F*** cars. Really

[gargravarr]

I've had enough of cars, to the point where I've considered cutting my losses and giving up with driving.

Last year, in September, my precious mk4 Fiesta was written off after being rear-ended by some careless twat driving a company Astra (which annoyingly received only superficial damage). The insurance companies dragged their feet for three weeks while I drove a horrible Astra diesel (the same model as the one that hit my car!), and with the money from the write-off I bought Wildcat in October.

Next, around November, my mum's Hilux Surf suffers a valve collision, killing it. I haven't been able to strip the head back, but it's possible I messed up when replacing the timing belt or water pump, as I did both tasks myself a few months before.

My mum moved out to France and bought a British-registered 90s Nissan Terrano II. After being driven for a WEEK, the immobiliser committed suicide and locked everyone out of the car. No-one wants to know or fix it, spare parts are impossible to find as a set and the existing ECU cannot be repaired. I spent two months trying to fix it, going in circles.

Needing a car, my mum then bought a Mitsubishi L200 pickup. Me, my mum and my stepdad carefully inspected it and signed off on it. 140 miles down the motorway the engine shat itself. Possibly a snapped camshaft. Another dead car. This one, on good faith from the dealer, is having a refurbished engine fitted. I'm not holding out much hope this one won't break.

Taking a holiday in France to recover from stress surrounding my job, which I had to give up in January, I replaced Wildcat's front driver's wheel bearing, ABS sensor and track rod end. While having the tracking done, a French mechanic pointed out my rear subframe bushes were dangerously degraded. I got the car back to the UK in time for the tax, MOT and insurance to all expire at once. My gran offered to help me get it back on the road by having the bushes replaced (a £200 job). Before this job was done, the garage checked the car over and phoned me to say it was not worth even starting the job, because:
-Corrosion all over the body; door sills, driver's floor pan
-Rear brake lines and front discs corroded
-Front driver's coil spring snapped entirely

Wildcat has become a money pit. I bought it for £995. Soon after, I got a bill for £900 to do the cambelt/aux belt/water pump/clutch/both rear shock absorbers. I have had it SIX MONTHS and it's undriveable now, at least not without a LOT of money spending on it.

I live among the North Downs in Kent so there are a lot of hills around. Additionally, I live far away from everything, so I'm having to do long-distance cycling. I think if anything I'm going to take a page out of my old boss' book and buy cheap cars that I can run into the ground. A week ago I rolled Wildcat out of the garage and spent the whole day washing and polishing it. It seems to me there is no point putting any effort into a car. You just lose ridiculous amounts of money, and all the energy you spend is thrown back in your face.

Now going to look at buying a £400 diesel Fiesta. I might stand a chance of getting insured on one of those and if it breaks I'll just throw it away.

 

[PumaJay]

it doesnt sound like you've had much luck!

not all cars are bad but you seem to have bought most of the ones that are!

chin up.

 

[Ginger Tom]

Dude shit happens, life goes on. Your having a run of bad luck this will change.

Is your car still off the road?

 

[quest63]

Ive been having a bad run since 1963, not very helpful I know :-D

 

[gargravarr]

Ive been having a bad run since 1963, not very helpful I know :-D

I was about to respond to Tom saying my run of bad luck has lasted nearly 9 months. Thanks for completely nullifying my argument!

An update: I just ran a 1998 diesel Fiesta through Confused. Value: £400.

Insurance: £1,023.

Somehow, these insane insurers are convinced I am going to write off a normally-aspirated diesel Fiesta, a car with a 0-60 time measured in days, 2.5x in the first year.

The only good news I've had recently is that my father, who has moved abroad to the Middle East, is giving me his immaculate-condition Toyota Celica Supra Mk.II. Now, just for fun, I ran this through Confused. All I changed was the registration and the value; still as a daily-driver doing 10,000 miles a year. I am also 23 years old this month.

Insurance: £1,033.

