Man of Honour
There are also plenty of groups on FB where you can find someone who will punt you an MOT while the car sits 500 miles away.
Having an MOT on the system doesn't mean it's not dangerously ****ed.
Amazing what you can buy for sub £500 these days.
- Thread starter Donjon
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There are also plenty of groups on FB where you can find someone who will punt you an MOT while the car sits 500 miles away.
Having an MOT on the system doesn't mean it's not dangerously ****ed.
Soldato
Watch out for the injectors on Mondeo diesels of that era. They'll cost you easily twice what you paid for the car to fix.
Is it I'll check it out. I'd love an old mid 90's 4.0 Jeep Cherokee love the classic square look of them with big comfy leather seats to just waft down the motorway in through the winter but they are 1k-1.5k which is not quite throwaway money and knowing my luck it would break in spectacular fashionalthough there's plenty of guys on the PH bangernomics thread that have plenty of successful buys
From a mechanical POV, these are pretty bombproof, you occasionally have issues with the crank sensor (Which is a right bugger to replace) but other than that they just go and go!
(Remember, the USA is the sort of country where a mechanical breakdown might actually Kill you, so they are engineered to be reliable)
However, they do rust! So if you do go for one, have a good check underneath.
Heh, dangerous ground there. You can get jailed for MOT fraud.
Soldato
I bought one for £180 with 202k on the clock, scrapped it two months later with just under 205k on the clock and got £54 back. Bangernomics 101.... mondeo is good for it!
Soldato
Surely this is more of a 'fix immediately' problem than a 'wait until the MOT tells me there is a problem' problem?!? Is a car even driveable with a broken spring!
Soldato
Loads of people drive around with a broken spring without even realising. In fairness, it's normally only a small 3-5cm section at the bottom of the spring which sits in the spring pad which normally corrodes and cracks meaning that, for the most part, the spring still does it's job.
Obviously it's not ideal at all, but it doesn't make a car a death trap.
Soldato
Having had a look at the list of advisories for the Mondeo - they aren't that bad at all?
Lights, tyre tread, numberplate, twisted brake hose, slightly binding caliper, slight corrosion to suspension parts (OMG DEATHTRAP!!!!11) and a couple of other things. 70% of the advisories would be a keen DIYers idea of a nice Sunday afternoon! Most of the advisories weren't even officially tested things - the MOT tester was a bit keen and listed every fault he detected with the car. Can't fault him for that, but many testers would just stick to what is officially reportable.
Lights, tyre tread, numberplate, twisted brake hose, slightly binding caliper, slight corrosion to suspension parts (OMG DEATHTRAP!!!!11) and a couple of other things. 70% of the advisories would be a keen DIYers idea of a nice Sunday afternoon! Most of the advisories weren't even officially tested things - the MOT tester was a bit keen and listed every fault he detected with the car. Can't fault him for that, but many testers would just stick to what is officially reportable.
Soldato
Broke a spring on my Mondeo was unnoticeable in normal driving!
Soldato
Surely it depends where on the spring it has broken, if you've lost a couple of inches of coil at one end you may not notice it much if at all, if it's broken in half, however....
I've drove nearly 300 miles with a broken spring.
Is it I'll check it out. I'd love an old mid 90's 4.0 Jeep Cherokee love the classic square look of them with big comfy leather seats to just waft down the motorway in through the winter but they are 1k-1.5k which is not quite throwaway money and knowing my luck it would break in spectacular fashion
I did this. Got one for <£500 off ebay, ran it for two years with nothing but oil and filter changes and then sold it on the bay to a guy who flew over from Germany to drive it home, paying 50% more than I paid for it.
Soldato
You check the MOT history?
I just did
https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/
Also if you look, the same ARB failure has come up (Aug15 and Jul16) suggesting it isn't actually getting fixed.
edit:
On a separate note I think they should give the MOT Test Centre Number on the website as well which would help.
They used to give the MOT Test Centre details on the old Direct.gov site where you also had to put logbook ref in to get the MOT history. Shame they don't since it went fully public.
Soldato
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Yeah but hese days, going to work by Space Shuttle is less money than a good night out in London!!
That's the thing, though - How long it remains a running car, even with proper maintenance. MoTs only cover so much... as I keep reminding far too many family members.It's insane you can get a running car for the price of a service or a couple of tyres. I'm so tempted to buy one and see how long it lasts
A lot depends on the car and its history.
We just bought one for £2k that would have cost at least £3.5k, possibly £4.5k at most dealers. We just lucked out on finding some guys who are more enthusiasts than dealers, so we got a good deal on a great car in great condition, with a very enjoyable and accommodating sales experience to boot!
Again, depends on the car.
The one I'm looking at is worth absolutely naff-all past 130,000 miles... but at 200,000 miles the value starts to climb steeply, as all the common-failure parts will almost certainly have failed and been replaced by then, so it tends to run bang on again.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Said nobody ever. Seriously.
Whilst there might be merit in your claim that 'oh its all been replaced, the value of a car falls with mileage, it does not increase. Nobody is looking at 200,000 mile cars and thinking 'wow, in general these are worth more than the average 130k mile one!'.
It's rubbish.
I have a 200,000 mile car and I am under no illusions that it has zero value as a result.
Soldato
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Head on over to the Golf owners forum then and tell all of them that.[TW]Fox;30171202 said:
Seriously.
Then go round some of the dealers and private sellers and inform them. Seriously.
Who knows, you might even do me a favour and bring the price down on the one I want!
The book price does not... but the value does and people *are* getting better money for those.[TW]Fox;30171202 said:
Did I say "in general"?[TW]Fox;30171202 said:
Or did I say, "depends on the car"?
Or are you seriously going to tell me a car with 40k that needs £2,000 worth of parts and work doing is worth more than an 80k one that's had all that done and is in top working order?
Are you seriously going to tell me that "nobody ever" uses those very points to haggle the price down?
Seriously?
ttaskmaster - I think you are confusing two things here. Mileage increases do not increase the value of a vehicle.
What does increase the value of old or specialist cars, is an excellent history with documented replacement parts and common failure points being addressed.
The mileage isnt the cause for these value uplifts.
What does increase the value of old or specialist cars, is an excellent history with documented replacement parts and common failure points being addressed.
The mileage isnt the cause for these value uplifts.
Can you not see that you are making two completely different points and confusing them as one?
The 40k car is less desirable than the 80k car because it needs a huge pile of work doing, not because it has 40k and the other one has 80k. If neither needs the work doing, the 40k car is more valuable. If both need the work doing, the 40k car is more valuable.
It is simply wrong to imply that the average 200k mile Car X is worth more than the average 130k mile Car X, all things being equal. If nothing else demand drops off a cliff because rightly or wrongly the vast majority of car buyers run a mile, screaming, when they see 200,000 miles.
A car thats just had a pile of work done is worth more than one that hasn't. But the mileage isn't the reason.