Why do people sell after an expensive repair?
Discussion
Usually if I have spent the cash on repairing a car, I fall out of love with it and dislike driving it, this will build up to a point where I honestly just dont want the car anymore, and so sell it.
Not just mechanical failures, when I was rear ended and it was repaired by a garage and insurance, I just didn't want to drive the car any more, a few months later I sold it.
Not just mechanical failures, when I was rear ended and it was repaired by a garage and insurance, I just didn't want to drive the car any more, a few months later I sold it.
Fox- said:
The more you've spent fixing it the less likely it is to go wrong in the future surely? If you go bankrupt fixing all the bork you might as well enjoy the now reliable and refreshed car.
Absolutely, in my case at least, there is no logic behind it whatsoever, but I still do it.Annoying really when I think about it, but nothing will change that feeling I get when I step back in the car after a long lay up for repairs.
Fox- said:
The more you've spent fixing it the less likely it is to go wrong in the future surely? If you go bankrupt fixing all the bork you might as well enjoy the now reliable and refreshed car.
i'm not too sure about this.In my experience a car that hasn't gone wrong at all tends not to do so. One that has had a few problems often seems to develop more, even if they are completely unrelated.
faults and fixing faults seems to cause other non-related faults. it's weird
I've never sold a car after a big bill, I have got out just before services or tyres needed replacing though. SWMBO wanted to change her car at the weekend after I suggested it needs a good service asap, 4 tyres this year and probably a clutch and slave cylinder. In total that lot would cost less than £800 based on good tyres and main dealer pricing for the other jobs. Yet despite faultless reliability for two years she thinks that's way too much to spend 'repairing it' she won't believe they're all routine items.
Efbe said:
Fox- said:
The more you've spent fixing it the less likely it is to go wrong in the future surely? If you go bankrupt fixing all the bork you might as well enjoy the now reliable and refreshed car.
i'm not too sure about this.In my experience a car that hasn't gone wrong at all tends not to do so. One that has had a few problems often seems to develop more, even if they are completely unrelated.
faults and fixing faults seems to cause other non-related faults. it's weird
All that jazz said:
All these "lost faith in it" reasons for selling - do you expect cars to go on forever without ever needing any repairs then, or.. ? 
There's a limit to which I expect a car to be unreliable. Playing dashboard warning light roulette & breaking down every 8 weeks isn't really acceptable. Also, I'm changing jobs so will be away a lot, my Wife doesn't need the hassle of having to get the car fixed.I'll list the things that have gone wrong with mine in 2 years.
Sticking Turbo Vanes, which is intermittent and helped by not running it on supermarket diesel
Various AirBag faults
Seatbelt warning alarm constantly going off, which needs the seat stripping
DMF & Clutch
New Radiator
Radio Faults
Injector Wiring loom
x4 Injectors
Glow Plugs
MFD won't show the radio settings so the steering wheel functions won't work the stereo
EBrake failures leaving us stranded for 40mins
EBrake switch fault leaving me with no handbrake
EBrake caliper refusing to release until welted with a hammer in desperation
Rust on the tailgate which needed a new assembly
Rust on the roof which needed repairing & respraying
Oil Pump failure (poorly designed drive) which is still being fixed in the garage. I don't know if it's taken the turbo out yet, so still waiting to hear back about that.
There's other stuff that I've forgotten about (or possibly blanked out for the sake of my sanity).
Most of those problems have/are being solved, some are still ongoing. This is on top of routine servicing and repairs like brakes, wheel bearings & tyres (which it chews).
I've never liked the car, it was bought to be a useful family tool, which it's failing miserably at, so I've decided to buy a simple small petrol engined car like an 1.6 Auris.
I've got better things to spend my money on than keep fixing up a constantly borked diesel estate car, it's eating up my biking holiday funds. Enough's enough.
All that jazz said:
All these "lost faith in it" reasons for selling - do you expect cars to go on forever without ever needing any repairs then, or.. ?
Wifes A6 never went wrong in 3 years.At 150k she decided she still wanted it so I paid for water pump and cambelt.
3 months later engine mount went
2 months later serp belt went (yes it turns out it should have been changed with the cambelt)
2 months later gearbox went.
