£250 Mot Repair bill 2nd year running, should I replace car?

Legacy_user

My car is a 04 plate. 2nd year running and £250 bill for repairs so it can pass its MOT.

Is this high compared to other cars? Should I replace the car?

Foxy-Stoat_3

What is the car, and what was the work last and this year?

How much did you spend on the last years service, if you had one?

This doesn't sound like an excuse to buy another car to me though, a pair of tyres can be just under £200 along for some cars.

motorguy

berbastrike wrote: »

My car is a 04 plate. 2nd year running and £250 bill for repairs so it can pass its MOT.

Is this high compared to other cars? Should I replace the car?

£250 a year is peanuts compared to depreciation on a newer car that might not be any more reliable.

A mate of mine scrapped a perfectly good Peugeot 406 diesel because it needed 4 tyres (which he could have got for £20 each part worn) and exhaust back box (£70 fitted) and two suspension bushings. He spent £1500 of his next car and has spent £600 in 4 months in maintenance on it. :eek:

System

Ok, Ill give it 1 more I think, just £250 is quite a lot of bones!

SailorSam

If you buy another newer second hand car you could be buying someone elses problems.
If it's only costing £250 a year that could be a lot less than any finance payments and you may still need some repairs over the next year.

martinthebandit

An 04 plate car will be costing what, about £1000 a year in depreciation add on £250 a year for repairs and it's cost to you is £100 a month ish, that's cheap motoring.

If you buy a newer car the depreciation alone will almost certainly hit you for far more than that.

gonzo127

to be honest i have to agree with the above, however couldnt help but think the same as you,

my car (05 Clio DCI with 210k on the clock) has just cost £450 to get through its MOT as needed brakes (the works) all round and some other bits and bobs

but looking at finance on a 'newer' car and i was looking at £100+ month finance which really makes the new car £1200 a year minimum to keep on the road plus what ever wear and tear that car had such as brakes tyres etc, which just doesnt make that much sense when compared to £450 a year to keep current car running as its nearly triple the yearly cost to get the newer car

Foxy-Stoat_3

Your not saying that you will need to spend another £450 next year on the brakes are you.....how many miles are you doing a year?

TrickyWicky

berbastrike wrote: »

Ok, Ill give it 1 more I think, just £250 is quite a lot of bones!

It's all about perception to be honest. To you £250 on a car might be a lot. To others it might be a saving.

You could spend £250 on it this year and nothing more or you could go and spend £1.5k on another car (plus interest as you'll no doubt be borrowing the money), run into more things to fix and end up spending £2.5k.

It's really down to how you perceive your spending on the car. You might dislike the car and see spending £250 on it as a waste of precious cash and that would be fair enough. You might spend £1.5k on another car and then think nothing of spending £300 a month on it for the next 6 months because it's a car you always wanted etc.

Only you can really decide if £250 is a lot to spend on the car.

Me personally I've spent £stupid on a car that I love to bits and £250 is peanuts from my POV to get a car through an MOT. Sure cash wise when you're skint it's a lot of money but in the grand scheme of things most cars will cost more than that per year in fuel! What you're forgetting is that no car is costless. They're all money pits and all have things that break, fail, need replacing etc. Thats all cars are - financial anchors that will try to drown you. But here is the biggest bit of news.. the more you ignore it's faults and only deal with them at MOT time the more expensive it is guaranteed to get to maintain the car. If you keep up with the silly little jobs and bits of maintenance whenever they need doing you don't suddenly get clobbered with a big bill at MOT time.

Believe it or not I've heard of people failing an MOT because they had run out of screen wash :mad: They'll then go and pay a stupid amount to get someone to fill it up for them - something that can be done by anyone in a couple of minutes. Same thing for a bulb too. Some people just expect cars to run forever with no maintenance and then cry when it lands them a bill!

So is £250 a lot or a little? Only you can really decide based on the way you look after the car (which from the way you admit it cost this much last time sounds like MOT time is the only time you do any work to it).

gonzo127

Foxy-Stoat wrote: »

Your not saying that you will need to spend another £450 next year on the brakes are you.....how many miles are you doing a year?

i would blooming well hope not, its just that for the last few years i have had multiple things start to go on my car, costing varing amounts, but having weighed up the ocst of a newer car, it just seems to me to cost more to buy a new car than repair my current one - and i do roughly 20-30k a year hence 210k on a 9 year old car

gabitzul

20-30k miles a year and only £250 to give you another year's MOT?

Bargain!