Getting into motoring is a little daunting, especially if you are starting off and need cheap insurance. We pick out 5 cars around €5,000 in Carzone that should be insurance-friendly. 

If you are shopping for your first car, then a Clio has to be on your list. This is such a charming, easy-to-use car offering honest-to-goodness value. We found this one in Moneygall via Carzone and it has covered 185,000km and while that sounds like a lot, these cars when minded will run for much longer. Electrical faults can crop up, so make sure all are working well and in these cars, you do need to look for that regular service history. Things like the Cambelt require attention, if this fails it can be a mess for your engine. 

If you need something with a bit more space and that will handle a lot of miles then this Ford Focus Estate in Clare, which has already covered over 300,000km but would no doubt have more life left in it, as these Focus Diesel’s are well used to being given big mileage. Crucially, for a car with this mileage, it has a stamped service history from a Ford dealer and the interior looks really clean for a car of this age. 

No first car list would be complete without a Škoda Fabia, which is such a great little car. This generation was maybe not the prettiest but it has all the characteristics you need from a car like this – it is reliable, easy to operate, simple to park and parts are good value. There have been some reports of excessive oil consumption, fuel pump issues and the odd electrical glitch but make sure the service history checks out and you would be on a cheap to run, tax and insure little runabout.

It might make sense that Ireland’s cheapest new car would make an appearance and this 2014 one makes it the newest car on the list. This 1.5-litre diesel is being offered as a private sale and has covered 115,000km and is a 1 owner car. This car isn’t exciting but it will be totally easy motoring. You would need to check the DPF (Diesel Particle Filter) on this car, as it might be clogged if it hasn’t done too many long journeys. The interior plastics are a little cheap, but are at least, hardwearing. There can be silly faults, so get it checked properly but this is a 2014 car for €5,000. 

The Fiesta is probably one of the best cars to drive at any price, never mind one this good value. The Fiesta makes a great starter car. Sure, the 262,000km might be off-putting but there is a fresh NCT on this car, and it has some tax on it. It will be cheap to run, with low road tax, and this one even has a decent bit of specification on it. 

For an AA Car Insurance Quote that might be lower than you think – log on to: AA Car Insurance