Buying a **** cheap car
Discussion
Hi all,
Where would you recommend looking for the cheapest cars available? I'm talking less than £300, rusty, binned or whatever. I'm looking for something to get me to mongolia on next years mongol Rally.
So far I've been on eBay, Facebook Marketplace etc which might be good. I've also looked at Copart / ASM salvage auctions but the buyers fees seem to outweigh the low cost at these sorts of prices. Also gonna try phone a few breakers directly, but I get the feeling they don't sell stuff directly to the public as much as in the past. I also tried a couple of owners groups.
Likely going for a Fiat Panda (the 4x4 would be amazing but likely too pricey), if that has any effect.
Cheers!
Where would you recommend looking for the cheapest cars available? I'm talking less than £300, rusty, binned or whatever. I'm looking for something to get me to mongolia on next years mongol Rally.
So far I've been on eBay, Facebook Marketplace etc which might be good. I've also looked at Copart / ASM salvage auctions but the buyers fees seem to outweigh the low cost at these sorts of prices. Also gonna try phone a few breakers directly, but I get the feeling they don't sell stuff directly to the public as much as in the past. I also tried a couple of owners groups.
Likely going for a Fiat Panda (the 4x4 would be amazing but likely too pricey), if that has any effect.
Cheers!
I've bought a lot from local garages - the last one was £50 for a C3 1.4 petrol. It had just had the cam belt changed and had 1/2 a tank of petrol, but it needed a battery. It had been bumped on the front, and damaged the bumper and headlight. I cable tied it together, and off it went. Ideal if you don't care what it looks like.
bearman68 said:
I've bought a lot from local garages - the last one was £50 for a C3 1.4 petrol. It had just had the cam belt changed and had 1/2 a tank of petrol, but it needed a battery. It had been bumped on the front, and damaged the bumper and headlight. I cable tied it together, and off it went. Ideal if you don't care what it looks like.
Huh, I hadn't thought about that. I might give some local ones a go, cheers!MK1 Focus, MB Civic, Accord, Corolla, Avensis/Carina, Yaris, K11 Micra.
Focus is brilliant, Mrs got a 1.6 with MOT and no real issues other than dented doors and sluggish top end performance, for £250. Sailed through it's subsequent MOT after changing a number plate bulb with not even an advisory. They drive nicely too. I'm not a Ford guy but I don't have a bad word to say about them.
MB Civic is more of the same, probably even better engines than the Focus actually, they will run for a considerable amount of time, on the rev limiter, with a completely empty sump. Rust can be an issue, but as long as it's got an MOT, if you're just driving it to mongolia and leaving it there it's not an issue.
Accord (6th gen - 98-02) is the same as the Civic really, built well by Swindonites, again they can rot but for your purpose, not an issue. Also the cat will be worth considerably more than the whole car if you pay £300. If you cut the cat off and weld in a straight pipe your £300 car will become free, and probably leave you at least £200 up.
All 3 Toyotas will be completely indestructible, but you might struggle to get one for £300 for that reason. Starlets are worth a look too.
K11 Micra, again, pretty much indestructible mechanically but can rot. Should be easy to find under £300. If they'll do years of service on the kebab/curry/pizza/chinese runs, mongolia will be a doddle.
Accord would be the nicest place to sit for the long slog to mongolia, but they'd all be good choices. Being a Honda guy the Hondas are the only cars I REALLY know about, and if you do get one, take a couple of spare ignition coils and ignition control modules. They're pennies from scrapyards and are the most likely (although still pretty unlikely) failure. Doesn't matter what 90s Honda they come from, if it's a 4 cylinder and the part physically fits the distributor, it should work.
Focus is brilliant, Mrs got a 1.6 with MOT and no real issues other than dented doors and sluggish top end performance, for £250. Sailed through it's subsequent MOT after changing a number plate bulb with not even an advisory. They drive nicely too. I'm not a Ford guy but I don't have a bad word to say about them.
MB Civic is more of the same, probably even better engines than the Focus actually, they will run for a considerable amount of time, on the rev limiter, with a completely empty sump. Rust can be an issue, but as long as it's got an MOT, if you're just driving it to mongolia and leaving it there it's not an issue.
Accord (6th gen - 98-02) is the same as the Civic really, built well by Swindonites, again they can rot but for your purpose, not an issue. Also the cat will be worth considerably more than the whole car if you pay £300. If you cut the cat off and weld in a straight pipe your £300 car will become free, and probably leave you at least £200 up.
All 3 Toyotas will be completely indestructible, but you might struggle to get one for £300 for that reason. Starlets are worth a look too.
K11 Micra, again, pretty much indestructible mechanically but can rot. Should be easy to find under £300. If they'll do years of service on the kebab/curry/pizza/chinese runs, mongolia will be a doddle.
Accord would be the nicest place to sit for the long slog to mongolia, but they'd all be good choices. Being a Honda guy the Hondas are the only cars I REALLY know about, and if you do get one, take a couple of spare ignition coils and ignition control modules. They're pennies from scrapyards and are the most likely (although still pretty unlikely) failure. Doesn't matter what 90s Honda they come from, if it's a 4 cylinder and the part physically fits the distributor, it should work.
My last two qualifiers have come from EBay, both from the South coast, both 1997/8 Honda Civics. The current one is about to be treated to new rear calipers as I found some quite cheaply online and one is knackered. I found that out while putting new discs on it, having done the fronts a few months back. Purchase price was £175. Full MDSH from the supplying dealer and only two owners before me. The driver's window is currently held up with a piece of wood. I have a spare door which I may or may not cannibalise or fit as a replacement. I bought it to save my motorcycle corroding two winters ago but it was good enough to keep. If it passes another MOT without major expense I'll run it this winter, too, it's very solid underneath. I suppose it will have cost me about £400 a year in total. Good for tip runs, too.
To be honest I've definitely been overlooking Hondas and Toyotas... had a look around and a Jazz could be a good contender. One of the (three) rules is that the car must be less than 1.2l, so a Jazz, Civic, Yaris etc, and the three of us going are pretty tall so a larger car would be nice 
I had also been looking at 1.2 Skoda Fabia estates - we could sleep in the back if it came to it.
Some really good ideas, thanks all! Hoping to go see some soon - my thinking is that having it for 11 months beforehand means any major issues can be discovered and fixed fairly easily and cheaply!
I had also been looking at 1.2 Skoda Fabia estates - we could sleep in the back if it came to it.Some really good ideas, thanks all! Hoping to go see some soon - my thinking is that having it for 11 months beforehand means any major issues can be discovered and fixed fairly easily and cheaply!
I have a 2002 1.6 Focus Estate LX that only has 71k on it, the gearbox has just gone funny in D which leads me to think it needs a solenoid or box flush. Still drives if you put it in N when you lose drive. MOT Sept. Not needed anymore. It has some Grandad driver scrapes but is rust free and in good nick decent tyres, £350. Herts. Would have pm'ed you but won't work.
lost in espace said:
I have a 2002 1.6 Focus Estate LX that only has 71k on it, the gearbox has just gone funny in D which leads me to think it needs a solenoid or box flush. Still drives if you put it in N when you lose drive. MOT Sept. Not needed anymore. It has some Grandad driver scrapes but is rust free and in good nick decent tyres, £350. Herts. Would have pm'ed you but won't work.
Damn, I have considered getting a 1.6 and just disabling one of the injectors 
Those cars are pretty hard to find, as they are usually not advertised, so you need to do the footwork (literally) yourself.
Ring up local used car dealers, ask them if they have any traded in cheap cars they want to get rid, or do they know anyone who has one, as said previously garages can have some sheds that needs to go, or maybe side of the road.
As well as said before, look on ebay and try to find some auctions with unassuming or unpopular car, as obviously everyone will search for BMW 3 series, but Mitsubishi Mirage 1.2? probably noone
Ring up local used car dealers, ask them if they have any traded in cheap cars they want to get rid, or do they know anyone who has one, as said previously garages can have some sheds that needs to go, or maybe side of the road.
As well as said before, look on ebay and try to find some auctions with unassuming or unpopular car, as obviously everyone will search for BMW 3 series, but Mitsubishi Mirage 1.2? probably noone
Update: I've bought a 2009 Fiat Panda 1.2 for £300. It's got just under 100k miles. Needs new brake calipers and discs at the front, the exhaust is blowing (doesn't matter for my use case), and I have a camshaft position sensor error code, which hopefully is just wiring or connection issues. It runs fine. Gearbox initial impressions are that it's actually smoother than my two (arguably) nicer cars. Also it had a moment with the electronic power steering, I'll keep an eye but that wouldn't stop us getting to mongolia.
I actually found it on https://www.desperateseller.co.uk/ - not sure if it was via another site or not. The place seemed like a scrap car metal buyer who resold anything decent enough not to crush. I was anticipating buying something privately, but no one on facebook was keen on my £300 offers
I actually found it on https://www.desperateseller.co.uk/ - not sure if it was via another site or not. The place seemed like a scrap car metal buyer who resold anything decent enough not to crush. I was anticipating buying something privately, but no one on facebook was keen on my £300 offers
Try “round the back” of small independent garages especially outside of town centres where there is less pressure on space, thus cheapies remain longer .Also some of the posher dealerships have a bit of land or a yard discreetly away from their main showroom. Just ask.Cars can be ok(ish) just too labour intensive for garage to clean and commission.
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