The Joy of Running an Old Shed

[Baked_bean]

I feel people might be misunderstanding me, I happily drive older cars and have also had some new cars and understand why people go both ways. It was more the tone of the recent posts, which i found a little tedious to read compared to the usual on here.

I enjoy having a car that allows me to not care, but equally I feel we should celebrate people buying and indulging their passion rather than treat it as a dirty action.

[OMITN]

Can I politely request a time out on this discussion.

Let’s get back to the joys of sheds - whatever our motives - and do away with the “but you could drive something newer/faster/more electric than you do?” sidebar we’ve fallen into.

I think I might wash my shed this evening. Cleaned my wife’s Mazda CX-5 yesterday and it looks lovely now. Poor old Jean Shedley is looking rather forlorn beside it. So it’s time for the bi-annual soap suds..!

[Arnie Cunningham]

Certainly an attitude that I used to find annoying is when someone was buying a new car and said they were going to "invest" in a new car.
No investing going on there, unless it's a particular Porsche or Aston - but then mostly only an investment if you don't drive it.

These days my general view is splash 100K on something really nice or retire a couple of years earlier. I am all up for retiring!

Edited by Arnie Cunningham on Monday 14th June 12:17

[MrGTI6]

HJG said:

My shed gave up last week on the M25.
307HDi that cost me £600 3 years ago. Something's never been quite right about it. Odd sporadic behaviour from the engine, mostly with the boost. 90% of of the time it was fine. For the last year it has been happier running without the MAF and never threw a light with it disconnected. For over a year it has been telling me the diesel additive fluid is at minimum level.
Purchased car on 110 000 miles. Changed oil when purchased and ended on 165 000.
Was on the outside lane by Junction 9. Suddenly the engine made a noise I can only explain as somebody dropping a handful of cutlery into a metal sink. Couldn't see anything behind me due to the smoke. I was determined not to be that guy who ruins everybody's morning by breaking down on the M25. After battling across 4 lanes to get off the motorway I managed to get off at J9. Went for one last stab of the throttle pedal. Noise was horrific and every warning light came on including ones I'd never seen. To top it off, the final message was 'anti pollution fault'. Car was recovered after recovery team amusingly tried a can of easy start. Timing belt still on. Car has oil. Suspect turbo has been ingested by the engine.

Scrap now offering £320 which I thought is good. Everything works on the car which is a first for my Peugeot experiences.
I'm actually relieved as I knew it was going to give up at some point and now it's happened. Also I found my soul being withdrawn from me every time I sat in that 307. Never again.

3 years and 55k of motoring for £280. Or in other words £7.77 per month in depreciation. I'd say that's pretty good going.

[mercedeslimos]

I have never spent more than 5k on a car (with the exception of one, a 4-year-old Passat my parents were selling and I got a sweetheart deal - and still have the car now). I love working on cars, I fix all my family's machines and my current project is bringing my girlfriend's sister's newly-purchased MK5 Golf TDI stter up to a level I'd be happy to run around in it. Bodywork is crap, but it will be cleaned and polished - around here the cops tend to target cars that look rough. Mechanically she will be 100% though and that's where it counts, especially if, like me, you do 35k a year just to get to work and back due to the extortionate house price increases.

I reckon I could run a new S-Class (and trust me, every now and then I try to justify it to myself) but all it will do is cost me a fortune, which takes away from my holiday fund. Instead, I've got 10 cheap cars on the rive and chop and change. The latest is an 06 A4 Cabriolet, but the TDI variant. Don't feel so guilty going for a long spin of a weekend at 40mpg, whereas two tanks at 100 quid a throw in a (not special) petrol would soon get old. I like cars where it doesn't matter if the service history isn't the main dealer, as I do it all myself anyway. A car isn't truly mine or I can' trust it till I know what it's like mechanically.

As for my parents, they used to get a credit union loan every few years for a 1-2-year-old car and trade up every few years. They got sick of that when they approached retirement. Cue the 500 quid Rover 75 Tourer. Has cost them maybe 1-200 quid a year in service and maintenance/repair costs over the last four and a half years. Pre-covid they spent the money on six holidays a year instead. Not jealous in the slightest

[Cascade360]

OMITN said:

Can I politely request a time out on this discussion.

Let’s get back to the joys of sheds - whatever our motives - and do away with the “but you could drive something newer/faster/more electric than you do?” sidebar we’ve fallen into.

I think I might wash my shed this evening. Cleaned my wife’s Mazda CX-5 yesterday and it looks lovely now. Poor old Jean Shedley is looking rather forlorn beside it. So it’s time for the bi-annual soap suds..!

