Where did your old car go?

[JD66]

The best one was a k reg Escort my mum had from about 96 till she wrote it off in a front end smash in 2001. It had astronomical mileage but only had 5 figures on the odometer. It was burning oil, chucking out smoke before it was crashed and afterwards it barely had enough power to drive up the car transporter that came to collect it. Some poor sod probably thinking it had done 100k less than it actually had bought it and fixed it up and according to the dvla had it on the road until 2005.

[Eyersey1234]

My first Fiesta seems to have died of terminal rust a few months after I traded it in in late 2006, it hadn't done many miles after I sold it.

[SkodaIan]

Someone's put nearly 50k on my wife's old Octavia after we got £300 for trade in on it 2 years ago. I thought it was headed straight for the scrapyard, but I suspect it's become a taxi.
Most interesting is my dad's old H reg Volvo 940. It had 210k on it when he got rid of it because of electical gremlins back in 2002. Again I thought it was headed for scrap. It's got a near perfect history for the last five years, and is doing about 300 miles per year, so I presume someone's managed to fix it and decided to run it as a classic.

[Earthdweller]

The MOT check will only search on a VRM and not the car

If a car disappears it may have been put in a different plate or have been exported , particularly if relatively young not necessarily dead

[antacid]

Earthdweller said:

The MOT check will only search on a VRM and not the car

If a car disappears it may have been put in a different plate or have been exported , particularly if relatively young not necessarily dead

Good to know, probably explains where my TF went, it only had 6000 miles on it or so!

[NiceCupOfTea]

I learned in an E reg Peugeot 205, last MOT expired 2008, not bad as was sold in late 90s. Was in pretty good condition when sold.

Then my brother and I shared an '82 X reg metro which is too old to be on the MOT database and fell apart under us.

My first car (1995 Rover 214) was sold with a burned out exhaust valve and a shagged gearbox in 2001 and amazingly was put back on the road and the MOT only expired in 2010!

Next car, Rover 25 was a nice car and sold in 2005 at 4 years old, MOT expired 2007 and I had heard a whisper it had been smashed up.

My old MX-5 had an Irish MAZ plate - I sold the car to Garath the MX5 restorer 5 years ago but heard nothing of it after that - the plate ended up on another MX-5 and I can't remember the plate the car had previous to that, it was an L plate. Strongly suspect it was scrapped. It was a bit tatty in the sills.

My TVR S2 went to a chap in the Republic of Ireland so sadly is no longer traceable via the DVLA.

Still got my other cars! Not so good at selling them... Wife's 02-plate Puma was scrapped a year or 2 after selling it (2015), her old W-reg Corsa before that struggled until 2013. Again, good nick when it was sold. Her first car (G reg Nova) is too old to appear on the database and has long been recycled into bean cans...

[gd49]

96 Renault Megane didn't get an MOT after I sold it in 2009, not surprising as it would cut out revving past 3000. Did feel sorry for the chap who bought it without test driving but he did only pay £400 for it.

2003 MX-5 soldiered on for a couple of years, looks like it succumbed to sill rust, as all 5s do, in July this year. Though bizarrely it managed to shed 100,000 miles for its final MOT failure...

[A.J.M]

X975KGD Clio. Dead a few months after I traded it in.
Guy rolled it through a dry stone wall.
Was a hateful pile of st, but it was my first car, my brothers first car and my mums first new car. So was sad to find that out.

SP04VPC. Cat C/D write off on 13th December 08. Freelander, had it 7 weeks. £6693 repair bill on a £6950 car. Was gutted to see it go.
Still on the road I believe.

SR04ZLK. Replacement Freelander. Sold it to some people in Edinburgh. Then drove past it going to work a year later. Used to see it often till about 6 months ago.
Still looked clean and shiny.

[carboy2017]

M reg Mitsubishi Carisma - vandalized in 2014 hence scrapped
GF 52 reg VW Passat 2.0 sold in 2016 and still going strong in hounslow area

[Silverbullet767]

My first car is thankfully off the road, a huge catalogue of failures, I'm just glad I sold it at only a few years old. It was a right lemon even from the factory.

