Urgent.. Throwing good money into old cars please help !

Helen27

Hi my current mini is over 100 000 miles just. Next service in 5000 miles £300 at dealer. There is work to be done totalling Aporox £700

The dealer value of my car is £600.
I have seen a better car Bmw v Reg for £3000 less my trade in.
The car is in mint condition 30000 on the clock.

Insurance diff is £20 a month.
Should I get this car or not or wait till it's totally knackered then look at a real cheapie?
No idea what to do please help would love your views.thanks

Joe_Horner

Who's quoted for £700 worth of work? The fact you're quoting dealer service price suggests possibly dealer. In which case, look somewhere else for another quote. Using dealers for £600 cars is, as a rule, madness!

Strider590

You've not stated how old your current vehicle is..... I struggle to believe that a BMW Mini is worth so little in the current market and if it's an older Rover Mini then it's worth quite a lot of money.

AdrianC

A V-reg car is heading rapidly for 17yo. £3k? What is it?

You seem to regard much more than basic maintenance - oil and MOT - as being wasted money, rather than necessary expenditure to keep the vehicle healthy. If that is your attitude, then you'd probably be better leasing a new car, because ANYTHING outside of warranty is going to require maintenance.

Norman_Castle

The dealer value of my car is £600.

The "dealer value" is what they are offering if you part ex with them. What is the exact make, model and age of your car?.

motorguy

Helen27 wrote: »

Hi my current mini is over 100 000 miles just. Next service in 5000 miles £300 at dealer. There is work to be done totalling Aporox £700

The dealer value of my car is £600.
I have seen a better car Bmw v Reg for £3000 less my trade in.
The car is in mint condition 30000 on the clock.

Insurance diff is £20 a month.
Should I get this car or not or wait till it's totally knackered then look at a real cheapie?
No idea what to do please help would love your views.thanks

Your £3,000 + your own car could put you into something like a 5 year old Fiesta

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201602060780592?model=fiesta&maximum-age=up_to_6_years_old&fuel-type=petrol&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&sort=default&maximum-mileage=up_to_50000_miles&postcode=BT62%202HB&price-to=4000&radius=1500&make=ford&search-target=usedcars&page=2&logcode=p

Please dont buy an old BMW Mini - they are troublesome pigs with big repair bills looming

londonTiger

it depends, my car private sale is £800. webuyanycar will but it for £280. But it's in good condition and drives smooth, in fact the older it gets the smoother it seems to drive. I would not bat any eyelid about paying for a clutch & timing belt job any time in future.

I do havew sentimental attachment to the car. I've been under the car more times than I can remember doing gear oil change, engine oil change. I've done all the fluid changes even the ones VW says are meant to last a lifetime (power steering, gear oil).

I have done 400 mile runs with it (round trip London to Leeds to pick up a gumtree item)

I spent two weekends machine polisihing the car when I got it. So it's more than just a lump of metal to me.

You should not look at in terms of how much the car is worth vs what the repair bill is. The price is determined by the supply and demand of used cars in the market, your car price is driven down by the consumer culture for cars fuelled by finance deals which floods used car market.

If you are happy with the car, if you would drive regardless I say keep it.

The bonus with your car is that the design is still the same as recent model minis, it's timeless so you need not be worried about it looking old and out of date.

My golf looks a bit dated.

Also I dont know why you want to get rid of the car 100,000 is not the "final years" of the car as you'd expect it to be in the 80s. 100,000 today is car that's "just getting warmed up". Good thing is everyone else assumes 100K is the graveyard age and sell their cars for ridiculous money. I'd happy buy cars at 100K on the clock all day long.

I got 4 years of troublefree motoring from my 96K golf, which I have done 30K on.

fishybusiness

You should not look at in terms of how much the car is worth vs what the repair bill is.

So true, spent £2k on mine in the last 2 years, it is worth around the £2k mark now. I know it is all ok, very unlikely to fail, I know its foibles, brakes and suspension replaced 2 years ago, etc etc, it is worth more than £2k to me.

WellKnownSid

Well, assuming that the next car is £3000 minus £600 trade in - then that's £2,400 you're about to spend on a car.

Versus spending just £700 on your current car to keep it running. And there is no reason why your next car won't also need £700 spending on it in the near future. Or much more.

As others have said - it's a pretty timeless car whoever made it, and just run in. If the bodywork is in good condition, stick a £125 private plate on it and few will know or care.

Oh, and just to add - 30k in 17 years is under 2k per year. This "mint" car may have many more problems lurking than one that's been used more and had wear and tear items replaced over the years.

bigjl

I would personally not buy an old BMW for retail price.

A Vreg BMW is firmly in Bangernomics territory imho.

Wouldn't pay more than a £1000.

There is no way to know what work the BMW needs, remember owners of older cars tend to sell when a bill looms, just like you are doing.

spira9

Just get rid of it and get a different car. You will just regret spending money on that old piece of scrap.

Thread closed, next question.