Is it worth having a banger.....

forgotmyname

Running a banger is OK if you have the money to buy another banger quickly when it dies a death.

Paying more for the MOT, TAX and insurance than its worth is just one of those things.

No reason why a £500 car wont last as long as a £2000 car. It may need a little more time in the workshop.

But any car is a bit of pot luck when buying.

Ask new owners and see how many have taken their cars back for faults.

I spend around £2k on a car and so far its worked for me.

scotsbob

Whatever make and model of car you have there will be an online owners group/club which will have support and technical forums and local group meetings.

Some time ago I was struggling to change my discs and pads and asked for advice on the forum I belong to. Another member contacted me and I went to his home and he showed me step by step.
My latest car had locking nuts but the key was lost, a group member on the forum, who is a mechanic, came and got the locking nuts off for me.
I have just helped another member change all his fluids and helped another member out by giving him a spare wing mirror I had lying around.

Join a car club, or at least find the forum, then running a banger is easier.

split_second

i drive a 10 year old fiat and have owned it for 8 years. before that was a £500 citroen, both on the recommendation of my ex-mechanic father.

tip 1- make sure someone you trust can sort it for you if necessary, my dad helps me a lot and if he can't do something (needs a ramp to do it for example) his mate runs a garage and has been a great help, when i couldnt get to the garage to get a retest between xmas and new year, he kept the car at his house, booked the appointment at the mot station, picked it up and then dropped it off at my house when i got home from work.

for fiat owners the fiat forum is a great place, when fiats go wrong they have weird problems or weird solutions, nothing is ever simple/logical, as mine is a low mileage (54k miles, 2002) example they have all been there, seen that, done that etc. and can usually recommend someone on ebay to buy parts off

olly300

If the car hasn't started being unreliable there is no reason to get rid of it.

With my old banger I found through word of mouth a cheap mechanic who was known for keeping bangers on the road. I never actually needed to use him as my banger was reliable when I was driving it a lot.

Even then I had friends who were willing and did show me how to do some maintenance things plus a Hayes manual.

I eventually got rid of my car because I went from driving 350 miles a week to under 30 miles week and the electric faults known in the model started appearing.

If you get a newer car there is no guarantee it won't break down and you, and if it's under manufacturers warranty you have to use a main dealer or a VAT registered garage with genuine parts.

Also a £600 service doesn't mean much particularly if you have been doing a reasonable mileage over the last 2 years.

With my current car I've spend £100 per tyre having each tyre changed but with my old car the cost, accounting for inflation, was £40. I also didn't have to worry about people scratching the car now I do.

YoungBusinessman

Thats not a banger. 15 year old, rust on all the archs, most likely not even worth trying an mot, thats a banger..

carry on with it i say.

skivenov

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.

I'd disagreee there, a £50 code reader can get you a very long way, and doing your homework on the internet is a great shortcut. I'm not a real mechanic (did one year of my apprenticeship a lot of years ago) but it remains my hobby. So long as you're prepared to do your homework, keep learning, and get your hands dirty, a lot of it's not that hard.

Having a bit of knowledge to work stuff out also gives you the ability to go to a garage with the jobs you don't want to tackle yourself and say "I need this done" rather than "This is wrong, can I pay you to diagnose it and have a go at fixing it.

Notmyrealname

wannabee_in_credit wrote: »

OK, so how do I teach myself some basic car maintenance? I am a girly girl,

Christ, don't say that to my wife. She can do most things on her car, all self taught either by manuals, online forums or asking me.

Get hold of your local college and see if they run night school courses in basic maintenance. Then off to Halfords or similar for some basic tools and a Haynes Manual for the car you have.

Youtube is a good source of visual help.

TrickyWicky

IF you want a reliable banger, go for a reliable brand such as volvo. You won't have a lot of trouble with them unless previous owners have thrashed them. If you look at one and the owner looks a bit of a chav or right foot heavy, walk away. Failing that, get a newer car again from a reliable brand.

Yes you can get very good bangers but they are few and far between. I've had 3 very good bangers with engines comparable to a power station but they are few and far between and I did a LOT of research before buying them. I broke up one (MOT failure in the middle of winter and I needed parts for the other) but still have two of them now.

It can be done but make sure you do a lot of research. Some of the old renault lagunas and espaces are good, they have volvo engines and gearboxes and being renaults, their value is rock bottom despite the running gear inside them. Old Toyotas are also a pretty good bet (along with fords for engine /. box reliability) but T's hold their value better / are more expensive to buy.

As Notmyrealname says, youtube is a fantastic source of maintenance / repair tips. Back in the 90s, you had to ask your mates if they knew anyone with a X type of car and had they had Y problems with it. Wait a few days, ask if they had found anyone etc. These days you hit google and a enthusiasts club or page full of tips is just seconds away. We're the luckiest generation alive for car maintenance.

Stigy

mikey72 wrote: »

Haynes manual.

Yes, I normally get mine from ebay, as I'm too tight to buy them new.

I agree, I never used to buy them but have done on a couple of more recent cars. Buying a manual new is around £20, whereas I picked up a nearly new version on Ebay for £3 plus postage! They're only books, afterall, so as long as the pages are all there what does condition matter?

mkirkby

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 fairly minimal.

It's not quite that bad these days really. Since approx 2001 (for petrol cars) and 2004 for diesels in the EU, the OBD2 interface has been standard and there are many cheap diagnostics readers which will tell you exactly what the major issues might be. Not the same bells and whistles as the dealers computers but they've still done the job for me.