So the car broke down AGAIN yesterday

[mizu]

We have an X reg car. Have had it for about 7 years. It has cost us a fortune over the years and we dread the MOT coming. It never passes. Head gasket was done 4 years ago ( and tbh the problems have been pretty much ongoing since then) and then 3 months ago we had to have a new (from scrapyard) engine put in. 3 months guarantee. We broke down on the motorway yesterday - 3 months and 10 days after it had been put in - head gasket gone again.

So, my question to you is, do we try to fix it again, get a cheap car or, pay £188 a month for a Honda car that my DH can get from work. No insurance costs, MOT or anything, just petrol. Brand new car every 6 months.

We earn about £38000 between us and are saving £500 a month for a deposit for a house. We have no debt. It would mean having £273 a week to live on after all bills and rent instead of about £320.

I would love not to have a car but it would be me using it primarily to get to work.

Also what do we do with this broken car? Scrap? Ebay?

I would use any savings you have to buy something a few years old outright.

Scrap broken car and go for Honda deal.

I have two replies and they are poles apart!

Superscrimper - yes I can see why you say that and i don't really want to have another outgoing every month but:

the savings (which are not much) is for a house deposit. I have always rented and am getting on a bit - nearly 40 - and so don't want to have no savings.

there is no guarantee that nothing will go wrong with another car.

I am thinking about peace of mind more than the money really.

For now I would go with the lease hire scheme, but bear in mind that this will affect how much you can borrow on a mortgage as it will be deemed as an outgoing (loan).

However, you can always buy outright when you can afford it.

Another one who thinks you should buy another car outright. If you go for a reliable make you really shouldn't need to be spending loads on it. Our car is 10 years old and we have spent nothing on it apart from normal service and MOT costs (touch wood!)

Thanks all. We are going to do the Honda car thing for a few months and see how it goes.

As for the mortgage, that is years away anyway!

Daisy - we have a Skoda Fabia, a really reliable car i thought. Maybe we have just been unlucky with it.

Do the Honda thing.

We had a turkey of a car and gave up on it in the end, best decision we ever made and I wish we'd sold it sooner.

Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. Heap of shit, and I will never buy another Vauxhall again because of that car!

doyouthinktheysaurus - thanks for the post, DH has done all the paperwork and i just need some reassurance actually. We will get the car on the 17th August. See how it goes. We can give it back after 3 months if we want. Have never ever driven a new car - we still have a tape player in our broken car!

Which Honda is it?I have a Civic which I have had 4 years now and will probably keep it until it dies or a lottery win enables me to buy a brand new one,I love it that much.Just out of interest,Honda have just been voted most reliable car manufacturer for the seventh year in a row.Mine has only ever had new tyres,oil and once a sensor went but it wasnt that expensive.

It will be a Honda Jazz as that is the cheapest one to lease. You can have a new one every 6 months. Don't have to pay for anything except petrol - and the lease of course. Going to try it out for 3 months and see how it goes. Still a bit nervous about it money wise as i constantly worry about not going overdrawn or not having enough money.

I'm currently facing a similar dilemma OP - I bought a second hand car a few years ago, for ages it was absolutely fine then suddenly it started breaking down / costing me money almost every month, for various reasons each one seemingly unrelated to the others. Every time I've thought "well I need a car and if I bought a new one there'd be no guarantee it wouldn't need repairs too" and just coughed up and had the thing fixed, but recently I've been looking into leasing cars and the idea of having no risks of needing to pay out more than a definite fixed sum every month is seeming more and more attractive...