How much to patch up the bodywork on this car?

[Merseysider82]

Been offered this Fiesta for £600, service history, it's mechanically great, just the back puts me off and i wouldn't want to spend much, if you were buying the car, what would you do?

Thanks.

[Cylon2007]

For £600 and mechanically sound I'd just leave it as it is and drive it.

[randlemarcus]

Six hundred doesn't allow a huge amount before you are spending a decent percentage of the car value to hide flaws. Would you be happy with a ten foot repair, i.e. a rattle can from Halfords?

[itz_baseline]

I'd sand myself and rattle can it. Can get some good results if you take your time and prep properly. Loads of guides on YouTube.

[Gad-Westy]

If you're patient you may be able to find a replacement red bumper for not a lot of money.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255118740046?hash=item3...

Edited by Gad-Westy on Wednesday 2nd February 16:51

[Snails]

At £600 I'd be tempted to just leave it as is.

If you really wanted to fix it cheaply, see if local breakers had a mk6 rear bumper available and fit it yourself. There are also several for sale on ebay.

[Red9zero]

As above, rattle can it for now and keep an eye out for a bumper locally.

[steveo3002]

diy it in the better weather ...£40 in materials could have it looking good enough

[Krikkit]

I wouldn't even bother painting it, just get on facebook and find a replacement rear bumper at some point.

[Petrus1983]

A spray can and a little patience will have that coming up absolutely fine. Will be a nice little car for£650.

[Mr-B]

Leave it. You will find most other drivers giving you a wide berth in car parks making your job if ingress and egress easier, you can thank me later.

[steveo3002]

boot badge says festa lol....have to call it uncle festa

[Export56]

Agree with the posters, diy or 2nd hand. Brilliant little cars, my kids had the same model, saw two of them through uni and its still going. Drives so well, I like to take it out to the local shops to pick things up.

[SteBrown91]

There’s a half decent bumper in colour for 80 quid on eBay - thats what I would do.

[Lester H]

Unless you really have the skills, try a small street corner body shop and stress that you are paying cash and just want it tidied up to 'adequate'standard. Incidentally, an excellent simple design before Fiesta was reborn with creases slashes and general fussiness.

[Lukey22]

I'd buy a bumper in the same colour with the paint code, from a scrapyard. For a maximum of £50. You'll spend £250+ respraying the current one.

Also if you're buying a car for £600 from a dealer, they've probably paid £200 for it and it most likely isn't going to pass its next MOT without a lot of work.

Drive it and don't care about it. I owned a 2005 and a 2008 model Fiesta. Both of them were scrap boxes. The 2008 with a PSA 1.4 TDCI was the worst, no power to move out of its own way and constant issues, DPF / injectors (two sets!) and plastic diesel pipes breaking off. The 2005 was a petrol, had the usual core plugs leaking on top of the engine, multiple times might I add in six months of ownership. And it lost around half a litre of oil a week. The dodgy car trader that put some Lucas oil stabiliser in the oil the quieten the lifter tick had my trousers down on that scrap heap.

Also noticed now as I happen to drive past his little workshop regularly that his cheap cars are there for months on end. <£1500 cars as well, the ones that usually sell like hotcakes.

I had a '00 X reg Fiesta 1.25 - That's when Ford were actually good, that thing was bulletproof but sadly rust killed it.