Cheap Cars ?

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

The last time this happened there were loads of cheap damage cars that went on sale. The way it works is the insurance company pays out and then sells the damaged cars to the highest bidder as a job lot.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-30673439

[oldcameraman3]

There are no such thing as cheap cars.Last service,dropped off went away 30 mins.a call "you really need 2 front tyres only 1mm left before illegal we can do it for £560 also the disks are scored and the pads low,we can do both at a special price as it is in our service dept.only £1100 and by the way your pollen filter is due £320 and by the way its time for a timing belt replacement and the pump that is done at the same time we could do a special price again only £980.Dont tell me there is such a thing as a cheap car!

[terrybooth]

Stick to Ford!

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

I buy a car on ebay for £2000, last two were / are Fiat Doblos. I run them until I get a failed MOT and repair cost of over the value of the car and then sell it on ebay for spares or repairs and get £500. The last one was a 52 reg and lasted 5 years, so work it out, the cheapest motoring going.

My point is those cars in that car transport ship have all toppled to the side and are damaged. The insurance company writes them off and sells them in a job lot. They come back on the market repaired for really good price. It happened a few years back the same, I think they were BMWs that time.

[zebbo]

There are no such thing as cheap cars.Last service,dropped off went away 30 mins.a call "you really need 2 front tyres only 1mm left before illegal we can do it for £560 also the disks are scored and the pads low,we can do both at a special price as it is in our service dept.only £1100 and by the way your pollen filter is due £320 and by the way its time for a timing belt replacement and the pump that is done at the same time we could do a special price again only £980.Dont tell me there is such a thing as a cheap car!

Servicing, generally, is just a license to print money and simply a good way for the manufacturers to grab the cash back from any deals they made when you bought the car.
We owned a Honda Civic 5 door hatchback for about four years. It was a 1997 with 60,000 miles and we paid £1100. I did almost nothing to it over those 4 years, a few oil changes, one set of plugs, one set of pads, an exhaust and tyres, that's it. When we finally decided to get rid it had done 180,000 miles.
We now have a 2001 Corsa 1.2 with 60,000mls for which we paid £1000. Not my favourite car by a long way but it's completely rust free and has been trouble free for the couple of years we've had it. It does the job.
Now, for FUN, I have this:

[oldcameraman3]

My wife wanted the Audi when we retired I wanted a restored Morris traveller with a !300 Engine and disk brakes who was right?

[zebbo]

It depends really, on what type of motoring you do. The Moggie is nice, really characterful but if you're hammering around the place doing multi-tens of thousands of miles I'd have the Audi any day, I like Audis. The Audi shouldn't disintegrate into a pile of rust either, especially around your neck of the woods! I wouldn't, however, use an Audi dealer, or any other large dealer, to do any work required. I'd bet those discs would easily have done another 10.000 miles and on most cars changing the discs is a piece of cake. As for the pollen filter, yeah right, they can keep that.

[oldcameraman3]

My next door neighbour has the tool req.for disc changing and between us we recon £250.Local lad will do timing belt but only 30000 on car after 5years so no hurry.I go with old cars fit for a couple of years and then ditch them but can't persuade the wife.

[jammy395]

Reliant Robin anyone...

Just don't over do it on Roundabout's.....

[Firebug1]

Reliant Robin anyone...

Just don't over do it on Roundabout's.....

Top gear approved!