Fiat Punto Advice

poorgirl

Hello,

I hope that someone here can offer me some good advice.

I bought a T reg fiat punto about a year and a half ago private sale for £700, seemed a very tidy little car. It had 72,000 miles on the clock.

However since i have bought it ive had to spend out the following:
New Clutch - £450 (old one went completely - cable snapped)
Head gasket - £550 (had this looked at twice now in the past year)
MOT - £550 - new tyres, brake pads, some work on the suspension and a service
Oil Blockage - £360 (oil wasnt getting around the engine properly)
New radiator and fan - £100

I am currently travelling about 30 miles a day to and from work and need a car as public transport in my area is shocking.

What should i do? i have been looking at buying an approved used car for about £3000 but would need to take out finance which i am slightly loathed to do. Or should i take the chance with this car and build up some savings in the hope that in a year and half of so I can afford a newer car outright? If this car will last me! Its currently up to 88,000 miles.

Any suggestions would be welcome, i feel like i am throwing good money after bad? thanks

goldspanners

poorgirl wrote: »

Any suggestions would be welcome, i feel like i am throwing good money after bad? thanks

you probably are.

next car,dont buy fiat or french.

ginandtonic1988

Hopefully now you've spent that amount of money maybe the big bills are out the way now? Personally I would keep it and run it into the ground, especially if your not bothered about newer cars. I've been looking for another car and noticed that prices have gone up a lot, I suppose that means second hand cars will be dearer too

Hintza

Economic climate as it is try and keep it going for now.

The one thing in there that would worry me is the head gasket. If this is OK now, hopefully no more problems. But if it remains a constant problem then you might need to think again.

Good luck.

shop-to-drop

Not a car expert here but I'm wondering whether now you have done all that work that you will have a nice little car. Do you suspect more problems? My hubby gave up on his P reg Punto last year it had done 175,000 miles commuting over 60 miles a day. It was still running well but needed an oil leak fixed so we passed it on to someone that could fix it cheap. He also had his eye on a Fiat 500.

Over the years from time to time we had to spend money on the Punto but then it would give us respite for a while. Over all it was a good little car. I'm hoping for you that now you have spent so much that it will be reliable and you won't need to change it afterall. They certainly can last a lot more than 88,000 miles.

Good Luck.

gabyjane

Hi we bought one from a 'lady owner' lol actually she was and had, had it from brand new, very low mileage and so we thought 'ah bargain!'..it was from a garage though so as soon as we had a prob back it went, unfortunatly the garage went bust and we had no come back (tricky circumstances and would have cost us more in the long run r.e courts incase anyone asks!) Aaanyway , we had some bits done, new clutch, exhaust etc..bigish bits and at the time i was so annoyed BUT we had it for 3 years and it was a fab car, went through every mot no probs, was cheap to run etc and i would buy another tommorow! We now have an MG and same scenario but very very low mileage on this, took it back but for something minor, prob solved and it's been a great car. Was in for MOT last week and flew through.

I would say from having a punto to now keep it as all the big jobs have been done and stick it out! they still seem to do well in reselling and we p/x'd ours for a very good price despite having it for 3+ years..
Good luck x

reduceditem

buy a toyota or a honda

poorgirl

Thanks for all your responses. I hope that the head gasket problem is now fixed, looking through the work history the lady that had it before me also had the head gasket looked at. Is 3 times bad for a car of this age? as you all say i am hoping that now i have spent out for these big things it will keep me going now fairly cheaply and allow me to save for another car. Taking out finance on a newer car will be a stretch for me and i want to avoid that at the moment if possible.

AdrianHi

A head gasket doesn't normally go at all on a car. It suggests an underlying problem that could come back again.

An excercise I often do is work out the real cost of a car per month for the next 12 months of it's life and compare it to the cost of a young (not neccessarily brand new) car per month for the remainder of it's warranty.
My sister in laws 7 year old Skoda Fabia 1.4 on 11,000 miles a year is cheaper than a similar nearly new car by about £80 a month and she has only ever paid out £80 once (in 80,000 miles) for an electronic door lock.
You are currently spending about £90 a month on non-routine maintenance (fixing stuff that keeps breaking) on your car but about £0 in depreciation, in my experience expenses like this on older cars continue, they don't go away. If you bought a nearly new car you could be spending about £90 a month on depreciation and £0 on repairs. You would have to meet the challenging of funding the purchase price of the car plus a little on interest charges for a loan.
I'm fond of suggesting a nearly new Hyundai i10 to people in your situation, seems like a decent little car and it has a class leading 5 year warranty.

If you have confidence in your job security and ability to make finance payments, a move to a nearly new car, in the long term, won't really cost you more than you are already spending now.
... unless you beleive you won't get any more repairs to pay for on your Punto, it's not a bet I would make
... or buy an older Skoda Fabia, they don't seem to break.