Letting go of a really good car - even though it's a shed.
Discussion
With a heavy heart I'm now in the position of having to let arguably the best car I've had (reliability wise) go to either the scrappy or to the Bay. My T reg, 107k escort with awfully bad bodywork rust issues is now confined to second place as I've been passed on a 2004 Mazda with associated battle damage because the wife had it for 5 years. She's now got a new car so I'm under orders to dispose of the "shedscort".
I paid £500 for the 1.6 finesse in 2010, in 40,000 miles apart from services & associated items and belts, it's needed a wheel bearing and a CV boot. Never once failed to start, has got me through rain, snow, ice and fog every day to work and back, and even an ad hoc Ipswich to Manchester trip when the Omega threw a tantrum and filled the header tank with oil. Picked up the MIL and SIL, 70 kg's of luggage and cruised at 70 (ahem) all the way home.
The air con cooled my brow in the summer months, the squeaky suspension kept me company throgh the twisty B roads , and the peculiar odour from the previous keeper kept me wondering what on earth it had been used to transport in the past, serving me equally well as a workhorse to and from the local tip.
It even recently passed an MOT, albeit needing a spot of welding here and there, so it has 10 months on it.
Sadly though,I know that this is a case when I'll be looking back in a few months time wishing I'd never got rid, but I don't have the space, the money or indeed a valid reason to keep it on, but it just kind of breaks my heart that I'm consigning a damn reliable car that's been good to me to the scrapheap. To me it's like chucking out a perfectly good pair of jeans or a jacket because it's old, out of fashion and has a couple of holes, and in all truth I'm not all that keen on the replacement.
I added up the costs from last year:
Servicing £100
Insurance £179
Tax £225
MOT £130
Fuel £1100
1 years motoring for £1734. Not bad shedding eh?.
I paid £500 for the 1.6 finesse in 2010, in 40,000 miles apart from services & associated items and belts, it's needed a wheel bearing and a CV boot. Never once failed to start, has got me through rain, snow, ice and fog every day to work and back, and even an ad hoc Ipswich to Manchester trip when the Omega threw a tantrum and filled the header tank with oil. Picked up the MIL and SIL, 70 kg's of luggage and cruised at 70 (ahem) all the way home.
The air con cooled my brow in the summer months, the squeaky suspension kept me company throgh the twisty B roads , and the peculiar odour from the previous keeper kept me wondering what on earth it had been used to transport in the past, serving me equally well as a workhorse to and from the local tip.
It even recently passed an MOT, albeit needing a spot of welding here and there, so it has 10 months on it.
Sadly though,I know that this is a case when I'll be looking back in a few months time wishing I'd never got rid, but I don't have the space, the money or indeed a valid reason to keep it on, but it just kind of breaks my heart that I'm consigning a damn reliable car that's been good to me to the scrapheap. To me it's like chucking out a perfectly good pair of jeans or a jacket because it's old, out of fashion and has a couple of holes, and in all truth I'm not all that keen on the replacement.
I added up the costs from last year:
Servicing £100
Insurance £179
Tax £225
MOT £130
Fuel £1100
1 years motoring for £1734. Not bad shedding eh?.
Yep, know where you are coming from. W reg Pug 406. Bought in 2003 just before getting married.
Almost immediately drove it to the Dolomites for a fortnights climbing
Immediately after honeymoon, it became a commuter, racking up between 350 and 500miles a week. It did break it's LP fuel pump about then - 2006 or so. Mapped it around then too. 130 bhp
After years of this, it got demoted to a trailer dragger for a house renovation. Did this without complaint, even when towing nearly 2 tonnes of cement over the Crimea Pass just South of Betws-y-Coed in Snowdonia. (Steep).
When I started my own business it became a courtesy car - everyone remarked on how well it goes for 250k.
Major service at 250, including having the gearbox off to change the clutch. Took one look at it, and left it on - honestly, it was 3/4 good, even after 250k.
But it's finally met it's match. A lovely customer stuck it in a ditch the other day, and creased the 2 doors, and smashed the cill. Realistically it's a few hundred pounds to fix, and not worth it for the car.
So with heavy heart, it's onto Ebay, where I'll be lucky to get £100 for it.
.... and yet for the price of a train fare, someone will get at least 7 months (that's the MOT) of reliable cheap motoring. Ho Hum.
