"It'll cost more than the car's worth"- THE FUN HAS STARTED!

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Right, this Accord I got is testament both to the high standards of engineering in Honda Motor as well as the fecklessness of the previous owner. I don't think I've ever come across a car that suffered from such an extreme case of "can't be arsed" neglect. The guy was too cheap to buy a £8 replacement for the broken petrol cap and too lazy to even stick a pin in the washer jets to enable them to put some screenwash on! To be fair to him, however, he didn't deceive me or anything, and I still think I got a GR9 deal compared to the alternative of driving around in crappy hired 1.2 Polos.

 

So, the car is perfectly capable of taking you from A to B, but it needs a new tyre (£70 incl. swapping the spare to one of the alloys), and it's overdue a cambelt change (£150). I took it to an aircon specialist to see whether a regas would help with the dead aircon, and the chap said that the radiator had dropped some fins at the bottom which, according to him, would lead to its demise within "the next 2-3 months", so I guess a new rad has to be budgeted for (just under £100). To top it all off, the clutch engages and disengages reasonably well, but there's definitely something wrong with it (hence the short pedal travel) and it looks like it's on its way out, so one needs to think about replacing that as well (£170).

 

That makes it £490 just to ensure that it doesn't go out in a cloud of smoke or something. That's more than I paid for the car, and most likely more than I could hope to get for it if I were to sell it. Paying that would still leave me with a car without a functioning aircon (the specialist thinks that it must be the condenser, but the system needs to be checked with dyed gas and then regassed after replacing the offending part/s- a bit over £200 for the lot), cruise, radio or passenger window (to be fair, some of these may just be a blown fuse or a dodgy wire). What's more, it'll still have a crusty wheelarch, a ridiculous amount of scratches/scuffs, and an SRS light that'll be enough to cause a MoT failure next year.

 

The above prices all include labour as DIY is not an option because I have no space or tools, plus I'm not very good at it anyway...I could afford to have it sorted but, while it's very capable, it's not my type of car really (the ride's a bit firm for my taste, I'm not that fond of the look)...So I guess you should watch this space because I'm not doing more than the tyre, and when the inevitable happens I'll happily offer it to shiteists for scrap money- I guess somebody with tools and a bit of time should be able to make a couple of pints out of it (cat, leather seats, alloys) before it meets its maker.

 

However, the question remains: have you ever been in a situation where just attending to regular maintainance needs of a roadworthy car would cost more than the bloody thing's worth?

[warren t claim]

If it was mine I'd just make sure that I had decent breakdown and relay cover and just drive as it is until something went pop. There wont be a big difference in it's value over the bridge whether it's working or not.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

If it was mine I'd just make sure that I had decent breakdown and relay cover and just drive as it is until something went pop. There wont be a big difference in it's value over the bridge whether it's working or not.

 

That's the plan, really, plus I guess I can slowly start looking for a really suitable car. I only have the basic cover at the moment, but I'll speak to the RAC about upgrading it...

[warren t claim]

I've had a few old Hondas and they really are surprisingly difficult to kill. I wouldn't be surprised if yours is still chugging along nicely when the MOT expires. Just don't spend any money on it other than a few quid keeping it safe and legal.

[Pete-M]

I tend to go for stuff where people think this is the case.

 

The Jag, the number of people who've said "Must cost a fortune to keep that running" is insane, yet in 9 months and 7000 miles it hasn't needed much at all - oil change, exhaust welded, handbrake mechanism fettlage. I'm going to service it again next month, oils, plugs, filters etc and I fully expect it'll do another 7000 miles before it'll need looking at again. Will have to change the back tyres soon though.

 

The Jeep, bloke I bought it from took it to his local garage who gave him an insane quote to 'put it right', this quote included a new exhaust manifold and a multitude of other bits that didn't need replacing. Ok, the manifold could do with a bit of MIG LOVIN, but that's a lot more sensible than paying £400 from Chrysler for another one - which'll crack anyway. There's bugger all up with the thing really.

 

The 604... well, everything I seem to do to that costs more than the retail value of a 604.

