Car broken down, still has finance - what are my options?

juffery

mattyprice4004 wrote: »

I'm going with failed alternator and flat battery.

Also, it seems hit and miss with any car these days - friends have had 5 year old German cars with all sorts of issues, and other friends 15 year old British cars that have run and run.

Recon alternators are very hit and miss, sometimes the original fault wasn't fixed properly and the issue re-appears after a few months. After all, a recon is a repaired, previously faulty unit (usually)

I remember my first failed alternator - cost me 30 quid from a scrappy and 30 quid to get it fitted. Blimmin modern cars!:eek:

juffery

colino wrote: »

I agree it is probably a simple electrical fault, but before you do anything drastic, get it checked over by your local, friendly independent.
If you try to do a voluntary termination now, they will hammer you for additional costs as it clearly, currently, isn't in good order.

Not rushing into anything, just wanted to see what options are available to us. If it wasn't that I cannot get a bus to work, I would get rid of the car altogether!

fivetide

Have you had a look on any other forums?

might be worth asking here for example... www.hondacivicforum.co.uk

5t.

forgotmyname

I take it it wont be HP on a car that age so you cannot VT it anyway?

Does sound like a failed battery/alternator.

You can still pick them up 2nd hand for £20 off ebay and breakers.

LandyAndy

forgotmyname wrote: »

I take it it wont be HP on a car that age so you cannot VT it anyway?

Does sound like a failed battery/alternator.

You can still pick them up 2nd hand for £20 off ebay and breakers.

Very true, although that wasn't clear at the outset.:)

mattyprice4004

juffery wrote: »

I remember my first failed alternator - cost me 30 quid from a scrappy and 30 quid to get it fitted. Blimmin modern cars!:eek:

Lucky for you really - on my Rover 75 diesel failed alternators are common (so no point buying 2nd hand really) and they're £120 new.

Insult to injury, it was a 4 hour job to replace it. You got off lightly, although luckily I could do the work myself. And it's worth bearing in mind it's the BMW diesel engine too - you'd think they would make things a bit easier to change lol.

juffery

mattyprice4004 wrote: »

Lucky for you really - on my Rover 75 diesel failed alternators are common (so no point buying 2nd hand really) and they're £120 new.

Insult to injury, it was a 4 hour job to replace it. You got off lightly, although luckily I could do the work myself. And it's worth bearing in mind it's the BMW diesel engine too - you'd think they would make things a bit easier to change lol.

Aye, this was around 20 years ago though - the first one on this car was well over 300 quid, had to be flown over from France once I actually found a garage willing to do the job and I was without a car for three weeks over Christmas and New Year. It was a nightmare.

juffery

forgotmyname wrote: »

I take it it wont be HP on a car that age so you cannot VT it anyway?

Does sound like a failed battery/alternator.

You can still pick them up 2nd hand for £20 off ebay and breakers.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the difference? I got a loan, via the dealer, from Black Horse to buy the car. Actually, I think as I'm typing I can see the difference myself - because it's a loan through a finance company I'm liable, whereas if I was paying the car dealership then that would be HP, right?

worried_jim

Hire purchase (you are effectively hiring the product until you have paid enough to purchase it) means that the car belongs to the finance company until you have made the last payment.
You have just got a loan which has purchased the product outright, you owe the dealer nothing and the car is yours to do with as you please, the finance company (black horse) has no claim of ownership and you just owe it the balance.