Buying a reliable car when you don't have much money
Discussion
I lose patience a bit with people sometimes...
Some friends of ours don't have a lot of money... six months ago their Scenic 19 DCI broke down on the motorway, the AA came and towed the car to their local garage who diagnosed a turbo had gone and in doing so damaged the engine. The anticipated bill ran into £££. It had been a nightmare car, in the previous 12 months it had had all brakes disks, pads, a couple of callipers £600, a clutch and duel mass flywheel £1000, a dash pod £300, two springs break, £300 plus loads of other faults. they had spent around £3000 in 12 months on repairs and servicing! They still have a loan for the car and took further ones for the repairs. They sold the car for spares for £800 and asked me to look around for a car for them for that amount. I hate doing this, but they are friends...
So with a budget of £800 max I looked around and came up with a 1999 Toyota Corolla 1.3 petrol, local car, one owner from new, full dealer service history, all good tyres, air con re-gased 6 months ago and working, recent cam belt at the dealers, all the documentation, 9 months MoT, absolutely immaculate, with just 35k miles. It looked like a new car.
I took them to see it and her reaction was she didn't like the colour, and the interior was disgusting, and he said it was "old fashioned". I argued that it may be, but it would be reliable and didn't need a penny spending on it, and it was a good car, and they didn't have much money...
several cars later, and more rejections, I gave up and they went to a dealer, took out another loan, and bought a £2000 TDI Golf with 140k miles on it. The corolla was so nice I recommended it to another friend to replace her old Micra, its been faultless.
Last month the turbo went on the TDI... so they had to pay a £700 bill, probably another loan. She called last night to say she had been towed to a garage (no AA cover now as they couldn't afford to renew) as it broke down, and they have diagnosed a broken cam belt.
She then asked me if I knew of a good a good car for around £500...
Some friends of ours don't have a lot of money... six months ago their Scenic 19 DCI broke down on the motorway, the AA came and towed the car to their local garage who diagnosed a turbo had gone and in doing so damaged the engine. The anticipated bill ran into £££. It had been a nightmare car, in the previous 12 months it had had all brakes disks, pads, a couple of callipers £600, a clutch and duel mass flywheel £1000, a dash pod £300, two springs break, £300 plus loads of other faults. they had spent around £3000 in 12 months on repairs and servicing! They still have a loan for the car and took further ones for the repairs. They sold the car for spares for £800 and asked me to look around for a car for them for that amount. I hate doing this, but they are friends...
So with a budget of £800 max I looked around and came up with a 1999 Toyota Corolla 1.3 petrol, local car, one owner from new, full dealer service history, all good tyres, air con re-gased 6 months ago and working, recent cam belt at the dealers, all the documentation, 9 months MoT, absolutely immaculate, with just 35k miles. It looked like a new car.
I took them to see it and her reaction was she didn't like the colour, and the interior was disgusting, and he said it was "old fashioned". I argued that it may be, but it would be reliable and didn't need a penny spending on it, and it was a good car, and they didn't have much money...
several cars later, and more rejections, I gave up and they went to a dealer, took out another loan, and bought a £2000 TDI Golf with 140k miles on it. The corolla was so nice I recommended it to another friend to replace her old Micra, its been faultless.
Last month the turbo went on the TDI... so they had to pay a £700 bill, probably another loan. She called last night to say she had been towed to a garage (no AA cover now as they couldn't afford to renew) as it broke down, and they have diagnosed a broken cam belt.
She then asked me if I knew of a good a good car for around £500...
zaphod42 said:
Dont do it.
Anything you recommend now, should it go wrong, will be your fault and "recommended an unreliable car".
yep, that why I hate getting cars for friends...Anything you recommend now, should it go wrong, will be your fault and "recommended an unreliable car".
They do live hand to mouth... never have any money, yet they don't have a mortgage and they earn around £35k between them! work that one out!
You can lead a Horse to water but you can't make it drink.
With a budget of only £800 I don't think you can be too fussy really and that Corolla sounded like a steal at that price.
As others have said I wouldn't bother trying to help again, I used to help people in car choices too but after being ignored several time which ultimately led to the wrong car I've given up.
With a budget of only £800 I don't think you can be too fussy really and that Corolla sounded like a steal at that price.
As others have said I wouldn't bother trying to help again, I used to help people in car choices too but after being ignored several time which ultimately led to the wrong car I've given up.
All varying degrees of dull, but practical (up to £700 for haggling):
Nissan
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/3577155.htm
Golf Mk3 1.6
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/3599347.htm
Rover 45
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/3559357.htm
Nissan
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/3577155.htm
Golf Mk3 1.6
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/3599347.htm
Rover 45
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/3559357.htm
buzzer said:
[Did you read the first post? 
Er, maybe not as well as I should have...I've had an Almera for 9 years, never failed to start, never been towed etc. The one posted above is the older model, you could get a 2001 onwards car from about £1k, this one doesn't look old, looks a good buy to me http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/3609725.htm
Edited by MG511 on Friday 3rd February 09:11
They're in a self inflicted downward spiral when it comes to car ownership thanks to their own vanity. I'd step well away as I can't see it being of any benefit to you, and as others have said, you will be blamed if the £500 car goes wrong, which at that price point is very much pot luck no matter how carefully you choose the car.
My Parents had a newish Renault and never again it spent more time on the back of an AA van than on the road.
Rather than go for a turbo diesel why dont you go for a small petrol engine.
Petrols cheaper so are the cars and also less trouble.
I'm in the same boat as yourself and had a look on good old ebay, in the end I bought myself a Audi A4 52,000 on clock with 4 months tax and mot for £281 it needed a stereo and the electric window was broken, but it did come with a new electric window kit.
It took me about a day to fix and £10 for cd player, then the following day I gave it a good wash and wax, and that was nearly a year ago. in that time all its needed is a clutch and a stat, it also flew through a new ticket.
Looking on ebay you can get yourself a nice A4 for around £800 with lowish mileage, but you may have to travel to get the right car.
I would recommend one in fact I'm sticking with Audi's from now on.
Infact my father now has a 17 year old A6 which has in the last 3 years has only needed a tyre and a wiper blade, and drives great. he rather that than the 5 year old renault.
Also the Audi drives better.
Rather than go for a turbo diesel why dont you go for a small petrol engine.
Petrols cheaper so are the cars and also less trouble.
I'm in the same boat as yourself and had a look on good old ebay, in the end I bought myself a Audi A4 52,000 on clock with 4 months tax and mot for £281 it needed a stereo and the electric window was broken, but it did come with a new electric window kit.
It took me about a day to fix and £10 for cd player, then the following day I gave it a good wash and wax, and that was nearly a year ago. in that time all its needed is a clutch and a stat, it also flew through a new ticket.
Looking on ebay you can get yourself a nice A4 for around £800 with lowish mileage, but you may have to travel to get the right car.
I would recommend one in fact I'm sticking with Audi's from now on.
Infact my father now has a 17 year old A6 which has in the last 3 years has only needed a tyre and a wiper blade, and drives great. he rather that than the 5 year old renault.
Also the Audi drives better.
Sounds like they have a case of the brainwashing about diesels being ultra reliable and the only kind of car someone should buy in the modern day. Not only is a Renault diesel unreliable from memory they're not especially economical either.
I bought a Volvo in the middle of last winter with hardly any research, it hasn't let me down once. I could have bought more interesting cars, more economical cars, and probably much better cars, but in terms of running a banger it has been as painless as could have been expected.
If you are at all interested in the image of your car and what others think then either don't run a car until you can afford a better one, grow up and stop worrying about others or get yourself down to the nearest 'we sell finance and chuck in car' merchant and hock up for 5 years on a nearly new Vauxhall or Ford that will be worth about 85p when you come to sell it.
I bought a Volvo in the middle of last winter with hardly any research, it hasn't let me down once. I could have bought more interesting cars, more economical cars, and probably much better cars, but in terms of running a banger it has been as painless as could have been expected.
If you are at all interested in the image of your car and what others think then either don't run a car until you can afford a better one, grow up and stop worrying about others or get yourself down to the nearest 'we sell finance and chuck in car' merchant and hock up for 5 years on a nearly new Vauxhall or Ford that will be worth about 85p when you come to sell it.
zaphod42 said:
Dont do it.
Anything you recommend now, should it go wrong, will be your fault and "recommended an unreliable car".
Anything you recommend now, should it go wrong, will be your fault and "recommended an unreliable car".
They sound too stupid, vain and incompetent for bangernomics. Point them at a new Hyundai or Kia as it'll probably work out cheaper for them in the long run, assuming they don't void the warranty by failing to service it 
Or just point them at SoTW
my mate and his misses are like this. she's pregers, they live in the sticks and its a 50 mile round trip to her job, so she needs a realible motor. Her mgf broke (it was a dog), then her corsa broke (couldn't have seen a more battered example).
She rings me for advice, i simply said for your 1.5-2k just be boring and get a ford focus, there's plenty around. only look at service history and recipts for work done, and make sure it's looks clean and unabused. I told here to overrule her fella (i know what he's like with bad motors) and buy one.
he took here to see:
- alfa 156 for 800quid with 150K, it looked abused from the pics i saw
- jag xj, cool but 800quid and he can not pay to run/repair that
- old fiat punto (oh dear)
she got the focus, and 4 months in not one issue. all the above would have cost ££ and broke down.
additionally someone drove into it head on, they were both ok. all the above not so sure. she got another focus last week with the insurance payout.
it's nice to dream, but some people need to be REAL!!
She rings me for advice, i simply said for your 1.5-2k just be boring and get a ford focus, there's plenty around. only look at service history and recipts for work done, and make sure it's looks clean and unabused. I told here to overrule her fella (i know what he's like with bad motors) and buy one.
he took here to see:
- alfa 156 for 800quid with 150K, it looked abused from the pics i saw
- jag xj, cool but 800quid and he can not pay to run/repair that
- old fiat punto (oh dear)
she got the focus, and 4 months in not one issue. all the above would have cost ££ and broke down.
additionally someone drove into it head on, they were both ok. all the above not so sure. she got another focus last week with the insurance payout.
it's nice to dream, but some people need to be REAL!!
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