[ChinaTom]

Don't get me started!! A tank of fuel is more than my Jag is worth at the moment!! I expect this to be a multi-pack of blade fuses within a year (or as soon as petrol hits £2 a litre)

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

Air conditioning is not a service item, it's a luxury.

[dollywobbler]

Who cares how much the car is worth? Whatever I've got at the time, I take the view that it needs servicing to keep it going. I spent a small fortune on the BX and was rewarded with stupendous fuel economy and very rare breakdowns. I don't really want to add up what I spent on it, so I shan't.

 

Saab's a tricky one though. The timing chain is definitely noisy. General consensus is "OMG! Change it before it fails!" but then there are those who are "Well, mine was noisy for 150k miles and I eventually replaced it." I reckon I'm looking at a £400 bill if I pay someone to do it, and given the tight access, I'm not sure I want to go there (though it looks very easy in the Haynes manual, where the engine is out of the car for their convenience...). Still £150 for parts I believe. The sensible, cash-saving answer is to just drive it and see what happens, though I'll probably see how I get on with it for a bit and if boredom sets in before the end of the month, consider selling it and buying something else.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Air conditioning is not a service item, it's a luxury.

 

I know. The 490 quid is just for the service items, and the luxuries like radio/cruise/aircon/SRS light/leccy window/wheelarch/scratches go on top of that!

[Lord Sterling]

The crux of the situation is, you the car pretty well by now, you know its faults and good bits. Concentrate first on the important bits like cambelt/waterpump and getting the car in a good condition mechanically so at least it wont die in a cloud of smoke on the motorway or whatever.

 

Everything else such as aircon/leccy windows/cruise etc... are luxuries and something that you can do/sort out at your pace. In fact, you can even take an opportunity to learn how to work on it yourself. If not, learn to live with them and appreciate that it is at least some mode of transport to get you to where you want to go.

 

However, the question remains: have you ever been in a situation where just attending to regular maintainance needs of a roadworthy car would cost more than the bloody thing's worth?

 

All the time. This (to me at least) is what autoshite is partly about. Not many of us cares how much the car is worth and nor do we care whether we should "spend more than its worth" If it gets the car in a servicable condition then money doesnt really come into it, unless of course it goes stupidly expensive.

 

Buying an old car is always going to put you this situation so you have to bite the bullett and accept that if you are going to buy a car for a few hundred notes, it will need some sort of servicing and it will cost more than the car is "worth" in monetry terms. If the car helps you to find a good job and get you around and about then worrying about how its worth flogging it on kind of goes out of the window. If you want a fault free car, then get yourself a newer, more expensive car with a warranty.

[Pillock]

I put a new engine and gearbox in a Mk3 Golf, which was already borderline "more than it's worth" but I thought it was a nice solid car.

MoT man thought otherwise.

I recovered £100 less from the sale of the car than the engine, box and engine fitting cost me.

[warren t claim]

It could be worse. You could buy a five year old Mondeo from Carshaft using their sub sub sub prime, front loaded, Bright House finance company and then in a few years time your monthly repayment will be equal to the value of the car. (True).

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

All the time. This (to me at least) is what autoshite is partly about. Not many of us cares how much the car is worth and nor do we care whether we should "spend more than its worth" If it gets the car in a servicable condition then money doesnt really come into it, unless of course it goes stupidly expensive.

 

Yes, I'm totally onboard with that, however I have trouble applying it to a car which I am not intending to keep for very long. I'm not bothered about getting less money than I paid to buy/fix it, but I can't come to terms with spending an extra 500 notes on something that I only intend to keep for 4-5 months and that will still have a number of nagging little faults in the meantime! See for example Mr Bol's tale with the Chavalier...all that money and effort for something to end up getting cubed (not sure if cortinadave decided to buy it in the end).

[Lord Sterling]

Thats the name of the game unfortunately, you wont always win and it is difficult job selling cars on. If you dont intend to keep it, just service only whats needed (timing belt/chain) and put up with the niggling faults then flog it on or send it over the bridge.

[ashmicro]

Agree with the above - drive it till it goes bang.

 

Mr Murray - you're not helping with my Jag-wantage! Nor is my mate John, who has just bought a supercharged XJ for £1000.

