Robsters

thats the way i saw it as well. as you say break that down over another 2 years of use that would work out 500 a year as you say you wouldnt get much for £500 and you would most likely be buying another butch of issues. The rest of the car has had a lot replaced and maintained over the years (5 years), suspension is the next major thing on that car that needs doing and also I was quoted £2-300 for that. The thing is unless I go and spend major money on a 2nd hand car thats near as new or even a new car itself you are risking buying another problem off someone. A friend of mine has gone through a nightmare with his 2nd hand cars and at one point got into debt over it. He had to write a . car off and he spent 3000 pounds on this car and he only used it for 6 months. It had oil leak and power steering leak and in the end the engine gave up. either way it will be an MOT failure...the arches and sills are completely gone so its either get them done or not bother and even if did a patch job at £400 for the extra £600 I may as well get it done properly... or ditch the car entirely and then its back to same arguement buying another problem.

gcfcos

I'm not sure what sort of cars your in to but u can go to Vauxhall and Nissan and many others and get a brand new car for £120 a month with 3 or more years warranty

Robsters

how much is the deposit for something like that?

Robsters

Had a quick research some good deals on getting a new car its good offer must admit so £150 a month so £1800 a year then £5400 over 3years then on say a £13500 fiesta you can either pay off remaining 8k or do same all over again but never own the car ofcourse, i see the merit in it always have a new car no MOT worries and any break down costs covered, however forking out almost 2k a yr for a car u never own then at end of 3 years most likely be forced back into a newer model as no one will want to pay crazy money for a 3yr old car. like everything now they dont want u to own it just keep giving ur money every month. starting to think that last guy comment not far off the truth ok 1k on body work but pass its MOT even just used it for 2 yrs only be £500 a year if kept longer because result of stopping the rust then could really pay off in the years to come not only that still own the car, buy 2nd hand u take the gamble of another person problem, even car i got now when i bought it was many things previous owner lied about and stuff AA check failed to spot a year later had clutch go, exhaust went, shock absorbers needed replacing none of it was cheap i was close to ditching it after the first year ironically then i got caught the trap paying for the repairs so had to keep it to make it worth it lol, think with cars you simply dont win....perhaps thats why there so many cyclist on the road now

gcfcos

I payed £100 deposit and pay £100 a month for my car. The fuel I save every month from my old mondeo pretty much pays for the car. It's on pcp finance, after 3 years i can either keep the car and carry on paying the £100 per month untill its paid off, give the car back and walk away or swap the car for another brand new one. Suits me down to the ground

ProjectBobcat

Robsters, apologies if you've already covered this but is there any chance of you getting yourself a welder and having a practise on some scrap metal etc to save yourself the labour costs? There's a bloke over on the retrorides forum who does some really inspirational bodywork, and somewhere he's also got a topic where he helps people with sheet metalwork/bodywork tips.

http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/119596

Robsters

i got the quote from bodytone in berkshire ProjectBobcat not hired a welder for the work.

Robsters

and £100 deposit sounds good what car you got gcfcos ?? got bit confused what you were saying about the petrol ?

gcfcos

I've got a new Nissan note, has cruise control sat nav and all the modern extras, suits us as a family. The mondeo used a lot of fuel using it daily and the Nissan lasts all week on £5 lol. I'm saving so much fuel that the money saved from the fuel is paying for the car with a profit!

cossynut2

Sounds like a win/win situation to me.

Robsters

thats good so fuel wise even better than a fiesta? had a quite look online so £100 a month looks like a really nice car and very reasonable at 10k it said though deposit of 5k to get the car so still steep for myself, getting another quote from another bodyshop more just out of interested to compare im sure be about the same maybe.

we did actally get body work done my dad old bmw years ago 3 series 1989 completely rusting away spent £1500, guy we used took far to long to do it but end result was good and did give the car another 7 yrs of use and life that i think if we had not had that done i highly doubt my dad still be driving it right now, i post some photos later

gcfcos

I'm not sure to be honest mate as I've not owned a mk5 fiesta but I'm getting 56 mpg round town on average and higher mpg on motorways

Robsters

im guessing you got the 1.2 engine?

luke19790_3

so you get charged for damage at the end?

i know i do with mine if have Any large dents and scratches

Robsters

so at the end of the 3 years you get charged for any damages as well ? thats a bit unfair but i guess you dont own it until its paid but still seems a bit odd

gcfcos

Yes mate. To be fair it'll sit at 85 with the cruise control on and pull up any hills going Devon way and seems to cope with that ok. I'm quite happy with it for what it is, really comfy and has all the extras u could imagine. I'd recommend one to anyone. Regarding damage mine got dented in a rear door by some twat a month into ownership and has some car park dents already and it's only 18 months old but we have a paintless debt removal guy that comes round work and said to me to leave it as it is and then I'll book him before I hand the car back and he'll do the lot for £100 cash. Or if I keep the car I'll get him to do it anyway. To be honest we're just gonna chop it in for another new one once the 3 years is up as I like having the 3 year warranty with no troubles

gcfcos

This is the same as mine

gcfcos

Failing that we have this for sale at work with 6 months mot for £150 lol!!

Robsters

never want to own a vauxhall always hear bad things about them

gcfcos

To be fair all the Vauxhalls I've ever had have been reliable, all the fords I've ever owned have been the total opposite lol but u pays your money and takes your choice. Good luck with whatever u decide to do mate

Bailes1992

MG at the moment have interest free finance on the MG3. You can have the top spec model with all the extras and no deposit for £175/month for 5 years.

Almost got one for the missus but ended up buying a 3 year old Polo for the same money because that's what she wanted.

Robsters

thank you, and yeah i suspect a lot of it down to luck and how much you use the car etc, and who u get to repair it The worst experience I went through with my car was when i was in ireland and the water pump went.... i got ripped off to repair it and had it break two more times after that, when I finally got back to uk I took it to my local guy who a friend of mine and turned out to be a cheap fix and never seen the issue since that was almost 2yrs ago now so i believe a car can be made unreliable by dodgy mechanics.

I think i going to go ahead they said the quote is what they will charge so it will not go up or down once the work is complete they also they said the work would take 3 to 4 days which seems very quick??? any thoughts on that? but i just want the rust issue gone and for arches and sills to pass the MOT in 6 months time, obv car not worth much but worths more to me to keep it...also my first car for one thing and not really in a situation to buy another car, 2nd hand or new so if it costs 1k to fix my current car to be used for 2 or 3 more years it will prob work out cheaper for me.... providing nothing serious like the engine goes...... but any choice i take is a gamble unless i buy a new car but i dont have that sort of money at the moment. i will post photos once the work is complete

BigChuck

If I was in your shoes, if I had the 1k ish it's going to cost to repair it, id go buy another, you could pick up a clean one with mot for £500, just have a look on eBay or gumtree etc, if you've got time till your mot is up, just start looking now and be careful what you buy.

I can understand why you'd like to keep it, but throwing money at a car that has rust issues as bad as yours has just doesnt make sense, you could spend £1k this year, then it could be similar next year if the other sill goes or the front wings need replaced etc, once it starts deteriorating you end up fighting a losing battle.

Robsters

Still a month away from the date I booked it in so I take another look, Quote covered both rear arches, both sills with one side being the MOT failure, also inc a rust spot on inside of windscreen by the drivers door, respray of a front wing panel that had a deep scrach on by stupid council guy who bashed the car with a hedge trimmer stripped paint back to bare metal, covered it with basic paint to cover the bare metal at the time. so there doing quite a bit for 1k :/ granted though is a risk as another area of the car could rust. trouble is what if i get another car and something worse happens end up forking out to repair someone elses wreck? my dad had his bwm body work completely restored about same level of rust back then prob worse infact i asked him did he regret spending the 2k on restoring it? he said no because used it for 7 more years almost 28yrs old now , he wants to sell it soon point is gave him 7 more yrs use out of the car as rest of it was still a good machine that was working if he had not done it that car would of failed MOT ages ago or rusted away further by now, unlikely ur get a very good 2nd hand car for 1k it either be very very old or a car that needs a lot of repairs as well

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

my 2005 Fiesta Zetec S cost me less than 600 to buy

cossynut2

There are good cheap cars out there, the guy in our works office just bought a 2007 Fiesta , black with nice alloys, just over 30,000 miles only, fsh and rust free for £1000!! You have to search but if it was me I would rather spend my £1000 on another car.

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

exactly - the cost of repair is beyond the final value of the car - its a no brainer

Robsters

Hi guys, decided I will just fibre glass the arches again myself and fix the sill on the cheap nearer the mot date with a plate being welded onto it, maybe if I have the car in another year I decide its fate then but money is on the short side now as we need it for a deposit on a new flat we are moving into and costing me £2000 to move in.

gcfcos

Good plan matey bloody expensive now to get in a rented place, cost us £2000 where we are now to get in and to move again is closer to £3000 now in Bmth!

Robsters

yeah its crazy the prices now and we know the landlords and trying to do there best on a deal for us as well, cheapest place in the area. yeah i think if i do the arches well it last a year before the visable rust would come back i hope

gcfcos

If u can get another year out of it then happy days mate. Good luck with the move

Robsters

thanks, good opportunity for us and helps that we are friends with the landlords , extremely hard to get a place around here now thats affordable either gone straight away or just want u to rent a bigger place because you have a 1 year old which is not practical for what we can afford. as for the car yeah if i can get another year out of it or more than great, trouble is mite have some costs coming up regarding the water pump and suspension so will have to decide if that is worth it, got a very slow leak of coolant just annoying as the water pump was replace in 2015 from a water pump failure and engine been all serviced so engine all ok if it gets worse my mechanic says we will have to replace the water pump, at the moment its ok as leak is extremely slow but means keeping a constant eye on the coolant level.

cossynut2

At this stage in your life having somewhere to live which you can afford is more important than a nice car. Fix it up yourself to get it through its next mot and hopefully when money is not so tight you will be able to get yourself something better. Best of luck.

Robsters

might have had a lucky escape with this bodyshop, i emailed them back for a requote on just the two rear arches for the time being to see what they would come up with.....nothing just ignored my email, still booked in for next monday but if thats the way they treat a possible customer then obv not very friendly... quote was far to high for the value of the car I am sure they could of done the 2 arches and hole in 1 sill for a lot less then £1000, still need to get the sill sorted before the MOT and have no idea where i should go to fix it ?

gcfcos

Any independent garage should be able to weld a patch on the sill for the mot mate

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

1000 is a joke price mate

Robsters

I know its a joke thats why i never went ahead with it, still looking for someone who can just weld basic new arches and sills onto the car and i can repaint them silver myself just to get rid of the rust.