MOT Failure. Arse.

fretmeister

My car just died.

It was an old Y plate Focus and up until now it has been brilliant. 
Repair costs would be about 3 times the price of the car.

We had only just replaced our other car for similar reasons. So unlucky for both to fail in the same 6 month period. No pennies left in the car replacement fund.

It's going to be a real pain in the arse to only have 1 car. Anyone got a sub £500 beater with a full MOT on it they are selling?

slacker

I've run cheap cars from MOT to MOT for years, scrapped the last 5 for 30 quid a pop. I spent 1500 on my Golf 3 yrs ago as cheap cars are getting rarer. I'm running it to the MOT in June and it's bye bye I'm going on the company scheme, pay a set fee and new car for the win.

Can you a) repair the car yourself? b) get a work from home mechanic to do it for mates rates? c) use the one car for 6 months and save up?

Col_Decker

I love MOT failures and I was lucky enough to have one this month too. I was so happy to see that £250 I'd been planning to spend on an acoustic go on repairs.

ThePrettyDamned

fretmeister said:

My car just died.

It was an old Y plate Focus and up until now it has been brilliant. 
Repair costs would be about 3 times the price of the car.

We had only just replaced our other car for similar reasons. So unlucky for both to fail in the same 6 month period. No pennies left in the car replacement fund.

It's going to be a real pain in the arse to only have 1 car. Anyone got a sub £500 beater with a full MOT on it they are selling?

That's unlucky. 

I recently sold a Ford puma - high miles, but plenty of mot on it (9 or 10 months iirc) and a very reliable runner. Got three boss pedals for it - initially put it up for £500 but no one bit. 

So bargains can be had. Best of luck, it's a right arse when this stuff happens. 

xSkarloey

ThePrettyDamned said:

fretmeister said:

My car just died.

It was an old Y plate Focus and up until now it has been brilliant. 
Repair costs would be about 3 times the price of the car.

We had only just replaced our other car for similar reasons. So unlucky for both to fail in the same 6 month period. No pennies left in the car replacement fund.

It's going to be a real pain in the arse to only have 1 car. Anyone got a sub £500 beater with a full MOT on it they are selling?

That's unlucky. 

I recently sold a Ford puma - high miles, but plenty of mot on it (9 or 10 months iirc) and a very reliable runner. Got three boss pedals for it - initially put it up for £500 but no one bit. 

So bargains can be had. Best of luck, it's a right arse when this stuff happens. 

@ThePrettyDamned 3 Boss pedals eh? At least reliability with them is good. How many notes do you get per gallon? 

ThePrettyDamned

Skarloey said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

fretmeister said:

My car just died.

It was an old Y plate Focus and up until now it has been brilliant. 
Repair costs would be about 3 times the price of the car.

We had only just replaced our other car for similar reasons. So unlucky for both to fail in the same 6 month period. No pennies left in the car replacement fund.

It's going to be a real pain in the arse to only have 1 car. Anyone got a sub £500 beater with a full MOT on it they are selling?

That's unlucky. 

I recently sold a Ford puma - high miles, but plenty of mot on it (9 or 10 months iirc) and a very reliable runner. Got three boss pedals for it - initially put it up for £500 but no one bit. 

So bargains can be had. Best of luck, it's a right arse when this stuff happens. 

@ThePrettyDamned 3 Boss pedals eh? At least reliability with them is good. How many notes do you get per gallon? 

Well one if a dd2 so, set right, infinite. 

Bygone_Tones

fretmeister said:

My car just died.

It was an old Y plate Focus and up until now it has been brilliant. 
Repair costs would be about 3 times the price of the car.

We had only just replaced our other car for similar reasons. So unlucky for both to fail in the same 6 month period. No pennies left in the car replacement fund.

It's going to be a real pain in the arse to only have 1 car. Anyone got a sub £500 beater with a full MOT on it they are selling?

Same car and year I've got. What has it actually failed on?

My needed some costly repairs a couple of years ago, and I managed to get it done pretty cheaply. It needed a new deisel pump. The key is to shop around for parts, and check with scrap dealers etc. Ask around at different garages and dont take the first price quoted. Check ebay for the parts needed etc.

It might be worth trying other garages for an MOT too. Some are not very thorough and will pass it.

roundthebend

I thought solicitors/lawyers (whatever you do) would have reasonably new and posh looking cars. Maybe you're like Saul Goodman in his early days, all you need to do is find the right niche of criminal and you could be sorted.

Aside from that, it's bad news buddy and you have my sympathies. We bought an S reg VW van this year which has cost us some money in renovations thus far, and it is due an MOT in January which I can't imagine I'll get away with lightly. I know it needs a new exhaust so I'm scraping around for £300 to put a stainless steel one on.

marantz1300

Buy a second hand Landcruiser.

they are good for 400,000+  miles.

Mines 20 years old with 200,000 on it and starts every time.

speshul91

Discovered mine needs some welding the other day. 

Emp_Fab

I withdraw all of my previous ribbings about your hourly rate.  You clearly need to charge more.  A lawyer in a Y-reg Focus ???  WTF is going on ?  Have you got a serious coke habit or something ?

fretmeister

Emp_Fab said:

I withdraw all of my previous ribbings about your hourly rate.  You clearly need to charge more.  A lawyer in a Y-reg Focus ???  WTF is going on ?  Have you got a serious coke habit or something ?

You know all that crap in the newspapers about fat cat lawyers? That applies to the partners in about a dozen city firms.

No relation to high street practice whatsoever.

The comparison is about as valid as comparing Price Waterhouse Cooper to John Smith & Sons Accountant, 1 the High Street, Skegness.

Or Norman Foster to the local architect who "designed" a garage extension.

mgaw

get an old rover......a few kicking around normally owned by an older person who cherished it..deeply uncool car, perfect for the skint motorist, i got one a while back for £225 ran beautifully for a year, failed its mot so i scrapped it for £150...

PolarityMan

i dont get my arse MOT'ed. Is it a requirement?

ESBlonde

marantz1300 said:

Buy a second hand Landcruiser.

they are good for 400,000+  miles.

Mines 20 years old with 200,000 on it and starts every time.

Thats fine unless you do any appreciable mileage. Putting £85 a week in the tank negates the benefits of service savings. That said I ran a Shogun into the ground and had few troubles for the most part.

57Deluxe

PolarityMan said:

i dont get my arse MOT'ed. Is it a requirement?

yes when over 50

ourmaninthenorth

fretmeister said:

My car just died.

It was an old Y plate Focus and up until now it has been brilliant. 
Repair costs would be about 3 times the price of the car.

We had only just replaced our other car for similar reasons. So unlucky for both to fail in the same 6 month period. No pennies left in the car replacement fund.

It's going to be a real pain in the arse to only have 1 car. Anyone got a sub £500 beater with a full MOT on it they are selling?

Summat like a Polo would do you? They're readily available at this money.