The Four D's

mark55man

I would definitely get a second opinion - if the garage is new to you, they are probably just trying for a quick profit injection, against someone they don't know and don't really care about. 

If it does turn out to be terminal you should look at ebay for a replacement, and you might be surprised what you can pick up with a long MOT and not much cost while you save up for something better.  Then when you are done, sell it on ebay and get most of the cash back.  Selling you old MOT Failure on Ebay might also get you a £few hundred, as there is a strong market for people to do them up or raid for the parts that do work

Also you are probably looking at an excess of £500 over what you were expecting or only 10% of what you paid off in the year - you know you can do that - just not all in one.  You had a nice bubble of good news and progress going - it was always going to deflate over time - you just have the shock of it popping on one day.  Used cars are relatively cheap at the moment, but be careful you don't get one that has literally been sat on the driveway since lockdown

anyway good luck with whatever you decide

FootyFanDan

mark55man said:

I would definitely get a second opinion - if the garage is new to you, they are probably just trying for a quick profit injection, against someone they don't know and don't really care about. 

If it does turn out to be terminal you should look at ebay for a replacement, and you might be surprised what you can pick up with a long MOT and not much cost while you save up for something better.  Then when you are done, sell it on ebay and get most of the cash back.  Selling you old MOT Failure on Ebay might also get you a £few hundred, as there is a strong market for people to do them up or raid for the parts that do work

Also you are probably looking at an excess of £500 over what you were expecting or only 10% of what you paid off in the year - you know you can do that - just not all in one.  You had a nice bubble of good news and progress going - it was always going to deflate over time - you just have the shock of it popping on one day.  Used cars are relatively cheap at the moment, but be careful you don't get one that has literally been sat on the driveway since lockdown

anyway good luck with whatever you decide

Cheers Mark, It is a little knock I guess but without the progress made this year we would have been in a way worse position that is for sure, I am thankful that finance wise things are in a good place so therefore the budget won't take any major damage re the extra travel costs. I think I need to sit and figure the best way forward, the reality is that over xmas 4 days alone at work I am nearly going to be spending £200/£300 in travel costs due to taxi's (double fare - boxing day and xmas day) plus last time I was without a car it cost me £350 a month travel. The common sense approach would be to put a bit to the money I had budgeted for repairs and buy a little runaround to get me through 6 months - even if I can do that it will save me time/money even in just those six months

MidsHollie

Hey Dan,
Have you googled what the garage have said the problem is? My old car failed an MOT and the garage wanted to put a whole new ECU and pump combined in. They said you couldn’t get the parts separately. I googled it, it was a common fault, mainly with the pump, which was a few hundred £ and could be fitted separately. What could have been a few thousand to repair or a new car ended up being about £600 total, and the car kept going another 3 years for me. 

Whatever you have to do, just think back to how this would have really rocked the boat a year or so ago. Like you say, you are in a much better position to deal with it now

FootyFanDan

MidsHollie said:

Hey Dan,
Have you googled what the garage have said the problem is? My old car failed an MOT and the garage wanted to put a whole new ECU and pump combined in. They said you couldn’t get the parts separately. I googled it, it was a common fault, mainly with the pump, which was a few hundred £ and could be fitted separately. What could have been a few thousand to repair or a new car ended up being about £600 total, and the car kept going another 3 years for me. 

Whatever you have to do, just think back to how this would have really rocked the boat a year or so ago. Like you say, you are in a much better position to deal with it now

I am currently just waiting for one of my mates to contact me back he is a ford mechanic - the main issue seemed to be emissions failure. A bit of research narrows it down to possibly just needing a really good service or a brand new cat convertor. There seems to be a common consensus across alot of forums that a really good clean out of the system, change of oil and air filter and oil change could make a difference. I love the car but I don't wanna be sinking money into it the quote for all works needed is just under 1.5k which is a huge amount, given that I only paid 1.5k for the car (although this was discounted due to buying from a friend). Yesterday i was frustrated and very much doom and gloom but it could be a lot worse

FootyFanDan

I have spoken to my mate who is a specialist ford mechanic and he thinks the price quoted is insane. He reckons there is about 4 hours labour involved but reckons the quote is aprox 1200 in just parts which he reckons he could get for way less so its work in progress 

