HELP! I'm sick and tired of ridiculous motoring costs!

angelboy

I'm getting tired of constantly paying £1000+ to get my cars through the MOT every year. I don't have expensive cars and I've always liked to think I've done plenty of research before buying but my Mazda and now my wife Audi (both supposedly pride themselves on being reliable cars) are coming away with stupidly problems that are costing a fortune to fix.

Right now we have a 2005 Mazda 5, 2.0l Sport, 7 seater. In 2 years of owning it there have been some regular costs like brake pads/discs and tyres, which I accept. But then there's the other stuff that fails that just cost a stupid amount to fix - the aircon packed up - £800 to fix (didn't do it, I took the belt off and just wind down the windows in summer). The rear window wiper motor packed up - fine, I'll do without it. The exhaust back box was replaced, which would have been OK but the only place to buy one from is the main dealer and they wanted £600 - just for the back box!!! I've had entire exhaust systems fitted for less than that. Mazdas entire system is a ridiculous £1200!!!! In the end I had a stainless steel one made up for £420. Now, it's failed the MOT because the ABS sensor has failed and it has to be sent away to a specialist company to reprogram - at a cost of £350+vat not including fitting and me being without a car for 10-14 days!. If they can't do it then it's a new unit for over £1000?!!?!?

Before buying I did my research and Mazdas came out as being reliable cars with low running costs - no-one mentioned £800 aircon units, £1200 exhausts systems or £1000 ABS sensors. Where are these in the Honest John, What Car or Parkers reviews? Just those items alone would double the money in the car meaning I've spent £6000 on a car that's worth £2000!

I bought my wife an 54 plate Audi A4 for Christmas - these are good, strong and reliable cars. Well, it looks like the turbo needs some attention - how much for a new one - £1250! But it might not be the Turbo it could be the stem oil seals - OK, well can you check for them? Yes but the head has to come off and it'll be expensive just to check.

What's the alternative?

I've done the maths on contract hire and for the cheapest Nissan Micra you're talking £1250/year regardless. Anything remotely decent is three times that amount. - Sort of ruled that one out.

I looked at getting a loan for £10k and buying a 2/3 year old Astra. The loan isn't expensive but still £2250/year which reduces to £1600 after 5 years (with an 8 year old Astra with 80k on the clock, worth £2000) - still could have high maintenance costs though so could be in a similar position as to now.

Brand new cars loose 30%-50% in the first 3 years so again, a 20k car looses £6000-£10000 (£2000-£3333/yr) plus finance costs.

I just want a reliable car that doesn't have some stupid 'gotchas' that cost silly money to put right.

Is there such a thing or is it wishful thinking?

Any ideas, help or advice?

Guest101

You're buying 10-11 year old cars. With mileage in excess of presumebly 80,000.

It also sounds like you're getting named garages to work on these 10-11 year old cars - which will cost a fortune.

It sounds partly unlucky. But the bits going wrong aren't the reliability factors, the car still runs.

Tobster86

angelboy wrote: »

What's the alternative?

Hondas, Toyotas, and bicycles.

bazster

If you bought basic mainstream cars (Ford or summat) without loads of gadgets like aircon, ABS and turbo then (i) there would be less to go wrong and (ii) any old backstreet garage could fix them, without charging main-dealer rates or fitting OEM exhausts and whatever.

I run a 14-year-old Vauxhall and a 17-year-old Renault. I get them MOT'd at a centre that only does MOT's (no repairs) and the only fail I can remember was for a front strut, for which I got a local tyre-and-exhaust place to replace them both. I doubt I pay more, on average, than a couple of hundred quid a year for repairs on both cars (although I can and do fix little things myself, such as a recent failed windscreen washer pump)

A friend of mine got rid of his Merc because of the stupid repair bills he was running up and bought a brand-new Audi. It's causing him just as many problems.

Fancy cars = fancy bills.

BeenThroughItAll

Does sound like you're not getting great service. Just an example, but you can buy a rear silencer for a 2005 Mazda 5 Sport 2.0 7st for £100 from ECP (705680981).

droopsnoot

It's the luck of the draw, unfortunately. But I'd agree it does sound as if the mistake you're making is to take the car to a main dealer for servicing instead of using one of the increasing number of independent specialists.


It's not just the cost of these places, though - you find that most of them are staffed by technicians who are trained in the official manufacturers procedures for diagnosing faults, and that can lead to a very rigid view of faults. For example your point about the Audi and whether it's a turbo seal or a valve stem seal that's gone could be diagnosed in several different ways, and an independent might tackle the problem in one of those rather than just swapping things until it goes away.

colino

You really need to find a local, friendly, independent, recommended garage to help you look after your cars. The bills you have quoted are extortionate and can only come from the glass and chrome palaces. Every decent operator will work with a customer to find the best deals and workarounds to not only keep them on the road, but to keep a long-term customer.
Rarely is changing cars a sensible financial decision; unless brand new and under manufacturers warranty, you tend to buy other peoples problems.

angelboy

I do go to small Indi that's been trading for 30 years and everyone in the area goes to and vouches for.......?!

angelboy

Guest101 wrote: »

You're buying 10-11 year old cars. With mileage in excess of presumebly 80,000.

It also sounds like you're getting named garages to work on these 10-11 year old cars - which will cost a fortune.

It sounds partly unlucky. But the bits going wrong aren't the reliability factors, the car still runs.

Yes.

No - Indi garage with 30+ years trading

Yes, the cars still run but take my Mazda - it's an MOT failure so although the car has been running for 3+ months with the dash light on it's now not going to be legal to run it with the dash light on.

The Audi, well, yes it runs and TBH it seems fine to me, but when will it pop and for how much?

BeenThroughItAll

angelboy wrote: »

I do go to small Indi that's been trading for 30 years and everyone in the area goes to and vouches for.......?!

They don't sound that great to me. If it's true an ABS sensor's failed, then £100 should sort a new one, possibly much less. If it's the ABS module, a repair can usually be effected by a number of specialists such as BBA Reman for a lot less than £350 (last time I had one rebuilt by them it was ~£150, plus an hour or so to swap the pump over and bleed.

dannyrst

I'm not being funny, but it sounds like a mix of bad luck and you not knowing enough about cars to realise when you are getting ripped off.

Why would you get a custom back box made when, as said before, you can get them for £100. It takes 15 minutes with a ramp to fit it too, so give a mate at a garage £20 cash in hand and job done.

IMO, you cause more trouble for yourself leaving little issues to get worse, rather than fixing them as soon as you are aware of them.