Car repair or replace -WWYD?

[99problemsandthecatis1]

We have a 7yo (13 plate) Zafira - the one that spontaneously combusts, but that bit has been fixed.

Went to get it MOTd today and to get it to pass it needs:

new brake discs and pads and new brake fluid- £400
new exhaust - £460
And a handful of maintenance type things - £150

BUT in addition to this it will also need, in the next 3 or so months.

aircon condenser unit - £500
timing belt - £580

Total cost of repairs is £2200.

We buy any car would give us roughly £800, we might get £1000 if we sold it privately, but that would obviously take more time.

We don't currently have the cash available for the repairs, so it would have to go on a credit card - we are therefore limited by what garages we can use. We'd be able to pay off the credit card in a month or 2 as our household income is about to go up about £15k pa as I've just got a new job and DH is due a reasonable pay rise (currently in negotiations).

The car has done almost 100k miles as it is.

WWYD - repair or replace? Replace would likely be a car around £3.5 - 5k.

My understanding is that nowadays, if it's failed an MOT, that's it until the work is done and it's re tested. Not like the old days when the old test certificate remained valid up to the expiry date on it, now if it fails, that's it, it's all done online so the failure shows almost immediately.

Think I'd ditch it and replace - but not with another Vauxhall!!

Dh's vauxhall has just failed its MOT with a grand quoted to repair. Im really hoping he replaces not repairs, it's a money pit.

You can't keep driving it now, just to the garage.

failed MoT shows online almost as soon as the garage puts the data on the system. the old wheeze of driving until the previous MoT runs out no longer works.

like it or not your car is unroadworthy and you would be knowingly driving it like that.

It's not been MOTd yet. It went in to a garage (garage 1) for a diagnostic (turned out to be that the computer doesn't like the replacement oil cap that's been put on). Not our usual garage (garage 2). They've advised that the work needed doing as they did a "health check" whilst doing the diagnostic.

I'm taking it to my brother in law's tomorrow for him to look at - he's sort of a mechanic (his family have a haulage and recovery business and he does roadside recovery, he's also a race driver and builds his own cars). If he confirms what garage 1 says I won't bother taking it to garage 2 for the MOT, we'll just get rid.

If we can keep it running another 6-12 months for under a grand that'd be our preference, we could really do without taking on car finance right now.

I realised I said MOTd in the OP, I didn't mean MOT, I meant looked at/ diagnosed. The MOT is due in 3 weeks. Without the garage doing the "health check" I wouldn't have known anything was wrong.

To put your timing belt quote into context, DP has just told me that the timing belt in his car, along with the water pump that apparently needs to be done at the same time, at our trusted local garage, is going to cost £360, on a VW Tijuan.

OP I posted yesterday saying a garage had quoted a grand to get through the mot, dh got a rival garage to do the repairs today for £400.

Yeah, gonna see what BIL says then ring garage 2 for quotes on the work and see if we can get it done cheaper.