I would quite like some advice!

ncfcfan

Hi all,

Last November I privately purchased a 02 VW Polo for £900 - the car was initially lovely, no problems. However, I then started to have a few problems with and to date I've spent around £450 repairing it.

The MOT is this month and I have a feeling it's going to cost me £400+ as there are numerous problems with it including the EML (which I'm told is to do with my catalytic converter), tyres and a brake pad issue. SO, the repairs will probably cost me the value of the car - something I'm not happy with.

In my mind I have 3 choices: Should I pay out the inevitable cost of repairing the car and keep it going for another year or so?

Should I cut my losses on the car - sell it and buy another cheapy?

Or, should I sell the car as seen with no MOT and use the cash to put towards LEASING a small car with a small deposit?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

ontrack

Why not stick it in for the MOT, (pref council run) then at least you can make an informed Judgement as to the way forward.
a lot depends on your budget.. if the car costs say £300 to fix for another year that may be cheaper than buying a shed for £500 with 6 months MOT

AdrianC

ncfcfan wrote: »

Last November I privately purchased a 02 VW Polo for £900

So a decade old sub-grand popular-model car at a price that Autotrader indicates is about right for one a few years older.

The MOT is this month and I have a feeling it's going to cost me £400+ as there are numerous problems with it including the EML (which I'm told is to do with my catalytic converter)

It might be. It might be a raft of other things. All it shows you is that the engine management has logged a fault. There will be a stored code which will say what the engine management thinks the fault is. It might cost £50, it might cost considerably more. Without getting the code read, you won't know.

tyres and a brake pad

Normal wear and tear. Oh, and remember that the MOT tyre limit is the same as the legal limit...

Assuming an ordinary Polo, then brake pads and decent-brand tyres should come in somewhere around half your guesstimate cost. Whatever you drive, tyres and brake pads will have to be replaced at some point. The cost per mile of them is a fraction of the cost of fuel. If you get a fully maintained lease car that "includes" those costs, then you merely pay for them via the lease company rather than directly.

ncfcfan

The price I paid for the car is a bit irrelevant here.

The EML IS the catalytic converter. Which I know is going to be expensive.

Sorry Adrian C but I didn't read what your suggestion was?

mad_rich

Agree you shouldn't throw it out yet before you've given it a chance on the MoT.

Stick your reg number into eurocarparts.com for a price for brake pads & discs. Shouldn't be more than £25-£40 to fit or fit them yourself.

Tyres - check the various tyre websites blackcircles, etyres, tyremen, tyreshopper, oponeo.

Tyres and brakes are just another consumable, so it's fair game that they need replacing.

I think you need to forget about the cost vs what the car's 'worth'. That's only relevant if you're planning to sell it. It's better to ask 'How much will it cost me for another year's (or three year's) motoring?'.

Maybe book it in to ATS Euromaster for a free health check if you have one nearby. I got one done on my car and was really impressed. It's by no means thorough, but the take the wheels off and get the car on a ramp, which is more than many services do. And no hard sell either.

mad_rich

Also, here's an article on the Check Engine light.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/under-the-hood/diagnosing-car-problems/mechanical/check-engine-light.htm

Could be anything from a loose fuel cap to imminent failure. It's not a very helpful light. A back street garage or somebody local from a VW owner's club might read it for free or a couple of beers. Or buy a cable off ebay.

AdrianC

ncfcfan wrote: »

The price I paid for the car is a bit irrelevant here.

No, not really. You bought at the bottom end of the market, but seem to be complaining about perfectly normal running costs.

The EML IS the catalytic converter.

Is it? How do you know? What fault code was stored? Does that model of Polo have a post-cat lambda? If not - and I'd be surprised if it did, but I don't know Polos well, and you don't even mention which engine it is - then the management won't know about whether the cat is healthy or even fitted, unless it's so clogged that massive back-pressure is causing it to run incredibly badly. And, surely, you'd have noticed that...

Which I know is going to be expensive.

A two-second google finds Polo cats starting at about £50.

Sorry Adrian C but I didn't read what your suggestion was?

Probably because I gave you information to base your own decisions on.

ncfcfan

AdrianC wrote: »

No, not really. You bought at the bottom end of the market, but seem to be complaining about perfectly normal running costs.



Is it? How do you know? What fault code was stored? Does that model of Polo have a post-cat lambda? If not - and I'd be surprised if it did, but I don't know Polos well, and you don't even mention which engine it is - then the management won't know about whether the cat is healthy or even fitted, unless it's so clogged that massive back-pressure is causing it to run incredibly badly. And, surely, you'd have noticed that...



A two-second google finds Polo cats starting at about £50.



Probably because I gave you information to base your own decisions on.

I wasn't complaining, I expected this when I bought it. No complaints from me, I'm just figuring out what the best thing to do is.

I know its the Catalytic converter because I had a diagnostic run on the car - of which the result was that it was a code related to the catalytic converter. It wasn't a problem back then, so they turned the light off and told me to come back when my MOT was due. Since then the light has turned on again. Since then I've found out its quite a common fault with Polo's - the EML tends to turn on for no reason in particular - and turn itself off when it likes!

I appreciate the information, but what I asked for was advice.

OddballJamie

Write down the sums for each option and work out what works better for you.

Asking people who have no idea on your financial situation on whether you should commit yourself to a monthly payment for 24-36 months is not a good idea imho.

Me personally I'd rather own my own car.

ncfcfan

It's an option for me because my finances allow it. I ruled out other options like getting a car on finance because my finances don't allow it! There are 3 choices: Repair, Replace, Lease.

worried_jim

I buy my cars for £500 with a full years MOT- run them till the next MOT, if they fail and the repairs are more than £330 I scrap them for £170 and spend the £330 on another £500 car with 12 months MOT.
My annual motoring never costs more than £330 which I think is reasonable.
I would have a chat with you local independent garage about getting it through it's MOT and what it is likely to need/cost next time as well and base you decision on this cost/estimate.

Good luck.