If I was 17, just passed my test and eligable for the scheme, I’d do as @Elliots son and buy/lease untill I was 25 before joining however, thats not to say there’s no nifty looking cars such, as a 0.9l Clio, you can choose for 8 years😂
Definitely hear what you are saying, but while insurance will drop as no claims builds, in the first couple of years we are looking at £150 month for insurance alone, however I do see that even doing HP is an option albeit with the pain of ensuring for example a 17/18 year old is on top of maintenance, tyres, tax, MOT etc etc
One invaluable tip for any under 25s insuring their own cars is to ensure that a parent (preferably with maximum no claims history) is included on the policy as a named driver. I did this when both my daughters started driving and running their own cars and, even when still teenagers and driving a 1.6 litre Ford Focus, the premium was never extortionate. I appreciate that we live in a low risk area and the cars were parked on a private driveway at night, but premiums never got anywhere near £1k and, of course, after a year or two, their no claims history got it down to a few hundred pounds each. They are both over 25 now but thanks to their full No Claims history their premiums are both less than £300 a year (fully comp inc commuting with protected NCB). Neither are eligible for Motability though and if they were they’d be in the scheme as neither are in to cars and it would save me a fortune as I buy and pay for the upkeep of their cars 😂