Is it really a shed if you wash it?

[anonymous-user]

Cascade360 said:

Is it really a shed if you wash it?

I think just because it is a shed in value terms it doesn't have to look like a shed. I even use genuine filters when I service my car once a year, to be honest they are only a couple of pounds more expensive that pattern parts on eBay.

As I said earlier, my 14 year old shed is in better condition that several of the company cars at work.

Aside from a fake MOT failure due to low front pads (they were 100% fine, they were trying it on) it would have passed the last 7 MOTs without a single advisory.

For me, the Joy of running a shed is having a perfectly good car with zero issues for 5% of the cost of a new one.

[mercedeslimos]

Cascade360 said:

OMITN said:

Can I politely request a time out on this discussion.

Let’s get back to the joys of sheds - whatever our motives - and do away with the “but you could drive something newer/faster/more electric than you do?” sidebar we’ve fallen into.

I think I might wash my shed this evening. Cleaned my wife’s Mazda CX-5 yesterday and it looks lovely now. Poor old Jean Shedley is looking rather forlorn beside it. So it’s time for the bi-annual soap suds..!

Is it really a shed if you wash it?

My Mondeo isn't really a shed by the definition (a 1500 quid car in the UK would be a €5k car here now since Br*xit), but I wash it when I feel like it and it comes up gleaming. I look after them exceedingly well and add bits and pieces (added a Titanium X Sport interior I got off Marketplace for €100) because Ido all my own work. Absolutely everything. I spent less servicing and maintained that car in 12 months (during covid, so only 22k miles) than one single service in the Ford dealer. My mother's 75 get washed maybe twice a year, but the rain keeps that clean, mostly

[*Fletch*]

bearman68 said:

I'd prefer to pay someone to paint, and to run a shed rather than a 'nice' car.

I love running sheds. I'm currently experimenting with finding the cheapest car I can, and seeing what that's like. I've bought a 2.0 petrol Focus for £70, got 12 months MOT on it, and I've been running that around.
What a revelation that car is. It's absolutely brilliant. I really like it. I have forgotten how bloody good the Mk1 Focus was (is). I'm running around in a car I love for the price of a tyre.
That's me winning at life I think.
If I wanted to spend big money, I think I'd buy a glider, where extra performance actually makes a difference to the outcome of a journey. But I'm not good enough a pilot for that just yet.

Same here. I've been running a Mk1 Focus 1.6 shed for 4 years alongside more exotic stuff like a Nissan GTR. I've put 50k miles on it in that time and I'm shocked how good it's been. The gear change is super sweet, it handles well even on crap tyres, is comfortable with working air con, anonymous and I can leave it anywhere or chuck anything in it.

Brake discs are £15 each compared to £600 each for the GTR!

[anonymous-user]

OMITN said:

Can I politely request a time out on this discussion.

Let’s get back to the joys of sheds - whatever our motives - and do away with the “but you could drive something newer/faster/more electric than you do?” sidebar we’ve fallen into.

I think I might wash my shed this evening. Cleaned my wife’s Mazda CX-5 yesterday and it looks lovely now. Poor old Jean Shedley is looking rather forlorn beside it. So it’s time for the bi-annual soap suds..!

THIS IN BIG CAPITALS!

Getting back on the actual focus of the thread.

Looks like we are going to get a shed next week or so.

Wondered insurance, do people fully comp sheds ? Have always used it for cars but is it worth any savings on budget runarounds ?

[anonymous-user]

Iwantafusca said:

Wondered insurance, do people fully comp sheds ? Have always used it for cars but is it worth any savings on budget runarounds ?

Yes, my shed is fully comp, the last time I checked it was actually cheaper for me than 3rd party. I live in greater London and it was £195 for the year which also allows me to drive any other car 3rd party.

Let's be honest, if someone drives into me I hope they don't stop and just drive away. That was I can just kick off the broken plastic bits and just get on with my day.

[Ryyy]

Arnie Cunningham said:

Certainly an attitude that I used to find annoying is when someone was buying a new car and said they were going to "invest" in a new car.
No investing going on there, unless it's a particular Porsche or Aston - but then mostly only an investment if you don't drive it.

These days my general view is splash 100K on something really nice or retire a couple of years earlier. I am all up for retiring!

Edited by Arnie Cunningham on Monday 14th June 12:17

When time and space allows I want to invest in a clio 182 for the summertime, I dont think I'd lose my money on that one

[cedrichn]

Iwantafusca said:

Looks like we are going to get a shed next week or so.

Wondered insurance, do people fully comp sheds ? Have always used it for cars but is it worth any savings on budget runarounds ?

