Auto troubles - Do I keep or sell my shed
Discussion
Hello pistonheads,
Recently I bought a SAAB diesel estate for £1k, give or take. This is our second car. Main user is me unless there is emergency with main vehicle which is new.
The service history was fine, visible condition not great (in and out). Workhorse as people say. Convenient for my short daily commute.
I have invested about £1.5k already in maintenance/repairs. This means that I am now £2.5k in. And I now have a car thats worth … £1k. All 0% credit card.
The car is fine for me to go to work and back and do chores. However to get into appropriate shape to drive the kids around I probably need to spend another grand. This covers steering rack, fumes coming into cockpit (i think front exhaust blowing) and something to do with breaks that is not disc related. I stop fine but feels a bit soft at bottom of pedal.
I wonder if I:
1. Sell the car, suck up a car loan and buy something newer with warranty for up to 8k. Accept im not ph worthy shedder. Have a second family option for emergencies.
2. Live and use as it is till mot and then decide whether to keep or sell. Kids use main car or uber.
3. Do all repairs, accept there is a risk something else goes wrong and potentially £3.5 in hole. Have a family car thats worthy of kids. Keep for 3-5 years per initial plan.
Please let me know what you would do in my shoes. Please be honest, Im not sensitive.
- I have 2 month emergency fund.
- £4k in 0% credit card till next year
- Generally like driving the car
- I started using car for deliveries outside of work, already made £1k that paid my other debt off and got me money for Christmas for kids
Recently I bought a SAAB diesel estate for £1k, give or take. This is our second car. Main user is me unless there is emergency with main vehicle which is new.
The service history was fine, visible condition not great (in and out). Workhorse as people say. Convenient for my short daily commute.
I have invested about £1.5k already in maintenance/repairs. This means that I am now £2.5k in. And I now have a car thats worth … £1k. All 0% credit card.
The car is fine for me to go to work and back and do chores. However to get into appropriate shape to drive the kids around I probably need to spend another grand. This covers steering rack, fumes coming into cockpit (i think front exhaust blowing) and something to do with breaks that is not disc related. I stop fine but feels a bit soft at bottom of pedal.
I wonder if I:
1. Sell the car, suck up a car loan and buy something newer with warranty for up to 8k. Accept im not ph worthy shedder. Have a second family option for emergencies.
2. Live and use as it is till mot and then decide whether to keep or sell. Kids use main car or uber.
3. Do all repairs, accept there is a risk something else goes wrong and potentially £3.5 in hole. Have a family car thats worthy of kids. Keep for 3-5 years per initial plan.
Please let me know what you would do in my shoes. Please be honest, Im not sensitive.
- I have 2 month emergency fund.
- £4k in 0% credit card till next year
- Generally like driving the car
- I started using car for deliveries outside of work, already made £1k that paid my other debt off and got me money for Christmas for kids
Morning,
Couple of questions
- is an old diesel estate really good for short commutes? Is it pre diesel particulate filter era then?
- what are your diy skills like?
I typically get cars where I am the last owner before the scrap man. This would not be viable if I didn't diy though.
But of course you need to buy tools and have space for them etc, so it is something I built up over the years.
Also with shedding, there is a danger of getting too invested in a car. Spending £2.5k on a £1k car is a slippery slope, because you will feel it "owes" you more and you keep chasing your losses.
The shed model works best when a £1k car gets a repair bill of over its value, it is just replaced with another shed.
Hard of course when faults aren't easily obvious. I personally prefer to fix things where I can, but give the car is not and will never be a classic, you have to draw the line and hopefully move on to something with more life in it (Honda accord for example)
Finally, going up to £8k - that is a really tricky zone, because you could get either a nearly new basic car like a dacia sandero, but could get an absolute dog of say a bmw or merc that is 10+ years old but looks flashy.
Couple of questions
- is an old diesel estate really good for short commutes? Is it pre diesel particulate filter era then?
- what are your diy skills like?
I typically get cars where I am the last owner before the scrap man. This would not be viable if I didn't diy though.
But of course you need to buy tools and have space for them etc, so it is something I built up over the years.
Also with shedding, there is a danger of getting too invested in a car. Spending £2.5k on a £1k car is a slippery slope, because you will feel it "owes" you more and you keep chasing your losses.
The shed model works best when a £1k car gets a repair bill of over its value, it is just replaced with another shed.
Hard of course when faults aren't easily obvious. I personally prefer to fix things where I can, but give the car is not and will never be a classic, you have to draw the line and hopefully move on to something with more life in it (Honda accord for example)
Finally, going up to £8k - that is a really tricky zone, because you could get either a nearly new basic car like a dacia sandero, but could get an absolute dog of say a bmw or merc that is 10+ years old but looks flashy.
My dyi skills are pretty bad. Also no tools or room to learn to fix/maintain.
It does have dpf but i actually do deliveries so often on motorway for 30mns. Judging by smell i had couple of regens.
Previous owner did a short commute so let me know if I can check for pre-existing issues linked to diesel that i wouldn't have captured so far.
Very good summary, thanks. Lessons learned for next time.
It does have dpf but i actually do deliveries so often on motorway for 30mns. Judging by smell i had couple of regens.
Previous owner did a short commute so let me know if I can check for pre-existing issues linked to diesel that i wouldn't have captured so far.
Very good summary, thanks. Lessons learned for next time.
Edited by Blue_star on Saturday 22 November 10:56
2/3 of those faults, while being classed as "its fine for me but not the kids", are actually roadworthiness things which affect other road users if they fail (steering rack and brakes). So I'd say unless they can be magically sorted for <£100 then its not worth continuing with this particular car.
The Saab 9-3 was a great car but as time progresses, all except a very few are showing signs of wear, age, and of course the infotainment is now hopelessly out of date. I've had 2 in the past, for similar money, but I was very selective about what was fixed (they were both roadworthy) so they lost me little - certainly less than £1.5k-2k as you're looking at now. Maybe 200-300 in repairs over a decent amount of time and about 500 each in depreciation/buy-sell costs (one was bought private and sold at auction; the other bought retail and sold private).
The Saab 9-3 was a great car but as time progresses, all except a very few are showing signs of wear, age, and of course the infotainment is now hopelessly out of date. I've had 2 in the past, for similar money, but I was very selective about what was fixed (they were both roadworthy) so they lost me little - certainly less than £1.5k-2k as you're looking at now. Maybe 200-300 in repairs over a decent amount of time and about 500 each in depreciation/buy-sell costs (one was bought private and sold at auction; the other bought retail and sold private).
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