To say DP can't spend our savings on his car AGAIN

[shinyshoes]

Breif hoistory.

I drive and DP drives. We both have cars. I don't need one bit it comes in handy for running the children around, doing large amounts of shopping and coming home from work late at night. He has to have a car for his job.

He got this job about 3 years ago. He was told he had to have a reliable car as part of that job as he would have to go on callouts to the elderly. We borrowed some money of his mum and dad to buy him a decent car, it was 2500.00 and last month we paid them off. I have never had a 'nice' car , i'm always bottom of the pile so i've had cars 10 years or older. The car I have at the moment is a bucket of crap, but it's reliable it gets me to where I need to go so i'm not that bothered.

I've not really paid out on repairs for my car, I must drive over glass alot as I pay out for tyres quite often but other than that it goes through the MOT.I'm not sure how much DP has paid out, it comes out of his 'pocket money' but I know that we had to pay (out of the savings) £160.00 recently for something on his car.

Our close friend is a mechanic and he's said that the car needs a new head gasket. He's given us a quote for £850. Now I know what's going to happen, DP will either 1) take cash off the credit card OR 2) want to use some of our savings to pay for it.

Now £850.00 is alot, infact I pointed out to the mechanic that's it's more than what i've paid for my cars. I think the most expensive one was £650.00

At the moment he is using my car but hates it. The heater dosent work, it isn't power sterering and the seat is too low down I don't care if he hates it , it's a car and it's more than what he's got at the moment. It's mine and I manage. We have tried to use just one car but it proved too difficult in the past, it restricts the freedom I have with the children but I am willing to give it another go as we both work and most of the time I am within walking distance.

AIBU to say he is not using our savings on a new head gasket that even the mechanic has said might not even solve the problem.

He also said if the head gasket is cracked the car will have to be thrown as it isn't worth paying out for.

TIA

shiny that grease monkey is taking the piss! NO WAY should it cost that much! ... mondeos are fairly easy to fix(well, compared to other cars )get another quote , and see if you can get parts from partco cheeper .

but what are you going to do with his car if you don't fix it? You will still have to tax and insure it unless you declare it off road which is a bit pointless. Or you could try selling both cars and buy something better than yours but not as fancy as his? Cheap cars are often a liability and if he's driving a lot, that could be a problem. Cars are expensive, and that's what savings are for isn't it? It's not like he broke the car himself, or wants something really frivolous!

Mondeos are only easy to fix if they present with easy problems There are some problems that cost a lot to fix on any car.

I still don't see why he's replacing the head gasket and the cylinder head when he doesn't even know if its cracked. Or why he's replacing the thermostat if he doesn't know if its gone. Why is he charging for a diagnostic read out.

If he's just replacing the head gasket it should be done for less than £400 quid.

Perhaps he's just quoting for a worst case scenario?

I think 2,500 over a 3 year period is lucky for a car. IMO you need to start putting proper money aside every month to buy a reliable car.

That's not even 100 a month for a car. I would not expect it to last any longer.

We have 2 crappy 10 year old cars - they cost 1800 last year to run and are now both on the verge of dying.

Hi.

DH is a Ford Mechanic. He is asking what engine the car has and what the fault is that it is displaying because it may not be a head gasket!

Sorry for the delay I was at work, thanks for replying whilst I was gone.

Hi mummyhil. it's a 2ltr tddi, and at first it wasn't starting, the mechanic put a diognostic test on it and he says it might clear it, which it did, pumped out a hell of alot of smoke but it got it running, so I don't know whats happened after that that resulted in all the other stuff re head gasket? Obviously they have found something else,

Kat- as soon as the car has been diagnosed a write off, we will just have it towed and dumped, it won't be on the road and we most certainly will not leave an untaxed, uninsured car on the road either. Mechanic has said perhaps selling off the parts but I don't think DP is going to be bothered doing that.

Ivy- the council pay him mileage around 50p per mile, which is also for wear and tear, they won't pay for major work. He has done 170 miles this month which will roughly give him £80.00 on his wages.

I've given this scenerio to my boss and she said why don't you give him half the savings and tell him to get what he can with it. It's not going to be anything like he has now but my BIL picked up a bargain for £125.00 last month all it needs is new wing mirrors and a new windscreen.

I've left it to him, he hasn't been abole to speak to the mechanic today to see what's what. I showed him the bill though as soon as he woke up.

He didnt seem suprised, it's like he was expecting it