My Car Experiments
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I think he wants to be outraged on the internet and is trying to drum up scenarios using generalisations, mistruths and exaggerations.
The trade in value was from Motorpoint. I am always better selling my cars to private buyers who appreciate the effort I take looking after my car. I asked for a trade in value just in case I had a nice surprise. When he asked me how much is it worth I went on ebay typed in the year and model and then high to low on the search. £4k was highest at that time. They're having a laugh we'll give you £500 was his reply.0 -
I used to frequent scrapyards in the 1980s looking for parts. They used to put 3 cars in a pile and you took off your own spares. The cars then were really in a mess. Loads of rust. Looked really ready to scrap. It must be so different now. They don't let you get your own parts now of course. People must be scrapping cars in a really reasonable condition. Improvements in engineering don't seem to have translated into people keeping cars longer. People must be scrapping cars when minor repairs are needed. Maybe labour costs.
Its now the mechanicals and electricals that wear out, not the cars.
A car with perfectly acceptable bodywork could be in a scrapyard for an ECU failure or a digital dash failure.
Whos going to spend £3,000 on a car thats worth £1,000?
Thats whats killing cars now.0 -
The trade in value was from Motorpoint. I am always better selling my cars to private buyers who appreciate the effort I take looking after my car. I asked for a trade in value just in case I had a nice surprise. When he asked me how much is it worth I went on ebay typed in the year and model and then high to low on the search. £4k was highest at that time. They're having a laugh we'll give you £500 was his reply.
So there were people asking £4,000 for your particular variants model and year and with 144,000 miles?
From what i can tell your car is a 2004 VW of some sort? Curious what 2004 VW with 144,000 miles is worth £4K or are you being economical with the truth again?0 -
Sorry, from the thread title I was hoping for a lot more interesting read.
However, OP, if you are going to buy a new car, and service it yourself from the get-go therby voiding your warranty.... Isn't that a bit daft, because if you get a lemon, which has a serious ECU problem or something.. then you could run into difficulty....
On that particular example, if I were you, I would argue that self servicing wouldhave no effect on the ECU, and therefore sue them to fix the ECU under warranty, but it's only my opinion.0 -
There are ten 2003-5 VWs on Autotrader with 125-150k miles, between £3500 and £4500.From what i can tell your car is a 2004 VW of some sort? Curious what 2004 VW with 144,000 miles is worth £4K or are you being economical with the truth again?
One Golf GTi, one Golf R32, and eight Touaregs.
£500 px value on any of those would be a mickey-take.0 -
There are ten 2003-5 VWs on Autotrader with 125-150k miles, between £3500 and £4500.
One Golf GTi, one Golf R32, and eight Touaregs.
£500 px value on any of those would be a mickey-take.
Its a 2004 1.9TDI, so not a GTI, R32 or a TouaregIn 2005 I bought a 2004 car with VAG 1.9tdi 130PS ASZ PD engine (£10K discount from new). It had 10K on the clock
Maybe an Audi but either way, its yet another exaggeration by fred to try to prove a non existent point - not everyone wants to (or can) or can be bothered servicing and fully maintaining their own car from the cradle to the grave.
If you want to then great - noone is arguing with that0 -
After a few years observing people and their cars I concluded:
Cars are made by graduate engineers in fantastic factories to immense standards. OK they do engineer a few mistakes but generally a new car is in fantastic condition.
They are sold and maintained by a network of people who are generally clueless.
Taking a car for a service - it's a lottery if anything is done.
Taking a car for a repair - equals collateral damage.
So I take a new car. I look after it. Check tyre pressures and fluid levels. Service it to the schedule.
If a component needs replacement I disassemble the car carefully, replace the component and then re-assemble it to 'as new' condition.
I void the warranty because I don't want any garage messing with my car.
So early on I pay for oil, filters etc and then as time goes on brake pads, discs, cambelts, exhausts.
Very occasionally I replace an unexpected item like a sensor or a switch.
The car is just like new year after year. Why wouldn't it be?
The last one got to 17 years of faultless service before it rusted.
My current one is at 13 years and 144K miles.
I come on this forum and people are buying cars at 5 years plus and being told they've bought an old banger and they can't expect much.
What's going on?
You are buying new and losing a lot of money in depreciation. Instead use your skills to buy a good 7 to 10 year old car and keep it going for another 10 years like I do. That's real money saving.0 -
Are most car plants staffed by graduate engineers on the shop floor now?
Maybe that's just the effect of qualification inflation and the majority are graduates of media engineering.
Jaguar Land Rover have a graduate programme for shop floor workers. They get paid to get an engineering degree.0 -
Strong for an A4, but not unfeasibly so.
It would be, but back to the original point, theres no way dealers are buying cars @ £500 and selling them for £4K.
And as the sales guy said you'd be nuts to think with 144,000 miles its going to sell for £4,000 (irrespective of what one or two people might be asking)0
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