Skint shiters - running a car on a budget

[Lacquer Peel]

Felly's thread is a reminder that not all of us run old cars out of choice. If the £700 car you bought in good faith implodes after a week, you have bad credit and no disposable income what are you going to do?

The thought of giving money to Ann Gloag and Brian Souter rather than the tall man in Ross-shire who supplies my used vegetable oil, and Mister Auto for consumables is horrifying to be honest, and would work out much more expensive than using the van which is cheap to run even burning pure diesel. Using public transport eats up loads of your spare/rest time as well.

 

 

In the past few months we've been really skint and I've wondered if I should be running a vehicle at all. The headlight switch fell to bits one night when my girlfriend was working a back shift and I didn't even have £8 to my name to buy a replacement on eBay, I took the fascia off and it was possible to manipulate the switch that way, but it started melting last night - luckily the new headlight switch arrived today (brilliant service from stevens_vw_dismantlers on eBay).

 

The distributor pump TDI engine being very veg-friendly and fuel efficient has saved us but it does need some money thrown at it for the MOT and preventative maintenance, as all cars do.

 

Maybe a hostess trolley or push along terrier is for the best after all.

 

This post is a bit disjointed eh? Anyway, I sympathise with people running a single vehicle on a really tight budget.

[Bucketeer]

Well said.

In the past I've run much toss with no maintenance and many bodges in the skinflintiest manner possible which was fine for me but I can imagine that for shiters with families. kids and suchlike it's not desirable to have the handbrake as the only brake or to be restricted to left-handed turns only or other crap I've subjected myself to.

[egg]

Good post. I think the term 'shitter' on here can mean different things, on this fine forum I think I've seen people who:

 

1. are genuinely on their uppers and have no choice but to run a car as cheaply as possible

 

2. enjoy beating the system (of crazy finance deals and bank loans)

 

3. just have a love of old cars (and nostalgia isn't what it used to be!)

 

4. are slumming it a bit - and have a bevy of fine classics tucked away

 

Seems like most of the time people rub along together ok! 

[fordperv]

I have been there when I was just starting out and at college, cobbled things together with parts I had so they were drivable, bodged as much as humanly possible safely.

[castros_bro]

I have no issue giving my money to Brian Setzer, in fact money is money and what little I have means the less spent on transport the more I can spend on live music,  fishing and other fripperies.  Why spend £200 on a tyre for a modern when £200 buys two Â£15 6mm used 14 inchers for ZX diesel PLUS  a copy of Stray Cats live in Montreux PLUS 5 days fishing on the Oued Sous.  I am not impressed by someone's ability to buy a 2015 AUDI but I am impressed by Brian and his mates.

 

 

I gave Brian my money and he did this with it.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUwZRLH-BjM

 

 

 

[beko1987]

I'm doing this at the minute, and careful planning an prioritising is key.

 

Brakes next, and it needs them all round (meaty but wobbly stuff on the front, ok but worn stuff on the back). Probably cant afford to do it all at once (£50), so will do the fronts first, as they get all the use, and the wobble annoys me. Then the rears the next month.

 

I drove around with my exhaust held up with dyson cable for a few months too whilst I waited until payday to buy the new (wrong) exhaust. Another month wait to buy another new (again incorrect) exhaust. Then £30 to a mate to weld the 2 together.

 

TL;DR I;m shit at buying car parts...

[oldcars]

I'm lucky in a way as work is only 4 miles away. When all the chod is daffy ducked i take the £20 Townsend bike and cycle in. 

[omegod]

This is the main reason I love this place, other forums I have frequented have positively split their sides when I have mentioned using a part worn tyre and sneered when I've stumbled upon bargain chod. Let's face it times are crap and I for one will not feel bad about being brasic or not having the latest £9,000,003 Iwatch, My 306 hdi popped a coil spring but seem's safe enough to pootle to work and back until I get time or money to replace the strut with a scrapper one! Other forum would have been screaming " What!!! you're not replacing both front springs and shocks with OE spec parts and new tyres to boot"  

[PiperCub]

  WTF is wrong with you?  You're not replacing both front springs and shocks with OE spec parts and new tyres to boot?

 

 

Oh sorry, wrong forum..............

[Stanky]

Several years ago, I lost my job and smashed up my car in a crash which I was at fault. I didn't argue this and as the value of the car was significantly lower than my excess I limped it to the scrappers and took the £130 they gave me for its carcass.