So... just to be sure. It would cost me 2.5x the cost of a diesel run-around to insure it. It would also cost me one quarter the value of this 2.8-litre straight-six 170HP sports coupé (value £4,000) to insure.

I swear, insurance isn't science, or adheres to any known branch of maths. Someone just spins a big ol' Wheel o' Prices and quotes the first number it lands on!!!

Fiesta's a no-go, but I've been recommended to go with a late-90s Micra. Joy.

 

[quest63]

I found the same thing when I returned to driving after a long lay off (you lose your no claims after 3 years)

Whatever car I got quotes for whether some 900cc oddity a puma or a toyota celica or whatever give or take £50 the quotes were the same

 

[yippeekiay]

Yup, insurance is complete BS. My RX8 cost less to insure this year than my Puma did last....go figure ;p

Being very conservative it's at least 10 times the value and is 100+ BHP more, yet the insurance guru's reckon it and I are less of a risk :lol:

 

[Ginger Tom]

The less the value of the car the less likely you are to look after it is how they look at it. My bmw cost me 700 to insure this year and has a value of £14000

 

[The Arch Bishop]

Doesn't it also go on how often a particular model is stolen? I'm guessing that they don't have a lot of Celica Supra's stolen on their books where as a diesel Fiesta is easy to nick and comparatively common.

I went from a wheezy 1.6 Citroen (group 7 insurance or something) to a Subaru Forester Turbo (group 17) and saw a reduction in my insurance. Car values were the same.

I agree though, insurance costing is mental.

 

[oglind]

i've never understood how insurance is worked out, 2 years ago i had a quote for a jaguar x-type 2.2D and it came up at £1,500. i also got a quote for a 1.6L Vauxhall Astra which was £1,875 from the same company. Yet my car at the time, an Audi TT 1.8T modified from 225bhp to 310bhp came in at £1,195 again from the same company.

 

[quest63]

The price of plums.............bah :evil:

 

[gargravarr]

The less the value of the car the less likely you are to look after it is how they look at it. My bmw cost me 700 to insure this year and has a value of £14000

I think you hit the nail on the head here, Tom. I just ran a Nissan Micra through Confused. Their estimated value was around £900 (late-90s 1-litre model), and the quote was about £650. Putting in the price the dealer had up for the same car, £475, brought the quote UP by £100.

So, by this barmy logic, I think I'll try getting my hands on an Aston DB9. By all rights the insurers will be paying me to insure it!!

 

[quest63]

Dont just use confused try all the comparison sites and all the independants who dont use the comparison sites as well as high street independants.

I found different comparison sites were giving different prices for the same insurance company. Also try adding a female to your insurance as this may help. Also altering your job description within truthful bounderies might help.

Converrsely I found insurance savings when I devalued my car, I mean whats the point of insuring it for 1500 / 2k or whatever if all they would pay out if it was a right off was 900 so I insured for 900 and it saved a fair bit,

Also argue the toos with them for 30 mins and youll find theres a discretionary figure the phone agent can knock off.
I called my insurer rapists and got £30 knocked off

 

[tameracingdriver]

Hi Gargravar,

I'm a bit late to the discussion, but it's not just you who has bad luck, trust me, I am well known within my circle of friends and colleagues for having some of the most laughably bad luck ever with cars. I too have felt like giving up at times, but I'm still here, with my Puma which is (hopefully) a cheap stop gap car while I sort out whats left of £10K of debts which are, on the whole, all because of cars.

A lot of it is my stupidity too, but there has been a lot of bad luck too.

Lets start in 2005, with a Mk2 Golf GTI I bought, paid £950 for it, using money my dad gave me as a present; I had just moved out of of the parents house, and I needed a car, so in stepped my dad with the money.

The £950 Golf turned into a complete abortion of a car. A new fault would rear its head almost every trip, and because I was not at home, and on a relatively poor wage, it was a struggle. I ended up having to move back home (not because of the car) and so I gave up on it, got £400 on ebay for it, and gave my dad the money, as I felt bad for wasting the cash he gave me on a wreck.