As we'd never spent a penny on the turbo, injectors or engine I then decided to sell it.
Last 20k cost about 10x more than the previous 50k.
VidalBaboon said:
All that jazz said:
All these "lost faith in it" reasons for selling - do you expect cars to go on forever without ever needing any repairs then, or.. ?
There's a limit to which I expect a car to be unreliable. Playing dashboard warning light roulette & breaking down every 8 weeks isn't really acceptable. Also, I'm changing jobs so will be away a lot, my Wife doesn't need the hassle of having to get the car fixed.I'll list the things that have gone wrong with mine in 2 years.
Sticking Turbo Vanes, which is intermittent and helped by not running it on supermarket diesel
Various AirBag faults
Seatbelt warning alarm constantly going off, which needs the seat stripping
DMF & Clutch
New Radiator
Radio Faults
Injector Wiring loom
x4 Injectors
Glow Plugs
MFD won't show the radio settings so the steering wheel functions won't work the stereo
EBrake failures leaving us stranded for 40mins
EBrake switch fault leaving me with no handbrake
EBrake caliper refusing to release until welted with a hammer in desperation
Rust on the tailgate which needed a new assembly
Rust on the roof which needed repairing & respraying
Oil Pump failure (poorly designed drive) which is still being fixed in the garage. I don't know if it's taken the turbo out yet, so still waiting to hear back about that.
There's other stuff that I've forgotten about (or possibly blanked out for the sake of my sanity).
Most of those problems have/are being solved, some are still ongoing. This is on top of routine servicing and repairs like brakes, wheel bearings & tyres (which it chews).
I've never liked the car, it was bought to be a useful family tool, which it's failing miserably at, so I've decided to buy a simple small petrol engined car like an 1.6 Auris.
I've got better things to spend my money on than keep fixing up a constantly borked diesel estate car, it's eating up my biking holiday funds. Enough's enough.
Edited by Ecosseven on Tuesday 28th February 21:18
Had mixed experiences of this:
2003 MG ZR - HGF 2 weeks after purchase. Spent the cash, had a few other jobs done at same time. Kept it 3 and half years, and barring a failed starter-motor solenoid, it never let me down in the following 90,000 miles.
1996 Nissan 200SX - bought on a whim, as a toy. In 14months it stung me for £12,000+. Not just repairs, but removing bodged "upgrades" and resisting the draw of "power". In the end it came to resemble nothing but misery.
1996 BMW 320i tourer - 11months owned, £1000 of new parts. Ran like a dream. Just got bored.
Current 2006 SAAB 9-3 TID needs a DMF sometime this year, so with clucth too, won't see much change from £800+. BUT The car has done 86,000miles, will be kept for at least that again, so why worry about £800+ in the space of another 4 years?
2003 MG ZR - HGF 2 weeks after purchase. Spent the cash, had a few other jobs done at same time. Kept it 3 and half years, and barring a failed starter-motor solenoid, it never let me down in the following 90,000 miles.
1996 Nissan 200SX - bought on a whim, as a toy. In 14months it stung me for £12,000+. Not just repairs, but removing bodged "upgrades" and resisting the draw of "power". In the end it came to resemble nothing but misery.
1996 BMW 320i tourer - 11months owned, £1000 of new parts. Ran like a dream. Just got bored.
Current 2006 SAAB 9-3 TID needs a DMF sometime this year, so with clucth too, won't see much change from £800+. BUT The car has done 86,000miles, will be kept for at least that again, so why worry about £800+ in the space of another 4 years?
SuperHangOn said:
I spent a fortune on my old V8 Discovery and sold it in frustration (practically rebuilt the bloody thing). Bizarrely the new owner called me nearly 2 years later with a little question about the keyfob... apparently the car had been fantastic, nothing at all had gone wrong. Doh!
thats soo funny , but atleast you know now , i guess it was the not knowing that made you sell it frosted said:
I'm guilty of selling after fixing, truth is if I loose faith in something then that's it ! After the lift pump went in my passat ( first fault in 90k ) I thought long and hard about getting rid, staying for now but if it breaks down again 100% going
That is just a bizarre attitude, completely irrational. One fault on 90k miles and you are going to get rid if you have another one? Do you actually expect cars to never, ever go wrong?Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff