The economics of running an older car

Netwizard

Indeed the older diesels are much better. None of this new emissions rubbish to worry about. If I needed an old diesel run around, I would probably go for one of the old 1.5 non turbo diesels. Slow as hell but very little to worry about!

mark5

Netwizard wrote: »

Keep running the Zafira. It suits your needs, the mileage is below average for the year and its obviously very reliable. Why bother changing just for a newer number on the number plate?

I run a 17 year old 160,000 mile car. Mine also does fairly short trips but I also take it abroad during the summer. Volvo 940's need very little maintenance but I do like to keep it tip top.

All my friends are running around in financed up euroboxes, laughing at my <20mpg around town saying I should get a more economical car! But when you add up all the figures, my car was paid for outright in cash 3 years ago (a massive £800!), it costs £50 odd to give it a full service, £150 for a cambelt change and has needed very little outside general wear and tear items.
It leaked brake fluid and needed a replacement master cylinder (£200 for a genuine Volvo one) and needed a new radiator and battery along the way (another £150 or so).

My friends are always mentioning how they are getting 50mpg in their crappy diesels, but its false economy for me, as what they are saving in fuel, they are blowing in finance and interest payments, whilst I have zero depreciation to worry about, and the car is easily worth what I paid for it still.

Running an older car is much much cheaper than paying out finance for a new one. It is only snobbery / keeping up with the Joneses as to why people want a shiney new one!

I have a new car and I didn't buy it for snobbery or keeping up with the Joneses purposes, I bought it because I enjoy driving it, I like the feel of a new car and how it drives.

Netwizard

mark5 wrote: »

I have a new car and I didn't buy it for snobbery or keeping up with the Joneses purposes, I bought it because I enjoy driving it, I like the feel of a new car and how it drives.

Fair enough Happy for you

jimjames

Stoke wrote: »

Bangernomics, keep it going and reap the benefits.

Absolutely.

Bought a 12 year old 1 owner car 2 weeks ago for £950 including set of winter tyres as well as virtually new branded tyres on alloys that had cost £400.

High miles but road tax is only £120 and MOT till end of year.

Done over 500 miles so far and no real issues other than needing a very good clean inside and out.

I really can't fault the economics of running older cars that have zero depreciation. Interesting to see the cost of PCP mentioned on another thread, £3000 per year is a huge amount of repairs that could be covered on an older car, I've never had any that have cost anything like that.

YORKSHIRELASS

Thanks all. Its just that I have had a few raised eyebrows when I have told people that I have just spent £500 getting it serviced and through the MOT. Well surely the car isnt worth much is it??? Is it still worth spending money on it???

To be honest if money was no object I would probably buy something new and shiny so I dont knock anyone who goes down this route. For me though money is tight and I need to get as much value out of this car as I can.

Reassuring that others think that it does make sense to keep it. I would be so happy if I was still running it in 3 years time!

Netwizard

YORKSHIRELASS wrote: »

Reassuring that others think that it does make sense to keep it.

I've also known people who get rid of their car because it needs a starter motor and a service or similar. They can't seem to see that spending £200 on a motor that they know is reliable is much better than spending £3-4,000 on another car, which is an unknown quantity and could break down tomorrow!

I remember buying another old Volvo for £100. It had 6 months MOT and a few months tax on it. Filling it up with petrol doubled its value :rotfl::rotfl:
Kept that for 3 years until I crashed it in the wet.

Current one I bought in July 2011 and I'm still running it now.

Your Zafira will easily run for many many more years yet

fishybusiness

Thanks all. Its just that I have had a few raised eyebrows when I have told people that I have just spent £500 getting it serviced and through the MOT. Well surely the car isnt worth much is it??? Is it still worth spending money on it???

If it cost that 500 pounds every year, and you had a years good trouble free motoring, and you are happy with your car, it is good value motoring.

Keep all of the receipts and bills for the work, and even in 3 years time you will be able to sell your car for the going rate, whatever that may be.

alastairq

Thanks all. Its just that I have had a few raised eyebrows when I have told people that I have just spent £500 getting it serviced and through the MOT. Well surely the car isn't worth much is it??? Is it still worth spending money on it???

The value of anything is a personal choice.

With any form of transport [even walking?} money will need to be spent.

Regardless.


The response I would give is....why get rid, and spend a lot more on a motor which may well end up costing ten times as much?

Better the devil one knows, eh?

New cars are not all they are cracked up to be, in my view.

They all have their faults, and their ridiculousness.

[the issue of changing a blown headlight bulb, for example?]

I have 'gone back in time', and run a 30 year old DAi-hatsu 4trak.....bought for its towing ability [I occasionally need to tow...a b#gg'r if I haven't got a vehicle that can, so to speak]....it gets into 4wd once in a blue moon.....but it returns 30 mpg's -plus, consistently....a complete filter change costs around a tenner......it has just passed its MOT...with a bit of sill welding {!} and a new window .....I kept my grotty Fiesta sorned just in case my wallet couldn't cope with the DAi hatsu....but, I can cope, so Fiesta is going.....only issue with Dai is the size of its tyres!!!.....still, they now keep the wind in, and if the rain holds off, they'll do for another year.....keeping an eye open for some Kingpin remoulds [which I love, out of experience!]....does a nice steady 50mph....but will blow the soot off if I want to.....only washed once a year [for MoT]....more comfy than a LAnd rover too.....

motorguy

YORKSHIRELASS wrote: »

Thanks all. Its just that I have had a few raised eyebrows when I have told people that I have just spent £500 getting it serviced and through the MOT. Well surely the car isnt worth much is it??? Is it still worth spending money on it???

You're investing in a years motoring - makes sense to me.

I know far too many people who neglect servicing and maintenance work on cars, and then they change it because, like those friends of yours, they dont see the bigger picture.

I got a friend of mine who was sorely stuck for a car a fantastic Peugeot 406 2.0 HDI for £500. It had 330,000 miles on it, but one owner from new and came with a file full of maintenance receipts. Drove like a dream.

I told him to keep it well maintained and he'd get a couple of years out of it easily and it would still be worth £200 scrap.

He chose not to bother so come MOT time it needed an exhaust, 4 tyres, a service and a couple of suspension bushings. Of course he declared it "too costly" to spend £500 putting it through MOT and dumped the car. Had he maintained the car during the year when the car needed it he'd have had a £100 bill for MOT and another years cheap motoring.

He chose to buy another car - at £1500 this time - it broke down on him a month later and cost him £500 in repairs....

Ultrasonic

YORKSHIRELASS wrote: »

Its just that I have had a few raised eyebrows when I have told people that I have just spent £500 getting it serviced and through the MOT. Well surely the car isnt worth much is it??? Is it still worth spending money on it???

What people like your friends usually forget is the much higher depreciation on newer cars. You've spent £500 getting useful things done to your car, whereas newer cars will easily depreciated by over £500 more than your car in a year, without even driving anywhere.

The way I look at running older cars is that you are balancing the risk of possible repair bills againts guaranteed depreciation losses on new cars. It is of course true though that depreciation is purely a financial loss compared to the additional inconvenience of getting an older car repaired.