Car is a write-off, what's my next step?

thescouselander

goldspanners wrote: »

you shouldnt need to pay for scrapping of your vehicle.due to the price of scrap metal these days you will get around £50-£70 for it.
stick it on ebay with a £1 start,list as spares or repairs and a scrappy will come and take it away and give you some cash too!

Well you might - it all depends. There are strict rules these days regarding how scrap cars are disposed of and this costs money. So its down to the scrappy and how much he thinks he can make from the scrap metal/parts. With an old car they wont make much on parts so the amount they can make is less. If the cost of disposal is more than the money that can be made then you end up paying.

manda1205

thescouselander wrote: »

Well you might - it all depends. There are strict rules these days regarding how scrap cars are disposed of and this costs money. So its down to the scrappy and how much he thinks he can make from the scrap metal/parts. With an old car they wont make much on parts so the amount they can make is less. If the cost of disposal is more than the money that can be made then you end up paying.

Thats the point, they dont even use the parts, the value is in the weight of the metal in the car, wheels etc, yes they have to drain fluids and remove all cloth etc, but around my way every scrap merchant will happily come get your car as is and give you at least £50. Been like that for a few years now.
Also to OP, I agree with thunderbird, forget fixing it you have defo got your moneys worth from it. My £650 car has lasted me 3 1/2 (and I expect to get another couple of years from it)so you can get plenty of good cars for under £1000. And yes as soon as you get a new one, get cambelt done unless you have a receipt for the last change, I think avg change is about 40-50,000 miles dependant on car.

creamcheese

I would definitely recommend flogging it on ebay. We once sold 2 cars that we'd stripped loads of bits off and sold separately. One of them didn't even have a steering wheel and still sold for a couple of hundred quid!

Alias_Omega

It would be uneconomical to replace / repair the engine.

I would list the car on eBay as spares or repair at £0.01 starting price, this way you dont have to deal with scrapping it.

Then look for another car..

Plenty of rovers out there going cheap.

darich

Alias_Omega wrote: »

Plenty of rovers out there going cheap.

good shout.....isn't the concerto effectively a rebadged rover?...or to more accurate, the rover a rebadged honda?

LandyAndy

luckycat99 wrote: »

I don't know when the cam belt was last changed - it will say somewhere in my service history I imagine. I've only had the car since June 2005 - and I've not changed the cam belt.

I know nothing about cars, so I'm confused about what you said about the cylinder head. If the timing belt has gone, how would changing the cylinder head fix it? It's probably obvious to someone who knows about cars.

Thanks.

The damage done is to the valves, which are in the head - see darich's post. I thought it might be easier to just one off and replace with a guaranteed replacement than pay to have someone dismantle and rebuild the existing one.

Having said that I tend to agree with the scrap it and get a new one posts.

thescouselander

manda1205 wrote: »

Thats the point, they dont even use the parts, the value is in the weight of the metal in the car, wheels etc, yes they have to drain fluids and remove all cloth etc, but around my way every scrap merchant will happily come get your car as is and give you at least £50. Been like that for a few years now.
Also to OP, I agree with thunderbird, forget fixing it you have defo got your moneys worth from it. My £650 car has lasted me 3 1/2 (and I expect to get another couple of years from it)so you can get plenty of good cars for under £1000. And yes as soon as you get a new one, get cambelt done unless you have a receipt for the last change, I think avg change is about 40-50,000 miles dependant on car.

Of course they use the parts! Have you never been to a scrappy for an expensive replacement part for your car? They make a significant amount from selling on parts from scrap cars although there is obviously money to be made from the scrap metal.

manda1205

thescouselander wrote: »

Of course they use the parts! Have you never been to a scrappy for an expensive replacement part for your car? They make a significant amount from selling on parts from scrap cars although there is obviously money to be made from the scrap metal.

It depends which sort of scrappy. We have some that are proper scrap merchants and will still take the car whole and theyll strip it and all they want is the metal dont want the insides. Then we have your local smaller scrap yards which will take the car whole, use some for parts, depends on the car, but alot of them out my way do mainly want the metal and rely on that to make them money, rather than the parts!
Oh and my dad is a mechanic so Ive been going to scrap yards since I was born!

anewman

manda1205 wrote: »

It depends which sort of scrappy. We have some that are proper scrap merchants and will still take the car whole and theyll strip it and all they want is the metal dont want the insides.

That's a shame.

anewman

What about getting another of the same car? Make sure the cam belt is changed and you'll be fine next time. But on your existing car, take off everything possible and put it somewhere safeish to store it before scrapping it. This needs plenty of space to keep things, and time to remove them, but if you have the space it may save you money should any of the parts fail. Taking them off will also help you learn how they are fitted, so you'll have an idea how to fit it if needed when the part fails, and save money on garage costs. I don't know if there's a Haynes manual for these cars or not though. Main thing is to make sure the battery is disconnected before fiddling, and if messing with any of the fuel components you need to depressurise the fuel system.

Things you could save include the bumpers, headlights, tail lights, side repeaters, bulbs, fuse box, alternator, ignition coils, ECU, starter motor, instrument panel, dash switches, seat belts, shock absorber struts etc etc (may be helpful to search the net for things that tend to fail on this car to have a prioritised list of things to keep). If the next car has something rusted or badly damaged you can also take doors/the tailgate off your existing car and stick them on the new one. Take the wheels off and leave it on bricks. If you live in a rough area you can try save the window glass.

This is the ultimate money saving approach to motoring IMO but needs plenty of room for storage and time to remove the bits, and a willingness to get your hands dirty, buy tools and struggle with various nuts/bolts.