What do I do?

[PBancroft]

Yesterday my car went in for an MOT. It left with a bill for £400+

I haven't had the work done yet, and am in two minds about whether I should. What do you guys think?

EDIT: It's a 2001 VW Polo. I don't think its worth much more than about £1000 at a push. It recently broke down on a motorway, and has done about 110k miles.

 

[Cush]

Depends on how much you use the car and why. If you are X miles from basic facilities or / and you have a family it may be worth while. If you are on your own or living as a couple and within easy distance of facilitys. It could be that the bike is better. I know that when I was working I would never have bothered with a car if I had not lived six miles out of town and worked shifts as well as having a family to take to school, swimming etc.

 

[661-Pete]

A dilemma faced by many who run an ageing car - as I do. Last week I had my MOT and service, the bill came to a bit under £300 which is just about half the car's trade-in value. Everyone has to make their own decision here, but mine would be: to keep the car running, unless it becomes impracticable or beyond my means - or it fails the emissions test. Apart from that last, it's always the best environmentally-aware option not to replace a car.

Also it depends on how much you trust your car. At least, that matters a lot to me - and most of the time I've been lucky. But I can understand how a motorway breakdown can be most off-putting!

But if you can manage with bike alone - even better!

 

[mgarl10024]

Hi Kaipaith,

Tricky.

I'm kinda in the same boat. My GF has a company car, and my ageing car did under 1200 miles last year (largely because I cycle to work and carshare with colleagues where I can). For that little mileage, the insurance and running costs are difficult to justify, however I still feel that it is such a useful thing to have (for example, giving me more freedom than the bike when on holiday and my GF has her car, or for heavy shopping etc.) I am not prepared to give it up yet.

I voted "fix it" cause I thought that would be a cheaper option than buying a "new one". Of course, you could buy something a few years newer for £2k-£3k, and then I might be tempted. As others have said, it all depends on trusting the car, but also your family commitments, and your requirements for the car.

Hope that helps,

MG

 

[3tyretrackterry]

i have no car and manage fine with a familyand working shifts. i am lucky in that i am on my FIL insurance for his car but only use it when absolutely nessecery(spell).
we use the internet for shopping and utilise home delivery at our more local smaller supermarket and we have found it cheaper all round.
i would say scrap it and try without for a month if you spend the money you save on buses taxis etc you still wont be any worse off
HTH

 

[XmisterIS]

Kaipath - My rule with cars is that when they become more expensive to keep running that they are worth, then they get driven until they have no chance of passing an MOT (i.e. I squeeze every last drop of usability out of them), then they get sent to Car Heaven (aka sold for scrap).

You can get some lovely new(ish) VW models that will have far better fuel economy and emissions than what you're driving at the moment. I believe (although you'll have to check Parker's) that there are some post-07 Polos that are VED exempt, or are band A (£35 per year) and will do 60-70 MPG. You'll never get that out of a 2001 model!

EDIT: I watched Inception the other day with my GF and I've just realised what your avatar means ....

 

[nasserblue]

The question should be "What would you do?". It's impossible for us to know what would be the best solution for you, as others have said, it depends on how much you "need" it, vs how much you can afford.

If you only need a car for occasional trips, then hiring a car is a lot cheaper than you may think.

Personally I'd fix it. It's impossible to live the life our family leads without one.

 

[Jezston]

Work out exactly how much running a car will cost you per year - insurance, tax, fuel, assorted repairs etc. Then work out how often you REALLY NEED a car (i.e. bike or public transport not being able to do what you want to do), and then work out how much it would cost to get a taxi those times, and if you could handle that.

After never having gotten round to learning to drive, I decided to work out how much it would cost. Good lord! Guess I'll be on the bike for a while longer!

One of my colleagues did the above, and bought a 125cc scooter. Apparently he'll save £2k a year as a result!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Without knowing what it failed on, it is hard to say - can you expand on what the failure was? Also was the breakdown on the motorway related to the MOT failure?

For me, we have recently been in the same situation (last Christmas) needing £500 to get my husband's car through its MOT & service. We repaired it without a second thought because that vehicle is otherwise OK - what it failed on was not terminal and on the 23rd December, I really did not have the time to sort out a new car before returning to work. The car is only really worth the same amount, but has nothing else wrong with it - built 1998 and all electrics work fine etc. It might need a new exhaust before Christmas and its next MOT, but it has had nothing done to it since its MOT

I think you have to ask yourself some rather key questions first

• Do you really need a car?
• What is the overall condition of the vehicle?
• What mileage do you do annually?
• What other repairs are likley to crop up in the next 12months on your existing car - think tyres, radiator, battery, head gasket etc, they are all likely on older cars.
• How much money do you currently have available?
• How much do you know about car mechanics and are you able to spot potential problems yourself when looking for a new car? e.g. what additional repairs it needs?
• Finally, do you have the time, to sort out a new car, new insurance, MOT and Tax plus all the paperwork?

Just some food for thought without knowing more.

 

[biking_fox]

Ditto all the others - very much depends on your circumstances, and the state of your finances.

If you live within suburbia and don't have children, then a car is almost certainly unncessary, although you may need a 2nd bike for 'spare'. hence sell the car.

If you live a long way from work/shops and have large requirements, then although it is still possible to do without a car, you'd have to be vrey determined. If you need a car, you need a reliable car. Hence I'd trade it in for something newer.

But YMMV.

 

[StuartG]

I voted 'sell & rely on bike'. That would be easy and logical for me as I live in London.

I have (mostly) excellent public transport links for longer, faster journeys - or when it is wet/cold. There are several nearby Streetcars (streetcar.co.uk) for the occasions I really need a car. An almost brand new VW ... and while the hourly rental cost feels, to me, very high it does question whether I really need the car for that journey. And when you do cost out your own vehicle costs on a usable hour basis - it does come much higher even without the unplanned extra repair costs.

I'm guessing Winchester is more an issue especially if you don't have a range of essential shops (convenience store/newsagents) around the corner - or would you rely on Ocado/Tesco home delivery? But it is good you are going through the exercise of checking it out.

Again just work out how much in total you are going to spend on the car (insurance/tax/fuel/repairs ...) over the next year and divide it by the number of hours you expect to use it.

 

[annedonnelly]

You can get some lovely new(ish) VW models that will have far better fuel economy and emissions than what you're driving at the moment. I believe (although you'll have to check Parker's) that there are some post-07 Polos that are VED exempt, or are band A (£35 per year) and will do 60-70 MPG. You'll never get that out of a 2001 model!

That's the BlueMotion model. I've an 08 Polo - currently getting 80+ MPG with sensible driving. Will easily do 60+ MPG even if you're not sensible.

Diesel though, so a bit pricey to buy and you'll probably struggle to find a second-hand one.

 

[on the road]

I voted on fix it, because depending on what needs fixing you could always go to the scrappy and get spare parts, that's what I do with my car, I put my car through its MOT just over two weeks ago and it sailed through.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Fix it.
If the car is generally reliable and £400 is replacing 'Wear and Tear' bits then it's not unreasonable if it gonna last another year or 2.
You need to figure the cost of replacement which is likely to be much, much higher and if you're buying a fairly used car s/h may not be overly reliable, better the devil you know.

 

[PBancroft]

A few very good points here. I should say that I don't drive that much - when I do, it is for lugging water to the allotment (which may be problematic without a car, but doesn't in itself justify the cost).

It also did fail on its emissions test. The culprit seems to be the catalytic converter.

EDIT: I watched Inception the other day with my GF and I've just realised what your avatar means ....

I did wonder how many people would spot it!