 

This was 2009 and work was scarce, I went out and did odd jobs for people like mowing lawns, repairing furniture and painting garage doors until i had saved up £400 to get a car to allow me to expand my area of opportunity to job hunt dramatically.

 

I then did a LOT of research into what was mechanically reliable and went car hunting. With £400 there wasn't a huge amount of choice but I managed to play the sympathy card and get the seller of a P-reg Nissan almera to drop the price from £500 to £400 and I had wheels again. While the bodywork was a bit iffy, particularly the sills which had been welded before and were looking peaky it was cheap and I knew from my research that the engines were utterly bomb-proof. It was bought as a stop-gap, something to allow me to get a new job then upgrade when I'd been paid a couple of times.

 

5 years later and I still have it, it has been serviced every 10k by me, I have replaced a few bits like the wiper motor, exhaust, tyres, brake pads, clutch and gearbox and it has been welded, however it returns 45mpg consistently, will cruise at 70mph all day, is quite comfortable and has had 70k miles added to the odometer. I took every opportunity I could to mitigate the purchase price and running costs by using it for business miles and claiming expenses for it, doing tip runs for neighbours for a contribution to the pez fund and crucially - joining two liftshare sites. I was doing 140 miles a day at one point, but earning £24 for it which covered all the fuel and gave me about £8 a day towards offsetting the cost of work to the car.

 

Whatever I drove would have needed the 2 sets of tyres I put on it while I used it daily, as well as servicing, so really the only 'unusual' repair was the wiper motor. £12 from ebay plus an hour fitting it. it is pure functionality, but is hugely reliable to the point we've kept it, despite it being old, potentially less safe in an accident than a modern, and less frugal that a modern diesel - however it is basically cost neutral. My wife is making noises about wanting something newer, but I will make the case to keep it as a backup car as it will be elegible for classic insurance this year, reducing its running costs further.

 

So, the point of this is that any car will cost money, some more than others and an element of luck is involved - however, if you spend the time and effort to buy smart to begin with and buy used parts when needed, undertake simple work yourself and think of the car as a way to make money from liftsharing or transporting stuff for friends and family for a consideration rather than a money pit and suddenly a lot of the costs are mitigated.

 

I was constantly mocked for my 'knackered old car that looks like something is always about to fall off' however it has never failed to proceed, cost very little to buy and has been cost positive to run because i bothered to look into these things. Anyone can do this, its not hard but does require some effort to do.

[John F]

That push-along terrier is ace.

[dollywobbler]

I've been running the Dyane on sod-all budget, and it's been tough. I've had to raid my own 2CV for bits as well as beg bits and rely on very kind friends. The main aspect has been working as hard as possible to avoid buying new bits. When I first started having engine troubles, some nonce decided that I should just buy a recon engine. At £1100! Instead, I spent about £100 on engine bits, ripped it apart and fixed it myself. Satisfying and financially rewarding.

 

I know it's not quite the same, as I've got other cars floating around to use, don't have a family, and the commute involves walking from one end of the house to the other, but to own that car at all, I've had to run it with almost zero budget. Even in our skintest times, we still had the XM and 2CV on the road - though there was a lot of praying that nothing expensive happened, and the 2CV was starting to just rot away. 

 

Cheap motoring is very possible though and to be fair to Felly, I know what it's like when cheap cars are not on your doorstep. Around here, cheap cars have been utterly driven into the ground as a general rule, which is why I always end up travelling so far to buy cheap motors. You really can't afford to be too fussy though. Is it solid? Is it running well? There's an awful lot of unfashionable yet reliable shite out there. 

[aldo135]

I fit all 4 of those autoshiter types (well 1-3, maybe a stretch to call my 740 a fine classic!). I'm stay at home Dad just now, but get a few quid for childminding. My wife is due a decent bonus this month and was determined to buy a newer car, the Hyundai Santa Fe being her favourite ATM. However we have credit cards and a young family, and taking on more credit is mental, so I've talked her into paying off one of our cards and taking on the wee Ignis my Dad gave us recently. He bought a new swift and was offered £150 for the Ignis, which he has owned from new! So erm that was a long winded way of saying we are staying with shite for at least another year!

