Car Problem

KellySam

Really could do with some advice on this one although I accept its a strange one. Bit of background 2 years ago was diagnosed with a chronic condition that over time has chipped away at my confidence to drive due to reduced feeling in my feet. As a result of this I stopped driving about 6 months ago which broke my heart and has seriously affected my mental health to lose such a big part of my life. Anyway I have been a real ostrich and effectively ignored my car sitting on the drive to a point it now has zero battery and goodness knows how many other problems.

Trying not to waffle so will summarise my problem. I have no friends or family who I can ask to help on this so I now have a car I cannot drive even if it can be got going so whilst I am coming to terms that I need to sell it I cannot get it anywhere to have it serviced and sold. I have breakdown cover but just getting it started is one problem but getting it anywhere is the other problem. Please be gentle I am not in the best place with all the worry but do now need to drag my head out of the sand

Thank you for reading and I know I'am an idiot

jimbo6977

Could the car be adapted to hand controls?

Would you feel comfortable relearning?

sheramber

Do you have at home service with your breakdown cover?
If you do, can you call them out to get it started. If they can't start it then could they transport it to a local garage to service/repair it?

My local garage will come and collect the car and bring it back for a small charge but it needs to be running as they have no means of transporting a car. They can however advise on someone who will transport the car to them

KellySam

Thank you jimbo Its a possibility I will look into the cost. My concern is the car is 8 years old so not sure it would be worth it.

KellySam

Thank you sheramber that's an idea. There was nothing wrong with car before so if the breakdown guys get it going I still need to get it the garage but I guess that would be a big move ahead if my garage would pick it up.

Mistral001

sheramber wrote: »

My local garage will come and collect the car and bring it back for a small charge but it needs to be running as they have no means of transporting a car. They can however advise on someone who will transport the car to them

Good advice. One thing I would add is that if you do get a local garage involved, do not tell them immediately that you want to sell the car. They will probably want to "take it off your hands" an give you a terrible price for it. Much better to just get it serviced first. Deal with the selling of the car after that.

PS take things in easy chunks. Deal with problem of car not working and then deal with the problem of what to do with it.

AdrianC

It should just need some charge in the battery to get it to start. Do you know anybody - a neighbour, maybe - who might have a charger? Is it somewhere that you can get mains electricity near it, ideally overnight?

Then, once it's started, it just needs using.

Is there a local garage who would come and fire it up, take it back and give it a once-over, then MOT it and sell it for you?

8yo car is unlikely to be worth less than a few grand - so, yes, definitely "worth doing".

TBagpuss

Take it step by step.

Step one sounds as though it would be to get the car moving - so either share the existing battery or buy a new one.

Then step 2 - get it services - the garage should be able to arrange to collect it if it is driveable. Depending on the garage, they might be able to collect it even if it isn't - if you have a local garage which also does accident repairs they may have a tow truck and be able to get their to their premises even if it doesn't currently go!

Step 3 - once it has been serviced, you can sell it or look in to whether it could be converted to hand controls and whether you feel that is for you.


Another possible option would be to look up what it is likely to be worth once services, and look at what the scrap value is, and decide how much it is worth spending on getting it running. If it is only 8 years old I would expect it to be worth repairing before you sell, but check.

KellySam

Thank you so much for all of your advice I have made a big list. You are right about baby steps I seem to have blown this up into such a huge issue.

Just to answer some of the questions you all asked

I do have home help with my breakdown
I would need to look into the cost of conversion as money is tight. Would this affect the insurance by much do you think?
No neighbour I can ask for help they would probably steal the car!
I have always had it serviced at the main dealer so could try them first to see if they would hep

Thanks again I think I will sleep tonight after your kind posts and some options

Brilley

You can go onto the "We buy any car" website and using the reg no they will give you an instant valuation...although lower than you would get privately it will be a good indication of the cars value....

KellySam

Thank you Brilley I have just done that and it came out as £3555 although I don't meet some of their stipulations such as 6 months MOT not a non runner and no damage (there is a small bump/scratch on the side so i guess that would go down quite a bit).