Ever kept a car until its 'died'?

marleyboy

My EX drove me round the wall with her 10 Yr old Rover. After spending a fortune on doing repairs on this lemon. It got to the point it needed a major job involving the engine, (tappets I think). it cost £1300 to repair, considering this was a car worth around £80.

Reluctantly, I agreed to have it done on the strictest condition that that was the last time I would invest into it. Predictably it was only 4 weeks later when she scrapped it for £60 once the radiator went pop.

stator

AdrianC wrote: »

The ownre's attitude is probably the primary determinant, though.
Some will scrap a perfectly good car for relatively minor wear and tear - "oh, it failed the MOT, so I scrapped it" (two tyres, a stone chip in the windscreen and a couple of bulbs).
Others will spend more than the car's nominal value on maintenance and repairs.

Also the reason why old cars are more expensive. Lots of people scrapped healthy cars as part of the 'scrappage' scheme. They thought they were getting £2k off when really it was just £1k and most probably would have got more money selling the car privately.

skintpaul

Have had two cars die on me- one blown head gasket, out in the sticks. tow charges etc made it unecon to repair. rusty skoda, about 70k on the clock.

2nd was cam belt shredded, damaged engine. again, too expensive to repair. Mileage ??, about 8 years old.

Not really missed driving, and all the bother, since!

worried_jim

Every car I've had since 2000 I've driven to the scrap yard. Since 2008 not spent more than £600 on a car and most were £500- its the future!

lemontart

yes a Citroen estate years ago - got 15 quid for the battery from it

Gloomendoom

Kept several cars until they died. All were 150K+ miles. Some I'd had from new. I still have a couple of them, quietly rusting away.

AdrianC

Tobster86 wrote: »

There are strong factors in a car's build that will determine it's lifespan; bodywork being a very good one. Rust tends to be somewhat polarised as to which cars it affects by ten years old

The 1970s finished a while ago... VERY few cars are scrapped these days for rust - and those that are tend to be MUCH older than 10yo. Sure, there's a few with well-known rot issues, mostly around 15yo or so, and the exception rather than the rule.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

In terms of old cars, it depends on how nice they are - I had my C240 Merc from new till near death, 13 years old. I had just done an £800 repair about 4 months before but we then decided that it was just not worth the risk, couldn't get European breakdown insurance at sensible rates.

However, up until that point I was happy to keep it - not too bad on the gadget front, leather which had lasted, nobody looking down their nose as you are still driving a Merc not a wreck. I did have a partial respray and new wings about 4 years before I binned it.

Other cars I sold because they were money pits, remember driving the Ford Explorer to trade in for the Golf. The dealer got advice on what to check which was to listen to the diff, but if he'd had initiative he should have listened to the sound of bare pads scoring discs!

The Peugeot 205 just started falling to bits at about 60k miles.

The Golf died because daughter didn't grasp the significance of a water warning.

As a general principle I like to buy a car nearly new and then keep it, partly because I hate the hassle of buying and selling cars.

peter_the_piper

Last car, Daihatsu, N prefix went fairly well until its brakes started to go, clutch played up, overheating issues and tyres, Got 2k off a new Picanto for a car that I would have got £100 max for scrap. Previously had a volvo estate which cost a bomb to run. Mice ate the electrics so was scrapped, got nearly as much as paid for it.

AdrianC

IanMSpencer wrote: »

couldn't get European breakdown insurance at sensible rates.

How's €70ish per year sound? That's what I'm paying for full-year-all-Europe-personal-any-car breakdown cover for the pair of us. ADAC.

The Peugeot 205 just started falling to bits at about 60k miles.

My 205's on 160k at the moment. I paid £100 for it six years and 30k ago...