[fatharris]

Remarkably, I was doing this with Herman for quite a while, turns out 2.8 automatics and 500-mile weekend trips don't make positive bedfellows. Until just before xmas this year, the exhaust was pretty much entirely supported by locking wire twisted on itself to form a sort of steel rope, which passed the MOT with no dramas. However, when I get an influx of money, the cars get the attention they need. I look after them when I can, and they look after me when I can't, it was particularly shite last year when MrsH was on apprentice wages which just about covered her fuel costs to get to and from work. Now she's on minimum wage, we feel like fucking rockstars!

[CortinaDave]

My earnings go up and down. I've been fairly loaded and also flat broke. Throughout that I've always had shite cars, although in times of wealth I tend to have a fleet.

 

The skint times have taught me though that - yes a lot of the time I can just fix my chod myself. I'd never have ventured doing discs and pads for example had I not been on my uppers with no brakes and two days MOT.

 

You learn a lot in life when you're broke.

[PiperCub]

I fit or have fitted into all four categories - 1 initially, rapidly moving to 1,2 & 3, it's 2,3,4 nowadays. 

 

As CortinaDave says - you learn a lot when you are broke - you start doing things for yourself as you haven't the money to pay someone else to do it.

That's how I started out at 16/17, there was no choice for me, we had little money, DIY or no car/take the bus/bicycle. This attitude has prevailed so despite earning what I do, I still prefer to only own stuff I can fix/maintain, I object to giving people money to do it for me unless it's a real specialist job (painting, machining etc) that I've not got the kit or skills for.

 

It's a shame that a great many youngsters don't get this, I used to work with a group of young-ish guys 21-35, all had cars and pretty much none of them had a clue about how to fix them yet they were all not too well paid but would never try to fix anything themselves, they'd just say 'I'll take it to the garage' - but would still complain how skint they always seemed to be!!!!

No matter how many times I showed them how to mend stuff or tried to encourage them to DIY-it, they never bothered. This was ironic as we were all in technical roles! 

[Lacquer Peel]

 

  WTF is wrong with you?  You're not replacing both front springs and shocks with OE spec parts and new tyres to boot?

 

 

Oh sorry, wrong forum..............

 

 

There are people on this forum who baulk at the idea of part worn tyres or used brake parts. If you buy new tyres or new brake discs, they are used the moment you start driving on them.

It's not like people on a budget would replace fucked tyres with cracked and bald ones or warped, borderline brake discs with equally buggered ones. What would be the point?

 

I work with some people who own newish cars, many with outstanding finance but outside of the warranty. If something cripples their car, what are they going to do? They're already paying £150-300 a month just to have a car on their driveway, if you don't work on cars yourself labour can be expensive, and garages often insist on new parts.

At least if my van breaks I can get used parts for buttons and fix it myself.

[xtriple]

I guess I fall into a category that I am not happy with. I suppose I give the impression I've got loads of dosh stashed away and that, unfortunately, is no longer true. But, I wanted, I wanted it 'right' and spent on it and it is soooo nearly there that I am going to spend a bit more to get over that final step.

 

But, then it has GOT TO STOP!

 

I guess the Bentley is being treated like a new car and getting loads of loving attention from dealers and specialists, but when it all shakes out, it is worth what I have paid out (I hope!) and so, an investment.... maybe.... probably not!

 

The Mazda is very much being run on a budget. There are a few things I want to do to it, but I can't afford it so they are having to wait.  We all prioritise and I have reached that age where it's all a bit 'fuck it' just do it. No one could consider for one moment that I have acted sensibly, in my own view, I have acted thoroughly stupidly, but as said before, 'fuck it'.

 

I have been massively skint quite a few times in my life and at one particularly low point, my source of income was doing up push bikes I bought at the tip. I really quite enjoyed that! The move back to doing cars was hard but it made more cash but nothing like as stress free or enjoyable.

 

The happiest times in my life (apart from marriage just gone) was when I had sweet fuck all amazingly. I felt really liberated but, it's a case of the McCorbers (sp?)  if you have just enough then you are happy, not quite enough, is flaming miserable.

[PiperCub]

There are people on this forum who baulk at the idea of part worn tyres or used brake parts. If you buy new tyres or new brake discs, they are used the moment you start driving on them.

It's not like people on a budget would replace fucked tyres with cracked and bald ones or warped, borderline brake discs with equally buggered ones. What would be the point?

