Garage say it's a 'moral dilemma' whether to fix my car ?? what ??

[54isanopendoor]

I bouthg an old car a year ago.
1997 Ford Fiesta. 30K miles on the clock
(ex local elderly lady who'd kept it garaged, serviced & driven it to church 1 x wk)

I just took it for it's MOT. It failed, unsurprisingly, as it's old.
Apparantly:
Exhaust shield missing. Brake pipe leaking. Power steering pipe leaking.
Guy said that 'the brake pipe burst as I was examining it so couldn't test brakes - you must have been having problems'. I hadn't, at all.
suspension arm pin/bush worn both front sides & dust covers missing.
then lots of other minor things:
all 4 tires (2 replaced last year?), wiper blades, indicators 'slightly discoloured'.

So I asked the nice lad who'd done the MOT what the damage would be & if he could source used parts for me (have done before).
I've just had a call from the head of the Garage saying that it was
an ethical dilemma for hiim as to whether to offer to repair it or not as it would be very expensive. I had to ask 3 times how much & he said: £1K, 1.2K then 1.4K. He says the car is only worth £300 fixed & MOT'd.
He'd called my exH first apparantly (its MY car) & suggested £800.
He then tried to talk me into a Motability car.

In my experience anyone who says they are 'honest' 4 times in 10 mins isn't.
Does anyone know about cars please that could offer an opinion?
I am sure that it needs work, & may well not be worth repairing but I'd like another opinion. I dont' think I can drive it to another garage as the exhaust sheild is listed as a 'dangerous defect - do not drive' ?

I showed the list to DH as he fixes all our cars, buys from ebay and the scrappers for bits so I do trust his knowledge.

He said the basic structure of the car is coming across as solid. Everything else is due to age, corrosion of pipes is a thing as is cracked old tyres, its just unlucky its all gone at once. Cheapish and fixable. What jumps out at him is the hydraulic rack leak. If its a pipe that's cheap, if its the whole rack that is not.

Well worth a phone call to an independent. Also worth looking on autotrader to see what else is available for the same price (which could also fail on the same things).

Definitely this, and then ask other garages for quotes.

@Magenta82 how do you know or search for an ex motability car please?

@CarefulWhatYouWitchFor most blokes I know do not want to tinker in their garages, they want hassle free motoring and it maybe an upcoming classic but not yet its not an RS escort an XR2 XR3I sierra cosworth etc its a basic ford fiesta and some cars from the early 1990's are but not this it would be an absolute waste of money to fix it unless she does then bubble wraps it never drives it and prays it becomes a classic, if your husband is a mechanic he should know this x

Found the V5 doc now ...

Its a 1998 Ford Fiesta LX Auto, petrol 1.2l, 3 door hatchback. I'm the 2nd owner & it's a tidy little thing.

@54isanopendoor is get another opinion, although not driving a car as the previous owner did is quite damaging for a car.

thats your opinion. But there’s great swaths of enthusiasts who would drive it as it is as a useable daily, or put a pinto or zetec in.
there’s also new drivers who have cottoned on to the older car market who would love it. There’s masses of groups for it now, meets up and down the country And even a show called the festival of the unexceptional, celebrating the once mundane.

The ex motability cars go in for auctions, most of these are trade only.

The fluctuating price may be because they don't know exactly how many hours it will take to fix.

Most ex Motability cars get sold back to dealers and the ropier ones go to auction.

very few of them are over 3 years old and they tend to resell for quite a bit of money

if you have the relevant benefits, it’s worth looking at the scheme as so many things are included: breakdown, insurance etc

Sounds dodgy as hell OP!

He isn’t a mechanic. He does, like most blokes we know, spend hours tinkering in his garage with various classic fords and Triumphs though.

If Op can tel us if it’s a big standard 1 litre or an RS it would help to decide if it’s worth saving or not.

Far too many thoughs in that post lol. Long long day.

Off topic but my dad bought his mobility car

Some garages will advertise they sell ex-motability cars. Ours is, and the garage we got it from had a couple of dozen that were.

Hello my lovely, take the failure certificate into another garage and ask them to quote for the failures. Tyres are dangerous failures but a mobile tyre fitter could do those fairly cheaply, approximately £60 a tyre?

He isn’t wrong about the brake pipes. Because the brake tester is so harsh on brakes to test their efficiency, they do often burst on the ramp/brake tester so that is completely believable. I’ve seen it happen.

if you want to PM me for a different quote (not because I want to do the work but because I think you need a second opinion!) I can do this for you using national car part chains 🙂 obviously you don’t have to!!

I do sometimes over quote instead of under quote because it’s a nice surprise to have the money back in your pocket rather than spend it all, but I can see the point he’s making. It would be nuts to spend 4 x the value of the car on fixing it. If you’ve got £1400 to pay for repairs buy something else for that budget. Doesn’t need to be anything flash but you could certainly find something that works x

Even if the man is exaggerating the cost - though one price could be before Labour or before VAT - it sounds like your car has passed the point where it’s economically viable for you to fix it. Have you looked at what £1-£1.4K could buy you?

A 1997 Ford Fiesta is a 25 year old car. It's not just a wee bit old, it's positively on its last legs, whatever the mileage.

The phrase the mechanic was looking for is "uneconomic to repair". Whatever it costs to repair, it will far, far outweigh the value of the vehicle. And yes, a dangerous fail on the MOT means you cannot take it elsewhere for a second opinion.

In your opinion.
ive known 4 year old cars that are frankly, scrap.
20 year old ones that have years left in them.

As has been said before what will 1k get you now? Not a lot that you know has been looked after, and unlikely to need this little to get through an MOT.

Your partner is looking at it with older enthusiast eyes. The market has changed recently, there’s a whole group who love the mundane and believe it deserves saving.

and anyway, if the op likes the car and gets on with it. What does it matter?

I haven't read the full thread but all those parts will not be expensive. Dp is a mechanic, things like brake pipes are cheap, take it somewhere else, they are trying to take the hand out a you.

If you want op, you can pm me the reg and I will have a look and cost the mot work for you. By sending your reg I can't see anything other than your mot and if it is taxed.
I don't agree with the majority on here, I don't think he is doing you a favour by trying to sell you another car, I think being honest is pricing the work and letting you decide. Second hand values are still crazy, and you don't know what you are buying, it could be a new car with thousands of pounds worth of work needing done.
Equally it may only be worth scrap.

Most dealerships will have them - we had a couple of ex motibility cars and they were excellent, and had good trade in value when we changed cars after a few years. DH ended up with his own new motibility car when his COPD and cancer got bad, we paid a £1k deposit for the top of the range model, which I got back when I returned the car after he died.

You’ve lost me. I’m advocating saving the thing!

What can it buy you? And old car with no history and the possibility of endless problems.