I then decided I would get a loan for a newer car. I really wanted a DC2, but they were getting on a bit, and the insurance was a few hundred more than the Clio 182 I ended up getting instead. The Clio was not a good purchase. Never out of the dealership with various faults, and oddly, not exactly brilliant to drive either (didn't live up to the hype). So I sold it, losing £4K in depreciation along the way and bought the DC2 I really wanted in the first place.

The DC2 was a wonderful car, and I should never have sold it, but I *had* to experience some RWD machines. It also got vandalised on numerous occasions, which was annoying, and I was once threatened by a bunch of feral scum one night who said they were going to "give me the biggest kicking I've ever had" and they were going to take the car. Anyway, that was the excuse I needed for a change.

I then got a nice import MX5 (a Eunos RS Limited) for those that know. Again, none-stop issues until I'd spent over £1500 sorting out issues, only to feel I was bored with it (but looking back, it was more fun than most cars I've had). It was also very rare and exclusive model and I doubt I'll ever find one in that condition again

Got a nice BMW 328 Sport, kept for 6 months, got bored, swapped for an MR2 Turbo. What a total nail that car was. Lost £1200 in 3 months.

Next up was a Primera GT. I had it a month before it was written off in a relatively nasty rear-end collision.

Then I got another MX5, this lasted 3 months before failing its MOT - apparently pollyfiller isn't very structurally rigid, who'd have known?

Then I got a Clio 172, an earlier one. The car was meant to be a nice sporty hot hatch with sensible running costs. It cost me £2K in 3 months in repairs, and with no end in sight to the wallet raping, I gave up with it and sold it for what I bought it for.

Finally, I got a 350Z convertible. Bought it with my heart not head (much like the Clio 172), it was reliable, but I paid over the odds and lost £2,500 in 6 months in depreciation. High miles, low service history and high tax was the killer.

Now I'm in the Puma, with my wallet still reeling with the damage from the last few years. I really hope for at least a years trouble free motoring, but with my luck, I won't hold my breath.

Has it put me off cars? TBH yes it has, I'll always love sporty cars and driving, but now, when I find a reliable and entertaining car I'm going to stick with it.

Do I regret it? Well I've driven many of my childhood heroes and met lots of great people on the way, so no. But I would have done it very differently.

 

[gargravarr]

Well, that's another £435 spent. Wildcat's just passed an MOT, although I'm no closer to taxing or insuring it. Many thanks to my gran for insisting on paying for the repairs (I had practically no say in the repairs to my own car!).

Silly thing is, I keep finding insurance is cheaper for the Supra than for the Puma, so I'm not too keen to actually put any more money into the Puma. I don't need to make long journeys, so it may be more affordable to drive the Supra for a while (not to mention, I've always wanted to try that machine on the road!).

I'm still sick of cars. Buying new, they devalue every time you blink, but if you buy secondhand, it's such a minefield there is no way you won't lose a hell of a lot of money.

 

[ally frp]

If you own and car in this day and age is a complete luxury. The costs are absolutely maniac........
When you have a car you constantly have to maintain by putting money out here and there just to upkeep. Please get the idea that you can get cheap/free motoring out of your head as there is no such thing. If you have plenty money and can handle the depreciation then buy a new car very 3 years and generally you only have the inconvenience of going to the dealership if the car is breaking down etc and not personally financially draining. This is the only way you will not be paying out for repairs but you will be paying a large monthly payment.

Best idea is to become very handy with a spanner and buy a good base car like the Fiesta mk4/5 or Puma of course and renew all the consumables and wearable parts and you will have a 'Brand new' car that will have zero monthly payments , reliability and cheap running costs.

I would never buy from a forecourt as I don't earn enough to fund someone elses livelyhood on my personal choice in cars.

