My little Yaris seems ok but has been given a poor bill of health by it's MOT. Binding brakes, new discs n pads, corroded brake pipes, £700 at main dealer prices.

OK so I can get that down by shopping around with local garages but it's not the end of it.

Oil leaks (rear main, sump, timing chain) corroded radiator, anti-roll link bushings and 3 mm tyres. It's going to be an even more expensive year with all that.

At what point do I call it quits and part-ex it for something a little newer? I don't need the car much so am tempted to go car-less but won't get as much with a private sale, surely, given the work that will need doing.

Before this it hasn't had any need for work so it's a bit annoying to have it all fall on me now. It was my dad's car from new (03) and I've only put 10k on it over the last two years. Grr!

Thing with cars are you could do the work and not have another repair for years. Or get another big repair in a couple of months. How lucky are you feeling?

We have been canning our cars when they break down and leave us stranded. So for the Renault Scenic it was around four years old and for the Clio it nearly made it to 5 years (in both cases after years of more than expected service bills). We now longer have any Renaults.

i'm thinking of doing the same myself

i just shelled out for a big repair just after xmas, and over the next year or two it'll need a new cambelt, clutch, and maybe some other stuff. It'll cost me over £1k in maintenance, but it won't add much to the value

at this stage i think it makes more sense to spend the money on a newer car which will (hopefully) need less maintenance. i might lose the £1k in depreciation, but i'll have a better car

Pah, all you with your rubbish modern cars. My 16 year old Mondeo passed it's MoT with no problem at all 😀

Repairs never add to the value.Its luck sometimes .I have a 1994 Astra with 160k on it I am spending on it for the mot because it always starts ,still does over 40mpg and is still cheaper than buying another car

I gave away my last two cars when the engine troubles started and expensive bills were looming. Didn't bother replacing the last one and it's been a good decision so far. If this is a possibility for you I would certainly consider it, I wish I'd tried it a year ago tbh. One thing is certain, a replacement car will continue to cost you money.

I always work off "Better the devil you know," unless the fault really is terminal.

You could buy a 2006 or 2007 car and have problems with it.

It only makes sense if you're getting the balance of manufacturers warranty. The 3rd party warranty companies mostly don't cover the BIG bits.

From experience as soon as you think that it's time.

I had a 328i Touring that I was going to sell before christmas, going rate at that time was ~£1600

Faffed around and then rear bush needed replacing, mechanic was on holiday until just before christmas. Got the work done and decided to wait until after christmas to sell.

Coming back from Wales after christmas suffered HGF, had to get recovered off the motorway just outside of Swindon to Sussex (possibly the coldest few hours of my life waiting for the recovery truck to turn up!) – Non-starter, cost to repair/replace engine ~£900 which I couldn't afford.

Managed to sell on ebay for £500. 🙁

Cheers 🙂

I'm feeling a bit less down after having some numbers back (from a local garage, by email, on a saturday night. How ace is that?) cutting the cost of the MOT repairs from £700 to £240.

The other repairs will be a similar amount, maybe a little more.

I'm reluctant to shift the car because

a. hassle
b. my dad's car, which I paid nothing for on the understanding I would keep it running and it could be used by siblings if they ever pass

however it was definitely living on borrowed time as this is the first load of stuff needing replacing (except for regular service items, bulbs, tyres) in 7 years of being driven.

Do I feel lucky indeed? Well it isn't italian 8)

Oh, I'm also a bit suspicious as they said it needs a new wiper, yet the wipers are in good nic and wipe perfectly compared to everyone else's smeary messes (I mean WTF? whenever I travel in other folk's cars, they never had wipers that clear the frckin' screen effectively). It has binding brakes but still gets 50 mpg+ on a decent run. 😮

/edit – sorry to hear lifer. As my bills might be coming down I reckon it's worth keeping. Until I get engine or gearbox troubles that is.

Has the car got a full Toyota main dealer history?

Only reason I ask is that I used to work for Ford and they would often help with a goodwill gesture on the bill even if the car was out of warranty as long as it had a full main dealer service hitory.

