Am I a cf or is my aunt? Is £500 enough?

MOT looks at road worthiness - it’s not really about the actual workings of the car. It’s quite feasible that a car is roadworthy ie decent tyres, wipers and lights work etc but then breaks down owing to mechanical failure or a part breaking.

I would get it back to her then write her a polite note saying you appreciate her trying to help you. Tell her it has all been a bit unlucky as it cost you £500 on repairs to get through the MOT then broke down and cost you more. But you appreciate her kindness and cars are always a gamble. Write off the cost for the sake of peace and make sure all the friends and family she communicates through know how much this has all cost you. Then do your homework properly next time and buy a decent car.

What would small claims court achieve? Nobody forced OP to spend the money.

I also think JJ would tell OP that she was absolutely ridiculous for spending £500 on a moss covered banger 😉

I'd love to see Judge Judy lay into the cheeky fucker aunt.

Take her to small claims court for the £500 OP.

Just get it retuned back to your aunt and write the £500 off as money you would have spent on a rental car and move on from it.

I'm honestly not being rude but what on earth were you thinking getting yourself in this position anyway?

This ^^

The MOT is just a check list of various parts and components at that moment in time. As soon as you drive away, clutching your Pass certificate, any part could fail and it wouldn't be the MOT station's fault.

lol exactly - if this thread has taught me anything it's that very few people seem to know what an MOT entails!

A Range Rover is guaranteed to break and you’re lucky it lasted 3 years. Often even landrover can’t fix them. My husband had 5 ..in a line round the courtyard …and they were all broken down and he was driving mostly an Audi A4 estate with over 200,000 miles on the clock. And he’s a motor engineer with 2 sheds with ramps and every bit of equipment you can imagine, to even make new panels. His friend and father have a fad for RR too, but even brand new, they were back under warranty every month. They are notoriously unreliable.

Why you thought a car that has been sitting on a driveway long enough to go green is going to be a working car without a whole lot of remedial work and preparation is beyond me. You can’t just start an engine after that time and expect everything to work. Things seize with lack of use, rubber perishes, oil in the engine must be replaced, and so on.
Shes no worse off than before you took the car, once its on her drive, but you do need to return it. Why didn’t you have it towed back to hers in the first place?

It's spot on, though.

OP made lots of silly decisions and is now £500 down without a working car.

An MOT does not guarantee a car will not break down 🤣

If you can afford a 3 year old Rangey, why on earth couldn't you afford to just hire something decent?

Only certain models / years. And in mint condition. Unlikely the OPs aunts car is worth much at all.

Snap

Wow
What a judgemental, insensitive post

Quick question OP.
What is your aunt's financial situation?

Not your fault the car was broken and then broke down! Your aunt is taking the pee. Don't pay anything else.

You message your aunt:

"Dear Aunty CF. Thank you for offering the loan of your car until mine was repaired. Unfortunately I had to spend £500 to get it through the MOT to make it roadworthy, but as it had been unused for so long, it has now broken down. As the car is only worth £XXX (look the actual value up) and will likely cost far more than this to repair, then I suggest the sensible option is to have it scrapped which will pay out £100 which I will deduct from the MOT repairs. If you wish to keep the car, please arrange to have it towed from my driveway. There is no need to pay me back the £500 I paid for the MOT. "

You paid 500 for the work cos it felt awkward to say no to the mechanic/friend?

Call it a wet lettuce fee.

Exaclty. She accepted a car no one would have accepted, took it for an MOT everyone else would know it’d never pass and then spent £500 to fix a car she didn’t even plan to use for a long time. Absolute mug.

It is on her. Her aunt didn't mention any money or cost until OP had been silly enough to spend £500 on a moss covered old pile of rust.

Unless it's a Cosworth of course.

There was no agreement or contract in place. Don’t give her any money, she’s a chancer.

No its not on her, she was naïve - yes, for which she paid £500, the rest is not on her, its on her Aunt, her Aunt is the truly unrealistic and money grabbing one here.

You’d have been better off just getting a hire car or buying a cheap used car.

I mean, yes, it can happen to any car but did you genuinely believe that a 30 year old car that's been sat outside for years, is covered in moss and rust with interior damage was going to be safe to drive?