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

If it's a 2.2 VTEC like you say, the engine's worth a fair amount on its own so it's wise to keep that in good order.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Look at it this way, for less than a grand you've got an amazingly complex personal travel machine capable of covering distances in hours which barely more than a lifetime ago would have taken days, if possible at all.

 

It could be worse. You could buy a five year old Mondeo from Carshaft using their sub sub sub prime, front loaded, Bright House finance company and then in a few years time your monthly repayment will be equal to the value of the car. (True).

That too!

[warren t claim]

Look at it this way, for less than a grand you've got an amazingly complex personal travel machine capable of covering distances in hours which barely more than a lifetime ago would have taken days, if possible at all.

 

It could be worse. You could buy a five year old Mondeo from Carshaft using their sub sub sub prime, front loaded, Bright House finance company and then in a few years time your monthly repayment will be equal to the value of the car. (True).

That too!

 

I'm trying to work out in my little brain how all of us seem to be able to buy sub £500 bangers blind off Ebay and run them reliably enough for yonks and yet Carcrap customers buy 18 month old Skodas for £££££ on finance that seem to last about 35 miles before suffering major component failure?

 

I understand that their business model is based on selling overpriced boxes to neds on finance at 30% APR but how come there are so many complaints about the cars themselves? I thought new stuff was pretty reliable?

[revolting peasant]

[Bren]

I know of three people who bought cars from carcraft, all three were bags of shite.

 

An ex foreman I worked with bought a honda prelude 2.2 VTEC for around £7k that later needed a £3.5k engine rebuild.

My best mate swaped a 2 year old alfa 156 for a 4 year old Golf TDI (The alfa's 2.0 twin spark was bankrupting him to satisfy it's thirst for fuel). The golf leaked, the carpets stank, 1st gear was difficult to engage, The remote tailgate release never worked either. He palmed it off on a trader, who later threatened him with legal action, as he had to have a new windscreen fitted and a gearbox stripdown before he could retail it. Another mate bought a laguna from them which was crap, but hey, that par for the course with lagunas.

 

All carcraft car's are above average mileage and priced above book, that's how they can give you a "generous" part - ex allowance. I would sooner use some one like Fords of Winsford, what you see is exactly what you get.

 

I understand your predicament with your accord, any sub - £500 car is potentially a money pit. The scrappage scheme got rid of a lot of good, servicable secondhand cars which have given many years service to the likes of the people who frequent this forum.

 

My wife drives an S reg Mitsubishi Galant, a 2.0 auto. It is in excellent condition with a genuine 70k on the clock and everything still works. However, due to it's low value, it is always in the back of my mind that it is never any further than being one large bill away from the scrappy. The same goes for my mother in laws F reg granada which she has owned from being two years old. Having said that, I would sooner have my motoring the autoshite way than singing my life away to a young man who is all big hair and winklepickers.

[warren t claim]

It really doesn't take Prof Brian Cox to work out that paying £200 a month for 5 years for a 05 plate Vectra with a sticker price of £4995 equals £12,000! Why do people do it??? Even basic CSE maths would tell you this is a shit deal?

 

I'm not exaggerating when I say that I don't think I would ever be able to maintain a workable erection if I was paying out £££££'s in interest every month for a very average car that will be worthless even if it survives the term of the loan secured against it.

[dollywobbler]

Because you only see the headline monthly/weekly figure, and that seems affordable. It's easily done. I just about scraped GSCE maths and I fell for it hook, line and huge debt sinker. Took me a long time to realise that shite was the way.

 

I'm not very good at ignoring a car's needs though. I've got too much mechanical sympathy - perhaps suffering guilt from the thrashings and neglect that my first cars had to suffer...

[Pillock]

 

I'm trying to work out in my little brain how all of us seem to be able to buy sub £500 bangers blind off Ebay and run them reliably enough for yonks and yet Carcrap customers buy 18 month old Skodas for £££££ on finance that seem to last about 35 miles before suffering major component failure?

 

Apart from me - my odo read 42 miles when the turbo went

 

But no, I know what you mean. I put it down in a large part to one factor: STUPIDITY.

 

1) They're buying from a big dealer with a massive shiny steel and glass showroom, so the car will be good. And all those TV adverts saying how good they are at customer service, well that reinforces the fact.