Can anyone beat this?

Reason(s) for failure
Centre Exhaust has part of the system excessively deteriorated (7.1.1a)
Centre Exhaust has a major leak of exhaust gases (7.1.2)
Exhaust emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits (7.3.D.3)
Nearside Front Suspension arm rubber bush deteriorated resulting in excessive movement (2.4.G.2)
Offside Front Suspension arm rubber bush deteriorated resulting in excessive movement (2.4.G.2)
Nearside Inner Vehicle structure has an inadequate repair, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings (6.1.B.2)
Offside Inner Vehicle structure has an inadequate repair, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings (6.1.B.2) Dangerous
Nearside Windscreen wiper does not clear the windscreen effectively (8.2.2)
Offside Windscreen wiper does not clear the windscreen effectively (8.2.2)
Front registration plate with character(s) which are not of equal width along their entire length (6.3.4a)
Nearside Front Body or chassis is damaged, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings (6.1.B.2) Dangerous
Offside Front Body or chassis has an unsatisfactory modification, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings (6.1.B.2) Dangerous
Nearside Body or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings (6.1.B.2) Dangerous
Offside Front Body or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings (6.1.B.2) Dangerous
Power steering component(s) leaking from a failed seal (2.3.3b)
Power steering component(s) leaking from a failed joint (2.3.3b)
Nearside Rear Sub-frame rubber bush deteriorated resulting in excessive movement (2.4.G.2)
Nearside Front Sub-frame attachment bracket/mounting damaged and its strength is seriously reduced (2.4.G.1) Dangerous
Offside Front Sub-frame attachment bracket/mounting insecure (2.4.G.1) Dangerous
Body has excessive displacement which may lead to loss of vehicle control (6.1.B.1a) Dangerous
Body insecure and dangerous to other road users (6.1.B.1b) Dangerous
Nearside Front constant velocity joint gaiter split (2.5.C.1a)
Nearside Front Tyre tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (4.1.E.1)
Nearside Front Shock absorber has a serious fluid leak (2.7.3)
Nearside Outer Body or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings (6.1.B.2)
Offside Outer Body or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings (6.1.B.2)
Offside Headlamp aim too low (1.8)
Nearside Headlamp aim too high (1.8)
Nearside rear parking brake recording little or no effort (3.7.B.6a)
front brake application uneven (3.7.B.2)
Service brake: efficiency below requirements (3.7.B.7)
Parking brake: efficiency below requirements (3.7.B.7)
Brakes imbalanced across an axle (3.7.B.5b)

Advisory notice item(s)
body skurts inscuer Dangerous
ns wheel arch cover inscuer

[mywifeshusband]

It appears my old Velocette Venom is now a Range Rover Sport and my old Land Rover is now a Volvo V70.
Those registration transfer are a pesky thing.

Alas my Kawasaki ZXR bought new in 1989 appears to have died in 2008. A previously owned classic Range Rover failed on end play in a "Torsion Bar".
I'd like to know where that is on it.

[mike80]

My first car (Ford Ka) managed to lose 20,000 miles between 2007 and 2008. Engine change or clocked...?

Then in 2008 it had loads of dangerous stuff which seemingly got fixed, and lasted til 2011.

[mfmman]

59 plate A4, vanished altogether, probably a plate swap

07 plate A4, still going strong according to MOT history has now migrated to Kent (from Bristol)

53 plate Passat, taxed and MOTed although oddly DVLA tax shows it has an MOT but MOT history shows it as being expired in 2010

E plate E30 M3 still going, no MOT now but was a few months ago so still probably ok. An extremely chequered MOT history but since it's worth about five times what I sold it for now, I don't suppose the owners are too bothered (Bristol > Sussex > Tyne and Wear for this one)

Can't recall reg numbers before that but would love to know if my Mk1 RS2000 is still going