Car has just failed its MoT and will cost way more than it is worth to fix. So sadly it's time for it to go. Particularly sad as we've had it over 18 years.
However everything comes to an end I guess so......where do we get rid of it?
There are various of these "We buy any car" type of websites, but are some better than others? Not looking to make a load of money, but something would be nice.
Ta in advance
Ebay with an honest description, start at £1. Someone will collect and break it for the parts.
As @tthew above, eBay auction, 99p start.
You might get a none paying bidder but so what? list it again, eventually some lunatic will take it off your hands.
Hot Rod it
Sold my old BMW on FB marketplace. Scrappy offered £140, got £400 cash for it.
If its 18 years old it should probably be scrapped, I scrapped mine, I didnt want to sell it to someone and have something happen to them. It was a 2007 mondeo, the local dismantlers gave me £130 cash for it and took it away from my house. No hassle, no haggling and I know if it goes back on the road then I'm not responsible for anything that happens.
I used one of the various "we scrap any car" type websites, got £185 for a 15 year old C-max with the front end smashed off.
Also got £175* for the alloy wheels (actually being able to park has its advantages), £40 for the stereo, £25 for some roof bars, £45 for the towbar. Not bad, £500 extra for a write-off the insurance had already paid out on!
*stuck some steels on with almost bald winter tyres, caveat of the scraping company is the car has to be on 4 wheels so they could get it on a transporter.
Nonsense about scrapping a car just because it's old.
18 years is very old
18 years is very old
Not particularly, my car and my van are both coming up to eighteen, neither seem to require scrapping or are inherently dangerous (99k on the car and 88k on the van)
18 years is very old
If your epstine maybe.
What is it and what's the failures.
I'd ebay or FB market it on.
18 years is very old
Not particularly, my car and my van are both coming up to eighteen, neither seem to require scrapping.
I'd say it's pretty unusual to see a car older than 15 years old on the roads. I mean it's not rare, but it's probably <1% of cars I see daily. My car is 14 years old and I have no plans to get rid, but it's far older than most cars on the roads. Which is a shame and an indictment of how well the motor industry manages to pump out unnecessary numbers of new cars.
Nonsense about scrapping a car just because it’s old.
Exactly. A 2007 Mondeo is still a modern car for me.
18 years is very old
My first car was 18 years old when I bought it in 2004. I'd still use it now if I had it.
Too little info from the OP. Is it an interesting vehicle that's worth saving and what's actually wrong with it?
My vans 1998 and the car 2009.
Anything petrol and post mid 90s is almost as clean as a modern car in the real world.
Disposable cars are not greener. Theres more energy and fuel used mining refining building and shipping a new car than you'll recoup by buying a slightly more efficient car every 4years
The 2007 mondeo had two unfixable leaks, had been crashed once and likely had something wrong with the chassis. Scrap. Only had 130000 miles too.
Regards the OPs car, if its 18years then it should have 180000-200000 miles with normal use. If it cant be repaired for MOT then it is scrap and should be scrapped. I wouldn't feel right knowing someone was potentially driving my Mondeo, it was unsafe.
dougiedogg
Free Member18 years is very old
Not really, people just don't value old cars very highly.
For all the talk about car's being deliberately obsolete, car's these days are pretty reliable and easy to fix when they go wrong. Just that most people would rather pay £300 a month for a new car than pay £300 once in a blue moon to fix an old one.
They don't even seem to rust anymore.
I’d say it’s pretty unusual to see a car older than 15 years old on the roads.
Depends where you are. Go to any local council estate that's a bit rough and you'll see loads of cars 15+, usually old barges but plenty of old Fiestas and Corsas. Thanks to lockdown exploring I actually know of 3 Volve 240's that re still in regular use in posher areas of Cardiff, se lots of Micras too. I know of one house that has two Bluebirds plus a G reg Micra, all just used as cars not garage queen's.
