Should we fix the car or try and afford a newer one?

HenryWeston

NormW wrote: »

Hi, the MOT station only did the MOT so they have no axe to grind over the cost to repair.

The £600 comes from :-

£40 MOT Test fee

£400 welding - it needs 2 sills and the rear floor - I've been under it to confirm and got an estimate off an independent place for £310 (with £90 contingency if it's worse than it first looks which can be the case).

Set of brake pads £30 + labour

Anti roll bar link £20 + labour

A budget of £50 to fix a headlight (it's not just a bulb out, the wiring has a short somewhere and it's getting hot etc)

Another £40 MOT Fee as we'll miss the free retest period (there's no way we could get it done in time).

We've looked at a couple of Renault clios today but I'm rubbish at bartering so we've just walked away for now.

I'm worried if we buy a cheap banger it'll be forever breaking dowen or costing money to keep going and really no better than what we have.

Admittedly there's every chance we'll have to put our hands in our pockets to fix it within the next 12 months if we hang onto it.

Thanks everyone for all your advice

I was told 'japanese cars dont go wrong' they lied then :rolleyes:

AdrianHi

NormW wrote: »

Hi, the MOT station only did the MOT so they have no axe to grind over the cost to repair.

The £600 comes from :-

£40 MOT Test fee

£400 welding - it needs 2 sills and the rear floor - I've been under it to confirm and got an estimate off an independent place for £310 (with £90 contingency if it's worse than it first looks which can be the case).

Set of brake pads £30 + labour

Anti roll bar link £20 + labour

A budget of £50 to fix a headlight (it's not just a bulb out, the wiring has a short somewhere and it's getting hot etc)

Another £40 MOT Fee as we'll miss the free retest period (there's no way we could get it done in time).

We've looked at a couple of Renault clios today but I'm rubbish at bartering so we've just walked away for now.

I'm worried if we buy a cheap banger it'll be forever breaking dowen or costing money to keep going and really no better than what we have.

Admittedly there's every chance we'll have to put our hands in our pockets to fix it within the next 12 months if we hang onto it.

Thanks everyone for all your advice

This car is dead. You should be able to find a pre-French (Renault) Nissan Micra for £1000 to £2000 or a Skoda Fabia in the same prices bracket or younger. Don't throw good money at a nearly worthless car that needs that much welding work done, better spent on something newer.

AdrianHi

I've just had a quick look at some figures.
That old Micra of yours with it's £700 / £58 a month repair costs, relativly expensive tax disk (a car with a £35 tax disc would suit you these days) and relatively expensive fuel costs is actually quite an expensive car compared with leasing a brand new Fiat Panda 1.1 ActiveEco. This car bought and sold after the first 36 months (in warranty period) for 10,000 miles a year would cost you around £222 a month in total with no repair bills or MOT's etc. to pay for. That old Micra is gobbling up £58 a month in repairs alone.

If you think you have £100 a month available with a £1000 deposit, in truth you must have £150 a month available if you can trust the next car not to throw any repairs at you. In warranty car = no repair bills, no MOT, cheaper tax, start on new tyres and more fuel efficient.

The only figures I could get easily for leasing were for a Panda 1.3:
Deposit £768.45, 36 payments of £128 and hand the car back at the end and do the same again. These figures include VAT, tax disk (£35) and delivery.
If you were to get a quote for a 1.1 I think you could get it down to £100 or near enough. Also this car could do up to 56mpg compared to the Micra's 48mpg. You may not acheive those figures, but you can factor in around about 15% fuel cost saving.
Some people might say "but you never own the car", I say all cars are temporary (except classics) and come with an average monthly cost over the time you use them, the only thing that matters is getting the monthly cost minimised.
Plus points of leasing:
Low deposit, low monthly payments compared to purchasing with a loan.
Your always in a new hopefully reliable car with predictable costs.
No hassle with haggling, MOT's, repairs etc.

Things to consider with leasing:
You are making a commitment to keep up the 36 months payments, what would you do if you lost yor job / income? Payment Protection Insurance?

Lastly I've suggested the Fiat Panda because it has a track record for reliability getting close to Japanese cars and beating todays Micra.

Leasing illustrations (prices shown are Ex. VAT)
http://www.whatcar.co.uk/contract-hire-results.aspx?pg=2&RT_ID=622