Cars fucked and he doesn't care!!

[l0stmummy]

I was brought up around cars and mechanics. I have quite a bit of appreciation for cars so honestly don't know if this is a normal veiw and I am just being unreasonable or not.

Every. Single. Year. DH buys a new car. Never something decent, always something second hand for under £600. Last year our car failed it's MOT (surprise surprise) on 13 points, 8 days before I was due to give birth to DD. He found a car for £650 (which he made a fuss about for being higher than hed wanted to spend), with 10 months MOT. Hes never cleaned it, never serviced it, it's just generally a POS. Despite my constant complaints and trying to get him to get it checked over, last night it died. The timing belt snapped so theres practically no hope for her. (Would cost too much to fix.)

Anyway, my EXDSD wanted to give me a car to learn to drive in. It's lovely, and has been sat on my DMs driveway waiting for me to claim it as we are only allowed one vehicle on our land. Ive told DH that as it's MY car, it WILL be clean and it WILL have regular servicing. I know what he's like. He kills every car he has before a year and I won't let him do it to this one. He thinks im being unreasonable and cars should only be serviced once every 3 years, that it's not a big deal as long as he can get from A to B.

Am I just being anal about it or is he being lazy??

YANBU. A reliable working car is a wonderful thing. Stressy unreliable cars are a pain to have around. I've had both. I know which I prefer.

Whats his basis for only needing to service a car every 3 years when that one lasted 10 months

Lazy????? He's being irresponsible and plain silly.

cars should be serviced annually at a minimum, more often if it covers high mileage.

Your DH is weird.

It maybe fine for him as a male driving on his own to be stranded in the middle of nowhere if the heap size of junk he buys breaks down, but not for the other more vunerable members of his family.

Oh and I service my cars at least yearly and any weird noises on my previous old cars I got checked out immediately. On one occasion the wheel bearings had gone and if I hadn't turned back to get my car checked out immediately I would have ended up with no car to do my 200 mile trip in.

I think he's follow a well-know algorithm whereby you buy an old banger for almost nothing, spend nothing on it, and replace it with another working one when it breaks down or fails its MOT. This is the absolute cheapest way to own a car.

fire it's also the most dangerous

The timing belt snapped so theres practically no hope for her.

How much does it cost to replace a timing belt? I think his algorithm is correct in deciding that it's better to replace a £600 car with a working similar one than to prolong its life with that maintenance.

Cars need at the very least a minor service every 15k miles or they'll choke and die. A minor service is cheaper than buying a new old car. Ergo...

My dad used to do the 'buy a beater, allow it to die at MOT and get another one' but he'd change the oil and fuel filters regularly which meant they usually lasted 3-6 years.

fire a simple replacement probably isn't possible. When the timing belt goes it tends to fuck everything in its path

Sorry to say hun he just sounds lazy & cheap!
Cars need maintenance, even an interim service once a year if you don’t do mega miles would do the trick, (mines £50 for interim, £110 for full service on 2009 vw Beetle, never had any issues with it & passes not every time)

Its a very cheap way to deive a variety of cars. Some work out better than others.

Others think spending £400 a month plus deposit on a german diesel box theyll never own is a good idea too

as long as he can get from A to B.

How does that work with a snapped timing belt?

absolute cheapest way to own a car.

But not, perhaps, to make sure you have a reliable means of transport.

How tedious

I could bear doing that, it might be the cheapest way of owning a car, but if you can afford otherwise what a shit way to live. I couldn't I magi ever wasting my time buying a new car every year. Plus I completely love my car, I've had her since new and she's about 17 years old, I am going to be heartbroken when she finally goes to the scrapyard in the sky, but until she is ready she will always have a home with me. Maybe discount any advice I give because I am clearly bonkers.

Its only worth practicing Bangernomics if you know the first thing about cars. Clearly your DH missed that part!

His way of doing it makes sense when you are young, free and broke. However, it isn't such a good idea if you don't want to break down in the middle of nowhere with a small child.

So I think yanbu.

His dad taught him his "theory". His dad also knows sweet FA about cars too.

Buying a cheap banger is a economical way of driving IF you have the knowledge and enjoy playing in scrapyards for parts.

DH will service our cars every 5000 miles, and they get a weekly check.

When the timing belt goes it tends to fuck everything in its path

I meant that it wasn't worth replacing the timing belt in advance, to prevent that damage.

But not, perhaps, to make sure you have a reliable means of transport.

How tedious

Plenty of people live without a car at all, I guess the old banger algorithm is a step up in convenience from that?

Even if your car has a valid MOT if the police decide it is dangerous they can tell you to get it off the road. Happened to a former colleague of mine who practiced bangernomics.

YANBU. I bought an old cheap car that’d been serviced every year and had been well looked after, and she’s still going strong (belongs to someone else now, I see her round town) and she passed her mot first time every year except one. I now won’t touch anything that’s not got a full service and good mot history, and keep up with servicing etc myself.

I love having a reliable car that starts first time, every time and doesn’t break down - much less stressful than the pieces of shit I used to buy and drive!

Cars always break down when you need to get somewhere important/urgent. I'd rather pay a bit more and have something that's been looked after and is reliable.

Yanbu- my car is old ish (2005) 150k ish miles but has been serviced every year without fail and still drives great. I doubt it would of been the same without servicing. As for clean....Well it's erm "lived in".