How much would you spend to fix £1,000 car?
Discussion
It drives, it runs very well, been serviced on the button since it was new in 2009 and generally is serving us well. It’s a little Japanese car.
We bought it for £1000 three months ago, but there is a loud knocking noise when it’s been driving a little while. I’m hesitant at spending money on it, but having no mechanical know-how.
what would you do?
We bought it for £1000 three months ago, but there is a loud knocking noise when it’s been driving a little while. I’m hesitant at spending money on it, but having no mechanical know-how.
what would you do?
Sounds like the car has served you well and may well continue to do so when fixed.
Obviously wouldn't spend thousands on it, but it may well be a cheap fix and then serve you well for many more miles. Get it in to someone/somewhere you trust and get them to diagnose the issue and take it from there.
Goes without saying that if the car has other costly issues on the horizon then it may be time to part ways.
Obviously wouldn't spend thousands on it, but it may well be a cheap fix and then serve you well for many more miles. Get it in to someone/somewhere you trust and get them to diagnose the issue and take it from there.
Goes without saying that if the car has other costly issues on the horizon then it may be time to part ways.
Leicesterdave said:
It drives, it runs very well, been serviced on the button since it was new in 2009 and generally is serving us well. It’s a little Japanese car.
We bought it for £1000 three months ago, but there is a loud knocking noise when it’s been driving a little while. I’m hesitant at spending money on it, but having no mechanical know-how.
what would you do?
I would ignore it until MOT time, if it is serious it will show up, then just sit back and embrace running a shed, easier said than done for some people We bought it for £1000 three months ago, but there is a loud knocking noise when it’s been driving a little while. I’m hesitant at spending money on it, but having no mechanical know-how.
what would you do?
Varies - Run a shed fiesta derv for the commute/dog run, I'm lucky I work on it myself, so costs are relatively small, I tend to just fix it as and when. Never cost more than £100 in a year to sort anything.
SO has an Audi that was "cheap", needed a new turbo and some other bits, we decided to spend the money (which was nearly 2/3rds the purchase price of the car) and now we have a car which value is still considered okay in the current market but added advantage of new parts - it should see us out many years of service with just normal upkeep.
We justified it by taking the original purchase Price + Price for the works and looked to see what else could be bought, we could only find similar cars but they hadn't had new parts fitted so we went with "better the devil you know"
SO has an Audi that was "cheap", needed a new turbo and some other bits, we decided to spend the money (which was nearly 2/3rds the purchase price of the car) and now we have a car which value is still considered okay in the current market but added advantage of new parts - it should see us out many years of service with just normal upkeep.
We justified it by taking the original purchase Price + Price for the works and looked to see what else could be bought, we could only find similar cars but they hadn't had new parts fitted so we went with "better the devil you know"
OP what is your alternative to fixing it? If it turns out to be a big bill would you scrap it and buy another car? If so what car? because if you would scrap this one and go and spend £1000 on another car you may as well spend a few hundred (Worst case scenario maybe) repairing what you have.
If you would scrap this and spend considerably more on something modern and reliable then it's a different view.
If you would scrap this and spend considerably more on something modern and reliable then it's a different view.
I’ll happily spend a few hundred pounds on it, I guess the thought of spending that money so shortly after buying it is perhaps more the issue. I’d have hoped to have had near enough a years worth of motoring out of it before spending anything.
I wouldn’t scrap that car, I bought it as it was so basic, no air conditioning, no fancy headlights, no turbo, no DPF, basically a very simple car to fix. I can’t imagine it being very expensive to repair but as I said I’d rather have had longer with it before having to spend any money on it.
I wouldn’t scrap that car, I bought it as it was so basic, no air conditioning, no fancy headlights, no turbo, no DPF, basically a very simple car to fix. I can’t imagine it being very expensive to repair but as I said I’d rather have had longer with it before having to spend any money on it.
I sympathise, we usually run a cheap old snotter alongside our 'good' car and it can be tricky deciding how much to spend fixing low value old cars.
First up - take it to a garage or mechanic that you trust and get a diagnosis and estimated cost to repair. It may be less than you think. If you don't have a trusted garage, you can take it to two or three and triangulate the estimates although that can get time consuming. Avoid Kwik Fit etc, ask around for local indies with a good rep.
If it is looking like a biggish bill after that, the way I have come to think about it is not so much 'what is the car worth?' but 'what is it worth to me?' If you know it to be basically sound apart from this one problem then it can be worth spending - I would say - up to 50% more than the car is actually worth (assuming value of less than £1500ish) to fix it.
