Car failed MOT - scrapped - or was it??

GotToChange

My poor old (very old, but much loved) car failed it's MOT. It failed only on a part of the suspension (as it usually does), which was not a great surprise - the roads and speed bumps around here are not kind to an elderly VW Passat. The garage that usually does work on it (but not the actual MOT, although they take it for it....) told me that it was "not economically sensible" to repair and advised me to scrap the car.

I thought about it for a few days (the owner of the garage did give me the opportunity to buy a car from him - another old used one of course) and agreed in the end to the car being scrapped. It took some time for the garage to give me the portion of the log book signed by the person who took it, an also to return a couple of items I had left in it. I was given £not very much, and this apparently included an amount that was sort of covering the value of 3/4 of a tank of premium diesel.

I then had to find and buy another car, which is a separate saga.

A few days later I passed my closest hand car-wash and saw that "my" car was sitting nearby, and established that it had been bought by the main car-wash chap. It had also had a new MOT - and thus the suspension fixed -done at the same place that failed it. It is now available to purchase as it is regarded as a "good car".

The/my garage said it was nothing to do with them and up to the guy who bought it as scrap what he wanted to do with it. The car-wash guy has been cagey about wh he bought it from and who did the work - and I am not sure the MOT garage would tell me without it getting back to "my" garage.

I may not have been, but I do feel taken for a bit of a fool. And am also worried about any ramifications for me as the person who told DVLA it is going for scrap, and yet it has not......

Can anyone help me figure out what this mess could possibly mean for me.... and if what has happened is entirely above board?

(The car wash guy has offered it back to me - for what amounts to the cost of thesuspension repair and another couple of hundred, with of course (!) new MOT. I don't want it now, as I sneaked into (left unlocked) it before I knew what had happened, and it is now filthy and stinks. It is very sad, as I am quite sentimental about the car.)

:o:o:o:o

Ectophile

A modern V5C doesn't actually have anywhere to say that the vehicle has been scrapped. It does have a yellow slip for "selling or transferring your vehicle to a motor trader, insurer or dismantler".


So unless you actually wrote a letter to the DVLA saying it has been scrapped, there is no problem.

GotToChange

Thank you - yes I have that part and noted that it does not specifically say scrapped. I suppose it feels wrong that I was told the car was only fit to scrap and yet there it is, running "fine"..... and I am definitely out of pocket.

Aylesbury_Duck

GotToChange wrote: »

Thank you - yes I have that part and noted that it does not specifically say scrapped. I suppose it feels wrong that I was told the car was only fit to scrap and yet there it is, running "fine"..... and I am definitely out of pocket.

Perhaps not. It might go pop for some other reason in the next few months.

What's done is done. No use worrying about it. It may end up being the wrong decision but it may also be the right one.

Lomast

My last 3 cars have been brought as scrap as it would cost too much for a garage to do the work (mainly welding) but as I can do it myself it was worth spending my time on.

AdrianC

The garage told you that the car wasn't economically viable to repair.
That means simply that it wasn't worth you paying their labour to do the work. It doesn't mean it can't be repaired.

As a result, you chose to sell it on. From that point, it's their car, so up to them what to do with it.

If somebody else thought it was worth doing the work - perhaps they weren't paying for the labour - then why's that a bad thing? It's a car that hasn't been scrapped, and is still in use. Extending the service life of consumer durables is a good thing for the environment.

sevenhills

GotToChange wrote: »

I was given £not very much, and this apparently included an amount that was sort of covering the value of 3/4 of a tank of premium diesel.

Should have been worth above £100, you are not giving us many facts, how much would the repair have cost, year of car, condition?

GotToChange

sevenhills wrote: »

Should have been worth above £100, you are not giving us many facts, how much would the repair have cost, year of car, condition?

Hi - thank you. I was more interested in the principle and process, but still feel that there was something slightly wrong.... I do agree that it is good that the car continues to live on, although at the moment it is sitting in a puddle near the car wash.

It is a 1997 VW Passat 1.9 TDi, 160,000 miles, recently replaced with better wheels x 4, tyres and battery, silver, no marks or dents, good sound system, very well looked after.

The MOT fail was a part of the rear suspension and my garage said £220 to £320 depending on access (?). This repair has been done for the MOT to be passed, but I am still curious to know who did it, even if I should just "let it go - move on ---":o

I was given £130 for "scrap" which also took into account 3/4 tank of premium diesel.

My garage also told me that it is possible the the Cat will "go" sometime soon (?????) which is why he stressed that it was not economically viable to repair. I don't know if whoever bought it knows this...

Agreed that maybe I dodged a bullet - but the cost of getting the car repaired would have been (even if the Cat went) a lot less to pay out than buying another car.....

AdrianC

GotToChange wrote: »

The MOT fail was a part of the rear suspension and my garage said £220 to £320 depending on access (?). This repair has been done for the MOT to be passed

I was given £130 for "scrap" which also took into account 3/4 tank of premium diesel.

So you were looking at a straightforward difference of £450 between selling that Passat, and fixing it and continuing to drive it.

Agreed that maybe I dodged a bullet - but the cost of getting the car repaired would have been (even if the Cat went) a lot less to pay out than buying another car.....

Not if you'd bought another £450 car in its place... Shouldn't have been at all hard to find something similar for the money - another 22yo Euro2 diesel with 160k or so, even with a new ticket, would probably have given you a chunk of change.

(BTW, absolutely zero point in wasting the difference on "premium" diesel)

GotToChange

Oh gosh, please explain to me in words of one syllable...... which I am sure you have, but I am not really following...

BUT - I would not have gone looking for a 22 year old car for £450 though - surely just the strong likelihood of repeating problems, or new ones.....


(I thought an older car deserved better fuel and certainly not supermarket. But I hnestly know nothng - hence this post.)

AdrianC

GotToChange wrote: »

BUT - I would not have gone looking for a 22 year old car for £450 though

And such is your choice, of course.

But I'm sure you recognise that replacing a 22yo 160k car with a 22yo 160k car would leave you in a like-for-like position, while replacing it with <say> a 5yo 40k car carries a significant element of betterment...

(I thought an older car deserved better fuel and certainly not supermarket. But I hnestly know nothng - hence this post.)

"Premium" petrol has higher octane. Most cars don't need or benefit from it - but those that do would give better performance when used hard.

"Premium" diesel doesn't have an equivalent. It simply piggy-backs on the "premium" petrol with a bit harder marketing and a bit more cleaning agent (all fuels have more than enough cleaning agent anyway), in return for a chunk more money. All fuel meets the same legal standards, and comes from the same handful of refineries down the same pipes to the same few regional depots, where it gets mixed with a small amount of brand-specific additives.