to ask for help with my car issues

[carprobs]

Sorry, shamelessly posting here for traffic, and help because I don't have anyone in RL to ask (my DP would have been my go to person as he is super knowledgeable on car matters, but we split up earlier this year and I'm NC with him, so...)

I've got a 12yo car. Had it for 2 years and bought it cheap, £1500. Engine wise its pretty reliable, starts first time every time, gets me from A to B. Easy to drive, etc etc. I don't do a lot of miles - about 5-600 a year (I used to do more driving to visit DP, not now obviously!). But...since I've had it I've had to spend a fair bit on it, so far:

£300 on an issue with the temperature gauge (I knew that was there when I bought it and got £200 off the price, but the work cost more than expected)
£400 to get it through the MOT last year (rear brakes and discs, rear shock absorber and front coil)
£300 earlier this year on a new alternator

It's now in for it's MOT again, and I got a call to say there's an electrical (?) issue with it, not sure what but none of the rear lights are working. There's also a problem with the parking brake, and the rear brakes are binding (I think that's the word used). They're looking into it but at present they don't know what the issue with the electrics or the brakes is so at present can't tell me how much it will be to fix.

I'd mentally assigned £400 to this MOT, much like last year, but I'm now wondering how much it's likely to cost - will it be much more than £400? What do I do if it's more? How much becomes too much to spend?

Just bumping in the hope of some advice please! Am expecting the garage to ring me shortly and already panicking about what to do.

Also I've realised in my OP I said I do 5-600 miles a year, that should be 5-6,000

I think you have to have a cut off point where you decide a car's just not cost effective any more.The used car situation is dire at present with very little availability so you need to be careful of that.
I buy my cars new and drive them until they're no longer cost effective.Some of what you're referring to such as the alternator is understandable wear and tear. I think the issue with mots is that people don't really mantain their cars for the rest of the year.

It's a bit difficult to know, it depends what kind of car it is this determines the cost of the parts, to an extent. Parts for Fords or Vauxhalls will be cheaper than Mercedes or Lexus (in general not always the case).

Ultimately, there's not much you can do about it really. Presumably you can't afford to be without a car (and it costs to scrap cars now anyway) and you may not want or be able to replace it either. And of course if you're running the car, it needs an MOT.

The garage doing the MOT should give you an idea of costs when they know what the work is. I'm sure they'll tell you as soon as they know themselves.

I run older cars myself and I have built up a kind of slush fund for ongoing maintenance. It does help when those unexpected or large bills come in.

The way I see it, cars cost you however you do it -- if you buy a new car, you're paying top whack for the car itself. But if you save money at the outset and buy an older car, you tend to spend more on maintenance.

^^ Sorry for unintentional strikethroughs there - MN reformats my habit of doing double-dashes!

I guess what I'm trying to decide is where's the point at which it's not economically viable....the garage can tell me how much it will cost, but they can't tell me if it's worth it.

A few years ago for example I had a very old car I'd bought for £500. Had it for 2 years, after which the alternator went (I don't have much luck with alternators!) and immediately before that I knew it needed a couple of other bits, so would have cost me £400 at least, which was more than it was worth - so I sold it for scrap for £150.

With this car, I can't decide where the cut off point is - £500? More? I don't think I could spend much more than £600 as the car is probably only worth £1k even before it failed it's MOT.

I can manage without a car if I have to, as I can use my DC's car, but in the long term I'd want to replace it.

DP would always say allocate about £500 a year for MOT/ maintenance, but having already spent more than half that on the alternator I'm a bit at sea as to how much further I commit financially.

My car is a Vauxhall btw.

Ask the garage if they have a rough idea of the issue and costs let them know you don't want to spend too much on it

I guess what I'm trying to decide is where's the point at which it's not economically viable

That’s a tricky one and I think it varies according to circumstances. A lot of people go with the insurance company model — if it costs more to repair than the car is worth, it’s not worth doing.

Personally I don’t follow that model but the cars I run tend to be weird eccentric models with a sentimental value attached to them. For me, I think twice when the bill is four figures.

I’d look up how much your car is worth on Autotrader and Webuyanycar. Then you can assess whether it is worth the cost to repair it or not.

Remember that the balance isn’t just the value of the car, it’s the cost of replacing it. So it might be better to throw £600 at a car worth £1k rather than spend £3k and be in the same position in two years.

They're going to contact me once they have worked out what needs doing and what it will cost, although I get the feeling I will have to pay for their time in looking at it even if it turns out the repairs will be over £1k and I decide not to go ahead with it.

I don't understand why there's an issue with the rear brakes though considering I got the pads and discs replaced by the same garage when they did the MOT last year?

If you are going to buy an older car, it will cost in maintenance, especially if you buy a less reliable brand.

If I was going to buy a 10+ year old car I would buy a German or Japanese. Toyota, Mazda etc are especially good for running long and not costing you.

