Temporary runabout until December - which car?

angelfire

Hi everyone, just after a few different points of view really - my partner had an accident in his car a few weeks ago and it was written off. All insurance has gone through etc, but there is nothing on the market he wants right now. We've decided to wait and see what comes up in the next few months and are getting a cheap sub £1000 runabout in the meantime, with a view to selling it on once he's sorted.

Question is, which type of car to get really. We've come to the conclusion that it'd be best to buy a small, cheap to run and insure, reliable car that we can sell on relatively easily. Partner's choice here is a micra. But given that we'll be selling probably around Christmas time, i'm wondering if we shouldn't go for something more like a Corsa/Fiesta, that would appeal to the young drivers either buying, or being bought their first car for Christmas?

Our concern is how reliable a Vauxhall would be - not so sorried about a Ford, but both are more attractive options to young drivers than a micra.

Are there any other reliable vehicles that anyone can suggest that they feel we would be able to sell on easily in the sub £1k price bracket?

I'm itching to just go and buy an old Mondeo - i've had four of my own and not one of them have let me down, it's just not what people want to buy at the moment in a recession..

has anyone any thoughts/anything to add?

thanks in advance! :beer:

vax2002

Nothing will be cheap to insure, your partner has just been involved in an accident.

Lum

Get one that costs under £250, runs, and has at least 6 months MOT on it.

Scrap it when you're done.

angelfire

vax2002 wrote: »

Nothing will be cheap to insure, your partner has just been involved in an accident.

Thanks,I don't mean cheap to insure for us, I mean a car that is cheap to insure in general, low insurance group...

angelfire

Lum wrote: »

Get one that costs under £250, runs, and has at least 6 months MOT on it.

Scrap it when you're done.

not very mse, but thanks for your input anyway :-)

fivetide

Nothing wrong with a Micra. Friend of the parents had one as he had to use his own car for work. Did 200,000 miles in it and only ever needed an exhaust outside regular consumables.

Can't fault 'em usually.

5t.

Lum

!!!!!!!!! wrote: »

not very mse, but thanks for your input anyway :-)

Yes it is.

For one you wont have to pay any servicing at all. If keeping it 6 months I wouldn't even bother changing the oil and plugs.

Secondly, if you buy a £1000 car and then try to flog it after 6 months, people will assume that something is wrong with it and stay away. You won't get £1000 back for it.

£250 was a maximum. £100 would be better. I got nearly two years out of a £100 Cat D K reg Volvo 460 that I only intended to use until the MOT ran out. Didn't spend any money on it and didn't exactly treat it nicely either.

rodenal

Plus you'll get a minimum £150-200 scrap

fivetide

Lum wrote: »

Yes it is.

For one you wont have to pay any servicing at all. If keeping it 6 months I wouldn't even bother changing the oil and plugs.

Secondly, if you buy a £1000 car and then try to flog it after 6 months, people will assume that something is wrong with it and stay away. You won't get £1000 back for it.

£250 was a maximum. £100 would be better. I got nearly two years out of a £100 Cat D K reg Volvo 460 that I only intended to use until the MOT ran out. Didn't spend any money on it and didn't exactly treat it nicely either.

Spot on. I bought a Merc C-Class for 800 notes as I was in a similar situation to you angelgfire but I needed something that would do a motorway and haul lots of stuff.

The car had a lot of MOT on it, 10 months actually but I had planned to just shift it on once I found a new car. It was a brilliant machine, never let me down and cost me nothing to run (although is did treat it to a change of oil and a filter).

Decided to put it through the MOT and it passed, no advisories. Earlier this month, someone clocked the back end though and wrecked the back bumper (no idea who though) but even like that I sold it for £500 so it cost me £300 for 18months of motoring. If i'd gone out an bought another, well newer car, it would have cost me loads more than that in depreciation.

5t.

getmore4less

Depend if you want the hastle of trying to sell a car around Xmas.

Could be wet and cold.

With the cheap sub £500 you can most back as a spare/repair on ebay and some back just scrapping.

angelfire

You see this car will need to get me to work, ferry the kids around etc etc, so we don't want something unreliable, especially when it gets cold/icy etc. That said, it will only be our second car, not our main one so food for thought in your suggestions.

Thanks guys, will discuss with partner and make a decision!