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Big ligament damage of left ankle and knee from a crash at BPW.
Problem is I’m self employed and need to drive to my work and it’s going to be a few weeks I think.
My current car is a very old but very reliable one series bmw, but it gets about 38mpg so not brilliant for a slow small car. I’ve also been thinking an automatic would be nice when it did give up.
I could buy a 10 yr old Nissan Leaf for £3500 which would get me to work and back but not much further, or a normal fuel car for about the same.
I’m a Ltd company so could prob do it through that for the leaf.
Pretty pissed off all round TBH but I need to sort quickly. I’ll write off next week but then need to be ready for the next.
How far away is work, if it's just a few weeks would a taxi be the cheepest option?
Good idea but it’s probably £80 round trip in a taxi.
Car hire has got really expensive post pandemic so check prices before you think about that. 5 years ago iwas paying £25 a day - now its £100 for the same car
Thanks TJ I was expecting about £25.
Any opinions about an old Nissan Leaf?
prices are certainly up versus pre-pandemic but I think they peaked a while back and are not currently as wild as TJ's example. Arnold Clark currently showing a 'small automatic' at £33/day if you book for a week.
If you're a business - see if you can set up a trade account which can save a bit, especially for longer hires (although its not the case that its cheaper to use an account 100% of the time so alway worth a check of the retail price before booking) but the way trade accounts are billed monthly can be a bit better for cashflow
Also theres a decent saving on getting a stand alone Damage Waiver policy rather than paying for the hire co's policy - basically a year's policy is about the same as 3 days from the hire co
Thanks good idea about the policy.
I checked - prices have dropped a lot for sure. I'm surprised.
The kids will need a car soon (2 learners in family) so a cheap car won’t go to waste even though if they pass a manual they prob won’t be keen on automatic. But then again that’s tough shit if they get a free car.
Dad's friend did this, but was when bangernomics was possible and got something with about 6 months MoT. Had some baler twine to tie the cast to the shifter so his leg didn't drop on to the brake 😂
Thanks Timber it’s these safety tips I find invaluable. I’ll probably use something less capable of amputation in the event of a crash though.
Small autos are very sought after, so prices tend to be a bit too high even for sheds. Having said that, picked up an old Corolla auto for my daughter for £1350 at the height of silly covid prices. It was pre-bashed all down one side but basically nothing much wrong with it, so you can be lucky.
Leaf likely to be a good shout if you can charge at home; the early batteries are getting lower on range but not as bad as some are shouting, in general. Probably not lose money on it.
Or if you were thinking about replacing the BM with an auto anyway, is it time to make that change now? However, prices are falling for 2nd hand cars in general, and dealers may not be offering such generous part-ex prices as they were even just a few months ago while at the same time, selling stock brought in at higher prices, meaning the cost-to-change is likely to have risen. But again, places with decent turnover may keep the spread down for you.
Personally (and what I did when I broke my wrist in a motorbike crash and found the truck-weight gearbox on my old Suzuki Grand Vitara too heavy to be fun) is look for a big old luxury car as they're generally much better value at the bottom end of the market. I bought a BMW E39 530 for £1300 and ended up keeping it for 18 months rather than 3 as it was so nice... and ironically better on fuel than the GV!!
There's 343 autos under £1500 on Autotrader at the moment: even on my first page, from the sublime to the ridiculous ... or 70 if you'd like to stick to private sellers which are usually better value at this price:
Is work anywhere near where the learners have to be?
Driving lesson and lift to work in one ?
Defblade, some good ones there, I have seen a rather nice Prelude near me…
Notso… unfortunately not, it’s about 20miles.
Cheap old leafs are a good shout - I've been googling and keeping an eye on them for MrsRNP. The only issue is finding one for bangernomics price (in my case) that's close to home so wouldn't need multiple charges to buy it.
WCA bloody hell that would be amazing!
Great video!
Unfortunately I think it’s range is a little short of what I need (40miles) with potential for shitty traffic. WCA you are a gent though! Thank you so much, the offer alone has cheered me right up, I’m still smiling. Made me think a used leaf is not an option.
I checked – prices have dropped a lot for sure. I’m surprised.
tJ - I think what drove up the hire prices was the supply chain issues with new vehicles. They meant anyone who had a company lease was waiting 6-12 months for a car and many companies found their only option was to hire long term, similarly getting parts for repairs caused issues so insurance companies were hiring for long periods whilst crash damage was fixed. All that meant high demand, with low supply of replacement vehicles which is the perfect storm for high prices!
Agree with poly - things like that were very noticeable through working in the repair/refurbishment of fleet vehicles business.
Also, as someone who has a shonky left knee, because of osteoarthritis, driving two-three cars a day, five days a week for nearly two years, you quickly discover which are the most comfortable cars to drive relating to the knee issues, and manual Zafiras and Berlingos I quickly learned to hate. Any of the VAG autos are a delight, and Fords, especially the semi-auto ones are close. I specifically bought a semi-auto EcoSport because it was so comfortable to drive, but they’re too new to consider.
How small a car would you need? The Toyota Aygo, and it’s Citroen and Peugeot siblings can be had with a semiautomatic, they’re noisy little beasts, but put them into Sport mode you’ve got flappy paddles to play with, and I found them a lot of fun to drive, I was driving them sometimes 100-200 miles, and I’m nearly 6ft, with no problems.
Aynho size would be fine for me with an eye to offload to the kids, I’ll take a look. Also looking at a car for me to keep, old three series etc. Currently my one series is an 05 with low miles and it’s so reliable, so an auto of a similar vintage doesn’t scare me.