Guides
Straight answers on insurance, MOT reliability and buying your first car safely — every number here traces to a published source, and we say so.
Looking for lists rather than explanations? Our rankings are computed straight from our dataset.
30 Jul 2026 · 4 min read
Automatic vs manual as a first car, priced
Our automatics guide found automatics sitting in a lower insurance group than the manual, but stopped short of a price. Two real pairs in our data let us finish the sum.
30 Jul 2026 · 4 min read
The MOT failures that should end a viewing
Which DVSA MOT fault classes actually predict a worse overall record across our first-car set, and which just show up everywhere regardless — derived, not a generic checklist.
30 Jul 2026 · 4 min read
Your first electric car: what it really costs to charge
The real modelled gap between charging an EV at home and charging it exclusively in public, per car, at our own average-mileage assumption — priced, not just cited.
30 Jul 2026 · 5 min read
Where you live changes your premium more than what you drive
Two real levers on a first-car insurance premium — district and car choice — priced from our own data on the same axis, so you can see which one is actually moving your number.
30 Jul 2026 · 4 min read
What insurance group actually means for your first car
What UK insurance groups (1 to 50) mean for a first car, and the real derived pound gap between the lowest and highest group in our own dataset at 17 — priced, not just explained.
20 Jul 2026 · 5 min read
Black box insurance explained
What telematics car insurance actually tracks, the curfew and scoring myths versus reality, and why it's usually the cheapest route at 17–21.
20 Jul 2026 · 5 min read
How to not get scammed buying on Facebook Marketplace
The classic used-car scams on Facebook Marketplace, the free gov.uk checks that catch most of them, and a viewing checklist before you hand over any money.
20 Jul 2026 · 4 min read
Cheapest cars to insure at 18 (UK, 2026)
The 10 cheapest first cars to insure at 18, ranked by estimated premium, with insurance group and typical asking price for each.
20 Jul 2026 · 4 min read
The most (and least) MOT-reliable first cars
Which first cars pass their MOT most often? We ranked the 70 cars then in our set by 2023 DVSA failure rate — the best under 10%, the worst over a third.
20 Jul 2026 · 4 min read
Automatics can be cheaper to insure than you'd think
Do automatic cars cost more to insure? In our first-car data some automatics sit in a lower insurance group than the manual. Here's why.