What do you get ?

I think all my cars are on 3rd party. Not sure there is a big difference...but if I have any accident at risk, I will just try to fix it myself, or bin it. Not sure the maths add good at the end of the day (especially if you have to tell every insurance and get a premium associated on every car...)

[waynecyclist]

cedrichn said:

Iwantafusca said:

Looks like we are going to get a shed next week or so.

Wondered insurance, do people fully comp sheds ? Have always used it for cars but is it worth any savings on budget runarounds ?

What do you get ?

I think all my cars are on 3rd party. Not sure there is a big difference...but if I have any accident at risk, I will just try to fix it myself, or bin it. Not sure the maths add good at the end of the day (especially if you have to tell every insurance and get a premium associated on every car...)

I have found 3rd party to be more expensive than fully comp in most cases

[Digby]

Iwantafusca said:

Wondered insurance, do people fully comp sheds ? Have always used it for cars but is it worth any savings on budget runarounds ?

Might be an age thing, but TPF&T or even just TP often works out either more expensive or saves me about a fiver over FC, so I FC everything.

Voluntary excess is something else I don’t bother with. Adding 500 quid of my own saves about 20 pounds a year.

[Arnie Cunningham]

I generally wash the cars as and when they need it. The landrover gets washed about once a decade, but I think it might be due.

The trigger for this is:
a) I turned up to the scrap yard the other day and they through I was selling, not buying
b) I towed a friends car last week and we were all amused when some lads commented that the wrong car was doing the towing.

Or maybe I go all in and see how camouflaged it can get.

Edited by Arnie Cunningham on Monday 14th June 13:54

[anonymous-user]

cedrichn said:

Iwantafusca said:

Looks like we are going to get a shed next week or so.

Wondered insurance, do people fully comp sheds ? Have always used it for cars but is it worth any savings on budget runarounds ?

What do you get ?

I think all my cars are on 3rd party. Not sure there is a big difference...but if I have any accident at risk, I will just try to fix it myself, or bin it. Not sure the maths add good at the end of the day (especially if you have to tell every insurance and get a premium associated on every car...)

It’s a 05 polo with 95k on the clock. Getting new mot and a service in the price. Priced at £999.

[OMITN]

Joey Deacon said:

Cascade360 said:

Is it really a shed if you wash it?

I think just because it is a shed in value terms it doesn't have to look like a shed. I even use genuine filters when I service my car once a year, to be honest they are only a couple of pounds more expensive that pattern parts on eBay.

As I said earlier, my 14 year old shed is in better condition that several of the company cars at work.

Aside from a fake MOT failure due to low front pads (they were 100% fine, they were trying it on) it would have passed the last 7 MOTs without a single advisory.

For me, the Joy of running a shed is having a perfectly good car with zero issues for 5% of the cost of a new one.

It’s only laziness that’s stopped me washing it for a while. I love my cars to be in good, clean condition.

I need to wind myself up to doing some work on it - had some ongoing personal life stuff to deal with (illnesses in the family) that have distracted of late. Must pull my finger out before the summer is over….

[Jaguar steve]

waynecyclist said:

I have found 3rd party to be more expensive than fully comp in most cases

Me too - for both sheds and nicer cars. You're getting more cover for less money which makes no sense at all.

I wonder though if the insurer is making the assumption that if you don't care enough about your own car to want to insure it you also don't care much about your driving or other people's stuff which in turn makes you a higher risk.

[spreadsheet monkey]

Baked_bean said:

Reading this thread in the past has been interesting, as i appreciate driving an old shed occasionally and try not to get wrapped up in the new is better thing.

But I see it has now descended in typical PH fashion with loads of inverse snobbery about how they could afford a Veyron but chose a Vectra estate instead. I understand but it all just seems abit snobby, especially saying you cant see why people spend money on cars on a website about cars.

^^ Totally agree with this!

Sheds are all well and good, and I've had several and enjoy reading other peoples' stories on this thread. But not everyone wants to drive a shed. Not everyone has the skills, or the tools, or the space to work on their cars themselves. Not everyone can cheerfully shrug it off when their car breaks down on the M25 and makes a noise like "dropping a handful of cutlery into a metal sink" - some would be panicking in that situation.

Some people are quite happy with paying X thousand a year to lease a new Golf or Merc A-class or whatever. They're not bothered that it's possible to run a 10 year old Avensis for less. They just want warranty cover, no MOT stress, and no lost evenings or weekends diagnosing faults or trawling ebay for parts that the dealers no longer stock.

It doesn't make them less of an enthusiast.

Edited by spreadsheet monkey on Monday 14th June 15:06