What happens to older cars?
Discussion
I guess it obvious that over the years some cars get crashed, they die through lack of maintenance, or they just get worn out and fail MOTs. These cars end up in the scrapyard.
Since about 2000 most cars have been almost rust proof.
The engines have been pretty solidly built and tend not to go wrong.
So, I’ve been wondering if anything happens to cars that don’t get scrapped.
Where are they?
Do we export a load of our old cars to India or somewhere?
Or do scrappers just take perfectly good cars and dismantle them?
Where do all the good condition old cars go?
Since about 2000 most cars have been almost rust proof.
The engines have been pretty solidly built and tend not to go wrong.
So, I’ve been wondering if anything happens to cars that don’t get scrapped.
Where are they?
Do we export a load of our old cars to India or somewhere?
Or do scrappers just take perfectly good cars and dismantle them?
Where do all the good condition old cars go?
I'm hiding one in a garage and the man across the road from me has about a dozen squirelled away.
Most get scrapped in the normal manner or have fallen prey to the £2000 scrappage scheme. I've scrapped cars in the past when I could have got more by selling them but didn't have the time or space to deal with an untaxed motor and the kind of people who turn up to view cheap cars.
Most get scrapped in the normal manner or have fallen prey to the £2000 scrappage scheme. I've scrapped cars in the past when I could have got more by selling them but didn't have the time or space to deal with an untaxed motor and the kind of people who turn up to view cheap cars.
Snowboy said:
Since about 2000 most cars have been almost rust proof.
The engines have been pretty solidly built and tend not to go wrong.
Cars don't rust like they used too but I wouldn't say they are rust proof.The engines have been pretty solidly built and tend not to go wrong.
I suspect the real answer is that they become uneconomical to repair when a big ticket item like a Turbo or a Clutch/DMF fails.
rohrl said:
I'm hiding one in a garage and the man across the road from me has about a dozen squirelled away.
Most get scrapped in the normal manner or have fallen prey to the £2000 scrappage scheme. I've scrapped cars in the past when I could have got more by selling them but didn't have the time or space to deal with an untaxed motor and the kind of people who turn up to view cheap cars.
Not just me then!Most get scrapped in the normal manner or have fallen prey to the £2000 scrappage scheme. I've scrapped cars in the past when I could have got more by selling them but didn't have the time or space to deal with an untaxed motor and the kind of people who turn up to view cheap cars.
I scrapped a perfectly serviceable 206gti that even had MOT left. It had some dents and a blowing exhaust so i thought £300 would see it go pretty quickly.
I had someone turn their nose up at it because the last 20k miles had no service history!
Ended up scrapping it for £180 before i lost the plot with the next person who wanted to swap an Xbox for it.
I've got a tough decision to make on our old Impreza estate. The clutch started slipping last weekend - managed to stop it by backing off the adjuster on the cable a couple of turns, but it isn't going to last much longer. Also I think the rear diff is dying - there is a rumbling sound like a rear wheel bearing, but I've changed both bearings and it has made no difference.
Scrap it? Logically, yes, I could pick up another one which works for the £500 that this one cost. But it's a solid tidy old car and it seems a terrible waste just to throw it away. So if anyone has a decent rear diff for a '95 Impreza Sport wagon, let me know.
Scrap it? Logically, yes, I could pick up another one which works for the £500 that this one cost. But it's a solid tidy old car and it seems a terrible waste just to throw it away. So if anyone has a decent rear diff for a '95 Impreza Sport wagon, let me know.
I think most cars eventually get scrapped because something needs replacing that's worth more than the car. I suspect suspension components are the most common culprit but things like clutches, wheel bearings, brakes, etc. will be significant too.
We have one of the highest rates of depreciation in the world, it doesn't take long for second-hand cars to be worth less than many of their individual components.
We have one of the highest rates of depreciation in the world, it doesn't take long for second-hand cars to be worth less than many of their individual components.
Its when someone takes their £1000 car for MOT and it needs two tyres at (£100 each), front wishbones and ball joints (£400), new brakes all round (£400), plus a service, battery on its way out and it is easy at garage prices to write off a car with plenty of life left in it, I think a lot of cars get scrapped as the garage has said it needs stuff but actually its probably ok.
Car used to get bodged to within an inch of their lives, kept going despite all the odds but now they jist get thrown away when they arent actually that bad.
The scrappage scheme got soem crap off the roads but also a lot of perfectly servicable vehicles.
