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When is it time to call it a day ?


Jewel25

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My 45 has been sat idle for 16 months since the brakes failed causing total fluid loss  I recently discovered some additional corrosion - the sills also need welding near the jacking points. Mileage is 124,500 and the cambelt is due too. New tyres all round too needed. Externally it's in lovely condition and had lots of extras fitted . Beautiful car to drive when it was working. I've been quoted around £900-1100 to get it order. 

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If you are willing to spend the £900-£1100 & you are confident that would result in the car then being ok for a few years & if you would regret getting rid of it, I'd pay the money get it sorted & keep it.

If spending the money won't then result in it being ok/ you think it will become an unreliable money pit, or you have doubts about spending that amount of money on it (or just don't love it anymore) - then get rid.

 

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Spend £1100 on it and you’ll have a sorted car that you like.

Weigh it in for £100 and spend £1200 on something else and you might be lucky, but more likely you’ll be in the same place you are now in a year’s time, except you’ll have already spent the £1100.

Lovely looking car, by the way.

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Without wishing to cause offence... it’s fucked. Spending £1100 on getting it going again is certifiable. There’s plenty of tidy stuff around for a thousand quid. But that’s my thoughts for what it’s worth. At 124k if it’s on the original clutch that could be the next thing once you’ve spent the £1100. 

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Beyond economic sense of to repair it. 

Bin it off for scrap money and watch R45s become the next big appreciating classic in 5, 4, 3.........

 

Actually, the chances of it ever being worth the £1100 fixing cost is pretty slim IMHO. 

 

At least not in the next 20 years anyway. 

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£1100? 

That's less than a full service at a main dealer on a Citroen xantia in 1998.  Ref: one of my brother in laws 

I have gradually reached the conclusion that value of the car you are fixing is irrelevant.  If it were worth £20k you'd think NOTHING of spending £1100 on it. It's the environmentally sensible thing to do.

Google Durable car ownership. 

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I’m down in Spain at the moment and have come to the conclusion that we have a lot to learn from the Spanish and their attitude to car spending.

Based on my experience, the personal value of a car in Spain is directly proportional to its ability to perform its required task regardless of how unfashionable or otherwise knackered it looks. Hence you’ll see absolutely battered 10+ year old Renault Scenics with sweet running DCI engines and a full set of new Michelin’s. 

So on that basis, if you need it or love it and/or it could continue to serve its purpose then its worth investing the money. If it doesn’t fulfil those criteria, it needs to be recycled into your next washing machine. 

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I get the concept of what you are saying but this isn’t even a going concern. If it was running, tested etc and say it wanted £500 spending to get another year out of it I’d get that but we’re talking £1100 for it to actually see the road again let alone provide ongoing reliable transport. 

Cars are also a lot more expensive used in Spain. A thousand Euro’s wouldn’t get you anything worthwhile. 

 

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What a lovely car!

IMHO £900-1100 seems a lot for a cambelt service, brake overhaul and a tad of welding for the MOT. Sounds like whoever it was just didn't want the job.

May I suggest you go for a few more quotes from sensible independent garages and/or mobile mechanics in your area?

Tyres are consumables and you can shop around for those.

If you feel you can't cope with that and really don't want it, offer it up on here and I'm sure it will find a new home very quickly.

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I agree that price is nonsensical - cambelt service would cost you 150 via MG Rover Mobile Mechanics (book now as they are mega busy) or 275 with a full service (+ mileage) http://www.mg-rovermobilemechanics.com/pricelist - highly recommended in MG-R circles as they are dead mad MG-R fans. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MGRoverMobileMechanics/ - Kayleigh and Dave Allkins run the show and they're both dead friendly - based in Derby but will travel literally anywhere to help out owners (petrol costs, obv.)

Brake overhaul is probably DIY-able or at worse a couple of hours labour and parts

Welding - find a back street mechanic cash tonite m8

Tyres, order off Black Circles, get your local tyre place to fit (recommend F1 Autocentres)

In no conceivable way is the work needed a four figure sum - you're being diddled. Shop around and keep it.

I'd even suggest Craig at Rover Revivals, he charges low labour rates to 200/400 OC members (includes 25/45/Streetwise)  - see  http://www.rover200.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=11930 When I get time he's gonna see my 214 and 420 for me.

Sadly Rover 45s are not a classic - they weren't particularly loved when they came out. But agree on 'better the devil you know'

 

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1 hour ago, Ian_Fearn said:

I’m down in Spain at the moment and have come to the conclusion that we have a lot to learn from the Spanish and their attitude to car spending.

Based on my experience, the personal value of a car in Spain is directly proportional to its ability to perform its required task regardless of how unfashionable or otherwise knackered it looks. Hence you’ll see absolutely battered 10+ year old Renault Scenics with sweet running DCI engines and a full set of new Michelin’s. 

So on that basis, if you need it or love it and/or it could continue to serve its purpose then its worth investing the money. If it doesn’t fulfil those criteria, it needs to be recycled into your next washing machine. 

I concur. However the issue is if you have a bump. You sink £1100 into something that insurance pay out £500 on.

