To spend £3000 on a 10 year old car?

[Acunningruse]

The family car has done 105,000 miles but the reverse camera and sensors have gone. It also needs new brake pads and 2 new tyres and there’s something wrong with the handbrake.

we hadn’t planned on replacing it yet, but I am worried about spending over £3000 and then something else will go wrong… os it time to look for a new car?

Its a Kia Sportage if that makes a difference.

Do you really need to get camera and sensors fixed?

New tyres and brake pads.....that is just a general wear and tear cost.

How must will it cost to get handbrake fixed? Personally the camera and sensors i wouldnt repair on a car with that mileage especially if its petrol, as diesel engines tend to last longer

2x tyres £200 to £300
Brakes £300
Don't need sensors
Get quote for handbrake
It should do more miles

..and I didnt vote as the options are too black and white as per my initial post

Break pads and tires are things that wear down over time, so the fact they need replacing doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with the car, that’s just regular maintenance and shouldn’t be very expensive (do shop around and make sure you aren’t being sold tires that are much more expensive than you need). Personally I’d do those and just live without the camera and parking sensors and keep the car u til something really expensive like the engine or gear box goes. But I say that as someone driving a 20 year old Mazda (fabulously reliable brand) who has never had sensors or camera and parks the old fashioned way by looking in the mirror and out the windows!

Get it fixed. Brake pads and tyres are an easy fix for any garage and what's wrong with the handbrake - does it just need tightening up? Garage can do that too. My sensors went in my old Skoda Fabia about five years before the rest of the car gave up - I just drove without, they aren't essential because I don't have them at all on my current car.

Save your money for when you absolutely HAVE to replace.

We’ve easily spent £3000 on our car in the last couple of years, 11 years old, over 100,000 miles on the clock. If it was our main family car we’d have binned it off before the £1800 cambelt fix. But then DH got a new job that requires a lot of miles, and we have a son turning 17 soon so we thought it worth maintaining as a ‘car we know’ as we’d have to buy a cheap runaround soon anyway, so it was paying to get it fixed or putting the money down on an unknown car, we decided to go for the former. As I say we do have another car though.

diesel engines tend to last longer

Not anymore they don't. All the emission reduction technology reduces the life of the engine to an enormous degree unless the oil filter is changed very regularly (twice as often as the service schedule suggests).

I had a diesel in 2008, and only managed 165,000 miles before the turbo / egr / dpf all went. I complained to Citroen who were quite surprised I'd managed that many miles. My response was that IMHO that sort of mileage should just be run in, and that I'm used to getting 500,000 miles out of a diesel easily. Their response was "not these days you won't".

@Acunningruse if your car's bodywork is OK (no rust), it is worth doing the engine. Fighting tin worm is a losing battle. Also try YouTube as the chances are there will be some good guides on how to fix some of those items yourself at a much reduced cost.

Also, per the above, it is dependent on whether your car is petrol or diesel. I currently have two vans (work vehicles), one with 240,000 miles, and one with 140,000 miles (both diesel but with oil filters changed regularly), and they're still going strong. Petrol car with 90,000 on also still going strong. Bodywork on all of them make mechanical issues worth sorting.

No way. My car has done 98k miles and I wouldn’t even spend £500 on it now. My reverse camera / sat nav display is broken, but not fixing it, manage ok without. I’d do the bare minimum, no way i’d spend 3k

On on a Skoda diesel forum, someone asked "how many miles are people getting?"

Answers on post 2013 cars were anywhere between 145k and 330k miles, one car at 215k was still on original clutch, my mechanic looks after an Octavia with 200k, still on original DPF, EGR, Turbo, Clutch...

Mine is on 143k, 10yo, has cost me the grand total of £700 (not inc service items/tyres) in those 143k miles and £500 of that was on a new radiator after i hit a badger!

All depends on correct servicing esp the right type of oil and not too many short journeys plus some luck!

If the OP doesn't get the car repaired (minus the camera stuff) whats the alternative?
Any half decent replacement will be 5k plus and could come with expensive problems too.

No need to fix the camera or sensors. Is that where the bulk of the cost is?

I have an 2002 diesel seat Leon with 258,000 on the clock and have just booked it in for a cambelt and service. I think I will literally keep it till it falls apart around me or I’ll be buried in it whichever comes first.
If your car is otherwise reliable I would get it fixed (I’d leave off the camera if you can manage without it?) tyres and brake pads are consumables and you could get a new to you second hand car and still need to replace those within a few hundred miles.

Where are you getting 3k from?

As others said ditch camera and sensors
Brake pads and tyres are consumables you’d need them on any car

How easy is it to drive without cameras and sensors? I test drove some cars that were awful without them, others have decent visibility.

Do you know what is wrong with the cameras and sensors? Could it be something simple like a loose wire?

Have you actually had a quite for more than 3k or are you speculating?

Reversing sensors could be as simple as a fuse.

Handbrakes aren't usually that sophisticated if something goes wrong with them.

Tyres and brake pads are general wear and tear.

I'd crack on and get it sorted 👌

Assuming the car engine is running smoothly and rust hasn't set in, I would get the brake pads, tyres and handbrake done and forget the rest.

Kia have a good reputation for reliability

As far as the camera and sensors go down you need the camera and you can get new sensors fitted it's not cheap but might be better than fixing the existing one

This is very good to hear, although not the experience of someone I know who needed a new engine in their Skoda at 75,000 miles. I always change the oil and filter at 6,000 miles now. It isn't that expensive for me as I can do it myself though.

My point to the OP was that if the body is rust free, it is always worth doing the mechanical parts. Also, it is better for the planet to keep an existing car on the road.

That sounds like an awful lot for that work so I'm guessing main dealer prices? If so, get a second opinion as Kia dealers are also notoriously bad at upselling work that doesn't need doing, my in laws had this with their similar aged Kia Sportage and went for a second opinion at our go to trusted local garage and half of the "essential work" didn't even need doing!

Brake disks and pads should be around £2-300 max and 4 tyres £500 max. I'm not sure about sensors and cameras, but a decent auto electrician would be able to sort that.