Car failed MOT - Advice please

PixelChef

PixelChef

PixelChef

Soldato
Joined
8 Oct 2007
Posts
2,844
Hi all,

My current car is a Ford KA 1999 reg. It had its MOT test the other day, and failed. It failed on; Offside headlamp, Brake hose, and here's the big one; Corrosion.

The garage that did the MOT test did not do welding, so I took it to another garage and got a quote for the welding, they said £288. The total cost to get it through the MOT including the re-test would be £379.49.

It's quite a lot of money considering my car is probably only worth about £500, but I would not really mind paying that much to get it through the MOT, IF it was a one off.

My concern is that since the body of the car has started rusting, by the time the next MOT test comes up there would probably need to be more welding done, and it's not worth paying £400 to get it through every MOT.

So what I'm asking is, what do you think I should do?

If it's not worth getting it through the MOT (which is what it's looking like) what would you do? I don't think anyone will want to buy the car to use, but maybe it could be sold for spares?
 
Last edited:
Its a bit steep,especially them charging for a re-test.

That said though, to change the car would no doubt cost you more, and you have no guarantee that the replacement - assuming its a cheap run about -would be any better or not considerably worse.

Put it like this, without an MOT and with the issues, its worth scrap value.

With an MOT it has some value, £500 ish perhaps as you say.

Better the devil you know & all that....
 
Impossible to say as corrosion may require a quick 1 hour patch up or a pair of new sills at several hours labour per side.

But to be fair the list does look like a fair bit of welding and the older Ka's do rot so the price may be about right.

que posters telling you to buy a welder and the parts yourself for £3 off ebay and do all the welding on your drive as its a 5 minute job.
 
Thats a ebay job!

I wouldnt waste any money on repairing it, if its got any tax left, cash it in and put the car on ebay as spares or repairs, you might be lucky and get £300 for it.

But if you are hard up for cash and dont have the money to change the car then spend the money if the rest of the car is ok.
 
Thanks for the advice, at the moment I'm thinking I will probably sell it for spares or scrap it.

dalin80 said:
Impossible to say as corrosion may require a quick 1 hour patch up or a pair of new sills at several hours labour per side.

But to be fair the list does look like a fair bit of welding and the older Ka's do rot so the price may be about right.

que posters telling you to buy a welder and the parts yourself for £3 off ebay and do all the welding on your drive as its a 5 minute job.
Click to expand...

Yeah they told me it would be 4 hours labor hence the steep price.
 
How can you say its worth £500 ? Its worth its scrap value right now. You choice is pay the 380 or whatever to get it working again and you have a car for a year. Or pay at least that on another car that may or may not need work doing to it next mot time. Its usually always cheaper to keep the car you have.
 
Depends if you can find a similar car with 12 months MOT for the value you'll pay for the repairs + scrap costs.
 
in all fairness £380 is not bad for a MOT. i bet theres people on here would pay more than that for a pair of back tyres :)


as previously said if your current car is otherwise ok and your happy with it then i'd spend the money and run it for another 12 months.

as it sits the now your car is worth the grand sum of hee haw. what you need to work out is 2 things


1- are you quite happy to keep the car for another 12 months ie is it otherswise ok for you?

2- can you replace your current car with a good example with a years MOT for less than £390 plus the £100-150 you'd get for your current KA


overall its a not too hefty bill if the car is otherwise ok might be worth getting the garage thats doing the welding to do the other bits and pieces as they have the car in anyway and i'm sure they wont charge you that much more to fit a brake hose and bleed it up and change a bulb(can do this yourself) realistically you could have it back on the road for £350 alternatively shop around for another quote on the work where are you based? maybe someone on here can recommend someone handy with a welder?

in all fairness if you put it through this MOT you can recoup your money selling the car or can enjoy it for another 12 months then reevaluate your position. Without sounding like a git you should count yourself lucky its not a ridiculous amount in the grand scheme of things as i said previously theres guys on here that would spend that on a pair of tyres. christ I was £750 for my last service and maintenance standdown on the blue vectra and over a grand on the silver sri
 
Not worth the cost, it's 13 years old,scrap it.

With corrosion around suspension mountings listed as 'Dangerous', for one of them, I would just ebay it.
 
Last edited:
CaptainRAVE said:
Lol, depends on how well it is done. I think my car is anyway.
Click to expand...

By 'how well it is done' do you mean if it's fully stripped back to bare metal and then treated properly?

Why would anyone do this every two years? You'd have to either have a lot of time or a lot of money.

Simple painting underseal everywhere isn't going to achieve much. You just won't see it rusting underneath as it'll get covered up with the new spray.
 
sigma said:
By 'how well it is done' do you mean if it's fully stripped back to bare metal and then treated properly?

Why would anyone do this every two years? You'd have to either have a lot of time or a lot of money.

Simple painting underseal everywhere isn't going to achieve much. You just won't see it rusting underneath as it'll get covered up with the new spray.
Click to expand...



problem is a lot of car corrosion is from the inside out.
 
Nightglow said:
Not worth the cost, it's 13 years old,scrap it.

With corrosion around suspension mountings listed as 'Dangerous', for one of them, I would just ebay it.
Click to expand...

If he can't get another cheap motor with 12 months mot and can't afford to put extra cash for something less cheap then it IS worth it though. Another years cheap motoring for less than a bus pass

I'd be looking at other quotes for rust repair and I'd be looking under it to see what the rest of the cars like .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom