To sell or to scrap

Lestratcaster

On my way to a gig last night in Brighton my gearbox went in my VW Polo 2000. I'm amazed how I made it from Junction 11 on the M25 all the way to near Brighton Pier!! The whining noise started back at junction 11 and I struggled to get over 60 mph without it over revving. I just about got by on 50mph to play the show. But it got really hard to change gears at one point the gear stick came off!! Shifting into 1st/2nd or any gear almost never happened and obvs if you're in gear you can't shift.

Now I've put a lot into the motor, new cambelt, clutch, alternator, wheel bearings and power steering pump have all been fitted since 2015 when I bought it, it passed its MOT in April with no advisories and has just been serviced. Its done 135,000 miles and does pretty well on motorways. Its a 1.9 SDI.

I spoke to my mechanic who's reliable and honest and won't fuck me about with ripping me off. He said a new gearbox would be around the £500 ball park alone for the part, then to fit it would take it near a grand. So I'm resigned to cutting my losses.

But with all the work done and still in half decent condition could I possibly still sell it? Or just scrap the thing and see how much I get?

boogieman

It's not worth putting a grand into a car that's worth about half that, at a guess. You can't really say the parts that have gone into it are worth what you paid out either: there's no market for second hand bearings and cam belts. 

You could try advertising it as spares or repair I guess, but who'd buy an old car that needs at least a £500 gearbox to make it a goer?

Scrap it. 

revsorg

The worst car I ever owned was a Renault 21 saloon - terrible in every respect.  We got it when we had our first baby and couldn't afford anything else.  The gearbox went and the cost of fixing it was more than the value of the car so we sold it as scrap.  The weird thing was that the guy who bought it drove it away when I thought the gearbox was literally seized up.  It made a terrible noise as it went down the road.  I think my parents-in-law gave us their 10 year-old car and bought themselves a new one when they realised how desperate our situation was.  A few years later I bought an Audi A4 estate from a friend and eventually the cam belt blew, destroying the engine.  Similarly the cost of repair was about double the value of the car.  One part of the equation is that you know the history of your car.  You might feel you're pumping more good many after bad by repairing your car, but at least you know that it will work properly after you fix it.  If you buy a crummy car it's possible it will break down because the previous owner didn't maintain it.   I don't know if any of this helps, except to say I'm sympathetic to your plight.

boogieman

I've been in the same position. You spend money on repairing an old car and then something else will go wrong. Then you're in a quandary: Do you repair that problem as well or just get rid? I learnt a hard lesson eventually and saved as hard as I could to buy something newer and more reliable. 

Lestratcaster

Yes I've thought about that, there's no guarantee a newer car won't give me more problems down the line. At least I know if I did get the gearbox fixed most of the mechanical aspects would be alright, til the next thing goes!

ronnyb

The VW 1.9 Sdi engine, though a bit underpowered because it's non turbo will go on for huge mileages but the gearbox it was attached to was known to be a bit weak. A grand to fit a recon unit seems a bit steep to me though.  

Lestratcaster

ronnyb said:

The VW 1.9 Sdi engine, though a bit underpowered because it's non turbo will go on for huge mileages but the gearbox it was attached to was known to be a bit weak. A grand to fit a recon unit seems a bit steep to me though.  

The bloke from the RAC that towed me back said VW gearboxes were known to be a bit shit! I think the clutch might need doing too which is linked with the cost so I don't think its a grand alone for just gearbox.

DiscoStu

You've got to weigh up your car's longevity for your investment bundled with the hassle of garages against buying something newer and more reliable (for now at least). I wouldn't repair it simply to sell it on.

I had an old Rover 220D which I bought from a work colleague. It had high miles on it but he was a car nut so had looked after it well. After a year or so I started having to replace/repair parts and it was in the garage a couple of times a year. Clutch, suspension, exhaust, bearings, brakes etc. I had to replace the fuel tank at one point which cost hundreds. The way I looked at it was that it had had so many things fixed that it was kinda a new car again and it should last a few more years and save me buying another car from someone I didn't know which may need just as many repairs in the near future.

It broke down again (coughing and spluttering) and I had a mechanic mate look at it. He estimated another £500 to fix it but it would need more to get through its next MOT, so I sold it on for £800. I heard later that the couple who bought it had fixed it then driven it to Italy and back!

I don't think I'd run a doer-upper again. My last car (9yr old Focus with 105k) started getting troublesome so I traded it in against a new car and got more for it than if I'd tried to sell it privately and I've enjoyed every mile I've driven since. 

Danny1969

Don't scrap it, metal is at a low price you won't get much if you scrap it.

Put it on Ebay with an honest ad starting at £200..... it will probably make £300 ish as someone will buy it to break for spares. 

stimpsonslostson

The entire braking system on my 20year old honda needed replacing recently. The cost of the repairs would have been twice the value of the car.
We ended up selling it to "we buy any car" for a princely £150, which was OK as you could buy a decent example of the same car for £250 on gumtree with 6 months MOT etc.

It was quick and simple to do although we obviously didn't get much for it.

We now don't have a car, my love of cycling everywhere, a work discount on the CityCarClub and living in a city with good public transport means that we trying going without. 
Even without the repairs we were spending £400 insurance, £200 tax, £150 for parking permit, £100 service and MOT on a car we only ever did 3000miles a year in.

chillidoggy

Break it for parts, and flog them on eBay. True, the neighbours might get a bit narked at the junky mess outside, but you'll definitely get dosh for it than taking to a scrappie.

ESBlonde

A 17 year old car? I'm struggling to think of a reason to invest that much in it at this stage.
You can probably get £200 max from a scrappy or private sale, maybe £500 and a mess to dispose of if you break it and sell it yourself. I'd put the money into another car that is direct from the famed one careful lady owner and try your luck there. When a car reached the end of the road it's no use pushing it. Unless you have the facilities and skills required then move it on.