Almost immediately drove it to the Dolomites for a fortnights climbing
Immediately after honeymoon, it became a commuter, racking up between 350 and 500miles a week. It did break it's LP fuel pump about then - 2006 or so. Mapped it around then too. 130 bhp
After years of this, it got demoted to a trailer dragger for a house renovation. Did this without complaint, even when towing nearly 2 tonnes of cement over the Crimea Pass just South of Betws-y-Coed in Snowdonia. (Steep).
When I started my own business it became a courtesy car - everyone remarked on how well it goes for 250k.
Major service at 250, including having the gearbox off to change the clutch. Took one look at it, and left it on - honestly, it was 3/4 good, even after 250k.
But it's finally met it's match. A lovely customer stuck it in a ditch the other day, and creased the 2 doors, and smashed the cill. Realistically it's a few hundred pounds to fix, and not worth it for the car.
So with heavy heart, it's onto Ebay, where I'll be lucky to get £100 for it.
.... and yet for the price of a train fare, someone will get at least 7 months (that's the MOT) of reliable cheap motoring. Ho Hum.Had the same with our 2002 Citroen C5. Absolutely nothing wrong with it and not a hint of rust. Went over the heavily pockmarked roads near me like a dream.
Got rid because we bought a new car and couldn't justify having it around. Traded it in.
Giving up a perfectly good car didn't feel right and we did wonder whether we should have kept it.
Got rid because we bought a new car and couldn't justify having it around. Traded it in.
Giving up a perfectly good car didn't feel right and we did wonder whether we should have kept it.
I've even considered giving it away to someone who I know will appreciate it and look after it for the remainder of its life. £75 from the scrappy or £150 if I'm lucky on Ebay is handy, I'm not emotional over it, but just don't like seeing perfectly good pieces of useable kit going to waste for no good reason when someone else can benefit.As long as someone isn't too bothered about driving around in a rusty 15 year old car, that is.
Actually, it's an ideal shed for the winter if someone wants to keep their P&J safe from the elements. That's probably the angle I'll write the Ebay ad in.
Oddly I have given this more consideration than I did when I scrapped that peice of crap Omega which was only 11 years old.
Actually, it's an ideal shed for the winter if someone wants to keep their P&J safe from the elements. That's probably the angle I'll write the Ebay ad in.
Oddly I have given this more consideration than I did when I scrapped that peice of crap Omega which was only 11 years old.
Most reliable shed I had was my Berlingo van. Bought for £1500 with 108,000 on it already I kept it for seven years, when it had then passed 250,000. It had the front wheel bearings done, a clutch and an alternator, other than service bits. I had to get rid though, the last time I tried jacking it up with the jacking point the jack went up but the van didn't, the rear arm bearings had gone meaning the rear wheels were a little more cambered than they should be, but the main instigator for getting a new van was when the brake proportioning valve let go and spunked out all the brake fluid. Good job the hand brake worked.
When I was younger, I was given a 1.8LS Cavalier by a work colleague. It was only 10 years old at the time, but their trusty dealer had advised them the HG had gone, and would cost more than it was worth to fix. (This was when cars cost a couple of hundred to scrap).
£60 was enough to replace the ever so slightly cracked radiator.
I ran it for a couple of years, and it was a really solid car.
I think I gave it away to the MOT man when it failed on a couple of hundred pounds worth of suspension arms that needed changing... but by then I had my MR2 turbo to be fettling with, and only had 1 parking space.
It was top shedding, and in my more tender years I definitely gave up on it too easily.
Ian
£60 was enough to replace the ever so slightly cracked radiator.
I ran it for a couple of years, and it was a really solid car.
I think I gave it away to the MOT man when it failed on a couple of hundred pounds worth of suspension arms that needed changing... but by then I had my MR2 turbo to be fettling with, and only had 1 parking space.
It was top shedding, and in my more tender years I definitely gave up on it too easily.
Ian
In reply, yep I could flog the Mazda and keep the Shed, but the sensible option is to ditch the Shed with 107K 10 months ticket for some dollar and keep the 2004 Mazda with 47k less on the clock , 12 months ticket and a reasonable reliability record, a better interior , less rust, slightly better economy and with more life left in it. I'm not particularly keen on the Mazda anymore than I'm overstruck with the new CX5 she's purchased.