I guess nowadays the car is pretty immaterial almost, compared to the cost of taxing, fueling and insuring one so if you have to pay all that, why drive a snotter. It is kind of like the football stickers when you were a kid, the car is like the big shiny book to put the stickers in, cheap to get and then actually driving it is like buying the stickers every day and ending up skint !
Car used to get bodged to within an inch of their lives, kept going despite all the odds but now they jist get thrown away when they arent actually that bad.
The scrappage scheme got soem crap off the roads but also a lot of perfectly servicable vehicles.
I guess nowadays the car is pretty immaterial almost, compared to the cost of taxing, fueling and insuring one so if you have to pay all that, why drive a snotter. It is kind of like the football stickers when you were a kid, the car is like the big shiny book to put the stickers in, cheap to get and then actually driving it is like buying the stickers every day and ending up skint !
J4CKO said:
good stuff
This hits the nail on the head. Most people outside of PH see the car like a white good that gets them from A to B and will engage in some variety of PCP to buy a shiny new car with cheap tax, a warranty and no MOT to worry about.Its that versus driving something not as shiny which makes you look poorer than the Joneses and exposure to sucking of teeth at the service desk.
Snowboy said:
Where do all the good condition old cars go?
I own two of them! 1997 Vauxhall Astra and 1995 BMW 525i. Both of them were eligible for the scrappage scheme but I didn't want to buy a new car and as they don't cost much to run (e.g. 87 quid for a new cat on the Astra) I can't see the point of getting rid of them.You won't see many good older cars for sale because the owners want to hang on to them.
Dave_ said:
rohrl said:
I'm hiding one in a garage and the man across the road from me has about a dozen squirelled away.
Most get scrapped in the normal manner or have fallen prey to the £2000 scrappage scheme. I've scrapped cars in the past when I could have got more by selling them but didn't have the time or space to deal with an untaxed motor and the kind of people who turn up to view cheap cars.
Not just me then!Most get scrapped in the normal manner or have fallen prey to the £2000 scrappage scheme. I've scrapped cars in the past when I could have got more by selling them but didn't have the time or space to deal with an untaxed motor and the kind of people who turn up to view cheap cars.
I scrapped a perfectly serviceable 206gti that even had MOT left. It had some dents and a blowing exhaust so i thought £300 would see it go pretty quickly.
I had someone turn their nose up at it because the last 20k miles had no service history!
Ended up scrapping it for £180 before i lost the plot with the next person who wanted to swap an Xbox for it.
J4CKO said:
Its when someone takes their £1000 car for MOT and it needs two tyres at (£100 each), front wishbones and ball joints (£400), new brakes all round (£400), plus a service, battery on its way out and it is easy at garage prices to write off a car
I understand what you're saying but when you can buy a new car cheaper than the repair cost, why fix the old one?Newer cars are better in almost every way, all I will say however is that they are harder for the home mechanic to fix and they are optimised to be more dependable within a certain waranty period- say, 3 years, after that the manufacturer has zero interest in making the car robust and durable (with a few merciful exceptions- Mercedes during the W124 era had a more ling term vision but that did them no favours in the consumerist place we live in). Once one of those complex systems goes wrong, only a specilist with an extorsionate hourly rate has the know how to fix it. That's when they get scrapped- and this ties in to the savage depreciation and high component and labour cost someone else was touting.
In places like Germany older cars that fail the TUV simply go to Poland and start a new life. In RHD UK that's rather more difficult.
In places like Germany older cars that fail the TUV simply go to Poland and start a new life. In RHD UK that's rather more difficult.
Ozzie Osmond said:
I understand what you're saying but when you can buy a new car cheaper than the repair cost, why fix the old one?
I've carried out numerous 'uneconomical' repairs because a) Better the devil you know. The next car might turn out to have an even worse fault and is likely to need a few odds n sods anyway.
b) I couldn't be arsed finding the next car (an expense in itself)
c) Its resale value is irrelevant to me.
Edited by SuperHangOn on Monday 23 April 15:10
SuperHangOn said:
Ozzie Osmond said:
I understand what you're saying but when you can buy a new car cheaper than the repair cost, why fix the old one?
I've carried out numerous 'uneconomical' repairs because a) Better the devil you know. The next car might turn out to have an even worse fault and is likely to need a few odds n sods anyway.
b) I couldn't be arsed finding the next car (an expense in itself)
c) Its resale value is irrelevant to me.
Edited by SuperHangOn on Monday 23 April 15:10
ker that stole my 1988 E30 325 Touring. i loved that car and intended on keeping it running. It's never been recovered either 
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