Gary
The best advice I can suggest is to have insurance in your own name otherwise you will never earn any no-claims discount. There are a few insurers now who advertise saying named drivers earn their own NCD but this is rubbish as it only applies if the named driver takes out a policy with that insurer, for example your old man insures the car in his name with Direct Line with you as a named driver, a year later you decide to forge out on your own. The only insurer who would give you the NCD would be Direct Line.
Also, if you are a student and if you are living away from home then it will all end in tears if the car is in the old man's name with you as the "occasional named driver" yet you have an accident 100 miles from home and the insurers find out you are a uni student, they will quickly rumble you and void the policy when you need it most (claim time), false economy.
So, get the quotes for you as the owner/registered keeper and the main driver. It DOES bring your premiums down if you add a mature relative (parent/grandparent) as a named driver. Don't tell any porkies when getting quotes, student is a high risk occupation (yeah right), but probably not worth lying and saying you are something else as it will again bite you if you have a claim and the insurers do any sniffing.
Limit the mileage, but be sensible as if you go over the mileage they will charge you a set rate per mile for any exces mileage.
Best bet to search is the back of car mags for insurers, a lot of the direct insurers may not be too good on quotes, try your local friendly broker who may be able to assist. Are there any insurance schemes/ deals available through NUS?
Fully comp may not be worth while as the extra you will pay over TPFT would probably pay for another E30, plus you'll get shagged with a big excess of about £500+, so odds are, if you ever claimed for the car under a fully comp claim you probably would end up with some lose change in your pocket after excess deducted and if you still owe them instalments they make sure they get that clawed in/ offset against the claim - result = no payout.
Quinn Direct are often a competitively priced insurer.
I highly recommend Herts Insurance Consultants HIC
www.hertsinsurance.co.uk
You are much better speaking to them rather than website quotes as too many assumptions get used for web based quotes and there is no discretion, whereas speaking to a broker like HIC, they will ask you more about your circumstances and if you sound like a sensible chap and a decent risk they can ring the underwriters and get further reductions.
, and i'm 20 btw.