WRONG! The car will be thrown out onto the forecourt with the least possible prep to make it look nice, and all the dealers effort will be spent on avoiding warranty claims (not warren t claims). And the lass in the TV advert doesn't work there, dumbo.

 

2) It's a new car, as they will often remind you when sneering at your R-plate 406 over the garden wall, so it's naturally reliable.

WRONG! They'll pick their "new" car up, cane the arse off it, and never service it "because they don't need it". The car will then show what 180,000 miles of being driven by a rep does to every seal, bearing and gasket on it.

 

3) By paying monthly, they're in a contract so whatever goes wrong the company will have to sort, or they'll just stop paying.

PAINFULLY WRONG! They won't give a shit. Stop paying, and they'll have your first born, the shoes off your feet and the wallpaper off your kitchen.

 

 

I've given up trying to explain "bangernomics" to people, they just see it as wanting to drive a shit car. People at work still cream themselves over a £200pm '09 Focus 1.6TDCI on lease despite the fact when they come to buy it, they'll have shelled out near as damnit £10k and they'll have a 6 year old car. And it'll still be a 1.6 dizzler Focus with wheeltrims and no guts.

[warren t claim]

"People at work still cream themselves over a £200pm '09 Focus 1.6TDCI on lease despite the fact when they come to buy it, they'll have shelled out near as damnit £10k and they'll have a 6 year old car. And it'll still be a 1.6 dizzler Focus with wheeltrims and no guts."

 

This is another thing! I've heard people try to justify their new purchase on the basis that the tax disc is cheaper!!!

[dollywobbler]

The most sensible thing us lot do is when an MOT is going to cost us £300, we pay the £300. We don't give the 'scrap' car away, then buy another car for ten times what the MOT would have cost.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

If it's a 2.2 VTEC like you say, the engine's worth a fair amount on its own so it's wise to keep that in good order.

 

WOW! Just went on e-bay, and it seems like they're worth quite a bit of money... Cheers for that! I'm not a Honda person and would've never realised. By the way, do you, or does anyone else, know why people are prepared to pay 300 quid for an engine out of a shagged old Prelude?

 

I'm almost convincing myself that it'd be a good idea to get a new belt and radiator fitted...

[CIH]

I suddenl feel much better about being £150 ovedrawn this month as I plow money into a wonky old silvia lol. Granted all I have is a mildly rusty old Nissan on axle stands with literaly no suspension and most of the drive train removed, and a big pile of bits knocking about....

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

Why don't you put it out of its misery and rent a Nissan Leaf instead?

[warren t claim]

If it's a 2.2 VTEC like you say, the engine's worth a fair amount on its own so it's wise to keep that in good order.

 

WOW! Just went on e-bay, and it seems like they're worth quite a bit of money... Cheers for that! I'm not a Honda person and would've never realised. By the way, do you, or does anyone else, know why people are prepared to pay 300 quid for an engine out of a shagged old Prelude?

 

I'm almost convincing myself that it'd be a good idea to get a new belt and radiator fitted...

 

When the time comes do you know how to remove and palletise and engine?

[r.welfare]

£250 for a cambelt change and radiator on your Accord buys a lot of piece of mind, in my book.

 

The other bits are non-essentials (I'd wager the clutch will be OK for a while yet), and I don't think the wheelarch rust will develop into MOT-failing grot any time soon.

 

Keep on top of the basic servicing and she'll be right. My own Accord will roll over 160,000 miles in the next couple of weeks; my dad bought it at 3 years old with 18,000 on the clock. In that time all it's had, apart from scheduled servicing (including two cambelt and water pump changes), is a battery, 4 sets of tyres, two sets of discs & pads, a pair of front shocks and an exhaust downpipe. All that's given up the ghost is the radio (which I replaced a couple of months back with a new old stock job for a tenner) and two bulbs for the clock. Everything still works including the a/c (sorry!). Good cars.

 

Pillock, if it makes you feel any better about your Leon experience, about 12 years ago I bought a 7-year-old Rover 214 off a colleague for £750 and the cambelt snapped after 20 miles. Cost me another £750 to get it mobile again...