Option part ex or scrap

AnastieByte

AnastieByte

AnastieByte

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Joined
7 Mar 2005
Posts
1,596
Location
Northumberland
I’m back again! In brief my 25 year old son decided to be an independent soul and go out and buy a used car without any advice from anyone. The car he bought from a “friend” was an 18 year old Saab convertible. He paid £700. It was serviced independently every two years (should have been annually) had 104,000 miles on it and two months MOT!

Today he put it into a local garage for a pre mot and full service only to be told the turbo was knackered, it needed new brakes and disks all round, 4 brake pipes needed replacing and the rear shocks had gone!

They said it’s not worth getting the work done and to get rid or scrap.

My sons gutted and now asking for help. He can only afford £5000 on another car but doesn’t know whether to try to part x it or scrap it. Would a garage take it in this state in part ex? How much could he get scrapping it?

Advice appreciated
 
Why not just fix the Saab if he likes it? Whilst the work isn’t going to be cheap, it’ll be less than the £5k he might end up spending on a replacement. A reconditioned turbo is what £200-300? Brakes are a consumable anyway, so might need doing on the replacement car soon anyway. Shocks (and other suspension components) also fail with age, so the same is true there also, it’s hardly a huge outlay.
 
Estimate from garage is £1200 to fix. Concern is more could go wrong. Interesting your both saying fix it. Something I’ll discuss with him.
 
Yep, if he likes it paying to repair might not be a bad option. In most cases the chepeast car is the one you already own. Even if the repair bill came too £1500 he would have paid £2200 for a car, and come away knowing everything is sorted.

There will be plenty of "better" £2200 normal cars on the market that could easily throw the same kind of bills at you should they need similiar consumables as well.

**EDIT**

Just seen your reply and it sort of proves my point. What could he buy for £1900 that potentially wouldn't have these issues? Paying £5000 to avoid spending £1200 doesnt make sense in my mind.
 
Exact model?

Brake lines are a pita but the rest can be done by the side of the road with basic tools over a couple of weekends for a few hundred all in.

Rust is always the real killer when you get to this age/price point, if its otherwise tidy and he likes it I would do it up.
 
Thanks for the replies. He’s bought another car. Now needs to decide what to do with the Saab. It’s a Saab 9-3 convertible for those that asked.
 
AnastieByte said:
Thanks for the replies. He’s bought another car. Now needs to decide what to do with the Saab. It’s a Saab 9-3 convertible for those that asked.
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Put it on Ebay or Facebook marketplace at a low price, hopefully a dentist will see it and buy it.
 
Vanquish-Storm said:
Sounds like he is just doing what he wants so let him work out what to do with it. I don't think I decision he has made here had been a bad one as such.
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Ive put it to him to sell as spares or repair rather than scrap it. Its done about 105000 miles, serviced by specialists every two years and bodywork is very good for an 18 year old car.
 
Take it to a different garage, preferable one that just does tests not repairs and get a proper MOT done. For the sake of £40 or so it's worth a gamble, you never know it may pass. In my experience having a car "pre-mot'd" is licence for whoever does it to drum up some business.
 
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