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Re: Car Thread II
Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 11:26 am
by BOR
Preezy wrote:My trusty 53-plate SEAT Arosa is circling the drain. Had to spend £300 just to get it through its MOT a couple of months ago, which was about 10 times what the car was worth.
Garage said it would fail A LOT of things on its next MOT and I'm not prepared (or able) to pay what it'll cost to get it through. The car just isn't worth anything anymore. It's only done about 54,000 miles but it's not in good condition, lots of dents and scrapes and the hinges on both doors are gone so when you open the door it just swings right open to the limit. Same with closing the doors, they just go all the way which often catches passengers out
Really not sure what to do about replacing it. I don't have a wad of cash to purchase something else and don't even think I'd want to actually own another car and take on all the running costs. Far more tempted with leasing to keep costs down and have a brand new car that'll just work and have lower tax. I literally just need a runaround that'll do the 5 miles round trip to work each day, that's pretty much all I use it for.
WHAT TO DO
My two cents.
I would say to get rid of your current car before you spend a lot money for repair and it might cost more than you will get it from a part exchange. Not worth it at all. You then would have to replace with a reliable second-hand car or leasing the car which will keep the costs down.
Re: Car Thread II
Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 11:59 am
by bigcheez2k3
Leasing a car to do 5 miles a day would be a terrible idea. Regular small journeys like that are terrible for a car, no chance for it to get properly warmed up.
Re: Car Thread II
Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 12:56 pm
by rinks
Yeah, leasing does not keep the costs down. It just makes the initial payment lower. Total false economy. If you get a brand new car, you'll be paying for the depreciation one way or another.
My advice for such low mileage: get a loan, and buy a three-year-old car.
Re: Car Thread II
Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 3:37 pm
by Preezy
rinks wrote:Yeah, leasing does not keep the costs down. It just makes the initial payment lower. Total false economy. If you get a brand new car, you'll be paying for the depreciation one way or another.
My advice for such low mileage: get a loan, and buy a three-year-old car.
Yeah honestly I'm starting to look at that option as the more realistic one for me. I know that if I went down the lease route I'd only be able to afford the monthly repayments on a basic entry-level hatchback, which sticks in my throat a bit as I'm a proper grown up and (silly as it sounds) don't like the idea of having a car I could have got when I passed my test back in 2003
I know that's a ridiculous thing to say, but that's honestly the way I feel.
It's pretty disheartening to look through the pages of car websites for new vehciles and see what my meagre budget can stretch to
But if I dip my toe into the world of the second-hand, suddenly I'm looking at cars I wouldn't have considered or been able to afford were I looking at them brand new
Just need to get some capital from the bank (or the bank of dad) and suck down the monthly payments.
Re: Car Thread II
Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 4:31 pm
by abcd
For such low mileage, get a bicycle.
Re: Car Thread II
Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 4:33 pm
by Rightey
For 5 miles a day why not just bike?
Re: Car Thread II
Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 4:36 pm
by Preezy
abcd wrote:For such low mileage, get a bicycle.
Rightey wrote:For 5 miles a day why not just bike?
MYRIAD REASONS:
Higher risk of death
Arrive at work all sweaty (no showers available)
Would have to leave earlier in the morning
Would arrive home later
Rains more than it doesn't, don't want to arrive at work/home soaked
Extremely lazy
Also don't use the car
exclusively for work, I do also run errands in it on an ad-hoc basis (nipping to the shops, stopping off to buy copious amounts of alcohol after work, that kinda thing).
I do actually own a nice bike and have seriously considered cycling before, but the above reasons always stop me. Biggest one is working up a sweat and then sitting at my desk stinking out the office with my rancid musk.
Re: Car Thread II
Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2017 10:28 am
by No:1 Final Fantasy Fan
LewisD wrote:The offside pads will last another 2000-2500 miles judging from the amount of meat on them.. Can't see the nearside.
Offside Discs have quite the lip on them, probably get them changed soonish but you could get away with them for a teensy bit longer I'd say. Again hard to say on the nearside, but these things tend to wear evenly.
Thanks for that its much appreciated. I'll get it booked in for replacement of discs and brakes now then. Do you think the disc will also as long as the pads? 2000miles?
Re: Car Thread II
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 12:40 pm
by Preezy
rinks wrote:Yeah, leasing does not keep the costs down. It just makes the initial payment lower. Total false economy. If you get a brand new car, you'll be paying for the depreciation one way or another.
My advice for such low mileage: get a loan, and buy a three-year-old car.
Mini Cooper, 59 plate that's done 66k miles and looks to be in great condition - £5k.
I'm seriously considering taking out a loan/borrowing from my dad to get it, but the fear of purchasing privately is nagging in the back of my mind. I see Minis
everywhere so I'm guessing they're pretty reliable? I love the look of them, my mum used to have one and it was fun to drive and held its value (that I can remember), but I have this vision of my plonking my £5k down, committing to monthly loan payments and then 2 weeks later the engine dies and I'm left with an expensive paperweight that I can't afford to repair.
