Buying a car..
 

I'm moving to Canada with my family and I've been looking at cars on Kajiji, I'm 17 so of course I can't go with anything to drastic but I'm still left not knowing anything about what I should look for, I mean over here in the UK I drive a Fiat Seicento with an engine size of 1.1, I realise that I will most likely have to get a bigger car over in Canada, but I'm completely lost as to what type of car or how big-a engine I could get, can anyone help?

Re: Buying a car..
 

try www.autotrader.ca (there are more if you search) this site has new and used but it will give you an idea of what is available, then you could research from there......

Re: Buying a car..
 

Cheers for that, but I was more asking about engine size for insurance purposes because my insurance over here is already expensive enough for a 1.1 engine, but I can't seem to find that information on Kajiji, although it is on Auto Trader..

Re: Buying a car..
 

You should be prepared for incredibly high insurance costs here particularly given your age and gender.

Re: Buying a car..
 

It's kijiji and Auld Yin is right. I hope your parents have incredibly deep pockets because there's no way at all you'll be able to afford insurance if you're paying for it yourself.

It depends where in Canada, but for example in Ontario, I doubt you'd get insurance on any vehicle for less than $5000 a year.

Saskatchewan is cheaper.

Re: Buying a car..
 

I've been looking at insurance quotes for my 16 year old daughter, the cheapest vehicles I have been finding for insurance are slightly older 4 door sedans - civic, Grand marquis etc and older mini vans, I have also found that smaller older trucks are not too bad - Ford Ranger etc.

I've been using this site to compare quotes:http://www.kanetix.ca/auto-insurance

Just doing a quick quote for a '98 Ford Escort LX for a first time driver for 10000 kms a year brings up a quote for $1025 per year - not bad IMO.

Re: Buying a car..
 

Just to clarify, Piff; is that to add your daughter and a new vehicle to your existing policy or for her to be independently insured?

Re: Buying a car..
 

No just for her on her own on that one (just picked any old 4 door saloon)

Just done another comparison for a 2003 Jeep Liberty, $1299 for me and OH, $1299 for me, OH and daughter, daughter on her own was nearly $3k.

Re: Buying a car..
 

Well I've been looking for my boys and in fact I think that the figures Piff has mentioned seem reasonable!!
Our realtor said that he paid a total of $2000 for himself, his wife and his twin sons who were about 18 at the time. That's better than here in the UK :)

Re: Buying a car..
 

I'm sure the interprovincial variability is massive.

It would be helpful if the OP were to clarify where his family is moving to and whether he's talking about being an added driver (with an added vehicle) on his parents' policy or doing it on his own.

Re: Buying a car..
 

Some small points:

- whether the OP is the sole driver on his own policy or the vehicle and driver are added to an existing policy makes little difference if, in the latter case, there are already as many drivers as vehicles. Insurers required that someone be the principle driver of each vehicle and rate the vehicle based on that driver. If there are three cars and three drivers the young driver winds up being the principle operator of one. In such a case he or she may as well have a separate policy. A case in point is that of a colleague who's wife and son, as well as himself, drive. The family has three vehicles. In truth the son is the occasional user of all three vehicles but not a heavy user of any of them. Their premium is around $10,000 because the 17 year old is deemed the principle operator of the third car. Otherwise I suppose it would be around $1,500 per car.

- discrimination by gender for car insurance policies is illegal in most provinces, the rates for female drivers have been raised to match those for males.

- engine capacity, type of vehicle generally, doesn't affect premium here in the same way as in the UK. The OP will not face a bigger problem insuring a 3 litre car than a 1 litre one. There's no need to limit the choice of car by performance or engine capacity, the cost of insurance is ruinous but not markedly more ruinous for having a more powerful car.

Re: Buying a car..
 

Yes, I remember that now (in, as you know, Ontario). The loophole (?) is that if the kid is a student living during the school year elsewhere, s/he can be an occasional driver on all the family vehicles.

Not likely applicable to a 17 yr old though.

Re: Buying a car..
 

we have a 96 Plymouth Acclaim, worth about $2k, for my son to insure it third party inhis own name would cost around $4,500 - $6,000 I was told a few weeks ago when he got his G licence, he is 19.....

anywho to answer the question, there is a little booklet that can be obtained from insurance brokers (and probably on line) which lists all the types of cars available in Canada with little symbols next to them.....the symbols mean which cars are hgher or loweri to insure, the premium is set by how well that car comes out in a crash....so like plymouth Breezes and chevy cavaliers are the highest to insure.....as when in an accident they dont `survive well.....where as something like a plymouth acclaim is more sturdy even tho it looks like it was designed in the 60`s and built in the 90`s they are a cheaper car to insure....

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Depending on the company, but generally yes, in Ontario. In other provinces a lot depends on the local legislation, in BC there's a government monopoly on car insurance, in Alberta the terms and conditions of policies are subject to legislation even down to the detail of how young drivers should be handled. In the other provinces there's a free market but in some there are very few companies and so an oligopoly. None of the provinces are good places for drivers as insurance is expensive in all of them.

Re: Buying a car..
 

While I don't dispute the truth of this I think it fair to point out that the variance in premium for the worst of the mainstream cars vs. the best is about 10%. That's nothing like the UK where switching from the Fiat Whateveitwas to something chavtastic with twin cams and reclining turbo chargers can easily double the premium.