Need a new car but resent getting one - advice please

MartialArtMan

My Toyota is becoming plagued with problems; exhaust is blowing, discs need replacing and starting is becoming a bit of an issue which I presume is probably the starter motor. It's 13 years old and has served me extremely well for the last 5 years.

I currently have a loan and an overdraft which I have got a handle of now and it is steadily coming down each month. I d not have any savings to purchase a car and not sure where I will get the money from to buy another. My wife is talking about drawing her pension to fund one but what a waste! Not exactly an investment is it.

What do you reckon I should do?

babyshoes

I assume you have a trusted garage to work on it? If those are the only problems with it, then it would be cheaper to get them fixed than to get a new car. Toyotas tend to be fairly reliable so would hopefully give you more years of good service.

I would take it in to your garage for a complete check over, and ask them for a quote to fix everything they find, and to divide it into 'essential work' (eg brakes) and 'non-essential' (eg air con). You can then make a decision from an informed perspective.

If you do decide to get a new one, then remember you can sell the old car to subsidise the new one.

MartialArtMan

Thanks babyshoes. I'd come to a similar conclusion having giving it some thought. Spend a few hundred on my current car and it should last me another couple of years. As you say cheaper than buying a new car.

Matt1977

I agree with babyshoes, I would probably bite the bullet and get the existing problems repaired. Better to spend a few hundred pounds doing this than to borrow say ten thousand to buy a newer car.

Toyotas have an excellent reputation for reliability so I would take a risk that nothing else major will go wrong with it in the near future.

forgotmyname

A bit of ebaying and trying local scrappies & motor factors you should be able to get that sorted for £150 or less.

asbokid

MartialArtMan wrote: »

What do you reckon I should do?

Make do and mend, Derek. We are living in austere times. What model of Toyota is it?

Here's one I mended earlier

Kilty_2

asbokid wrote: »

Make do and mend, Derek. We are living in austere times. What model of Toyota is it?

Here's one I mended earlier

:cool: my 6 week old car was looking like that until yesterday :rotfl:

forgotmyname

Amateurs in that picture... Everyone knows duck/gaffa tape is the correct fix. Parcel tape is for bodgers.

funkycoldribena

Where can I get this "duck" tape from? I need some to keep my wildfowl together.

WobblyDog

I reckon the problems your current car has don't really sound serious enough to justify replacement on their own.

To echo what others have said, exhaust components tend to be treated as consumables on cars, so an exhaust leak will probably be fairly cheap and easy to fix. The same applies to the brake discs.

Difficult to say what the starting problem is (how old is the battery?), but it's probably not enough to condemn the car.

If you were to replace this car with another second-hand one, the new one might well come with its own collection of mechanical problems.

Hammyman

MartialArtMan wrote: »

My Toyota is becoming plagued with problems; exhaust is blowing,

£60-£70

discs need replacing

£40 or so plus fitting so no more than £100

and starting is becoming a bit of an issue which I presume is probably the starter motor

Around £30 for a second hand one, £50 for a recon plus an hours labour if the reconditioners don't fit them for free.

I currently have a loan and an overdraft which I have got a handle of now and it is steadily coming down each month. I d not have any savings to purchase a car and not sure where I will get the money from to buy another. My wife is talking about drawing her pension to fund one but what a waste! Not exactly an investment is it.

What do you reckon I should do?

Fix it. No more than £250 of work there and you could spend that on the "new" one getting it through an MOT.