MOT advisories sufficient to not buy the car?

[Misanthroper]

I’m looking at a 2007 Citroen C1 for my daughter who recently passed her test. It’s going for £1250, and I’ve done a full vehicle check via autotrader and all looks fine apart from the last MOT advisories.

I was hoping some of the more mechanically minded here could give their opinions on whether I’m looking at impending big costs, or whether these are perfectly reasonable for the age and mileage (100k), and cheap enough to fix as needed.



Any thoughts would be really appreciated.

[Scrump]

Doesn’t look like anything worrying to me. A brake disc (cheap for a c1), a numberplate and some minor suspension parts with wear and tear.

If you are not handy with the spanners might be worth asking a local,garage what they would charge to sort out those issues on a c1.

[STURBO]

Nothing to worry me there.

Discs and pads are a service item. Probably just not been used for a while so got a bit rusty. But budget to change in next 2 years. £200 or so. Or might not need to at all for much longer.

Number plate is £20.

The suspension things look all to be just droplinks allround, which will be worn by 100k.

Probably £200 to change them all.

Rust would be my primary concern, and nothing mentioned there. So looks like a good buy if it otherwise drives OK.

[Misanthroper]

Thanks, I was hoping that was the case, viewing the car tomorrow so if there’s nothing cosmetically wrong then likely go ahead with it.

[Red9zero]

As already said, nothing major, but I'd use it as an opportunity to get a bit knocked off the price. No harm in asking !

[paul_c123]

Good luck finding a car with advisory-free MoT for £1250!

That's pretty good, as it goes. Personally unless you can maintain it itself, buying such a cheap/old car is false economy though.

[steveo3002]

have a damn good look at the underside at the rear for rust , where the axle bolts to the car and back end of the sills

those advisorys aint no big deal

[Jamescrs]

For the price that's pretty good really, anything which flags up related to corrosion can put me off if it's structural but otherwise it doesn't worry me too much

[Misanthroper]

paul_c123 said:

Good luck finding a car with advisory-free MoT for £1250!

That's pretty good, as it goes. Personally unless you can maintain it itself, buying such a cheap/old car is false economy though.

I could look at a loan and go up to perhaps £3k which puts us in a better bracket, but even then it’s a risk, I’ll check this one for corrosion and if it looks reasonably solid will buy it.

Even if it lasts her two years I’d be happy.

Edited by Misanthroper on Monday 19th May 17:12

[Tisy]

Tested thousands of these. They always fail on the sills just in front of the rear arches and the brake pipes rust through in 2 seconds. If the sills are good then it's worth giving them a good clean in this warm and quick-drying weather, then lard them with black underbody seal to give them a fresh pep-up. If you leave them then they go from being fine one test to basically being scrap on the next, within spending many hundreds in welding work. The other advisories are all bread and butter on these - budget a couple of hundred including labour to get them changed.

Brake lines are easy to do yourself if you have someone to pump the pedal to bleed the system afterwards.

Exhaust only ever last 2 years on them as they are cheap crappy Chinesium steel.

Boot will be full of water - they all do this. Take off the top level brake light and rear light clusters. Remove all the mouldly deteriorated spongy seals, clean off the residue and then get some new seals (they are only pence) and refit the lights. Boot will now be dry. It might be dry now with the lack of the rain and warm temps we've had, but I can virtually guarantee in the winter it will fill up with water and the condensation on the inside windows will be biblical.

Watch out for cat N and S as about half of these have been written off and badly repaired.

To be honest, a 2007 model without advisories or fails for corrosion is a miracle in 2025. Look back on the MOT history as I suspect it's failed in the past and has been welded. This is fine if it's been done well.

[RustyNissanPrairie]

Look for the same recurring advisories over a few years - signifies someone running it as a white goods/on a budget rather than dealing with them.

As mentioned - you can't be too picky on a £1250 car popular with first time buyers.

