The Joy of Running an Old Shed (Vol 2)

[Mr Tidy]

Gordon Hill said:

QBee said:

I now run sheds because my experience of running 5-6 year old cars was that I had paid all the money to buy the thing and it still required as much spending on it to keep it running as a shed did.

My experience too, I've noticed no discernable difference in the amount of work needing doing on a newer, more expensive car as opposed to a shed, providing of course that you buy well in the first place.

That has been my experience too.

I bought a pre-registered BMW 123d in 2007 with a 5 year Service Pack and by the time that expired it had a new AGM battery that needed coding, then a year or so later it needed a starter motor (probably both due to the emissions "cheating" stop/start nonsense) and I sold it in 2014.

I still haven't had a BMW newer than that because they don't throw up any bigger bills, and have pretty much stopped depreciating.

[r3g]

QBee said:

I now run sheds because my experience of running 5-6 year old cars was that I had paid all the money to buy the thing and it still required as much spending on it to keep it running as a shed did.

Yes. As all cars these days seem to have bits that are only designed to last until the day the manufacturer warranty runs out then you're often throwing money at them from only 3 years old. I remember well on the Vauxhall diesels from the mid to late noughties once they get to 40k miles (typically when the warranty runs out), the water pump, alternator and DMF would go pop on them and then you'd not have long until a recon gearbox was needed for those fitted with the M32 6 speed box which had bearings made of chocolate.

At least by the time they get to shed prices most of the common issues have been discovered and can be budgeted for, or just avoid the model altogether.

I always seek out those car ads where there's a pic of the 2 keys sat on top of the V5C and then every receipt for servicing and parts are spread out in the shape of a fan underneath . You don't even need to look at the car to know it's been well looked and maintained and there will be a Feu Orange hanging from the mirror .

[andrebar]

Gordon Hill said:

My sheds get an "allowance", these days it's £500 a year, a tenner a week. I've never needed to use it all.......yet.

Any more expense and it gets weighed in. Because I do all my own spanner work it would have to be a pretty expensive part to warrant scrapping it, I use second hand or reconditioned where possible.

My sheds tend to last at least 3 years even longer now as I do less miles. In the last 12 years I've had 3 cars, total purchase price of about 2 grand.

That’s exactly my shed running budget too. When a year costs less than £500 I’ll let the balance accumulate towards either a bigger bill or replacement car. In about eight years of shedding I’ve yet to go over budget & my current shed was essentially paid for by its predecessor.

[Gordon Hill]

andrebar said:

Gordon Hill said:

My sheds get an "allowance", these days it's £500 a year, a tenner a week. I've never needed to use it all.......yet.

Any more expense and it gets weighed in. Because I do all my own spanner work it would have to be a pretty expensive part to warrant scrapping it, I use second hand or reconditioned where possible.

My sheds tend to last at least 3 years even longer now as I do less miles. In the last 12 years I've had 3 cars, total purchase price of about 2 grand.

That’s exactly my shed running budget too. When a year costs less than £500 I’ll let the balance accumulate towards either a bigger bill or replacement car. In about eight years of shedding I’ve yet to go over budget & my current shed was essentially paid for by its predecessor.

Yep, and by doing it that way you can see the amount of cash you're saving by running a shed with the added bonus of not giving a sh#t.

[r3g]

Unless it's a EU6 diesel then the tax will take up a good chunk of your £500 annual budget, not leaving much for servicing, MOT and the inevitable repairs.

[PAUL.S.]

Shedding maths does not work like that, you have to tax, insure, and fuel whatever car you run anyway, the savings are made by lack of investment, tiny depreciation and cheaper parts for older more basic cars you can work on yourself.

[Gordon Hill]

Aye that £30 a month tax is hardly going to bankrupt me, rather that than a £400 a month or more finance package on a inferior car to what I have now.

[BenS94]

Gordon Hill said:

Aye that £30 a month tax is hardly going to bankrupt me, rather that than a £400 a month or more finance package on a inferior car to what I have now.

Wish my dad thought that way. Complaining about the £25 a month tax or what ever it is of the Focus. His MG was £166 a month PCP, plus £26 service plan, PLUS £18 tax. I despair.