 

I work with some people who own newish cars, many with outstanding finance but outside of the warranty. If something cripples their car, what are they going to do? They're already paying £150-300 a month just to have a car on their driveway, if you don't work on cars yourself labour can be expensive, and garages often insist on new parts.

At least if my van breaks I can get used parts for buttons and fix it myself.

 

The point I always make to those that have a minor panic attack when you mention used parts is simply this. Did you buy your car secondhand? If so, then every single component on it was 'Used' or 'Part-worn' - this is especially true of those that slag off P/W tyres. Again, I ask them, Did you renew all the tyres including the spare before driving it? No? Why not? They are part-worn tyres which you've stated are dangerous so you've poked a giant hole in your own arguement.

 

Personally, I prefer to use new OE/OE quality parts but am not against the idea of reusing stuff if required nor do I condemn those that do. It's very easy to be all ivory-tower & sanctimonious about it when you can afford it but some genuinely have to take the used route and done with intelligence, it's no problem. (Not for me anyway).

[Skizzer]

Good post. I think the term 'shitter' on here can mean different things, on this fine forum I think I've seen people who:

 

1. are genuinely on their uppers and have no choice but to run a car as cheaply as possible

 

2. enjoy beating the system (of crazy finance deals and bank loans)

 

3. just have a love of old cars (and nostalgia isn't what it used to be!)

 

4. are slumming it a bit - and have a bevy of fine classics tucked away

 

Seems like most of the time people rub along together ok! 

 

Good description.  I guess I'm types 2-4 these days (though only on here would any of my fleet be described as 'fine classics', except maybe the Vauxhall).  But I was a type 1 for much of the 90s and early 2000s so I know how that goes, and being self-employed means I very easily could be again (and occasionally am).  

 

Either way, I still buy used parts if I can find them, and refurb stuff rather than replace it if that's a reasonable option.  The Disco needs tyres and I'll buy them new, but at the moment it's running a right old mix of brands and levels of baldness so I'm hardly about to point the finger at anyone else.

[HH-R]

I wish I was more handy with spanners (I can throw them, and swear, but that is of little use) as running shite makes no sense if you're not able to fix your own cars - unless you buy seriously cheap and manage to find a gem. I've tried but I'm fuggin hopeless. I'm seriously thinking about getting a Dacia on 5 a year deal then chucking it back when it's finished the next time a big bill comes (will be August if past experience is anything to go by) 'cos I'm driving some old worthless shitheap and paying more than new car money, it makes no sense doing what I'm doing. Of course I'd rather be driving something old and interesting than a Sandero, but I'm not doing that either!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I always drive worthless shite but don't tend to buy part worns, generally thats because the ones that you can buy 'easily' i.e. over the internet are always crap VFM when new tyres are so cheap off tyreleader or whatever. I wouldnt buy used brake bits either, again not because to do so would be 'dangerous' but normally brake bits are cheap as chips for new (shit quality Kazakhstani admittedly) items from Euro car parts or eBay or whatever.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I think theres a 'sweet spot' (maybe a shite spot) if your target is simply cheap motoring, something thats maybe 10-15 yrs old, with a simple pez or basic (non-common rail) diesel engine, there are loads about that are not rotten and not worn out. On something like that Avensis, most folk who actually wanted to could do basic servicing and maintenance on it themselves, and with a bit of luck you should be able to get several years out of it without any major repairs.

[I_am_Diesel]

When my Astra engine blew up I could have just scrapped it and used all my savings to buy another vehicle or got something fresh and new on finance but a £200 second hand engine from e-Bay, £70 for a clutch and timing belt and lots of late night hours after work and it was back on the road again in just over a month. I am fortunate to be good with the spanners so I do my own maintenance, I think prevention is better (& cheaper) than a cure.

 

I love messing about with older cars.

[Lacquer Peel]

I wish I was more handy with spanners (I can throw them, and swear, but that is of little use) as running shite makes no sense if you're not able to fix your own cars - unless you buy seriously cheap and manage to find a gem. I've tried but I'm fuggin hopeless. I'm seriously thinking about getting a Dacia on 5 a year deal then chucking it back when it's finished the next time a big bill comes (will be August if past experience is anything to go by) 'cos I'm driving some old worthless shitheap and paying more than new car money, it makes no sense doing what I'm doing. Of course I'd rather be driving something old and interesting than a Sandero, but I'm not doing that either!

