Sell my car or not?

[redrabbit29]

Hello everyone - new to the forum so hope I'm posting in the right place.

I have a 03 plate Renault Megane which I've owned for just over a year now. It's had a lot of problems (probably common amongst these cars). I paid £2500 for it.

It has two warning lights on (toxic fume indicator and air bag light - as I disturbed some wires under the seat).

It's just been MOT'd and passed.

I have very little money due to buying a house and really struggling at the minute. I'm fed up of the issues with this crappy car now. I thought when it passed MOT - I'll use it now and save money.

But now I'm thinking, maybe I should sell it as it's got a brand new MOT for 12 months?

I want to get a Toyota Corolla to replace it and spend about £5000 on the car. I don't care that much about speed or falshyness, I jsut want something that I don't have to worry about constantly.

I'd obviously take a hit on the price, but maybe I should cut my losses now?

Thanks everyone,
Redrabbit

[McWigglebum4th]

Sell it and buy a K11 nissian micra

[EddieFelson]

If you've got very little money where's the balance of the £5k coming from?

There's nothing to say you won't have issues with the new/replacement car in my experience.

[ch427]

as you say now its got a 12 months mot on it best to sell it now, they are terrible cars!
try to get the warning lights off first though but this may prove costly in itself

[redrabbit29]

Hi everyone,

Well I am considering a loan for the £5000. I have little money (in terms of savings) which is partially as a result of this car and the constant hassle I've got from it.

I had a Nissan Micra 1998 plate as my first car, which I kept for about 6 years. I sold that and got this megane. The micra had NO issues in all that time! Amazingly reliable.

CH427 - Yea when I went for the MOT the garage said there was 4 things wrong causing the airbag light to come one. They fixed 2 but couldn't solve the others. They also changed the ignition coils but that didn't help with the toxic fume light - think it's the dephaser pulley that's the problem (costly).

Some may say getting a £5K loan isn't wise when I have no savings. However, maybe it is a good investment. Yes, there's no gaurantees that the new car won't cause issues.

but really? A toyota corolla vs a 10 year old renault megane? I'm sure the chances are better for the Corolla.

[scjgreen]

I can think of better Cars to buy for £5K

[Zerotonine]

McWigglebum4th said:

Sell it and buy a K11 nissian micra

Do this. Except get a Nissan. The nissian variant is not famed for being reliable, more of a knock off.

[mike9009]

Where is the £5k coming from? Changing cars is fraught.... Better the devil you know, especially with 12 months MOT....

[redrabbit29]

scjgreen said:

I can think of better Cars to buy for £5K

I'm sure you can.

mike9009 said:

Changing cars is fraught.... Better the devil you know, especially with 12 months MOT

Thanks Mike, that's the sort of thing I wanted to know about. It's me thinking outloud really, wasn't sure whether to stick with the car and run it and run it (which I think I'll probably do), or whether you thought to get rid now before other issues arise.

Obviously a bit of a gamble as you can't predict what will happen. Think I'll stick with the car and save money up.

[wemorgan]

Get a quote for fixing the car. It might be less than you think.
SRS light just might need the seat connector wiggling a bit.
Emissions - lambda possibly ??

[wiliferus]

Just because its got a fresh 12 month ticket on it doesn't mean it's not going to cost you bags more money. Personally I'd get rid, your Corolla isn't a bad call, they are hugely reliable. That said buying a used car is always a lottery. My theory is the last owner is selling it for a reason. Sure, sometimes people change cars as they fancy a change, or just because in their opinion it's old, but more often a car will be shifted on to dodge a big bill.

£5k will buy you a lot of car nowerdays. I'm not sure of the conclusion of my post?

ETA - 1.6 Focus is your answer. Tried, tested, generally reliable, it's a Ronseal car.

