Temporary runabout until December - which car?

angelfire

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.

See we wouldn't be servicing it or MOT ing it anyway, the idea was to get one with a long MOT, tax it and it still be right to sell on in a few months. I did also say SUB £1k, not £1k bang on! (the ones we've been looking at were more like £800)..
Our concern with buying something for a couple of hundred quid is it not lasting until Christmas, we still need to use this thing for me to get to work, ferry kids, etc.
You do make some valid points tho - thankyou ....

Lum

The price really isn't an indicator of reliability once you get this low. You do need to know what you are looking for. A £100 car is just as likely to fail as a £1000 car.

I'd actually be looking at the larger cars as these are harder to sell, so tend to be priced lower relative to their current condition. You mention a Mondeo which is a good choice, also old Volvos and the like. Saw a few V6 Vauxhall Omegas for sale a while back for banger money because nobody wants to deal with the fuel consumption.

Oh, and avoid anything French

angelfire

Lum wrote: »

The price really isn't an indicator of reliability once you get this low. You do need to know what you are looking for. A £100 car is just as likely to fail as a £1000 car.

I'd actually be looking at the larger cars as these are harder to sell, so tend to be priced lower relative to their current condition. You mention a Mondeo which is a good choice, also old Volvos and the like. Saw a few V6 Vauxhall Omegas for sale a while back for banger money because nobody wants to deal with the fuel consumption.

Oh, and avoid anything French

You make more valid points! I'm off to mooch at what's out there - in truth i'd rather be ferrying the kids around in something bigger than a micra anyway. Had to laugh at the 'avoid anything French' remark - my partner point blank refuses to even look at them, although he's the same with Vauxhalls as well!

thanks for your help with this, i'm off to ahve a browse and a drive around our local garages...

[Deleted User]

I'm sick of seeing nearly every cheap old rust bucket for sale everywhere advertised as a great first car. Some 15 year old Corsa with 2 months MOT left and more rust than metal is hardly an ideal first car.

Lum

!!!!!!!!! wrote: »

You make more valid points! I'm off to mooch at what's out there - in truth i'd rather be ferrying the kids around in something bigger than a micra anyway. Had to laugh at the 'avoid anything French' remark - my partner point blank refuses to even look at them, although he's the same with Vauxhalls as well!

He is clearly a sensible man. French cars really don't last. Look at the thread on here about the 7 year old Renault with the broken throttle body that Renault don't even make a replacement for.

Also, if you're concerned about safety, but looking at older cars without modern crumple zones and 27 airbags, it is better to go bigger as they will fare better in a crash.

Kilty_2

If you're near either Derbyshire or Stirlingshire I have a cosmetically scruffy but mechanically sound 2002 Almera that doesn't owe me a hell of a lot of money

I think it's insurance group 4 or 5, cheap enough to insure for me anyway as a 20 year old male with 2 fault accidents in the past 3 years (neither of which were in this car :rotfl:)

jase1

Which car?

Something that works, and is cheap.

If the major bits are good (gearbox/clutch work as they should, brakes stop straight, no lights on the dashboard, four reasonable tyres -- make not important at this price), it runs in a proper straight line with no bangs or groans, and is less than £300 with enough test remaining, it really doesn't matter what it is. 20 year old VW? Fine. 8 year old Daewoo? Also good.

Just don't spend too much on it.

angelfire

Hi all, just a little update for anyone following/replying to this thread with help and advice - we've bought a car, a Mercedes C200 for just over £300. 13 years old, 80k genuine miles, mot'd for 12 months, taxed for 5, four decent tyres and runs well. bodywork not all that but we're not fussed about that!

Cheers to everyone who posted on here with advice :-)

Kilty_2

Sounds like a bargain to me!

Photos please

michaels

Thanks for taking the time to come back let us know what you went for and sounds like you got exactly what was suggested - hopefully it will be reliable but even if it isn't you haven't lost a lot by the time you get scrap money.

!!!!!!!!! wrote: »

Hi all, just a little update for anyone following/replying to this thread with help and advice - we've bought a car, a Mercedes C200 for just over £300. 13 years old, 80k genuine miles, mot'd for 12 months, taxed for 5, four decent tyres and runs well. bodywork not all that but we're not fussed about that!

Cheers to everyone who posted on here with advice :-)