For me it's not about price versus value, eg spending £400 on a car valued at £600. Its about its general health of being a good runner, reliable etc. Even a brand new car can have expensive repairs. My personal view is whether there is serious corrosion as that's a beggar to deal with, otherwise I pay.

Brake pads/discs are normal wear and tear, like tyres, and shouldn't be costed against worth of car. Same for exhaust repairs. Rear brake binding could be caused by you not using it regularly enough (unless you use it everyday). Its the regular releasing of handbrake that can help with this.

However searching for electrical problems can be a nightmare. It could be a faulty bulb shorting everything out, it could be a wiring loom, so would depend on what they say.

webuyanyvcar valued it at £600 :/

Looking on autotrader, there are only a handful for sale, and all have done a lot less miles than mine (which has done 130000) - the closest comparator I can find is one that's 3 years older, has done 15,000 miles less and is £1000.

The one that's the same year as mine is £2k, but it's done 30,000 less miles.

I think it's probably worth £1k, or it was before it failed it's MOT.

Where do you take it for its MOT and servicing? If a main dealer or large national like kwik fit or ATS it will always be more costs to you than a small independent mechanic
www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4012264-KWIK-FIT-scams-and-other-car-repair-scams

So I guess on that basis if it costs £1k or less to repair it's possibly worth it.

No news from the garage yet which I feel isn't a good sign.

I take it to a small local garage, they've done all the work on it (last MOT, the temp gauge and alternator) and did the MOT and work on my previous car too. I'd never go somewhere like Kwik Fit.

I don't understand why there's an issue with the rear brakes though considering I got the pads and discs replaced by the same garage when they did the MOT last year?

I'd change your garage.

Been in the motor trade for about a million years... Rear brakes binding after you've had pads and discs replaced suggests an issue with the caliper. It's a different part and they can seize up especially on older cars. The garage might be able to free it off which will cost you about an hour's labour per side. If they're beyond that it's a caliper or 2 to replace and they're not cheap.

Electrical fault for the lights could be anything. If it's wiring and not just at the bulb holders it's probably not even worth getting started with, wiring faults are a nightmare and can get very expensive very quickly. If the car still has valid MOT now, don't put it through its test to fail and get it sold on we buy any car or similar (I personally wouldn't mention the faults and bank on them not spotting them)

An old vauxhall with electrical issues isn't a keeper. Try to get whatever money you can out of it, an older Skoda or VW is usually a pretty safe bet as a replacement, especially if they have decent service history.

It went in for MOT and has failed on the points mentioned so doesn't have a valid one now. The rear lights were all fine at the weekend when I last drove it. Obviously don't know yet what the fault is, I think they were going to try changing the bulbs/ fuse to eliminate that issue. And work out what was causing the binding, and then get back to me with a diagnosis/ cost.

It's frustrating because it runs really well, and is lovely to drive.

Dreading having to replace it because I've never bought a car without (ex) DP's input.

Ah that's a bugger that it's already failed. If it is just a fuse they should have tried that before even calling you, they're about 50p and the fuse box is just under a panel in the dash.

Have they given you an indication of costs to investigate? I've always worked for main dealers but we're very upfront about charges, we'd probably have asked for an hour's labour to strip the brakes and have a look and maybe half an hour for the lights.

Just don't want you to end up paying for a lot of 'looking at' that you're not expecting to pay for - especially if the repairs end up being uneconomical.

I grew up on my grandparent's farm, where you had to service and repair all sorts of equipment yourself.

From that I learnt to service and repair my own car ( Land Rover Defender ). However time can be a constraint so I asked for a quote to change the front brake pads. Garage came back with £350. The pads cost £29. It took me just over an hour and a half to do it myself.

I'm not suggesting you start rebuilding your gearbox in the front room but with a few good tools, somewhere safely to work and a Haynes manual you can do quite a lot yourself. Like the rear lights, possibly a fuse , maybe ?. You can also get tuitorial stuff on Youtube.

Just a suggestion.

It went in for MOT and has failed on the points mentioned so doesn't have a valid one now.

The MOT remains valid until expiration, nothing overrides that. If the fails are ‘dangerous’ though then it can’t be driven.

Unfortunately the lights not working counts as a dangerous fail. so it can't be driven. MOT was due to expire tomorrow anyway so it doesn't make much odds.

Ex DP and I replaced bulbs in the car in the past so I know what to do, but I didn't know the lights weren't working, they were at the weekend when I last drove it before it went in.

I don't know how much the garage will charge to investigate. Hopefully not too much especially if the ultimate cost is going to be too much to repair it.

I actually didn't explain that well the original MOT certificate remains in place but the failure means the car isn't roadworthy and can't be driven or taxed as it isn't roadworthy. The original one is still technically valid but can't be deemed to show that the vehicle is roadworthy. Basically, once it's failed it's failed.

Not that it helps you in any way OP