I had a customer with a 5 yrd old Maverick, The diff went and Ford agreed to pay for the fitting costs. The customer just paid for the diff.

If you've got a full history, speak to Toyota UK rather than the dealer. You may get a better response.

"You obviously have your Toyota as they have a good rep for relaiblity etc and you chose it over other cars because of this. You're very disappointed with the news of the needed repairs and would have to think twice before buying a Toyota again etc etc etc etc"

Cars cost when you aren't expecting it – fact. You've got absolutely no guarantee that a newer one won't fail either. It only makes a difference if the new one's in warranty, and then it'll cost you many many thousands.

Look at it this way, if you do the repairs, you'll know you've got a car with new brakes and all the rest of it.

Btw £700 is a right rip off for that stuff. Car brakes are basically the same as bike ones but bigger, you could do your own no bother 🙂

Btw £700 is a right rip off for that stuff. Car brakes are basically the same as bike ones but bigger, you could do your own no bother

Except bike brakes don't need to stop at least a ton of potential death travelling at speed.

IMO there are some things that are better left to the professionals, brakes are definitely something you don't want to f*** with unless you know what you're doing.

When you can no longer get the stains out of the boot.

sadly, brakes, tyres, brake pipes and suspension/steering bushings are all things that wear out and need replacing on a fairly regular basis, just like they do on your bike.

If the car had been serviced on a regular basis, most of these problems should have been identified – and repaired – as you went along, rather than all at once when the next MOT comes around.

You don't have to (and IMO shouldn't) get services done at a main dealer on a 2003 car, but you should get it done at least once a year, even if you don't get anywhere near the service interval. Remember, this is X thousand miles OR once a year, whichever comes first.

Saying that, as the biggest bills of these are likely to be your tyres, brake pads & discs, once they've been done they should last a while – on a FWD car, front tyres should last at least 20k miles, rears double that and then some.

The oil leaks are a different story. When was the timing belt last changed? What's the mileage now?

BTW this is purely from my own experience in 20 years driving; I'm not a mechanic.

Main dealer? I don't think so.

Do some research, find a proper garage. I scrapped an L reg Astra with 160K on it a couple of years ago. Got an M reg Astra with 105K on it. I'll be happy if I can get it to 150K. Still runs sweet as a nut.

Yaris aren't that old. Try looking after it.

Cheers John and others, helped me put some perspective on things. They did get picked up as pert of the yearly service, which I pads for at the same time as the MOT and have realised I'm not getting great VFM from them. It's 73k now.

I'll have a look for the last timing belt change, but I don't have the previous service invoices with me right now.

And yes, £700 if £460 more than I have been quoted for locally.

molgrips – servicing my bike is great – I can bring it into the kitchen and have tea while I do it in the evenings. Can't do the same for the car. Don't even have the tools!

Short answer pay the £200 get the mot and sell it!

IMO there are some things that are better left to the professionals, brakes are definitely something you don't want to f*** with unless you know what you're doing.

It's so simple that all you have to do is do up all the bolts, use the correct parts, bleed it properly… no black magic 🙂

As for doing the fixing, it often involves lying on the drive on your back whilst it rains and drips water in your face.. but that's the price to pay for mechanical independence 🙂

Another vote for mechanical independance here.
Do all my own servicing with best quality oils and components.
I tend to replace and bits on my cars before they fail completely if I can, especially if it lessens the chances that I will have to fix the thing over the winter. Crawling under cars in january is no fun. However fixing a car in june, with the sun out and the radio on can be a nice way to spend an afternoon.

molgrips – Member

"IMO there are some things that are better left to the professionals, brakes are definitely something you don't want to f*** with unless you know what you're doing."

It's so simple that all you have to do is do up all the bolts, use the correct parts, bleed it properly… no black magic

As for doing the fixing, it often involves lying on the drive on your back whilst it rains and drips water in your face.. but that's the price to pay for mechanical independence

Don't get me wrong I said "unless you know what you're doing" if you don't you can end up with:

Slightly different because it was modified but he obviously didn't know what he was doing