Bought a rusty Ford Ka

johnatsea

My daughter has just bought a car for her son, who is about to turn 17 soon, she rushed into it because she thought it was a bargain and didn't want to lose it, it cost her £700
for a 2006 65000m 1.3 Ford Ka, it was described as good condition and reliable, from a private seller, sold as seen. It looked ok from looking at it in the road, but she got it checked out a local car repairer/ MOT tester to see if all was ok, but alas it wasn't, they pointed out that it had a lot of rust on both sills and wouldn't pass the next MOT without 
them being repaired, so we have driven around and got estimates and the best price we got was £400 and they said they would repair a oil leak from the rocker box cover
as well in the price, we left it with the mechanics but when they looked further they have found rust that needs repairing on the wheel arches as well, which may 
cost up to another £300 on top of the £400, My question is should we get the repairs done, or give up on the car and see what we can get back on it. All the mechanics that have seen it said from first views it looked like a lovely car. My daughter is a nurse and has two more younger children,so hasn't got a lot of money ,she just wanted to 
to get her son to pass a car driving test because she thinks 2 wheels are dangerous. Any advice would be very welcome.

couriervanman

Sell it on......and next time take someone who knows a bit about cars along with her

johnatsea

thanks we are going to weigh up all the advice, its better when your outside looking in 

couriervanman

Ford Ka are notorious rust buckets,,,,,just google "ford ka problems"

AdrianC

Couriervanman is right. 2006 would be one of the last of the original Ka - and, yes, they've been renowned for rot for many years. It's fundamentally a late 80s Fiesta underneath - and they rotted badly, too. Sills and rear arches are pretty much standard fare.

Is it worth doing? Well, given that the choice is lobbing it away and getting maybe £100 in scrap money - or spending £400 on it... What would that same £500 buy in a replacement? A different set of woes...

Herzlos

Does £400 get it into a good condition? It's a 14 year old Ka, rust is hardly a surprise.

Was it genuinely a private seller? Have you googled the phone number?

AdrianC

Herzlos said:

Was it genuinely a private seller? Have you googled the phone number?

Even if it was a trader, it's a 14yo £700 car. Reasonable expectations are minimal.

johnatsea

yes i,m sure it wasn't a dealer, the log book is in the name of the seller, and my daughter was in her house, just around the corner from her, and she knows her circle of friends, we were surprised its MOT lasts till April 20, and it had no advisories. I was thinking the same way as AdrianC personally, I don't wish it to happen but my grandson could end up pranging it anyway as hes a going to be a rookie driver, but I will show my daughter the replies and see what she decides.

Goudy

Move it on, you'll be cutting rust out if it forever and a day.
Water gets into the rear quarter panels from the wheel arches and rots the car inside out.
Bubbling on the sills to the rear of the doors, rear wheel arches and bubbling paint around the filler cap all point to drastic problems beneath, as soon as the bodyshop cut into it, they'll find more and more and you then either have to carry on repairing it or scrap it.

Quite a lot of car from this era tend to look ok outwardly, but are in a shocking state under the skin.
You really need to raise your sights a bit and aim for something a bit newer, then plan on it ending up like this after you're finished with it.
The later KA is based on a 2003-2011 Fiat Panda, which is much better built than Fords offering.
Search for an Eco model and it's cheap RFL and only really suffer from rust on the rear axles and sump pan, so easy to check.

flashg67

Looking online at the past MOT history - either fails or advisories is a good idea - often the early signs of rust are mentioned years before - if you see any mention , avoid. My SD bought a £700 car, lasted a year before expensive repairs were needed. Doubled the budget (plus a bit) the next time for an Aygo which has (so far) been fab

tim9966

Most cars have an average life of about 15 years, so is nearing that time. If it still in date and otherwise road legal run it until the MOT runs out, then scrap it, or spend the £700 fixing it and getting it through its next MOT and enjoy another year with it, but chances are it will fail again next year as once the rust sets in it's only a matter of time before it's beyond repair.