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Assuming there will always be a car in the space currently occupied by this one then either...

i) Fix the Rover, even if it really does cost £1100.  You'll have a distinctive and increasingly rare car which you presumably like, and which should afford low cost motoring for the next few years at least.

ii) Scrap and put similar money into something else.  You might get lucky and end up with something you like as much.  It might also provide similarly cheap motoring.  But no guarantees on either count.

iii) Be totally risk averse (even to the point of worrying about what the insurance company will pay out in the unlikely event that you have a bump), get rid of it and get something new on PCP.  Even without considering the environmental impact, you probably find yourself looking out of the window in three or four months at something so boring you want to give it back; but you can't, yet you'll never own it.  And that £1100 has mysteriously still vanished from your bank account.  You may even wish you still had the Rover.

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If its been off the road for 16 months I'm assuming you've got another car you've been using, so - if you'd got rid of it when the brakes went and someone handed you a grand tomorrow, what would you do with it? If the answer is 'buy a really nice Rover 45 because I loved my old one' then you know the answer. If its 'I've always fancied trying a Jag / Rover 75 / MX5' or 'go on holiday' then maybe it's time to call it a day... 

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2 hours ago, The Old Bloke Next Door said:

If you have somewhere to park it, buy another one, with a mot, same spec, same colour, you have a ready supply of spare parts.

That has been my modus operandi for years, a very cost effective way of running a banger.

Do you not end up with two cars with the same faults? 

IE same bits ducked on both cars? 

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I know little about Rover 45s but that £1100 seems mental, and Clatyts seems to actually know his stuff , so listen to him.

I'd take this to a backstreet tyre/MOT place that can fix the brakes weld a couple of patches, throw some part worns on it and get it back on the road for £2/300 . Then drive it, worry about the cambelt in a couple of months, then get clayts man on the case. 

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buy another with borked engine (shouldn't be too hard) then spend a weekend swapping all your 'good' bits over...then sell/scrap the remains...

 

OR

 

I brought a scenic auto for £300...owned it 2 years spent approx £1100 on it - and sold it for £400.....which was £50 more than I paid for its replacement....

so I count that as a win!!!!!

 

 

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It's time to call it a day when you've had enough of spending money on a car.  Are you owning the car as an investment, or as a hobby?  If the former, don't buy a Rover 45, that's a stupid thing to do.  If the latter, spend until you're not happy spending any more.  The first big maintenance bill on a 45 is going to be more than it's worth, possibly ever, and that's true of most ordinary cars.  That doesn't mean it's not worth doing.  If it brings you happiness and you can afford to spend what's needed then do it, if it doesn't then don't.

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I had a similar situation. We have a lovely Rover 75 that we have owned for 7 years. Unfortunately it has failed it's MOT. As with you car I also have been quoted £1000 to get it through. It is time to go. I have spent a considerable sum over the years and now it would be throwing good money after bad. I have now replaced it with a X Type Jag with a full MOT at the same cost as fixing up the Rover. Time to find another car.

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As others have asked, do you like the car? If you still enjoy it (and maybe pending a better price for fixing it) get it fixed, if you are bored / don't want it then get rid. My 2cv reached the sensible point of no return 17 years ago. Somebody hit it, bending the chassis. It was then worth virtually nothing. So I bought the Clio. But I still loved the 2cv, so I got a new chassis and got it going again. For the next 10 -15 years it alternated cheap MOT or bad MOT, but never horrific (with 1 or 2 exceptions) so I kept it going. And it is still going. It is now worth far more than I paid for it. But considerably less than I have spent on it.

  So, nearly 3 years ago, the Clio was now 14 years old, tax laws were changing, meaning it was worth getting a new car before it went up. The Clio was getting old and it made sense to get shot before something expensive broke. So I bought the Stepway. But I still enjoyed driving the Clio, and my dad needed a runabout. So I kept it. And it is still going. And nothing serious has broken.

So I accidentally ended up with 3 cars, and a moped. 

So, the moral is, if it's a good car that you enjoy, even if nobody else likes it, then keep it. If you have had enough, bung a roffle on here. Or just hoard cars, like I do.

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5 hours ago, New POD said:

£1100? 

That's less than a full service at a main dealer on a Citroen xantia in 1998.  Ref: one of my brother in laws 

I have gradually reached the conclusion that value of the car you are fixing is irrelevant.  If it were worth £20k you'd think NOTHING of spending £1100 on it. It's the environmentally sensible thing to do.

Google Durable car ownership. 

Nobody can answer the question for you.

Why do you have it? Sentimental value? Future investment? Avoiding the leeching of heavy metals into the water table because you can’t bring yourself to just push it into a canal and claim it was stolen?

For me, the question would be what that £1100 is getting you.

We paid £300 for the wife’s current school run/shopping trolley. In the three months we’ve had it, it’s had three new tyres and £300 of work done so basically twice what I paid and it’s worth probably still worth £500 Max.

However, it’s a car the wife loves driving, is durable and should be good now for another year so I spent the cash.

In another year, when the shocks need doing and the timing belt, I’ll probably do the same again.

Just try and take the emotion out of it and make an objective choice about spend/ditching.

If you find you can’t take the emotion out of it, then spend it anyway because life is not rational.

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Hmmm. I’m fully versed in such lunacy - having sunk a good £800 into my £200 Avensis this year.

The trick is to fix stuff AS IT COMES UP. I had a £250, a £450 and a £100 bill over  4 months. Much cheaper (but not) than £800 at once. 

Think about whether you’d still like to own it in 5 years. If not, wave it off. If so get a rough and ready fix so it’s back on the road - and then pick off the stuff as it comes up. 

But never ever take a car off the road again. It becomes almost impossible to row back from.

 

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