[Gordon Hill]

I can see why people moan when it's 60 quid a month for a shed but compared to a lot of finance deals it's small change. I personally wouldn't have a car in that tax bracket and plan to go back to small, petrol engined when the Merc expires.

[bodhi]

Mr Tidy said:

That has been my experience too.

I bought a pre-registered BMW 123d in 2007 with a 5 year Service Pack and by the time that expired it had a new AGM battery that needed coding, then a year or so later it needed a starter motor (probably both due to the emissions "cheating" stop/start nonsense) and I sold it in 2014.

I still haven't had a BMW newer than that because they don't throw up any bigger bills, and have pretty much stopped depreciating.

My non sheddy 125i is currently testing this theory - it's currently on for some TLC, which means a new driveshaft as the old one rusted and took out an ABS Sensor. I know there's a possible repair, but that's already been done a few years ago....

Fair to say it's testing the wife's patience as well, luckily we've got an old Civic to take the load off it for now, until that inevitably fails it's MOT for corrosion issues judging by how crusty it's getting underneath.

[QBee]

I have to add to my earlier comments - one policy insisted on by my wife is the old fashioned one of buying a car with under 100,000 miles on it.
I select what make and model of car I want and then take my time finding one with the right spec and the right mileage, usually 80-100,000.
This means that I get less of the exhausted parts problems than with higher mileage cars. Yes, I know they will easily do 200k plus, but by following my policy I have to replace fewer parts knackered by high mileage.

[oceanview]

bodhi said:

My non sheddy 125i is currently testing this theory - it's currently on for some TLC, which means a new driveshaft as the old one rusted and took out an ABS Sensor. I know there's a possible repair, but that's already been done a few years ago....

Fair to say it's testing the wife's patience as well, luckily we've got an old Civic to take the load off it for now, until that inevitably fails it's MOT for corrosion issues judging by how crusty it's getting underneath.

Why not just put it up on the ramps and deal with the corrosion?

Some many people ignore the advisorys' for surface corrosion when its easy just to remove the loose and then just a rust treatment and protection.

[Hoofy]

Here's an interesting story I heard recently re a shed.

I know someone who has an old Golf worth about £2k.

Someone clipped it in a car park scuffing a panel (you could probably fix it yourself with an hour or 3 and some elbow grease).

He went through insurance and they said it would cost £1k to fix so they're going to scrap it and pay him £2k or give him about £1.5k and he can take it back as Cat N (non-structural damage write off).

I don't understand how the figures work out because surely the cheapest option is to fix/paint it.

So he's looking at taking the £1.5k cash payment and just running with the damage which just adds to the other scrapes typical of a 20 year old shed!

And at some point, he'll just sell the car on Facebook for £1k so he's quids in, right?

What's the catch?

PS I'm hoping someone scrapes my TT now.

[Ryyy]

I paid £1350 for my insignia early last year. Later in the year it got rear ended. Cat n write off.

I kept the car and got around £1700 back and replaced the bumper for £30 off ebay in the right colour. Madness really but hey ho.

[r3g]

oceanview said:

Why not just put it up on the ramps and deal with the corrosion?

Some many people ignore the advisorys' for surface corrosion when its easy just to remove the loose and then just a rust treatment and protection.

I would think it's because it's a load of hassle. There's a fair bit of time involved to do it right. You have to wait for a decent period of dryness and warm weather so that the underside is fully dry otherwise you're just trapping the moisture behind the underseal. Then there's also the fact the "surface corrosion" is rarely just that - it'll likely be also starting in the sills, inner and outer arches, suspension mounts - all the usual muck traps that are not easy to clean properly without a pressure washer and the car off the ground. If you don't have a friendly garage who will let you use their ramp for a couple of hours then you're doing it on your driveway and it's no fun trying to manually underseal a car with so little space.

[Hoofy]

Ryyy said:

I paid £1350 for my insignia early last year. Later in the year it got rear ended. Cat n write off.

I kept the car and got around £1700 back and replaced the bumper for £30 off ebay in the right colour. Madness really but hey ho.

Haha, that's hilarious. Mental, too.

How does Cat N affect your insurance?

[andrebar]

Happily accepted a cheque for some £1400 after my E46 picked up a scrape from a recycling truck. That was based on the cheapest quote I got from a bodyshop minus VAT.
The car certainly wasn’t worth more than a grand but the council’s insurer didn’t even try talking me into the potentially cheaper route of writing it off.

[7 5 7]

Ryyy said:

I paid £1350 for my insignia early last year. Later in the year it got rear ended. Cat n write off.

I kept the car and got around £1700 back and replaced the bumper for £30 off ebay in the right colour. Madness really but hey ho.

Complete shed nirvana right there, bonkers but brilliant

[Davie]

Hoofy said:

Here's an interesting story I heard recently re a shed.

I know someone who has an old Golf worth about £2k.

Someone clipped it in a car park scuffing a panel (you could probably fix it yourself with an hour or 3 and some elbow grease).

He went through insurance and they said it would cost £1k to fix so they're going to scrap it and pay him £2k or give him about £1.5k and he can take it back as Cat N (non-structural damage write off).

I don't understand how the figures work out because surely the cheapest option is to fix/paint it.

So he's looking at taking the £1.5k cash payment and just running with the damage which just adds to the other scrapes typical of a 20 year old shed!

And at some point, he'll just sell the car on Facebook for £1k so he's quids in, right?

What's the catch?

PS I'm hoping someone scrapes my TT now.

Common story.

You see it all the time on forums, a cheap car gets superficial damage and the insurers write it off. And then follows lots of frothy mouths shouting enough how you could fix if in five minutes / get used parts from Lithuania / respray it on the drive... and you could.

However an insurance approved repairer wouldn't. They'd be getting new parts, charging hefty hourly rates and returning and car as hood as viable... and then you've got potential hire cad costs on top, parts delays and the fact that Mr Customer is likely to be back whining that the 3 day old paint on his 1998 Accords bumper doesn't match the two decade old paint around it.

So yes, it may be "cheaper" on paper to do the repair however the time / hassle potential means most insurers would rather pay out a bit more then send Copart to drag the car away, job done... end of story. Or pay out a little big less and leave the insured with the car and a cheque to do as the please, be it faff around with overnight parts from Big Mikes Breakers or simply drive it as is... or sell it on, albeit with a Cat classification but at shed level, who cares about that.

So yes, can be quite lucrative if your shed gets a flesh wound, you get a cheque and the car... plus if you're that way inclined, I'm sure that 7mph rear impact ended in a big whiplash claim too. Makes you wonder why there's not more crash for cash scams going on.

Oh, wait...

[Hoofy]

Davie said:

Common story.

You see it all the time on forums, a cheap car gets superficial damage and the insurers write it off. And then follows lots of frothy mouths shouting enough how you could fix if in five minutes / get used parts from Lithuania / respray it on the drive... and you could.

However an insurance approved repairer wouldn't. They'd be getting new parts, charging hefty hourly rates and returning and car as hood as viable... and then you've got potential hire cad costs on top, parts delays and the fact that Mr Customer is likely to be back whining that the 3 day old paint on his 1998 Accords bumper doesn't match the two decade old paint around it.

So yes, it may be "cheaper" on paper to do the repair however the time / hassle potential means most insurers would rather pay out a bit more then send Copart to drag the car away, job done... end of story. Or pay out a little big less and leave the insured with the car and a cheque to do as the please, be it faff around with overnight parts from Big Mikes Breakers or simply drive it as is... or sell it on, albeit with a Cat classification but at shed level, who cares about that.

So yes, can be quite lucrative if your shed gets a flesh wound, you get a cheque and the car... plus if you're that way inclined, I'm sure that 7mph rear impact ended in a big whiplash claim too. Makes you wonder why there's not more crash for cash scams going on.

Oh, wait...

Most of that sounds like it makes sense. The only thing is, it was stated that it was cheapest to repair it but they said it was uneconomical to repair so they offered him the money. AND gave him a rental car for 3 weeks. So it's costing a lot more than just the cash payment.