in entry-level SE form that attracts such a low rating. And that version isn’t exactly commonplace.
Still, it’s not impossible to find one, and to get a bargain at the same time. I unearthed a 2018 example with just 43,000 miles on the clock, going for a very reasonable £8,999 – a chunky £1,201 saving over its IMV.
Even with this low-powered engine, the Polo is still a great car, with an interior that’s far classier than you might expect for a car of this price and size. It’s super comfortable, too, and handles crisply and neatly – and crucially, it doesn’t come with the big reliability concerns caused by the ‘wet’ timing belt in the similar-sized Ford Fiesta and Peugeot 208.
But if a Polo is still too pricey for you, or you don’t fancy something with a Volkswagen badge on it, you might be swayed by a Nissan Micra instead.
The last-generation Micra – not the spangly new all-electric model that’s just been announced – can be had with the same low Group 1 insurance as the Up and the Polo above.
Again, you’ll have to be a little bit careful with the model you choose; you’ll want one registered from 2017 to 2019, with the 70bhp 1.0-litre engine, badged simply IG (as opposed to IG-T or DIG-T).
The example I found was a 2018 model, just like the Polo above, in mid-range Acenta form, with 55,000 miles on the clock – yours for just £6,595, which is 14% less than its CarGurus IMV. Talk about a Micra-scopic price tag, eh? Anyone? Is this thing on…?