The British obsession with new cars baffles me, most other countries you'll see load sof older and well maintained vehicles a lot of the time.
I get it all the time my old saab needed a starter motor and everyone in work was like buy a new car it's more reliable..
300pcm for 3 years or 65quid and 40min to swap it over.....
Mmmmm
If it cant be repaired for MOT then it is scrap and should be scrapped
That's a bit of a stretch from the OP post.
Most things become.economically when you add in labour at a garage.
Cheap motoring for those of us who want/can/will .
Wife has a modern car as she adopts the turn the radio up attitude to faults much like the general populus.
I daily drive(although I don't drive daily) a 35 year old land rover and have a 15 year old camper I'd happily jump in to drive to the Alps
18 years is very old
Oh crap - I best scrap our new camper that has nothing wrong with it.
I had a van I paid £900 for it, five years later it fails the mot so I stuck it on eBay and got £835 for it, now that's what you call economy motoring.
@twinw4ll pah amateur, my dad bought a motorbike for £50 over 50yrs ago, it's now worth at least £60k 😉 and doesn't even have to have an mot either.
18 year old car here, coming upto 19. Had it all bar the first 10 months. You'd not know it was 18 other than the plate.
Unless it ever gets a major failure (it's not had one) then I'll keep it going. It's not actually getting used much now with Covid.
Someone might have the OP's car for parts.
if I had to pay someone else to fix it everytime it went wrong it would cost me way more than its worth, but as its 16years old I dont often need all the latest diagnostic tools etc to do so.
Id like something more comfortable,aircon, heating, quiet etc,like a clean old audi or merc, rather than a newer version of the same, but its not a priority yet.
Its just failed on a cracked headlamp, so another years motoring for under £50?
18 years is very old
Depends. The car in question is a Mere C-Class. We've had it from new. Engine still starts first time even after sitting unused for a month. And that's still the original battery. It still drives very well and actually feels quite modern.
If the MoT bill wasn't so huge (lots of suspension bits needing replaced) I'd happily keep it. However it's also our second car and we don't really need to be running two cars. In fact we would have gone down to one car a few years ago had the Merc not still been running so well and also the emotional attachment to it (the only car we ever have, and probably ever will, bought brand new).
Thanks for all the other replies though. Will maybe gibe FB Marketplace a try.
I'd be keeping that and doing the suspension work myself.
If you're anywhere near Sheffield I'll give you scrap value for it.
Silly question, but is that main dealer pricing or are you already at an independent garage?
My car failed its last MoT on suspension, and the main dealer wanted insane prices for even the parts, the local indy did parts and labour for not much more than I could get the parts for. Just had a look on ECP and pattern parts for your car are similar to mine in terms of price.
Ebay, 99p with the failure sheet, repeat until someone actually shows up. Don't change your plans for someone, they can come when you are in.
Facebook marketplace is FULL of morons who will waste your time.
Or fix it, better the devil you know and all that.
18 years is not an old car. As above we have a weird aversion to fixing cars in his country.
Serious suggestion, bear with me.....
Get a quote (not an estimate) from kwickfit for the suspension work (im assuming its bushings?). They do them for a fixed price and its not much more than buying the arms* from ECP/GSF.
*No one sensible replaces just the bushings these days, I took kwickfit the entire day of labour to get the old ones out.
From an MOT perspective leaking dampers are fixed by a thorough jet wash to remove the evidence.
Really doesnt sound like something that should be scrapped. If you really dont want to fix it then ebay it with a copy of the fault sheet. Soneone will gladly buy it.
I ebayed my last one- wasn't an MOT fail but was undrivable and beyond economic repair. Just stuck up a really good ad with photos and a brutally honest description, started the auction at the value of the diesel in the tank. I'd been offered something like £125 off we buy any car which was less than the wheels were worth, even before they turn up and start trying to knock it down further, I got IIRC £650.
18 years is very old
Steady there Garry Glitter!
