Problems with car

stephg20

Hi everyone,


Just wondering if I could get a bit of advice if possible.


I bought a car August 2016, a Vauxhall Corsa 2004 plate with 52000 miles on the clock for £1500. It was a lot of money but because it was low mileage I thought it would last me and it was cheap on insurance (new driver).


I bought the car knowing there was an oil leak and the month after I bought it took it the garage to be told there was 5 oil leaks which cost me £250 to fix. At this point I wasn't aware of any rights I had with the garage so I didn't take it back to them to fix. I then took it back a month later but they said because I had already had the work done they couldn't do anything.


Since then this car has been nothing but trouble. The car started misfiring around this time so I took it for a service and the garage came up with a whole list of other problems that I'd have to fix before its MOT in May this year. I got new spark plugs and coil pack fitted and it seemed fine for a few weeks. I then went back to the dealer to complain as a garage had quoted me £600 just to get it through its MOT. The dealer then said that he would use a garage he knew and get the costs down. In the end it cost me £250 and they fixed a spring in my engine, some other small bits and a part in my exhaust as the fuel emissions were too high.


I thought that was the end of it but in the last 2 months the car has broke down 3 times and is misfiring again and going into limp mode. A new fault code has come on and now apparently the fuel injector will need to be replaced as well as the spark plugs and coil packs which the AA think are faulty.


I'm just getting a bit fed up now and I really don't know what to do. I got a loan for £3000 to cover the cost of the car and the 1st years insurance as I thought I'd be able to save up the cost of the 2nd years insurance which is due in October but due to constantly repairing the car I don't have anything saved up. I don't know whether to keep fixing it and hope that whatever damage has been done to it by previous owners will be cancelled out by the repairs I keep doing to it or to just get rid of it and start again.


Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

LandyAndy

A 12 year old car is always going to be pot luck when it comes to things going wrong. A 12 year old car that has covered such a low mileage is likely to be even worse.


A Corsa that old is never going to 'get better'. I would sell it asap for as much as you can and start saving up.

stephg20

Really?


I would have thought with it having such low mileage it would have been a better bet


Is it because its not been run as much as it should have been??

LandyAndy

stephg20 wrote: »

Really?


I would have thought with it having such low mileage it would have been a better bet


Is it because its not been run as much as it should have been??

Yes it is exactly that, coupled with the likelihood that it has been used for lots of short journeys (and that in itself suggests an elderly owner who may have little mechanical sympathy and poor driving habits, if they are anything like my mother.)

macman

Short journeys equal more wear on clutch, brakes, gearbox etc. Engine may not get to proper operating temp either. A high mileage car that's plodded the motorways at 70mph for years may be in much better condition.
A 12 year old car that you bought 10 months ago: the dealer has already done as much as they can be expected to in the absence of any kind of warranty.

AdrianC

stephg20 wrote: »

I bought a car August 2016, a Vauxhall Corsa 2004 plate with 52000 miles on the clock for £1500.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

It's a 12-13yo car, at the very bottom of the price range, that you've owned for nearly a year.

Your consumer rights are tempered by reasonable expectations for price, age and apparent condition. Basically, if you'd owned it from new, would it be reasonable to expect this fault? On a 12-13yo car? The answer to almost anything is "absolutely..."

Even then, past six months after purchase it is the responsibility of the consumer to prove the fault was present at the time of purchase. The fact you've had almost a year's use out of it, and describe many of these issues as having appeared recently says that's not the case.

A 50k mile 12yo car may be less problematical than a 150k 12yo one. But it is emphatically not going to be as trouble-free as a 50k 2yo one - or even a 150k 2yo one. It is a car that is near the end of its life, one smallish step away from being scrapped.

stephg20

I'm not asking about my rights as a consumer, I don't expect the dealer to do anymore than they already have.

I don't agree with the point that it's at the bottom of the price range, I've seen corsa's that old selling for £300-£500. I just assumed with the low mileage and the high price for its age that it would last me for a few years but seems I was wrong.

Thanks everyone for your advice.

AdrianC

stephg20 wrote: »

I'm not asking about my rights as a consumer, I don't expect the dealer to do anymore than they already have.

Oh, OK. Then it's definitely your problem, and your problem alone. You have a choice. Scrap it or maintain it.

I don't agree with the point that it's at the bottom of the price range, I've seen corsa's that old selling for £300-£500.

How much do you think the dealer paid for it...?

And I just assumed with the low mileage and the high price for its age that it would last me for a few years but seems I was wrong.

With proper maintenance, it almost certainly will do. What you're seeing isn't "damage", simply natural wear and tear and the ageing process. Consumables need replacing. It's not just about "low mileage, so it doesn't need anything".

stephg20

Thank you.

And I think the dealer probably paid about that much for it and then ripped me off.

There's no need to have a such an attitude when someone is asking for advice btw. I don't know much about cars, thats why I asked on here. No need to patronise me.

wgl2014

Unfortunately as cars get older moving parts wear and will need replacing. No way to avoid this other than by spending a lot more on a newish car with warranty, even then wear and tear isn't covered.

If its had spark plugs and a coil pack last year it would seem unlikely to need them replacing again unless they have been damaged by another problem. It may just be the injector that needs doing.

Whilst its frustrating to spend more money on the car it doesn't sound like there is anything drastically wrong that needs fixing. If you get rid and buy an 8 year old car you may find it has similar problems.

Cars cost money to run and there's no getting away from that, consider learning how to do some basic maintenance jobs yourself as this can enable you to save some cash for any repairs that need a garage.

The other option is to consider a lease on a new car, loads of different deals out there but you should be able to get one for a little over £100 per month. There are positives and negatives to leasing that are well discussed but at least you know where you are and what your monthly costs will be.

For example: https://www.time4leasing.co.uk/product.asp?pid=1641

stephg20

This is what I can't decide what to do. If I scrap this car and then buy another ATM I'm only in a position to buy something of a similar age and then I'd be worried it would have the same problems.

I understand cars need to have work done to them. I have kept up with servicing since I've had it and had all these repairs. I know it's up to me when I decide enough is enough and have it scrapped but it seems a shame to let all the work I have previously done to it go to waste plus it's only just had its MOT.