[Misanthroper]

Thanks for the advice everyone, really great info there Tisy, we went and had a look but it was quite tatty, and engine sounded a bit lumpy so we walked away.

Found another, a 2009 model that from the photos looks good, and not a full but quite comprehensive service history, although it has140k miles on it.

Is that just too many miles to even consider? It’s slightly more due to the year and condition (although not yet seen in person and pics can be misleading ) up at £1450, so just the mileage putting me off but not sure if that should if it’s been looked after?

[RustyNissanPrairie]

If it's someone mad enough to do a motorway commute in one then the mileage will be fine especially if it's been serviced accordingly.

If the same mileage is been done on lots of short journeys then seatbelts/seat bolsters, ignition lock mechanism etc get extra wear and tear along with an rotten exhausts and filler cap mayonnaise from never getting properly warm.

My sister in law had a Toyota IQ that I sold for her with 180k miles. She was mad enough to drive to the south of France in it every year for the summer. It didn't show it's mileage and was in good condition.

[Pica-Pica]

Nothing unusual there. Just check that the same advisories don’t keep recurring.

With regards the bushes, etc. most owners/drivers will not notice this until it is pointed to them. Even then, they may think it’s an attempt at upselling!

As said, ensure they have been done (receipts) or try to use as a bargaining chip. I would be more concerned about looking for rust, misuse, damage.

Having said that, if the car goes for a year, you won’t lose much.

[paul_c123]

Bangers go for £2000 these days, anything under that price and there's going to be some kind of issue or reason its that cheap.

[Tisy]

Misanthroper said:

Thanks for the advice everyone, really great info there Tisy, we went and had a look but it was quite tatty, and engine sounded a bit lumpy so we walked away.

Found another, a 2009 model that from the photos looks good, and not a full but quite comprehensive service history, although it has140k miles on it.

Is that just too many miles to even consider? It’s slightly more due to the year and condition (although not yet seen in person and pics can be misleading ) up at £1450, so just the mileage putting me off but not sure if that should if it’s been looked after?

I know a lad who has a 2006 107 with 190k on it and goes fine. With just yourself in it, if it'll go up a decent hill and hold at 30 or accelerate slightly in 3rd then the engine is good. If it's losing speed and you need to use 2nd then the engine is getting weak. I've driven loads of them and had several of my own for varying lengths of time. The engines can get tappety at higher miles but they still run fine.

Beware of the low mileage ones as it usually means the underside is rotten as a pear. As a very general rule with them, the higher the mileage the cleaner they tend to be underneath corrosion wise, presumably because them being in constant use in rain etc, keep them washed of salt and crud vs. ones that rarely move and get parked on damp grass/mud allowing the moisture to sit and start rotting.

Most of these are tatty now as they are getting on for 20 years old. Walk away from any seller (typically "Asian") who is selling it for their cousin and you'll need to apply for the V5 - they are often crash repairs. The seller's name on the ad should give you a heads-up to save you wasting your time.

[Tisy]

Don't fret over a lack of service history on these. I've bought several which either haven't had any or the last service was 6 years ago and they were all fine. Nothing goes wrong with them and they'll run on ancient treacle oil without grumbling. They are simple cars and it's hard to break them. If the engine sounds alright, it goes alright and doesn't smoke out of the exhaust on the overrun then that'd be the end of my mechanical checks. Underbody corrosion around the rear sills and suspension mounts would be my priority as they all go there eventually. Check for bent/resprayed panels and overspray around the door jams, arches and boot closure. Put the steering wheels on full lock each side and look at the inner edge tyre wear - if it's bald or noticably worn on the inside then it's highly likely it's been in a front end prang and tracking won't fix it as stuff is bent. When driving it the steering wheel should have a natural 'pull' to self-centre itself, especially after a turn - if it feels a bit stuff and wants to stick in position after a turn, beware. Get it going along a straight and level road at 30+ and make sure it drives straight when you take your hands off the wheel - same for some firm braking.