I'm in the market for a car or van at around the £350 mark. I'm a gigging musician and need to transport my keyboards so there has to be a bit of room in it - which somewhat limits my options. I know I will have to live with a bit of a banger one way or another...
Anyway, I just saw an Astra van on Ebay. Apparently it has rusty wheel arches which all have what looks like some form of black tape over them. There is a bit of MOT remaining but the seller writes that the van passed its last MOT with this tape! So my question is: Is black tape over rusty wheel arches really considered OK in an MOT?! I could give the Ebay link to anyone in the know who could give me an opinion...
I like these Astra vans. A friend had one that went on forever...
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I wouldnt pass a car that had gaffer tape on the arches and would stay well clear.
Would it be rude to ask where you are based? I appreciate you have a small budget and I have bought cars around that price, but you seem to be looking at the wrong cars IMO. If you can provide a location maybe the BR can search on the internet maybe up to £500 and maybe give some options to think about.
Thing to look at the price is dont get hung up on a particular brand or model and image, if that is possible at £350-£500 :-) Expect it to last no more than 6-12 months. Look for condition rather than mileage, however you have to be handy with the sapnners as most if not all major repairs will effectively write the car off.
Why not try early 90's estates like Mondeo, possibly Vectra/Carltons, Volvos and Pug 405? Dont buy any from of "prestige" BMW, Audi/VW or Mercedes.
Sorry for the tone of the message but hope you find something.
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Well I'm in Brentwood Essex and would certainly be grateful for any 'leads'! Really my requirements are just that the vehicle be big enough, be mechanically sound and be cheap enough! Estates seem to be thin on the ground but are my preference, as are the car models you mentioned. But the few Volvos/ Mondeos etc I've noticed at the price have had obvious problems. Unfortunately I can't even think about a £500 car. £350 is pretty much my limit and even then it would need to have to have a bit of Mot and tax... At the moment i'm hiring a van at £30 a day for any gigs I do so the sooner I buy the better!
At least the Astra van is (according to its description) mechanically without fault. I will of course test drive it carefully but if I knew it would fail next MOT on the arches then I would steer clear. Since making the first post I noticed a couple of posts in other threads that said duct tape over arches WOULD pass the MOT...
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I have had a highly respected MOT tester suggest I tape over some rusty arches in the past but I just filled them for aesthetic reasons. Similarly I had a bumper end cap missing on a maestro van and the tester (a different one) insisted that if I tied a plastic bag over it he would pass it!
I agree that any vehicle with taped over rust is not ideal but having been in a similar position to cosmicjazzer recently where I needed a cheap car to get to work I fully understand his predicament. One thing I have found is that ebay does tend to inflate prices of things as they have such a wide exposure. There are 'tricks' such as looking for newly listed items and making offers. As it happens I got a 1988 Nissan Sunny in excellent condition with 11 months MOT and 3 months tax left for £250 but that was due to the very poor way it was listed. When I have finished with the car I will put it back on ebay with a decent listing and pictures and probably get £400+ for it! Again, that is an exception rather than the rule and it is well worth looking in local papers/free-ad publications where cars crop up at sensible prices due to the limited expectations of the seller and limited exposure of the vehicle
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A 91 astra is old leave alone but do look in autotrader or free ads papers or newspaper shops adverts etc where you will find a newer car like 1996 for the same money and a better car.
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I have looked on autotrader, for all cars around $350; upto 20 miles from a CM postcode
tiny.cc/ujkmR (ok its not an estate and it a H reg, but its a Honda, under 100k miles and looks in good condition and probably looked after well)
tiny.cc/p4phz (Mondeo with 140,00 i know but again looks in good order and has service history according to seller)
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A car WILL pass an MOT with tape over rusty wheel arches.
To fail an MOT the rust needs to be deemed as "structural". A wheel arch is not structural. Nor does it pose a threat to pedestrians.
However, rust anywhere on the car could mean there is rust elsewhere that IS structural and an MOT failure.
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I've used and passed MOT with not sticky tape but sticky backed aluminium-used for flashing on buildings.
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