Because if you just buy another £1k car on the open market it is likely to be worse, or at least no better, than the one you already have in the long run. At that end of the market you are just rolling the dice, even if you are mechanically inclined.
Obvs if the car you have is a dog that throws up regular big bills then it prob is time to ditch it. But that doesn't sound like the case here.
First up - take it to a garage or mechanic that you trust and get a diagnosis and estimated cost to repair. It may be less than you think. If you don't have a trusted garage, you can take it to two or three and triangulate the estimates although that can get time consuming. Avoid Kwik Fit etc, ask around for local indies with a good rep.
If it is looking like a biggish bill after that, the way I have come to think about it is not so much 'what is the car worth?' but 'what is it worth to me?' If you know it to be basically sound apart from this one problem then it can be worth spending - I would say - up to 50% more than the car is actually worth (assuming value of less than £1500ish) to fix it.
Because if you just buy another £1k car on the open market it is likely to be worse, or at least no better, than the one you already have in the long run. At that end of the market you are just rolling the dice, even if you are mechanically inclined.
Obvs if the car you have is a dog that throws up regular big bills then it prob is time to ditch it. But that doesn't sound like the case here.
Three ways you can look at it.... The family & myself have had a few ‘old runners’ over the years, but our philosophy is;
A: The car is pretty sound & most of its history is known...so spend a £1000 to fix it & enjoy a few more years of motoring.
B: Sell it... but will the small amount you receive, actually make a massive difference towards its replacement.
C:Scrap it: Spend a £1000 on a car of unknown history & potential hidden faults... you will probably end up regretting it.
A: The car is pretty sound & most of its history is known...so spend a £1000 to fix it & enjoy a few more years of motoring.
B: Sell it... but will the small amount you receive, actually make a massive difference towards its replacement.
C:Scrap it: Spend a £1000 on a car of unknown history & potential hidden faults... you will probably end up regretting it.
Edited by Milkyway on Friday 8th July 12:13
Leicesterdave said:
Would you be happy driving with that knock is the million dollar question!!
Depends what's causing the knockSafety related? No.
Leading to short-term failure? No
Long term/non critical issue? Yes.
If it was £1000, I'd spend no more than a few hundred quid on it, if it's served well and is otherwise in good nick.
Boo-urns said:
As above, get quotes. It might be a cheap fix, it might not.
Whatever you do, don't fall into the trap of not fixing it based on the cost of repair vs. the value of the car. Even if it costs, say, £500 to fix, you've still got what sounds like a really nice car for effectively a £1,500 outlay. Yes, you've spent half the car's value in repairs, but you could spend thousands more on a car and still need to fork out for repairs in the first few months.
I would suggest that barring any exceptional circumstances, the cheapest option will undoubtedly be to fix the car.
Good luck!
Seconded. I bought a ‘00 Corsa as a tip car 3 years ago. Only 60k miles and mostly spent its time as Mum’s or Gran’s car sitting on the drive. So I’ve spent at least the purchase price and more fettling it into a useful runabout, can’t beat an open sunroof for warming your bald patch! So long as nothing really dire presents itself I’m happy to keep it. Sailed through last mot.Whatever you do, don't fall into the trap of not fixing it based on the cost of repair vs. the value of the car. Even if it costs, say, £500 to fix, you've still got what sounds like a really nice car for effectively a £1,500 outlay. Yes, you've spent half the car's value in repairs, but you could spend thousands more on a car and still need to fork out for repairs in the first few months.
I would suggest that barring any exceptional circumstances, the cheapest option will undoubtedly be to fix the car.
Good luck!
Get a quote. If it's under £500-600 then fine. If it's £800+, then that's basically like buying another shed so I'd sell the car for £500 being open with the issue and then get another shed. It really depends on how bad everything else is. I spent about £500-700 on my current £1k shed because it seems to keep going with minor fixes every now and then. It even passed the MOT with minor advisories!
It has been fine when going for short breaks to other parts of the country.
It has been fine when going for short breaks to other parts of the country.
ghost83 said:
When running a sub 2k car in my opinion either get good with a Haynes manual and spanner or pay extortionate garage fees,
Not necessarily, if you have a good indie you can still get cheap rates, plus still cheaper than spending £3/400 a month a lease or pcp even if you are spending garage rates every now and then.Forums | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff