Bangernomics: Is this the cheapest possible motoring?

Lomond12

Wing mirrors on my 1998 Citroen Xsara had been patched many times and were in desperate need of replacement (very narrow driveway - keep banging gateposts!). As car now using a lot of oil and will prob have to be replaced in the next year I obviously didn't want to spend much on them. Tried local scrap yards but no joy. Couldn't find any on e-Bay or Gumtree.

Then I found the website http://www.1stchoice.co.uk/ while trawling around. Type in what you're looking for, they send request to 250+ scrap yards, and you then get no obligation quotes. Best quote I got was £58 for 2 incl VAT and delivery. Phoned up and said I didn't want to pay more than £50. Accepted at once. Wish I'd said £40! Mine came within 2 days from company called FAS and they were in perfect condition. Looked like new. A friend has since used 1st Choice for back light cover for her Galaxy with same result.

Princess_Coupon

When going for MOT/repairs if the car needs a part or even break pads etc I always get the price for the part and fitting seperate then check on the net to see if I can buy the part cheaper myself and get the garage to fit it or hubby fit it if it's simple I have in the past saved over £100 buying my own bushes.

anewman

A brake servo for my car part was £200 from dealers. Managed to pick up a non-genuine one for £60 online. Still got to get around to fitting it.

colnor

I've always driven SAAB's which are 10 years plus old. I find that they are very reliable at high millages and spare second hand parts are freely available via sites like breakerlink. I only get 40 p per mile if i use my car at work which all goes towards fuel. My colleages with newer cars have the depreciation effect that work related driving causes. Avoid SAAB's with cruise control tho as they can suffer many electrical faults

Skintti

Greetings bargain banger pickers!
Great to read so many stories and tips from fellow enthusiasts of low-cost motoring. It's not just internet auction sites and cheeky chappy 2nd hand car dealers who provide a useful source of cheap cars. A bit of network marketing can yield results.
Following a referral from a friend of a butcher's dog's previous owner's sister's hairdresser's dad etc, I obtained a 1993 Proton Persona XLi (oh yes) last September, 75k miles, one careful owner, from a pensioner who has been supplementing his meagre state benefit by reselling old cars for cash at a small margin which local dealers (notably those offering low-end new vehicles like Hyundai/Kia) obtain as PX and see no value in using up valuable forecourt space to promote. Purchase price £250. Blimey, it cost more to insure! To date, I have completed 15k miles of trouble-free driving and still return a profit on company mileage expenses of 14ppm despite the oil price hike!!
I understand such unofficial car sales intermediaries operate across the UK and probably network with each other. It's just a question of mentioning anecdotes like this in conversation with people down pubs, gyms etc and I bet someone emerges from the shadows with a contact.
Skintti

jdavtz

Something worth considering, which may or may not make a difference to your final calculations, is petrol costs:

Using £1.20/litre for petrol as a rough guide.
A old banger doing 40mpg (maybe optimistic) will cost 13.6p/mile in fuel.
A newer car (e.g. my Toyota Aygo, 3yrs old) does over 60mpg, but using 60mpg for easy maths costs 9.1p/mile.

Using the original poster's 20000 miles/year that's an extra £900/year in fuel costs.

A 3yo Aygo might be about £3000. Three £500 bangers to cover the three years would be £1500. Three years of fuel would be £8160 for the banger, but only £5460 for the 60mpg Aygo.

Total cost over 3 years:
Bangers: £9660
Aygo: £8460

And the newer car would be much less likely to have expensive repairs required, only costs £20/year in road tax, and is in lowest insurance group (1E), and is probably significantly safer if you end up in a crash.

Worth a thought, anyway!

anewman

I have some doubt you would consistently get 60mpg with an Aygo.

Archway_Designs

I've been using Bangernomics for years now. I have to park on the main road and over the years I have had varing incidents happen to my cars, ranging from a ditched boyfriend kicking my car door, 7 series BMW, cost £600 and my excess was £250! through to a drunk driver hitting 3 cars before mine and then causing £3500 worth of damage. So after the Beemer I decided to only buy cheap cars. Also, to date, only one incident out of 7 was insured and that was a fire engine!
Cars bought were a Mazda 626, 135K on the clock, £325 to buy, 26K miles later in 12 months and sold it for £300 with a new MOT costing £75. All I spent was a set of tyres.
Next was a 320i BMW, 105K on the clock, £525 paid. Had it for 2 years, did 30K miles. It did break a rocker arm but the local garage fixed it for £100. Then the fire engine reversed into the rear door. Insurance payout was £800, 2nd hand door cost £100 with fitting and 'respray'. Sold it for £350.
Current car is a mercedes 300CE, not quite bangernomics as it cost £1000, but that was two years ago and apart from general running costs its still going strong and has over 200k miles on it.

mabon_2

Hi,
I have always bought old cars most I have every spent is £500. Best buy was Vauxhall astra for £150 it lasted me four years cost me about £200 in total for repairs and not only was reliable for everyday commuting it also went up to inverness in Scotland from Surrey and back again three times and down to devon about eight times! I do any easy repairs myself, I am no mechanic and am always ringing my dad up about how to do things.
Old cars are definatly the way to go for me!

jdavtz

anewman wrote: »

I have some doubt you would consistently get 60mpg with an Aygo.

Since I started driving with half a thought to fuel economy, I've definitely averaged over 60mpg.

My overall average over almost 35000 miles is 59mpg since buying the car, but here's the graph of my last 4500 miles where I've been trying to save a bit of money by driving economically:
(mpg on the left, miles on the bottom)