Is it possible to buy a car for £100?

[flibbage0]

So I was watching the £100 top gear challenge that was done many years ago and it made me think, is it still possible to buy a working car for £100 or less?

[Urban Sports]

Yes but it'll be poo.

[Riley Blue]

Of course it is, what do you think 'For Sale: £100' means in car adverts?

[Jimmy No Hands]

Yes. I bought a Ford Ka for £40 a few years ago. Drove fine.

[VWDaz86]

Riley Blue said:

Of course it is, what do you think 'For Sale: £100' means in car adverts?

These days it usually means the ad contains one of these two gems, "£100 per month", or "price is actually £1000/£10,000"

[flibbage0]

Jimmy No Hands said:

Yes. I bought a Ford Ka for £40 a few years ago. Drove fine.

Wow now that is cheap, I was just wondering because the price of metal has gone up so much since then. Also people want to downsize a lot more these days so the cars that were once cheap to buy used, now retain their value much better.

[Urban Sports]

Jimmy No Hands said:

Yes. I bought a Ford Ka for £40 a few years ago. Drove fine.

I sold an old shagged ford KA that didn't drive well for £350 in the last 12 months.

I think I did well.

[GBDG]

The scrap value of a car is £100+ isn't it? Would have to be sans MOT & tax.

[S. Gonzales Esq.]

Riley Blue said:

Of course it is, what do you think 'For Sale: £100' means in car adverts?

It means the seller has no idea what scrap metal is worth.

[175gt]

Say I have a car and I volunteer that if you give me £100 then you can have it and you do so, then you will have bought a car for £100. So, yes.

[daemon]

GBDG said:

The scrap value of a car is £100+ isn't it? Would have to be sans MOT & tax.

Every man and his dog knows a car is worth more than that to weigh in so very little chance of getting one that cheap any more.

[tbc]

The answer to your question

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQc88t089Zc

[hairykrishna]

Looking on eBay, which is generally a good source for cheapo cars, the lowest completed listing that actually sold was a '96 Fiesta with no test/tax that went for £160. There was a jag for £100 but it sets off my eBay bullst detector.

There are loads at £200 but that seems to be the cutoff - probably because of scrap values.

[Vince70]

I bought a 4 year old lada riva for £100 a few years ago. And about 20 years ago you could have your pick of £100 bangers,
But I doubt it these days as your average car is worth about £140 scrap,
It was only about 10 years ago though when you had to pay £50 to get rid of your old banger, so there was quite a few around then.

[Gruber]

Very hard to buy a sub-£100 car these days.

7 years ago, my best mate and I bought a Polo off ebay with 11 months MOT for £82. And 5 years ago, my old man and I did the Czech Wrecks rally in a Primera we bought for £93. But since then, scrap prices have gone up and £250 seems to be the entry point these days for roadworthy st motoring.

[daemon]

Anything with a bit of mot and driveable must be worth a couple of hundred minimum

[James_N]

I bought a volvo 740 for £100, and even got a valet out of it! 3 months MOT and tax left!

Best car I ever owned. Went on for 3 years until I lost the arse end and ended up backwards in the hedge a few winters ago Still gutted about that now!

[garethj]

Very unlikely today, or even in the past 6 months.

However for £500 you can get a car from almost any class - hatchback, family saloon, 4x4, luxury...

[mike88]

About 3 or 4 months ago I bagged an R reg polo diesel for £101 off eBay, The bloke let me keep my £1 so I was well happy.

Was much, much happier when I realised it still had half a tank of diesel!

He had advertised it as "engine blown" and "no battery fitted". I towed it home, connected a battery and drove it around for 3 weeks! It was perfect, tax/test etc and 4 literally new tyres.

Sold 3 weeks later for £280.

Win.

• ETA

And I bought a VERY tidy Rover 25, 2003 plate for £90 from a young girl who really wanted to go shopping the next day but had no money. It needed a waterpump and MOT but that cost me > £50. Sold for £260 and an MR2 (Which I sold for £500).

Edited by mike88 on Sunday 12th August 09:06

[dabofoppo]

The guy who fixes my mums car just bought a 2004 skoda Octavia 1.9tdi for £60. It had no m.o.t or tax and was past on the road in 2009 but once he had sorted the brakes it was good to go.