Doesn't really help you much but this is reality am afraid

 

[gargravarr]

I guess this deserves some closure.

My original plan with the Supra was to sell it - my dad specifically gave me permission to sell it to help get myself financially stable. However, after a lot of toying with insurance quotes and giving the Supra a little spin around the block, I decided to put it on the road. And wow, there goes my 'f*** cars' attitude!

I got the Supra insured under a very limited mileage policy (3k) with Adrian Flux. It weighed in at just under £900 with 4 years' no claims, but otherwise the policy is very generous and wide-reaching. Unfortunately it's not a classic policy as I can't get one until I'm 25, so I'm having to be very careful where I drive this car. Even so, it's worth it. With the glorious weather down south at the moment, it has been amazing to drive. Great-big fuel-injected straight-six under my right foot, manual, mid-sports exhaust, windows down, sunroof open - what driving should be!

I got a job locally a month ago, and am using the Supra to get to work. It's costing me a fair amount in petrol but again, it's worth the expense. I can get to work in 30 minutes on a good day, but with a car like that, I often think, what's the rush?

I know it's not a car I should be commuting in, and I'm going to put Wildcat back on the road now it's not likely to fall to bits. I've already done 2,000 of my 3,000 yearly miles, in a month! But at least the Supra has renewed my faith in cars. I'll try and keep Wildcat on the road, but I think this might be the last Ford I buy. Probably going to stick to Toyotas in future; if one of those can last 27 years with no serious mechianical issues, I'm sold

 

[rubinxwolf]

Im getting to feel like this. I have a 2002 thunder which likes to strip me of my savings. My insurance is over £100 a month which i hope will reduce seeing as im a 23 yo girl no claims, second car and have been driving 3-4years.. my mot and tax are due in august. Needs rust work doing, brake servo has broken, calipers had stuck on it so i went through two sets of new brake discs and pads trying to get it sorted (at numerous garages until tremona sorted it!) A local mechanic said my rocker gasket needed changing so had that done but it was fitted not quite right so all the oil leaked EVERYWHERE and nearly took my engine with it. A couple of tyres needed replacing so have had a set of uniroyal rainsport 2s put on as my pirelli p6000 made me aquaplane on wet roads :/

Seems one thing after another and its not like i got this car cheap to have lots to spend on it as it took me back £1150!!! I love my car but sometimes i regret ever getting rid of my sweet little ka which never put a foot wrong (just needed filling up with oil every 3-4 weeks :/

 

[alanH]

Hi gargravar

Look to the future, todays society is a lot different place to what was in the early 90s, Car did not cost much insurance was cheep etc, letting go of what you think you want can be really hard, at one point I had 4 cars on the drive all which needed something doing to them or insurance mot etc. the truth was through that although I though I was enjoyed repairing them and driving them I wasn't. I finally sat down and discussed the whole situation formulate a plan and stuck to it. I got shut of,every thing me and the misses saved hard just when I wasn't expecting it we went and picked up a series 1 puma. Possibly the best car that we have owned and I dident let go of it until, last year. I Think what I am trying to tell you is look around have a plan and stick to it you can make your own luck. Consolidated your cars and get one car that will do everything you want. Don't spend loads of money trying to make the car into something it will never be and never look at other peoples cars with envy most of them now don't actually own them it's how the banks have slowly been taking peoples assets. Cars and bad luck aren't the problem it's the technology people that creates it all.

 

[3dcandy]

Just to add that me and my missus have 2 pumas, both have issues. No 1. needs a gearbox and hcv (god I boil...) and No. 2 the dreaded rusted rear arches and a clutch. But, and here's the but, we have no monthly outgoings, they both drive lovely and slowly over time the issues are getting sorted. Pumas are often mistreated as they're just a Ford and a posh Fiesta, and you'll never change that way of thinking from some people. Both our cars had simple servicing etc. neglected and they are suffering as a result. IF you can get a car that's been looked after then life is oh so much simpler - but getting one is the problem...