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So - our current family car is a Mazda 3 Sport, 9 years old, owned from new.
It has just cost us £500 to put it through it's MOT and service (needed new rear pads and a suspension arm on top of the major service and MOT).
It has only done 48,000 miles but is starting to show its age and we had advisories on tyres, the other suspension arm and welding for the next MOT. It is also not very efficient, gets through a set of front tyres in about 12,000 miles and parts aren't cheap.
I think I would be lucky to get £3,000 for it but of course I would need to get something significantly newer otherwise I would just be buying more potential problems. This leads me to buying a nearly new Toyota Aygo at around £7,000 with my current thinking.
That would mean using all our available savings and puts us in a smaller car with less comforts (ie, nice powerful engine, Bose sound system etc).
So do I bear with the 9 year old car, upgrade to a newer more basic car or something else?
I am due to have my company car replaced in 18 months and I am thinking about taking a cash equivalent then (rather than company lease) and would probably get something that is suitable as a family runabout and keep the remaining cash for saving elsewhere.
We do need two cars (2 mile walk to school for two 6 year olds on a busy road without a continuous footpath isn't ideal to walk every day).
Can someone help me get my head around my conundrum!
...or something else?
Get a petrol Ford Focus - there are shed-loads of decent ones around in the 3k to 4k range so you can be picky and get a decent one. And parts are cheap too.
But looking on Auto Trader I will only get something a couple of years newer and with double the milage – can't see how that would make much financial sense.
[url= http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201603061706805?page=1&radius=1501&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&make=ford&price-to=7000&sort=default&postcode=wr141lh&price-from=6000&quicksearch=true&model=focus&search-target=usedcars&logcode=p ]£6000 60 plate focus[/url]
[url= http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201603041654996?page=1&radius=1501&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&make=ford&price-to=7000&sort=default&postcode=wr141lh&price-from=6000&quicksearch=true&model=focus&search-target=usedcars&logcode=p ]£6000 10 plate, 32k[/url]
...can't see how that would make much financial sense.
The bit where you said you would blow all your savings on a smaller nearly new Aygo which you didn't seem keen on. Just pointing out you can still get something decent for not a lot of money.
I know, but spending £1,000 to get a car that will surely be having issues (if not now but soon) would just be jumping from the frying pan and into the fire wouldn't it? Unless you can see a different angle?????
No used car is guaranteed.
My niece bought and 2yr old Yaris and ended up spending over £500 on it recently. I bought a 57 plate CMax last June and it's been fine.
If you want reliability and warranty - then I'd go for one of the £99 down £99 a month PCP deals you can get on loads of small cars nowadays (which is what we did for my wifes car, and bought a Panda). Keep your savings in the bank.
If it's just cost you £500 for the MOT would it be worth keeping it going til the next MOT then selling? Or just until the next bill comes along? You may as well get your £500 worth.
"that will surely be having issues"
If you buy poorly.
I buy at around the 1k mark almost without exception and managed to avoid lemons thus far - couple of failed wheel bearings and a spring over the last 2 years in my 1400 quid berlingo - 105k miles now 13 years old - mot man last year commented on how solid it was for its age last year.
id be miffed that a 9year old car needs welding do you park it in a salt water brine solution when not in use?
Prior to that i had a 1k vauxhall frontera for 2 years that needed a steering UJ for its mot and a patch welding (it was 15 years old) and was at 160k when i flogged it after it was was sideswiped by a corsa.
The lemon was the golf i spent just over 2k on because it was in mint nick above and below - with all the right parts replaced with original parts as oppose patterns and 4 good branded tyres - guy obviously cared about it with FSH and had just had a timing belt. it was just a money pit.
How ever it sounds like you want a zero hassle/risk approach which does bring you back round to renting a car PCP style.
Also - once you start getting garages to weld your car - it tends to need welding every other year due to the fact they rarely do a good job of it.
also - 500 quid for major service , MOT , Welding , A suspension arm and brake pads etc ..... bargain. All cars have running costs - remove the regular running costs your left with a suspension arm and a bit of welding the rest were coming regardless of the car you drive - unless your like my colleague who will replace his car rather than service it....
Keep the mazda. Put the 4k you were going to spend on the Aygo in a bank account and call it 'mazda repair/maintenance fund). Should last you another 8 years before that runs out i reckon! all cars need maintenance, at least with yours its better the devil you know. if you want new and shint lease a brand new mazda 3 for £200 a month
the £99 down £99 a month PCP deals you can get on loads of small cars nowadays
That is what the garage recommended but I want to focus on buying rather than renting this time around.
id be miffed that a 9year old car needs welding do you park it in a salt water brine solution when not in use?
I was surprised (although bear in mind it is an advisory only so will be 10 years old when it may be needed) but apparently this model of Mazda 3 is prone to it and when they start they are tricky to get on top of again.
Try learning how to spanner. Suspension arms and brake pads are easy to change. A full service will only cost you £50-70 in parts and is a piece of cake. Home servicing and repairs on a 9 year old car won't affect the value.
On eurocarparts suspension arms are £90 for the front and £35 for the rear and rear brake pads are £17.
Get the welding done before it's a fail on the next MOT as by then it will be worse and more expensive.
BTW I would change both arms at the same time as fresh bushes on one side and baggy bushes on the other isn't going to be fantastic for handling.
Try learning how to spanner.
I would love to have the time but unfortunately with a demanding job and a young family I don't.
I used to maintain my cars myself - whole new brake hydraulic systems, brake pads & shoes, partial engine rebuilds, resprays etc. But that was before I became a grown up 🙁
In that case to my eyes it's a choice between paying to maintain an older cheaper car with the chance that you will have a big bill but no monthly cost. Or the choice of having a monthly cost for a more reliable more frugal much newer car.
I would love to have something old and interesting but like you I don't have much time. I also can't have the car off the road when something breaks as I need the car for work.
Also my wife doesn't like the idea of a micro car to ferry the kids around in which adds to the headache.
I can see me putting up for another year then getting what I can for it and getting a family car of about 2 years old for my wife and a little Aygo for myself then. (I'd get a 2 seater but we do sometimes need to use each others cars).
So you probably need to spend another £300 or £400 on it to get another 2, 3 or 4 years cheap motoring.
I think I'd take that option.
Just buy part worn tyres cheap when you next need them. You can't get through that many sets if you've only done 48k miles in 9 years!
Not worth part worns for that IMO. 48k miles in 9 year means his 12k miles from a pair of tyres is about two years. How much is a new pair of tyres ? £100 ? Every two years ? Pfft.
Welding & suspension arms are a bit disappointing though.
The tyres - I normally have to swap front to back as the sidewalls start to corrode before the tread wears out - if it didn't eat tyres for breakfast, I'd be binning tyres with loads of tread on them.
Welding is very disappointing - not quite sure why that is the case but *apparently* they are notorious for it (although I can't find any evidence of this online).
Suspension arm - I was very surprised to be told about that (given the low milage) but have to accept it is the truth as if they were trying it on surely they would have told me I needed to replace both? On top of that, my wife did mention about a strange noise coming from the car a few weeks ago which suddenly stopped again – I assumed it was something to do with that arm as she did say it was coming from that corner of the car.
...might want to take back that ring 😀
mileage isn't everything....all the rubber bushes etc. on the car are 9-10years old. Rubber perishes over time.
Fair enough, I guess that will be the case
...might want to take back that ring
Not committed to it yet 🙂 She might be getting a sparkly new car instead.