My first car was my dad's old '90 Legend LS Coupe (this was in 1998). I got in three fender benders and some little punk freshmen kids threw a pumpkin through the rear window on Halloween one year. I kicked their asses but yeah, making a comprehensive claim on insurance for a $900 piece of glass that has to be shipped direct from Japan is a pain. It kind of sucked to be driving around a "quality luxury automobile" that kept needing to be fixed.

Your first car doesn't need to be a beater per se, but don't get something that's gonna be too upset about if and when you mess it up. There are plenty of cheap and fun cars out there that are relatively easy to insure.