My main point is that I think it's a pity to scrap a perfectly good car (which I'll probably end up doing) because it is simply that, old nd tired but still with 10 months motoring in it. Old but not obsolete as Arnie said.
My main point is that I think it's a pity to scrap a perfectly good car (which I'll probably end up doing) because it is simply that, old nd tired but still with 10 months motoring in it. Old but not obsolete as Arnie said.
We're having trouble with what to do with our upcoming purchase of a new car for we don't know what to do with the wife's old car. It's a BMW 528i e39 and albeit in a sore state from years of local runs. It does go through mot's though surprisingly but I have a feeling it needs a lot of work.
Been there done that. Back in the day I bought a BMW E30 316 for £270 from the auction it was pink and rust rather than the original red. I put 45,000 miles on it gave it one oil change in 3 years before the rust killed it. I'd still be driving it today if it wasn't for the rust. Gave it to the scrap man for £150 should have stuck it in a barn it would be worth 3x that now as a rusty heap!
I can sympathise, I sent a fairly good Subaru to the scrappy last year. Started, stopped, odd light randomly appeared and then disappeared on the dash and there was a slight knock in the bottom end of the engine.
But, for some reason, I loved it and now wished I'd kept it and nursed it back to rude health. At the time I had no time or space.
I genuinely feel guilty sending it to a premature death ☹ .
But, for some reason, I loved it and now wished I'd kept it and nursed it back to rude health. At the time I had no time or space.
I genuinely feel guilty sending it to a premature death ☹ .
I know how you feel.
I had an old Renault Clio 1.9D van. Ex United utilities vehicle. It had done 40k when I bought it. It had no power steering, white vinyl stuck over the rear window, no air con, nothing, not even a turbo. Originally bought to go fishing in but ended up being a daily driver and taking me all over the country fishing and playing golf.
Did 170k miles then some drunk driver ran into the back of it in a petrol station in Scotland and wrote it off.
I had an old Renault Clio 1.9D van. Ex United utilities vehicle. It had done 40k when I bought it. It had no power steering, white vinyl stuck over the rear window, no air con, nothing, not even a turbo. Originally bought to go fishing in but ended up being a daily driver and taking me all over the country fishing and playing golf.
Did 170k miles then some drunk driver ran into the back of it in a petrol station in Scotland and wrote it off.
Mrs Irrelevant had a T-reg Micra that had put up with years of abuse/neglect without ever going wrong. She decided to get rid of it as she was offered (what seemed to be) a very good deal on a four year old Merc A-class. I was a bit reticent about this as it was still a few grand we could do with having for other stuff, and the Micra had proved it could do all we needed a car to do at that point very, very cheaply indeed. Still, it was her car and her money so off the Micra went for about £500. I was more upset about this than I would have dared admit at the time.
Apart from a trouble-free run to the south of France and back shortly after she bought it (which I now realise was some kind of miracle), that Merc was utterly, hopelessly, unbelievably, almost comically unreliable. After a few years even bits that we're already replaced were going wrong again, and we ended up scrapping the wretched thing. Fast forward six years and a check on the gov website reveals that the Micra is still going strong, just passed its MOT in fact. To me this is both heartening and bloody annoying.
Apart from a trouble-free run to the south of France and back shortly after she bought it (which I now realise was some kind of miracle), that Merc was utterly, hopelessly, unbelievably, almost comically unreliable. After a few years even bits that we're already replaced were going wrong again, and we ended up scrapping the wretched thing. Fast forward six years and a check on the gov website reveals that the Micra is still going strong, just passed its MOT in fact. To me this is both heartening and bloody annoying.
Roger Irrelevant said:
Mrs Irrelevant had a T-reg Micra that had put up with years of abuse/neglect without ever going wrong. She decided to get rid of it as she was offered (what seemed to be) a very good deal on a four year old Merc A-class. I was a bit reticent about this as it was still a few grand we could do with having for other stuff, and the Micra had proved it could do all we needed a car to do at that point very, very cheaply indeed. Still, it was her car and her money so off the Micra went for about £500. I was more upset about this than I would have dared admit at the time.
A 52 reg Micra from our extended family is going for scrap. It's still MOT'd until December. I wouldn't dare sell it to anyone I know but it doesn't feel right to scrap it. One of the offers was £3.75!Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff