Aged car on last legs - what to do?

Nicki

We have an elderly N reg audi which seems to be on its last legs. The interior is now looking decidedly scruffy, we had a rear end shunt last week (not our fault) which has caused some minor cosmetic damage to the bodywork, and it has developed what sounds like a serious fault today with the power steering.

We've arranged for it to be towed to the garage for them to have a look and give us a price for the repairs (it is currently undrivable). The car suddenly (with no warning) developed a high pitched screeching noise and the power steering failed totally. I suspect therefore that we are looking at least at a new power steering pump.

In addition, car is due its MOT on 17 December. We have never yet got through the MOT without spending a minimum of £1,000 (and often much more).

My best guess is that the book value of the car (in working order) is only about £700 - £800. We have two children at the moment, but are hoping to have a third in the next year all being well, when we will need to replace the car anyway as we only have 2 three point seat belts in the back seat, and all 3 children will need car seats. However, given the current downturn, we'd have preferred not to change the car right this minute, given a choice, and we aren't pregnant yet, so may have longer than we think before a new car is needed!

Added to that our car tax runs out at the end of the month, but being super organised for once, I'd already renewed it for a full year :rolleyes: .

Any ideas about how much its likely to cost to put the power steering right, and whether its likely to be worth doing given the age and value of the car. If not, can I reclaim the car tax or transfer it to a new vehicle?

Finally, if the current one is a no-go, any recommendations for a used family car which would comfortably accomodate 5? Or a reasonably priced used people carrier (which would be my preference, but not husband's) which doesn't look or drive like a tank?

Many thanks.

TiTheRev

Pipes aren't uncommon on Audi's so may have been a leaking pipe and and the lack of fluid in the rack would cause the whining and inability to drive. Hopefully no damage to the rack/pump if it's not been driven whilst making these noises, and a fixed pipe later you could be sorted for under £100?

It amy be worth asking the garage doing the pump work to do an MOT test on it too. You can get it done up to a month early, so that will tell you whether it's worth doing the whole lot or none at all too.

LandyAndy

You can reclaim any unused months of tax. So to get all 12 months back you have to have reclaimed it before the end of November.

hewhoisnotintheknow

thats not an aged car!

goldspanners

£1000 every year for mot time! thats obscene.
theres a good chance the noise was just a belt slipping causing the power steering to be heavy. a belt will cost about £10 plus fitting.

tomstickland

I run a 17 year old car and don't regard it as being beyond utility.

The interior is now looking decidedly scruffy,

Not serious.

we had a rear end shunt last week (not our fault) which has caused some minor cosmetic damage to the bodywork,

Fix it or leave it, why care?

and it has developed what sounds like a serious fault today with the power steering.

Minor thing. Complete rack from scrappy will be around £100, complete PAS pump about the same. Might just be a loose belt.

Nicki

goldspanners wrote: »

£1000 every year for mot time! thats obscene.

I agree! Its been OH who has sorted it up to now though. I'd love to get it down to something a lot more reasonable.

I'm relieved that the general consensus is that the problem sounds worse than it is. Still haven't heard from the garage with a quote. The advice about parts from a scrapyard would be good if I knew more about how a car works than just how to fill it up with petrol though! I really wouldn't trust myself to monkey with the steering of a car, and drive it afterwards...

lincroft1710

With even minor accident damage "book value" will be low. £1,000 per MOT is more than the annual depreciation. If the steering fault is expensive to repair and you think it will expensively fail MOT then it's time to say bye bye.

anewman

I suspect there might be somewhere that would recon your rack or offer some sort of exchange service.

Replacing the rack on my car was dead easy, but that said it's manual steering, loads of engine bay room to work in - and is only held with steering column pinch bolt, 4 bolts on front sub-frame, and at the track rod ends. Just took it to a garage to let them sort the tracking.

I guess the only difference with power steering is you have a couple of pipes or something?

superjaggybunnet

Time to get a new car I think!

Nicki

Still haven't got a price for the repairs but the garage has just phoned to say when they opened the bonnet they found a dead rat (!) which has eaten through most of the drive belts. They are in the process of stripping the engine to see what needs to be done but it is potentially pretty expensive they say.

UUgh - how weird is this!