Yeah. The 3rd party on the Barina was 550 anyway. Apparently!?
But think about it, you spent 1500 on the car + 300 on insurance, then you gave it away. So that's like 1800 you lost buying a cheap car.
I gave it to a friend, for various reasons, but I could have easily have sold it for what I paid for it. That's no loss. When your buying a dirt cheap car (and even though I'm crapping on about this, this may not be the best option for
you) your buying something that's already done all it's depreciating.
The two biggest costs in buying a newer car are depreciation and interest on the loan. If your parents are happy to put it on their home loan, then that's awesome. But I ,like you, have looked at vehicles in the past and thought that they hadn't depreciated much in the year I had been looking at them, but then when it came time to sell I was never able to get my money back. Perhaps you will have better luck than I have had?
I drew up a car cost calculator in excel that covered a five year period and included things like insurance, depreciation, running/servicing costs, fuel consumption and interests paid on loans that was a huge help to me when I was looking at different cars. Maybe it's something you could look into. You would not believe how much more my second-hand XR6 turbo ute was costing compared to a brand new small car or even a little shit box.
I don't normally post in this thread, but I'm personally familiar the logic your using. And, I may be looking for a second car in the price range your looking in the near future.