You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I have a 2005 mondeo estate that I've owned since February 2020. It's been a good car to us and have had no major issues with it, until recently. The MOT is up at the end of November and it now has a drastic and pretty expensive issue. The rear subframe has rusted through and needs replacing. I'm on a couple of mondeo Facebook groups and the amount of estate cars being scrapped because of this reason is pretty high due to the cost factors of it. Not sure if anything else will need doing too either.
It's a common thing on these apparently and are hard to get hold of because of it, second hand ones usually fetch around £500-£600 instead of £100-£150 for the standard mondeo ones. Add labour costs (as it's a big job and not something I can do at the side of the road) and other consumables and parts that may need replacing then I'm guessing it would be around £1200, possibly more, to sort.
So my quandary is, do I attempt to save and try to sort this car out or would it make more sense to look for something else instead? I have nothing to put towards anything at the moment but have to do something one way or another. Scrap value currently is around £250-£300, the car cost me £550 to begin with. It's done 173k miles and the last MOT it cost £485 to get it through so is it at the stage of everything going at once now? Is it better the devil you know or not?
Curious for opinions really, any ideas or suggestions are welcomed.
Thanks
It is absolutely not worth investing ~ £1200 in a car that will owe you £100 as scrap.
When the rear subframe is replaced, it’s likely that more will be found than will need doing, and on an 18 year old car it’s likely to be the first of a series of major things that will go.
Its done well to get that far tbh
Ebay it. Someone will give you 450 for it all day long
Then find a nice v70 from 2005 or 2006 to replace it with.
Scrap it.
If it only cost £550 to buy and you can scrap £250 then it's a no brainer.
Just be aware that there are not the banger bargins that there used to be, you may struggle to find a cheap replacement, that's any better
I don't think there's an easy answer because of the state of the second hand car market at the moment. Pumping that kind of money into a car that might fail/generate another big bill at the next MOT seems crazy, but it depends what you can afford to spend on a replacement I think, because unless it's significantly more, or you get really lucky with a bargain, you might not end up much better off. Definitely something in "better the devil you know".
I'm half-thinking of replacing my 15 year old car. I bought it for 2 grand 3 years ago. This week I've seen the same model, same year but old shape, with 35k more miles, advertised for £2.5k. In that context, spending a grand on it to get it through an MOT isn't as ridiculous as it would have seemed a few years ago. It's bonkers. Bangernomics is dead.
Ploughing that money into the car does seem nuts, but if you don’t really have the money to replace it may be the lesser of two evils.
However I’d take it for MOT now, and see if the only fail is the rear subframe, if you have a garage you trust.
If that’s the only failure then it’s £1200 for a years motoring in something you at least know and will still have a £250 scrap value in 12 months time.
Buying another cheap car in the current climate in the <2k category (and probably in the <4K category in reality) may land you with something with a rotten subframe, blown head gasket and a plethora of other outstanding issues. A ‘fresh’ MOT is no guarantee of anything unless you know the garage that for it in a lot of cases. Still plenty of dodgy MOTs kicking about, especially if you are the sort of person that wants to offload a shit car.
I recently made a similar decision with my GF’s 2003 Focus. It had been really good but the number of advisoriees was stacking up and rust was going to be an issue on this year’s MOT.
I got £290 from WBAC and we have bought her a 2010 Fiesta from a friend which cost £1300 to replace it.
In the current climate I'd be tempted to keep it but possibly depending on what engine it has. If it is a cockroach/zombie apocalypse petrol then I'd keep , a Tdci then possibly not.
Just be aware of the subframe that you are swopping in being rusty as well. I'd try and factor a bit of rust prevention on the underside in general.
Run it to the mot then see what else fails. See if there's another mot fail Mondy estate out there at the same time with the bits you need. Buy it, get the bits swapped, scrap the remenants
Have just been through this with my son's car, I decided it was better to spend a grand to fix it for the MOT than buy someone else's crap that I knew nothing about. He needs a big car ( Seat Alhambra) for his band gear , his has a good engine so that tipped the balance for me
I'd be finding a trusted garage to give it a once-over and give their honest opinion on the car as a whole, then you can judge on whether it's worth spending money on it. It could have multiple issues or nothing other than the subframe so spending £50 for a professional opinion is worth it I'd say.
Just be aware that there are not the banger bargins that there used to be, you may struggle to find a cheap replacement, that’s any better
Be very aware of this. Anything below £2k is most likely hiding an issue that was the reason it is up for sale. Unless you can find something that's fallen foul of a ULEZ zone (unlikely in your part of the country) then you really need a budget of £3k for any real chance of finding something reliable and not a potential money pit.
You do all realise that if it fails the MOT now then it's game over? Unless Gnusmas has the cash for a new car or repairs now then it's rather premature. The myth about the old one remaining valid is just that.
As for the 3rd gen diesels, they'll go on forever as well.
squirrelking
Free Member
You do all realise that if it fails the MOT now then it’s game over? Unless Gnusmas has the cash for a new car or repairs now then it’s rather premature. The myth about the old one remaining valid is just that
I guess if it’s got structural corrosion that might see the rear end fall off, maybe for the best.
Saying that I drove a fair few miles in a car with structural gaffer tape on the sills, painted body colour.
Maybe just keep your eyes peeled for a known car that’s being sold, whilst getting a hopefully friendly garage to give it a pre mot inspection/opinion, try and keep the options open assuming the arse isn’t going to fall off it imminently.
****'s sake Alan, how many cars do we need to buy you? 😁
In that state and at that mileage I'd be moving it on, no question. Shove a 'for sale' sign in the window, some bugger will have it.
Do you actually need something the size of a canal barge any more? I had a mk4 Mondeo for a while which is the one after yours, the hatchback was roomy enough and you could've got Switzerland into the boot of the estate variant. A co-worker ordered the estate as (on point here) a bike carrier and eventually kicked it back because it was just too big. I had a scamper in it, I've driven smaller vans.
Do you have time to look for a decent value replacement whilst hanging onto this one? They are out there if you go for something less trendy or popular. Think old lady stuff.
I’d look for corrosion elsewhere. Ford are amazeballs at making outer skin paint look great, hiding more serious nastiness below. Inner cills would be top of my list. Any chance it can have a “preMOT, MOT”, so it can go through all the checks unofficially?
As above, used values are still massively overinflated. Tough call. If you can get the parts and nothing else is wrong, it might be worth it. How’s about sourcing from elsewhere. Germany & France don’t use as much rock salt on their roads so things like subframes last longer. Spanish or Italian ebay?
However I’d take it for MOT now, and see if the only fail is the rear subframe, if you have a garage you trust.
If that’s the only failure then it’s £1200 for a years motoring in something you at least know and will still have a £250 scrap value in 12 months time.
Get a "pre-MOT" done, otherwise if it fails, it's an MOT fail.
I like keeping old vehicles going and I've spent £1k on my 16-year-old van this year, but I think I'd let that one go.
With those miles I'd probably bin it.
But I presume you've checked Autodoc and Eurocarparts to see if there's a pattern version available?
The issue is the over-inflated parts issue due to supply. I'm driving a 22 year old Nissan Primers I've had since it was 10 months old, but the problem areas of the sub frames on any car have always been rustproofed by me (on wife's car too).
Is it worth filling in a scrap yard on-line form which is then sent to scrappers to see if you get one at a reasonable price ?