Would this car be worth buying and fixing?

naaads_xo

I was looking at a Nissan Micra, 1.2 2009 5 doors, the owner is selling for £1,150 but she said she can do £900. I was checking the mot and found this:

11 August 2018
PASS
Mileage
102,820 miles
Expiry date
11 August 2019
Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):
Exhaust has a minor leak of exhaust gases (6.1.2 (a))
Offside Front Inner Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge (5.2.3 (e))
Offside Front Outer Tyre has a cut but not deep enough to reach the ply or cords (5.2.3 (d) (i))
Offside Front Tyre slightly damaged/cracking or perishing (5.2.3 (d) (i))
Exhaust system corroded deteriorated
Oil leak, but not excessive (8.4.1 (a) (i))

8 August 2017
PASS
Mileage
101,023 miles
Expiry date
11 August 2018
Advisory notice item(s)
Front Tyre worn close to the legal limit nearside/offside inner/outer edges (4.1.E.1)
Brake hose has slight corrosion to ferrules (3.6.B.4e)

8 August 2017
FAIL
Mileage
101,023 miles
Reason(s) for failure
Nearside Front Anti-roll bar linkage ball joint dust cover excessively damaged so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.4.G.2)
Advisory notice item(s)
Front Tyre worn close to the legal limit nearside/offside inner/outer edges (4.1.E.1)
Brake hose has slight corrosion to ferrules (3.6.B.4e)

Date tested
12 August 2016
PASS
Mileage
97,176 miles
Expiry date
11 August 2017

Date tested
8 August 2016
FAIL
Mileage
97,161 miles
Reason(s) for failure
Parking brake: efficiency below requirements (3.7.B.7)
Offside rear parking (secondary) brake grabbing severely (3.7.B.6b)
rear brakes release unevenly (3.7.B.4)
rear brake application uneven (3.7.B.2)

Date tested
24 July 2014
PASS
Mileage
93,473 miles
29 July 2015
Advisory notice item(s)
Items removed from driver's view prior to test
oil leak
exhaust clamp deteriorated and front heat shield loose
Anti-lock braking system warning lamp indicates an ABS fault (3.4.1c)
Advisory notice item(s)
Front Exhaust has a minor leak of exhaust gases (7.1.2)

mollycat

I don't think listing those previous MOT's is the best way to get opinions TBH; yeah you might need (or might not need) tyres and part of an exhaust soon going by those advisories, but....

What does it drive like, what is it's condition, is there evidence of servicing, does the seller seem genuine, why is he/she selling, why has it done only 1K mileage in the last year and very little in the last 4 years, etc, etc, etc

You have seen it and test driven it I take it?

Edit to add....If you are asking what people think of the car without seeing it for yourself, there isn't anything within that copy/paste of MOT's that would stop me looking at it, (if a Micra was what I was after).

Basically though, no way to tell if a car that age/budget will do without seeing; if you are not confident about telling a lemon from a good buy, can you take someone who knows about cars with you?

Tokk

So three advisories all on the same tyre, two on the exhaust and an unspecified oil leak.

Price up replacements and see whether it's appropriate for you.

It's a ten year old car with 100k on the clock, you would expect the odd issue that'll need repairing.

fatbelly

As long as there are no major issues I think £900 for a 10-y-o Micra is good. I don't consider a dodgy tyre any problem at all but it might be worth getting prices for the exhaust.

Take it for a test drive...

Arklight

If the car is in otherwise good condition I would bite.

forgotmyname

Why do you keep looking at cars where owners cannot even be bothered to have legal tyres?

Dust cover on a joint fair enough you wont spot that, but tyres being cracked, or have cuts or the fact they never check the tyre pressures.