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Well stuck miles from home having missed my connection I found myself 288 miles from home. No rail connection and a bus system that would have challenged Mr Spock. Bought a local Trader to pass the time over a cuppa in a very old fashioned cafe and noticed a 1992 Vauxhall Astra taxed and MOTd for £100. Getting late I rang the number and a nice lady told me they were moving house and needed a sale hence low price. She collected me me from the caf and brought me back to the house. Very faded but sound Astra 1400 saloon withe 112000 miles. 3 months tax and 5 months MOT. How much did I have in cash with me? £53. Thats fine and we fill in the paperwork. Quick call to insurance and we are on our way for 288 miles. Not a murmur. Good sound from stereo and sits at 70 with ease. Its sitting on my drive next to a car that probably loses £53 every day for the three years I'll have it. Are wemad as a nation to spend £30k + on way of getting from a to b ? My BMW goes in the trader next week and I have good deposit for a house in the Algarve. Can't wait to see the expression of my work mates when the boss turns up in a £53 car!!
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Downshifting in style.
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We have family who come over from Aus every few years or so for a couple of months duration.
On arrival the local free paper comes out, and *anything* that has 3 months tax and 6 months MOT is checked over, and if half mechanically sound and less than 200 quid, is purchased.
Two months later goes back in the local paper, and I send them the resulting cash.
I think the most two months "local paper car hire" has ever cost is 75 quid.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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sounds a bit far fetched to me..
they were moving house and needed £53!!
it was getting late and you contacted your insurance company? do you keep their number to hand?
'are we mad as a nation to spend 30k plus on cars.... ?'
I doubt that 0.0001 % of this country would even contemplate spending £30k on a car so i would suggest that we are not mad
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Are wemad as a nation to spend £30k + on way of getting from a to b ? My BMW goes in the trader next week and I have good deposit for a house in the Algarve. Can't wait to see the expression of my work mates when the boss turns up in a £53 car!!
It depends exactly how you view a car, I suppose.
Many people are happy to spend £53 on a car to get from A to B and see no value in spending more in the same way that many people are happy to stay in 1 star hotels when on holiday.
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Talking to an Anglesey based friend over a question raised in IHaQ a couple of weeks ago, she tells me that it is common practice for people travelling to Holyhead from London to do this especially if it is a family, buy a cheap motor down there, drive up to Holyhead, leave in the town somewhere. Far more comfortable, cheaper (by far) and more reliable than a train !
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..and on the bright side, that leaves loads of cheap cars around for people desperate to get out of Holyhead... ;)
(Bad experience with a delayed ferry, ignore me) :)
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No comment - been there once though ! Apparently they're there's a load of them abandoned by the Bridge car park.
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If you consider the cost of a single service, tax, & MoT buying a banger with a reasonable amount of tread on the tyres and scrapping it every six to ten months is probably the cheapest possible way to do your motoring.
Now I no longer need a decent motor it is something I may consider in the future. I am past the age where what it looks like means anything.
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Nothing far fetched!! My insurance is arranged through a broker who I have dealt with for a very long time - I have her number on my phone as wehave a good few vehicles insured through her. And yes the owners also had avery clean Saab and said they did not need two cars in their new home. My point is we have been conned into seeing cars as a staus symbols and not as a way for getting from a to b!
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My point is we have been conned into seeing cars as a staus symbols and not as a way for getting from a to b!
Of course - read the thread on the old cars prople still run in France:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=52...0
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If you consider the cost of a single service tax & MoT buying a banger with a reasonable amount of tread on the tyres and scrapping it every six to ten months is probably the cheapest possible way to do your motoring.
If you can stumble across a car as the OP did where the seller is getting rid of it simply to make space, then you might be lucky, but I would suggest that most cars of this age are being got shut of because they're carrying some kind of issue that in uneconomical to repair.
Someone we know buys cars like this, but he often has to be collected by his employer as the car has let him down, and I shudder to think of his wife and 2 young kids being out in it
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Someone we know buys cars like this but he often has to be collected by his employer as the car has let him down and I shudder to think of his wife and 2 young kids being out in it
I would nod my head in agreement if the same thing hadn't happened to me with new cars as well, accompanied by a repair bill of £XXXXX because I had invested too much to walk away from it.
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Well my wife and kids won't come with me to work and as for breaking down I once had a new BMW 330D that got through two turbos and a gearbox in the first six months of its life. My wife has a very reliable Mazda that will do for holidays etc.
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Common misconception of older cars being more likely to break down.
I think you will find owners of new/newer vehicles have far more trouble than good cars nearing the end of their lives. Thats where most garages/dealers earn their money so it adds up (sic)
Their is a difference between a gool old car and a rough old car. Choose a good old car, be prepared to scrap it if anythin expensive goes, go without the snob value of the newer car and you can have many cheap miles of motoring. I once sold an old astra to someone in a similar position as OP (£150) and he was still driving it 2 years later. he sold his high value car in meantime as he couldntt understand why he was wasting so much money on depreciation alone. 1 service cost more than his "new" car did including insurance.
But if snob value is important to you, buy a new or newer vehcile. There is room for both types of vehicle. And I have seen 2 year old cars that I would not buy for any amount of money (including £53).
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i usually find cars that have no worth other than scrap value are either very dangerous deathtraps
or
ok and have a few years left in them
if i wasnt mechanically minded though there is no way i would do a 288 mile journey in a £53 car, just like i wont use taxis ,apart from under threats of death from the wife if i dont get in shut up and im not paying
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There are so many good, cheap second hand cars out there, I would never buy new or nearly new. I've found that you can get a perfectly reliable, nippy, fairly good looking car for under £500 and that will do me. None of this astronomical depreciation nonsense thank you very much.
I recently got a car for £385 that drives like new at a tiny fraction of the cost someone once paid for it.
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