Do some take away deliveries on a evening for some extra cash. £30-40 per night less some fuel and of course you will pay Mr Osborne some tax and I am sure you will be able to pay off the debt, keep the car and by my reckoning you might have it paid off just as the Mrs starts to push.

Sounds to me like you had already worked it out to get rid of the car. On a £800-1000 car you will have additional cost to swap. Something will need fixing, taxing, insurance will mug you for swapping details over and the premium may even go up. The other thing is it is highly likely that you wont be able to change your car for sometime too by which time the ford will be getting on.

I sold the car 'expensive' car on borrowed money, and bought a sub £2000 car with money left. I got bored and bought something more interesting but less money again. Had nothing but trouble and spent more than the cars value in parts alone, in a couple of months. Then got something a little more expensive, but still under the £2000 mark which was really sensible and economical, and again I have had nothing but trouble. Cost £1800 and have spent nearly £1000 on it (DMF rattled its self, rear beam bushes, front bushes/arms etc) and only had it about 4 months. It still needs money spending on it.

I should of kept on paying £200 a month for the original car that never caused problems, never worried about, and something I was actually proud to own.

Every time I get in the car, I hate it. Its a lottery, and for me it has not paid off. A bloke at work sold his top spec 2.4 petrol accord and spent the money on holidays. He got himself a N reg corsa to go work and back cost about £300. That was 4 years ago and he comes to work in it, 6 days a week and it never misses a beat. He has never serviced it, ever, and thought the heater had packed up all through last winter which turned out the Rad was bone dry of water!! Did it break? No. It went through its MOT needing disks and pads where he has took the pads down to the metal.

It well and truley pisses me off. My advice would be to keep paying the debts off and stick with what you have got.

I've stripped out all the emotion.

You OWE £1700, and your baby is due VERY soon.

If you Sell the Focus and Buy a 306 you'll have £500 to £600 which is enough to buy a cot, a pram, and some baby clothes.

DO IT !!! Why are you even asking ?

Oh and pay off the Cards, but save them for the actual emergency when you actually need them.

Start saving. Everyone should have a minimum of 3 months spare cash in the bank for when the st hits the fan.

When you've saved £6 K, you can start saving for your first house.

How long will it take you to save £6K ? Do a BUDGET, and work out how much you can save each month.

Note also that babies need mothers, so budget on having no income to speak of from that direction for years.

That is some achievement! How have you managed to get in that state??

OP, you can get a lot of car for £1000 these days. But you can also get a total money pit, and as careful as you can be there is still a gamble involved. In some ways, better the car you know. But I can fully understand your reasoning (and I'd probably do the same in your position, but I've never owned a car worth selling!) Parts cost the pretty much the same regardless of the age of the car, and an older car is likely to need more parts. Also, you want something reliable as kids take up every spare minute of your day, finding time to constantly repair a cheap shed yourself won't be easy. And a non running car is a total pain when you've got a young family to transport.

Use your head, not your heart. I'm not sure a 306 is a practical choice given your imminent arrival (saying that we coped reasonably comfortably in a celica with our first child, but that was because it was what we already owned, and it has a much bigger boot than a 306).

You Sir are a quality PH.

I've downgraded when necessary.
It has always made me smile when I have 'down graded' to a cheeper, newer, better car and in one or two cases lower mileage.
Good luck.

I will PM you after posting this Landlord, very helpful

Right, after much thought and consideration and a chat with my dad I've put the car up for sale in the classifieds. Now just sit back and hope for some emails / phonecalls I guess!

Thanks for all your input / opinions people, I will try to keep this thread updated with how things work out...

I have a 306 estate I'm not currently using if you're interested. Check my garage for more info.

£1700 is not a lot of debt, my holiday cost me that much and I'm far from rich. Tbh there ain't going to be a lot of downgrading from a diesel focus to anything

Sell it and get a decent shed, after the gf gets a job maybe save up for something you really like. I found compromises don't actually work

OP, how much are you managing to save up a month, if any? or how much are you losing?

How are you £100 a month insurance for a diesel focus!?