Gah, such weakness!
Re: Car Thread II
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 1:51 pm
by Poser
Preezy wrote:rinks wrote:Yeah, leasing does not keep the costs down. It just makes the initial payment lower. Total false economy. If you get a brand new car, you'll be paying for the depreciation one way or another.
My advice for such low mileage: get a loan, and buy a three-year-old car.
Mini Cooper, 59 plate that's done 66k miles and looks to be in great condition - £5k.
I'm seriously considering taking out a loan/borrowing from my dad to get it, but the fear of purchasing privately is nagging in the back of my mind. I see Minis
everywhere so I'm guessing they're pretty reliable? I love the look of them, my mum used to have one and it was fun to drive and held its value (that I can remember), but I have this vision of my plonking my £5k down, committing to monthly loan payments and then 2 weeks later the engine dies and I'm left with an expensive paperweight that I can't afford to repair.
Gah, such weakness!
Well, they're ubiquitous so parts and repair should be reasonable.
The best thing you can do is prepare yourself against known faults with lots of research. Check out the forums - the best ones will have a 'buyer's guide' etc so you know what to look for.
But generally speaking, afaik, Minis are great little cars with superb handling and decent engines.
Re: Car Thread II
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 2:43 pm
by Preezy
Thanks Poser, sound advice. Interestigly the very same Mini I've been looking at has just dropped its asking price to £4k.
Re: Car Thread II
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 2:50 pm
by abcd
Sounds dodgy to me.
Re: Car Thread II
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 2:56 pm
by Preezy
abcd wrote:Sounds dodgy to me.
That's what my wife said, ever the cynic trying to crush my dreams
. It's still priced competitively amongst all the other Minis on offer in my local area, buyer's market I guess ¯\(°_o)/¯
Re: Car Thread II
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 3:03 pm
by abcd
There's probably a dead cat in the boot.
Re: Car Thread II
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 3:12 pm
by Preezy
gooseberry fool! I'm really allergic to cats.
Guess I'll just buy some rollerskates instead.
Re: Car Thread II
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 4:22 pm
by abcd
How about an electric moped?
Re: Car Thread II
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 6:43 pm
by rinks
Preezy wrote:rinks wrote:Yeah, leasing does not keep the costs down. It just makes the initial payment lower. Total false economy. If you get a brand new car, you'll be paying for the depreciation one way or another.
My advice for such low mileage: get a loan, and buy a three-year-old car.
Mini Cooper, 59 plate that's done 66k miles and looks to be in great condition - £5k.
I'm seriously considering taking out a loan/borrowing from my dad to get it, but the fear of purchasing privately is nagging in the back of my mind. I see Minis
everywhere so I'm guessing they're pretty reliable? I love the look of them, my mum used to have one and it was fun to drive and held its value (that I can remember), but I have this vision of my plonking my £5k down, committing to monthly loan payments and then 2 weeks later the engine dies and I'm left with an expensive paperweight that I can't afford to repair.
Gah, such weakness!
I guess you could buy an aftermarket warranty, if you're really worried. I don't know much about them, though, so you'll need to take advice from someone else.
Re: Car Thread II
Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 8:58 am
by No:1 Final Fantasy Fan
66k isn't too high I doubt that there would be any problems with it. Just check the service history. I guess it would need some work doing at 66k like a new belt and brake discs.
BMW just said that my front pads and discs don't need doing....said they will last for another 6k atleast. So they are just gonna wash and vac my car with nothing to pay today.
Re: Car Thread II
Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 6:17 pm
by Death's Head
rinks wrote:I guess you could buy an aftermarket warranty, if you're really worried. I don't know much about them, though, so you'll need to take advice from someone else.
I wouldn't recommend them. They don't cover everything, are normally (deliberately) unclear on what they cover and sometimes require an excess. At first glance they appear to cover the big items (which they do), but these are the things least likely to fail. From my experience they are in the high hundreds (probably £700+) and you would be better off putting that money to one side and keeping it for repairs. Unless the car has a catastrophic engine failure (which you are likely to identify prior to purchase by looking for leaks, checking oil level, ensuring no white in the oil etc and giving it a good test drive to ensure to feels "right"), £700 will take care of most big items that could go wrong as long as you take it to an independent dealer rather than BMW.
Re: Car Thread II
Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 6:45 pm
by smurphy
Can someone give me a rough estimate on how much it would cost me to run a car, including repayments, insurance, tax etc? I'm 26, and can't currently drive. Wouldn't be wanting a new car, or anything remotely fancy. I'll definitely be learning soon, but I don't know if it'll be worth owning a car as I wouldn't drive to work, don't have kids to ferry about etc.