[andy-xr]

I'd want to sell it clean, without warning lights because you'll get knocked down on it from anyone who actually comes round. Soon as you say it's got a warning light stuck on, regardless of it just being the connector, people will either halve their offer or wont bother, and you'll say everyone's a timewaster

I say fix it, decide after that whether you just want it out of your sight once that's done. You know your financial position better than me, so none of my business

[redrabbit29]

wiliferus said:

Just because its got a fresh 12 month ticket on it doesn't mean it's not going to cost you bags more money. Personally I'd get rid, your Corolla isn't a bad call, they are hugely reliable. That said buying a used car is always a lottery. My theory is the last owner is selling it for a reason. Sure, sometimes people change cars as they fancy a change, or just because in their opinion it's old, but more often a car will be shifted on to dodge a big bill.

£5k will buy you a lot of car nowerdays. I'm not sure of the conclusion of my post?

ETA - 1.6 Focus is your answer. Tried, tested, generally reliable, it's a Ronseal car.

Good advice. So you'd suggest the Focus over the Corolla then? I'll have a look at both as they were two cars I had considered and in fact Focus was my first choice a little while back.

I will try get car with 30'000 miles, 08 reg or similar, one previous owner, etc...

[redrabbit29]

andy-xr said:

I'd want to sell it clean, without warning lights because you'll get knocked down on it from anyone who actually comes round. Soon as you say it's got a warning light stuck on, regardless of it just being the connector, people will either halve their offer or wont bother, and you'll say everyone's a timewaster

I say fix it, decide after that whether you just want it out of your sight once that's done. You know your financial position better than me, so none of my business

Thanks for your advice - appreciate it.

The garage says they can put me in touch with someone they refer to as "air bag man" regarding the air bag warning light. They said the cables were loose under the seat which they fixed, but the two remaining errors they couldn't solve there and then. To be fair it was during an MOT so they wouldn't have spent long on it!

The toxic fume light - that will cost a lot to fix, probably about £400-£500!

[wiliferus]

redrabbit29 said:

Good advice. So you'd suggest the Focus over the Corolla then? I'll have a look at both as they were two cars I had considered and in fact Focus was my first choice a little while back.

I will try get car with 30'000 miles, 08 reg or similar, one previous owner, etc...

Yep, I'd recommend the Focus. TBH I thought you were being ambitious with your criteria, but a quick browse of AT shows it can be done. Lots of car for the money!

[anonymous-user]

The current car is unlikely to cost you £5000 (plus the interest of the loan) in repairs over the next few years. So as a cost saving option for someone who's stuggling finacially, it makes no sense to me.

[davepoth]

Sten J said:

The current car is unlikely to cost you £5000 (plus the interest of the loan) in repairs over the next few years. So as a cost saving option for someone who's stuggling finacially, it makes no sense to me.

Very true. You could replace the engine and gearbox (twice) for that sort of money. You could get shot of it and buy something to the same value but more reliable, but throwing £5k (that you don't have) at the problem is a bit excessive.

[psychoR1]

Heard this time and time again.

The answer if you want to save money is to sell and spend less - e.g. Nissan Micra for under a grand.

The logic of spending more to save rarely works.

[solid61]

As a dealer who knows most of the foibles of the cars you are debating over i would say get shot of the renault,these cars are an expensive liability once out of warranty,on an 03 plate that car is on the tightrope of scrap or repair when the next bill comes along,get some money for it while its got a long mot.If you are on a limited budget the best thing is not to borrow 5k for a focus,best bet is a really proper mk1 focus up to 04ish,not too much electronic crap and a good solid reliable car, also 2k should find you a real nice one with sensible miles and loads of life left in it.Avoid 2.0 litres an try to find at least a zetec,good spec,air con,alloys etc,clutches can be a bit weak so check carefully and you wont go far wrong.

[wheedler]

Sell car, buy jap car for the same value. When you get a few k saved up get finance. You wouldn't want to get finance, loose your job and get a bad credit over missing a few £100 payments