 

I'm still learning, and still making stupid mistakes. See: threading the valve cover bolts on my V70, using rags to stem the oil leak that resulted, a rag getting caught in the injection pump belt and throwing it off, and me scrapping it because I was scunnered with it; the IP timing is quite difficult to set, though I'd done it once before somehow, and I got sick of looking at it on the drive. 

 

I always drive worthless shite but don't tend to buy part worns, generally thats because the ones that you can buy 'easily' i.e. over the internet are always crap VFM when new tyres are so cheap off tyreleader or whatever. I wouldnt buy used brake bits either, again not because to do so would be 'dangerous' but normally brake bits are cheap as chips for new (shit quality Kazakhstani admittedly) items from Euro car parts or eBay or whatever.

 

The only time I've fitted used brake consumables was when my friend gave me the nearly new discs and pads off his mum's scrapped 405 - otherwise I probably wouldn't bother. I looked into getting my Nissan Vanette's discs skimmed because they had plenty of meat left in them but it cost more than buying new ones, it's only worth it if you own some exotic car with expensive brake discs I think.

Like you say, new brake consumables are usually very cheap.

[Bren]

Our focus gets most of the use - I looked for one that had money spent on it.

 

It had a clutch and flywheel 35k before we bought it, it had a timing belt but no mention of a kit or water pump.

 

So I will have to budget on a new belt kit and water pump. At a garage.

 

The servicing and welding I will do myself.

[Cavcraft]

It must be a struggle if you have only have one car and it's not exactly new. The whole 'game' of finding unfashionable cars for pocket money is a bit of an art form and of course, a gamble.

For me, it's that time they drop off the radar of being sought after, modern (ish) runners and become the sort of frag fodder that precious few people want, and before the (eventual) bit where they become scarce. You can't be fussy if you're desperate, so the likes of Picassos, Scenics, Mk3 Mondeos, Corsa Bs and many m-ore besides should be your target if you want something desperately cheap that will last a while with basic maintenance.

 

I reckon my 306 would be a better 'only' car than the 405 or the others, because it's so cheap to run, is easier to maintain and has less to go wrong. I also reckon it'd be a doddle to bodge up if needed just to keep it going.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

In 1994 I ran an X reg 'Rocco 1.5CL for free. 

 

I was given the car by a customer of my Dad's because it drank oil. Fuck me did it use oil, 100 miles to a litre. So, when a car was up on the ramp for a service I would be there with a freshly minted washing up bowl to catch the (still hot) oil, tipping it via a funnel into one of many 5 litre GTX cans. Rent discs and tickets were recycled - overnight in brake fluid, under hot tap in the AM, dried, ironed and rewritten. No interweb or ANPR then.

 

Frankly, I took the piss. I only paid for fuel. Car was on garage trade policy.

 

 

Today, I do most things myself. I have got very fussy about tyres now. No more part worms, new quality brands only. But I have a mountain of used E36 parts and a spares car. I want to get the maximum use out of everything now as I did back then.

[scruff]

There's been a couple of occasions where I've been in a "Fellymagic" with a negative bank balance mere hours after getting "paid". It was quite bad for about six months, more than once I waited at the 24 hour tesco for the clock to strike midnight and filled the tank up with dizzle before all the wages vanished; also raiding kitchen cupboards for anything that would burn to feed the 205 or van for another day's work. Shite...!! Fortunately I have done well in the miracle market and no serious FTPs scuppered me but it so easily could have happened.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I always drive worthless shite but don't tend to buy part worns, generally thats because the ones that you can buy 'easily' i.e. over the internet are always crap VFM when new tyres are so cheap off tyreleader or whatever. I wouldnt buy used brake bits either, again not because to do so would be 'dangerous' but normally brake bits are cheap as chips for new (shit quality Kazakhstani admittedly) items from Euro car parts or eBay or whatever.

 

 

I have used preloved brake discs and pads. When I see an E36 at the 'yard with as new discs and pads, they go in the U Pull It wheelbarrow on the 60 quid all you can eat day. I have a set of front and rear discs and pads in a box that have done tiny mileages, zero wear lip and grey paint on the disc bell. I'm not leaving those bad boys there. Every pound is a prisoner, every pound profit I get back breaking a shitter pays for tax, fuel and ins. All part of a 'run a car for fuck all' mentality - it's served me well for 25 years.