(that's a joke of course).
I'd stick it on Gumtree, honest description, include the details of the MOT failure, even a pic of it. Providing the parts cost is below the value of it repaired, someone who like a bit of home mechanicing will likely buy it for something.
Is it an estate? thats what Im looking for
Are you looking at the items it actually failed on or are you including all the advisories as well?
Depends where you are. Go to any local council estate that’s a bit rough and you’ll see loads of cars 15+, usually old barges but plenty of old Fiestas and Corsas
That's the wrong way round in my experience. The council estates I see are full of brand new Nissan Qashquais and bottom-of-the-range Audis, presumably on finance at "only" £200 a month for a squillion years.
The British obsession with new cars baffles me, most other countries you’ll see load sof older and well maintained vehicles a lot of the time.
Agree with this though - noticeably more older cars around in mainland Europe, particularly in the south (perhaps due partly to climate, but certainly not careful driving).
They do them for a fixed price and its not much more than buying the arms* from ECP/GSF.
*No one sensible replaces just the bushings these days, I took kwickfit the entire day of labour to get the old ones out.
Unless you want to buy arms that you trust. I had a ford escort where those arms were consumables till I learned to stop replacing them with the factors cheapest.
Volve 240’s that re still in regular use in posher areas of Cardiff
Parked outside antiques shops?
Unless you want to buy arms that you trust. I had a ford escort where those arms were consumables till I learned to stop replacing them with the factors cheapest.
Buy cheap buy twice might be true a lot of the time, but with old cars you could have to factor in that it really might be uneconomical to repair for some other reason long before the cheap part fails.
Also depends on the level of faff. Unbolt a part and replace it, or spend the day trying to get the old bushings out?
I’d be keeping that and doing the suspension work myself.
I (genuinely) struggle with changing a tyre on my bike.
Silly question, but is that main dealer pricing or are you already at an independent garage?
It's an independent garage. They've been doing our cars for more than 20 years and I trust them 100%.
Serious suggestion, bear with me…..
Ta, good idea, but there are various other things as well.
Is it an estate? thats what Im looking for
It's a coupe I'm afraid.
Are you looking at the items it actually failed on or are you including all the advisories as well?
Just the failures. If there were no advisories I'd be tempted just to cough up and get it fixed, but it sounds like the next MoT could be a pricey one as well.
If you’re anywhere near Sheffield I’ll give you scrap value for it.
Scotland.
I'm doing a midlife rebuild on our Volvo V70, 16years old, 190k miles.
Putting ~£1500-£2000 of parts and a bit of paint into it. Should be good for another 190k.
Would only replace it with another or equivalent and doesn't seem right to scrap a perfectly good useable massive chunk of embedded energy.
eBay, 99p start with full description of all the faults you know, lots of pics and a list of all the failure issues on the MOT certificate. Sold my 20 year old A4 last year to an ex Rolls-Royce mechanic who was willing to do all the work himself.
Forgot to add that genuine (Volvo) parts are sensible priced for older cars and sometimes cheaper than EuroCarParts/Lemforder/OEM etc.
I get a decent discount for being a Volvo forum member, a friend used to run an old GWagen and again got a decent discount from MB main dealers for being in the Gwagen owners club.
Regards the OPs car, if its 18years then it should have 180000-200000 miles with normal use.
It’s not the 1980s anymore grandad. 200,000 isn’t a lot of miles. It’s middle aged at most. My current motor is on 260k. My last one had that many miles on when I bought it and then ran it for 8 years.
Are any of the failures classed as MAJOR? If so then advertising it make ssure the buyer knows this as any mot you thought you had remaining is automatically cancelled with a MAJOR fail. Hence any buyer would need to trailer or recover it away.
if I had to pay someone else to fix it everytime it went wrong it would cost me way more than its worth,
whether a repair costs more that the value of the vehicle is irrelevant. All that matters is where you’d get value out of the repair.