Sporky

You could see if the local fire station wants it - they light 'em up and then put 'em out. They might even collect it and let you watch.

Fretwired

I wouldn't rule out repairing it. It will cost you £1K but you'll spend far more on another car. If it packs up in the next 6 months you could sell the gearbox on its own and the rest as scrap. Anything is a risk, unless you're going to buy a new car with a warranty.

BRISTOL86

I can't see any scenario where paying £1000 to fix a car worth £250 is a good idea. 

impmann

The engine in that is worth $$$ to VW Type 25 enthusiasts - they shove them in the back of campers to make them go properly and do more than 7mpg.

Plus... a gearbox for that car will cost you about £250 from a scrap yard and fitting is not a *huge* job... certainly not £500 labour (in fact, I would expect just over half that ).

Tbh, if you bought a replacement car, you'll be buying someone else's problem (nobody sells a perfect car) and so you'll need to spend money sorting it out (service, cambelt, brake overhaul etc). Frankly, they're great little cars and better made than 90% of the shite made at the moment so I'd get it fixed.

So no, don't scrap it.

Lestratcaster

impmann said:

The engine in that is worth $$$ to VW Type 25 enthusiasts - they shove them in the back of campers to make them go properly and do more than 7mpg.

Plus... a gearbox for that car will cost you about £250 from a scrap yard and fitting is not a *huge* job... certainly not £500 labour (in fact, I would expect just over half that ).

Tbh, if you bought a replacement car, you'll be buying someone else's problem (nobody sells a perfect car) and so you'll need to spend money sorting it out (service, cambelt, brake overhaul etc). Frankly, they're great little cars and better made than 90% of the shite made at the moment so I'd get it fixed.

So no, don't scrap it.

I don't know anyone who knows how to fit a 2nd hand gearbox and my mechanic won't be buying a 2nd hand one, he has a 4 year warranty on all parts. He's already advised me to get rid. Can't really be doing with paying £300 odd a month for the next thing to go wrong.

impmann

Lestratcaster said:

impmann said:

The engine in that is worth $$$ to VW Type 25 enthusiasts - they shove them in the back of campers to make them go properly and do more than 7mpg.

Plus... a gearbox for that car will cost you about £250 from a scrap yard and fitting is not a *huge* job... certainly not £500 labour (in fact, I would expect just over half that ).

Tbh, if you bought a replacement car, you'll be buying someone else's problem (nobody sells a perfect car) and so you'll need to spend money sorting it out (service, cambelt, brake overhaul etc). Frankly, they're great little cars and better made than 90% of the shite made at the moment so I'd get it fixed.

So no, don't scrap it.

I don't know anyone who knows how to fit a 2nd hand gearbox and my mechanic won't be buying a 2nd hand one, he has a 4 year warranty on all parts. He's already advised me to get rid. Can't really be doing with paying £300 odd a month for the next thing to go wrong.

<sighs>

OK, so you'll buy a secondhand gearbox inside a secondhand car but won't trust a secondhand part?

If your garage won't do it, I'm sure you can find someone who will. Fitting a gearbox is bread and butter stuff for a mechanic and on a Polo its not rocket science to do yourself - its like big meccanno.

Most *good* secondhand parts dealers offer a warranty on the parts supplied.

Lestratcaster

Who said there was a second hand gear box in the car?

As I mentioned before, what's the next thing that will go?

impmann

impmann said:

Lestratcaster said:

impmann said:

The engine in that is worth $$$ to VW Type 25 enthusiasts - they shove them in the back of campers to make them go properly and do more than 7mpg.

Plus... a gearbox for that car will cost you about £250 from a scrap yard and fitting is not a *huge* job... certainly not £500 labour (in fact, I would expect just over half that ).

Tbh, if you bought a replacement car, you'll be buying someone else's problem (nobody sells a perfect car) and so you'll need to spend money sorting it out (service, cambelt, brake overhaul etc). Frankly, they're great little cars and better made than 90% of the shite made at the moment so I'd get it fixed.

So no, don't scrap it.

I don't know anyone who knows how to fit a 2nd hand gearbox and my mechanic won't be buying a 2nd hand one, he has a 4 year warranty on all parts. He's already advised me to get rid. Can't really be doing with paying £300 odd a month for the next thing to go wrong.

<sighs>

OK, so you'll buy a secondhand gearbox inside a secondhand car but won't trust a secondhand part?

If your garage won't do it, I'm sure you can find someone who will. Fitting a gearbox is bread and butter stuff for a mechanic and on a Polo its not rocket science to do yourself - its like big meccanno.

Most *good* secondhand parts dealers offer a warranty on the parts supplied.

Example:

http://www.stevensvwspares.com/vw-polo-manual-gearbox/eku-1-9-tdi-5-speed-manual-diesel-gearbox

impmann

Lestratcaster said:

Who said there was a second hand gear box in the car?

As I mentioned before, what's the next thing that will go?

If you buy a secondhand car then obviously the gearbox is secondhand... thats my point.

Next thing to go wrong - well, VWs of this period suffer from electronic gremlins (wiring looms in the doors mainly) but the engine is bulletproof. Its a derivation of the engine that we had in our Golf Estate and that trouped on to 230k. The only reason we sold it was because the body was knackered and the guy who's bought it is now restoring that so no doubt that will go up.

If I was putting a gearbox in it, I'd put a clutch in it at the same time - approx cost around £85-100 for the part. The labour will be minutes as the gearbox has had to come out anyway.

With that done, you have a car that potentially has another 100K in it at least - what are you going to be able to buy for the same investment if you buy a replacement car?

Seriously... your garage is overcharging you.