FootyFanDan

Evening All, 

Hope everyone is doing okay and keeping safe. Its been a pretty mixed bag this month - mainly decent though and pretty standard month. The promotion is now official and completed, my role changes from tomorrow so that is all good, although there is the transition from my role to new role which I expect to be done for mid Jan for the new hours which is going to make such a huge difference to my routine and hoping I will see the benefit from no longer doing the shift work even if it might take a little getting used too. There is certainly more responsibility in the new role and I will be a lot more involved with the management side of things. I will also be used as cover for other management overlooking their sites whilst they are off so this will get me some major experience so all in all I am really looking forward to the next challenge.

Debt wise , despite the conflict (albeit late) of budget I have still ensured that I have paid the £250 towards my debt payment so that is a tick in that box, all other direct debits have come out as expected. The budget is holding up really well so no complaints there. Xmas is still on track and pretty much sorted too, so really only got the travel/car side of the budget to see what I am going to do. I managed to speak to another garage who think it could be anything from mileage/plus air filter oil filter change right through to needing a new cat converter. Although they won't know without looking properly which at present they just don't have the capacity to do. 

I can't believe its December tomorrow - what a crazy year it has been.

FootyFanDan

Today has been a busy day - I did the school run and then spent most of day sorting out the kitchen and decluttering/rearrange so this was alot of effort but it does look so much more organised and better now. Plus we have more room to put stuff when we are cooking. I really enjoying cooking but due to my hours at the moment some weeks i eat great, others not so much. This is something i really need to change as I am really starting to feel it.

Popping this entry in more as a reminder of my to do lists tomorrow, I tend to check in here everyday (even if not updating diary) so i am more likely to remember ha.

_ Re-configure and get YNAB back in shape - I love this app but over last few months I got really lazy with it and my accounts in monzo (pots) are all over so I really need to get back focused on this. I also need to start listening to my finance podcasts too as these keep me focused too. The inputting budget and numbers at beginning of month are fine but its the tracking and making sure i log the little spends. It was working so well, so I know it helps me just gotta focus more

_ Download my podcasts episodes onto podcasts and catch up whilst doing my other admin stuff. 

These last few months it feels like I have just plodded along, stuff has been paid but I have got lazy with stuff. My exercise is down, I have stopped reading as much, my water intake has gone down. I really need to refocus on alot of things but i think the circumstances we are living in at the moment making it more difficult to find massive motivation, just feels like everyday is the same.

Hope everyone is keeping safe

FootyFanDan

Morning All, 

Today is more of a relaxed day  - I did my cleaning day yesterday haha. While I guttered out the kitchen, my gf did the bathroom so that's a win there. We have ordered food that is coming tomorrow, I really need to start putting more effort into the food element of things as due to doing it online its become lazy. I need to get back up to scratch on the meal planning, I have a spreadsheet (of course i do hahaha) that details what we usually buy - our usual meals that are pretty much our go to meals and then we normally pick from that bunch...or we used to now its just random stuff.

I plan on a very thorough look through my finances today - this will include looking for a new sim only deal although I am quite happy with the one I have its £12 per month and gives me adequate data, its also includes my sky go so when I am watching this on my phone or tethered to ipad it doesn't use any data all and tbh this in itself saves me a huge amount ( I watch alot on nights and the work wifi is shocking). I am currently re-going through the YNAB tutorial videos to get back up to scratch and how to get best use out of it, although its going to cost money I felt so much more in control when I used it and I knew what was going where. Atm its on a spreadsheet on what I plan / budget but very rarely track it so always overspend which wasn't an issue before - maybe its a mindset thing

In more positive news though.....my debt total now stands at £1294 . Have good day all.

FootyFanDan

Also noticed since the 1st lockdown started I am spending way to much time playing video games so I need to find a way to try cut this down, although I do enjoy gaming its got into a daily thing which hasn't been the case for a while. 

Naomim

So pleased I'm not the only one with a meal plan spreadsheet 🤣

I think after a while of debt busting, it becomes the norm so we're not so excited at the paydays and we do become more complacent.  It's a good idea to revisit the tutorials and listen to those podcasts and get your mindset in the right place.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Naomim