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And we didn't get a chance to look at fixing the dangling exhaust. It's the joys of buying a "project", but I'm assured when we're camping in Cornwall we'll be really pleased that we bought it.
1. fuel cap not sealing
2. suspension component mounting area excessively corroded inner sill/drivers seat mounting area
3. brakes imbalanced across rear axle
That sweet spot is a lot bigger if you're handy with a spanner, and if the car is old enough to be fixable with a spanner.
The car industry is rapidly eroding that sweet spot though as cars are less spanner-able, and the finance industry is helping with all the low cost PCP deals.
A 3 year old car cost us around £8k. I'm spending a lot less on maintenance, and it has better fuel economy than the older ones I used to drive so we save there as well.
The other thing is reliability. When we had bangers we had two of them. If one of them snapped a drive shaft (did happen) and was off the road for a week until I got a replacement and got round to replacing it, it wasn't an issue. I now cycle to work, and we don't really need two cars so the one we do have needs to be reliable. The tax and insurance that we save by only running one car more than pays for buying a more expensive car. I'm also not spending every other weekend crawling under a car. My time has to be worth something.
When driverless cars come in, and Uber gets cheaper when you don't have to pay a driver, I think a lot of people (especially those who live in cities) will give up on owning their own cars, and paying tax/insurance/maintenance on them.
Build quality & reliabilty improved hugely from the 80s/90s onwards.
It's just that now, if something fails, then you're not going to fix it with a spanner ... It's a job for a "technician" to work out which bit needs replacing. Which increases the cost and reduces the sweet spot for the bangernomics.
Maybe that's the next business opportunity. After the PCP deals that make running (ie not "owning") a new car every 3 years an affordable proposition for many, perhaps we need some sort of scheme whereby everyone else can run cars that are >3yrs old without the risk of incurring a massive maintenance bill when some obscure and expensive component goes bang.
Manufacturers could underwrite, based on their knowledge of expected lifespans, etc, and offer the chance of running a 3yr old Focus / A4 / etc for (eg) £150/mth with no up-front cost or maintenance cost. Take the worry/gamble away and give them a ready market for all their old PCP deal vehicles ...
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BRB, I'm just off to Dragon's Den
I've run old cars for many years and until the last car my average purchase price was about £300. Average MOT cost for those old ones was £400. Best car was a £300 Mondeo I kept for a year and scrapped for £40 at MOT time. Worst was a £500 Corsa I had to jump start 3 times a week. I had a truck battery in the car and one at home on charge. I tried to fit it in the car but there wasnt enough room. I repaired the idle control valve so many times it wasnt funny. I scrapped it a year later.
What has done me in is the lack of bangers after the Government gave a scrapping discount on new car sales. I just cant get a pocket change car and scrap it. It the current car has been stressful as a £1500 outlay means I cant walk away. Add no transfer of tax and it's getting expensive to run a cheap car.
My employer does a mates rates car hire that is not a lot more than what I pay for purchase/running costs a banger. Plus fuel consumption on a 1 litre diesel stop/start car with no tax makes it viable.
I can have hot or cold air... Nothing inbetween.
The window motors are going.
The casing of the CAT converter fell off a while ago.
All minor & not crucial, but I'm waiting for something big to happen.
I only keep the car as I have two small kids- it's invaluable for short trips (& the occaisional 500mile jaunt to see the inlaws). We do far less than 5000miles a year.
If the city car club was a bit cheaper I'd consider that.
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On a happy note my boss is selling me his micra, 06 plate 75k on the clock 11 months mot for 600 quid. Delivering fast food i dont really want a big car, a 1.2 costs me a fiver a night on average at work, space for the kids sorted.
Anyone need any mk2 punto parts give me a shout lol.