Is it worth having a banger.....

wannabee_in_credit

...... if you know absolutely nothing about car maintenance or repair?
Apologies if this sounds like a daft question, but I'm interested in whether or not it's worth owning a banger when it's all I can do to manage to check oil and water levels. I'm very reliant on my car for work so it's important that I have a car that will do me 30 miles a day.
But should I be looking for a newer car? Mine is 8 years old now and I've kept it serviced but it's starting to cost a bit in repairs (£600 over the past 12 months).
Also, how easy is it to teach yourself a bit of car maintenance? I'm not stupid by any stretch but have never been taught how to look after a car.
Thanks in advance (I know I'll get an honest response here).

pawlala

There's knowing a bit about car maintenance and then there's knowing how to fix it when it blows. and when a banger blows, it blows hard. No matter how good you are at fixing cars there ain't anything you can do with a knackered gasket on the hard shoulder (for example).

LincolnshireYokel

Whereas doing stuff like brakes, tyres and exhaust can be done at specialised places pretty much as cheap as you can buy the bits and do it yourself for, cars are largely unrepairable by the amateur under the bonnet. Its not like the old days - theres nothing to tweak, adjust or fiddle with, unless you own a £6000 diagnostics computer, in which case you plug that in and it tells you what to replace. This is all garages do, and as such the skill level of the fitters i na garage is fairl;y minimal.

But fear not, as it stands cars need far less repairing than they did 30 years ago, and seem to be a lot more reliable. Ive never owned a car worth more than £1000 in my life, and whereas I used to have to do considerable work on the Cortinas and Sierras i owned twenty years ago, the last 4 or so cars Ive owned have required virtually no repairs other than minor stuff at the MOT.

SO speaking as someone who's fixed his own cars since I was 16, Ive virtually stopped using the tool set in the garage ive used for 40 years in the last 15 years. I think cars are now inherently more reliable than they were, and thus old cars are a better bet than they were 30 years ago.

mikey72

No.

I (my wife) drove a banger. It did 15k a year for 5 years. And was less than £500 for a diesel 106. Ultra cheap.
Superb, trouble free motoring, for several years. But by trouble free, I mean when the radiator went, I could replace it for less than £60, rear shocks were £25, and a gear linkage was a tenner. Not big problems, and a day to fix, when she could use my car, and so it wasn't a problem.
But it did die, and I had a weekend to find another. I did, and it's still good, but I know cars inside out.
But then, you could buy a newer car, and have problems, either will mean a garage if you can't diy.
But I would say if you can't, the chances are a banger is going to be a bad buy, and could only last until the next mot, without a major repair cost.

mikey72

LincolnshireYokel wrote: »

Whereas doing stuff like brakes, tyres and exhaust can be done at specialised places pretty much as cheap as you can buy the bits and do it yourself for, cars are largely unrepairable by the amateur under the bonnet. Its not like the old days - theres nothing to tweak, adjust or fiddle with, unless you own a £6000 diagnostics computer, in which case you plug that in and it tells you what to replace. This is all garages do, and as such the skill level of the fitters i na garage is fairl;y minimal.

But fear not, as it stands cars need far less repairing than they did 30 years ago, and seem to be a lot more reliable. Ive never owned a car worth more than £1000 in my life, and whereas I used to have to do considerable work on the Cortinas and Sierras i owned twenty years ago, the last 4 or so cars Ive owned have required virtually no repairs other than minor stuff at the MOT.

SO speaking as someone who's fixed his own cars since I was 16, Ive virtually stopped using the tool set in the garage ive used for 40 years in the last 15 years. I think cars are now inherently more reliable than they were, and thus old cars are a better bet than they were 30 years ago.

I find modern cars are exactly the same as older ones.

Cam belt, water pump, thermostat, plugs, filters, oil, all well worth diy.
Brakes, shocks, exhaust, much cheaper still diy.
Even diagnostics are easy if you find a car that can give you a pedal test or similar, or spend on a simple fault code reader.
Mine hasn't been to a garage for 5 years. (since the warranty ran out)

Stigy

I've always had cars that cost about £500 and repaired what I could myself. I could repair it regardless of what it was that went wrong, but tools didn't permit it in a lot of cases (brakes and such were always a doddle).

The cars that you tend to see broken down on the hard shoulder do seem to be modern ones these days, and bangers seem to go on, trouble-free, forever in my experience! On the flip-side, you can pick up an 8 or 9-year old car for peanuts, which are often far from banger status!

wannabee_in_credit

OK, so how do I teach myself some basic car maintenance? I am a girly girl, but have a sound knowledge of science - just need the training. Can you still get those car manuals like my dad used to have when I was a kid?

LincolnshireYokel

I spend £1000 tops on a car. I expect it to last me three years, and I dont expect to have to spend anything on it except one set of tyres, and if im unlucky, a battery and an exhaust.

For about 12 years that has been the case.

mikey72

wannabee_in_credit wrote: »

OK, so how do I teach myself some basic car maintenance? I am a girly girl, but have a sound knowledge of science - just need the training. Can you still get those car manuals like my dad used to have when I was a kid?

Haynes manual.

Yes, I normally get mine from ebay, as I'm too tight to buy them new.
Car maintenance is fairly easy, it's just a question of remembering if you really, really, mess it up, can it still be driven to a garage?
But then you remember, they can only do what you can do, you just haven't done it yet.
So, yes, you can teach yourself, just start on the easy jobs.

Barneysmom

A lot of colleges do car maintenance courses, you might try one of those, it could be fun too

Nearly_Old

wannabee_in_credit wrote: »

OK, so how do I teach myself some basic car maintenance? I am a girly girl, but have a sound knowledge of science - just need the training. Can you still get those car manuals like my dad used to have when I was a kid?

I now find YOUTUBE very useful as many people are now posting "How to" videos and it's Free Another source is a car forum - now that I have retired I quite like a day out helping a new forum member get to grips with jobs on their car.