Another Big Bill

[makeitfit]

Can you imagine how much mine would have cost to get fixed

[Lazy-Ferret]

Guy on our Response forum has just been quoted £1250 just to fix his handbrake on a Range Rover Sport.

I thought that made mine nice and cheap, as I had just spent,
£260 on 2 front tyres
£120 on Oil, oil filter, fuel filter front pads and rotors
£100 on MOT and Tracking

[rustic]

Originally Posted by Sweety

Thing is Jim she's an old girl but has served you as a family very well over the years now TBH a much newer motor could have cost you that or more for less work to be done as a wheel bearing can be £150 or more

Well if you can keep the bill for a full year at or below £500, each and every year, then it can still be cheaper than the depreciation and repairs to a much younger vehicle.

My Mav isn't worth that much, (set by the insurance company) despite it's condition. If it needs a new clutch, then it would cost close to what it is worth on paper. So in theory, not worth it. But then that would be the only problem with it at that time.
However I would need to look at the bigger picture, I couldn't buy a car in that condition for that price, and what ever car I bought for that price would need far more spending on it.
So as said... best the devil you know.

Treat it as a running cost, like insurance, road tax, tyres, service, fuel etc, suddenly the £500 becomes less significant.
I would prefer like many members on here to spend as little as possible in repairs.
Rustic

[AlexD333]

Originally Posted by makeitfit

Can you imagine how much mine would have cost to get fixed

Most garages would have declined the work I reckon, seriously

[AlexD333]

I look at things all wrong... I've spent a fortune on my Terrano, I will try and add up at some point but it must be in the many thousands...

[makeitfit]

Originally Posted by AlexD333

I look at things all wrong... I've spent a fortune on my Terrano, I will try and add up at some point but it must be in the many thousands...

Don't do it mate, you'll only wish you bought a Trol in the first place
I positively refuse to even dream of how much time I've spent on mine. It's more of a hobby than the need to fix an old car.
Logic does not apply to cars

[rustic]

Originally Posted by makeitfit

...
I positively refuse to even dream of how much time I've spent on mine. It's more of a hobby than the need to fix an old car.
Logic does not apply to cars

I so agree.
Well if I add up all the hours I've spent on mine over the years...
All in an effort to reap the benefits many years later. With this vehicle it has paid off, had I sold it after the first five years then it would have been for nothing.
We had an Austin Ambassador for thirteen years, again from new and that was in great condition when we sold it, especially after putting right all the faults that Austin Rover failed to do before it left the factory.
Waxoyl was around in the early 80's lol.

[jims-terrano]

Well todays bill was £175 for the rear wheel bearing as it was missed off the last bill, osf ball joint and a cv boot kit.

He thanked me for being so honest which I will brag about cos it is all too often not apparent these days.

So hes quoted me £200 to replace the cross member and make sure the body mountings are sorted too.

Thought I might as well think about the gay air con too since we've spent so much, he uses a bloke just down the road from him and he charges £20 to regas and add dye.

So told Rick that I'll go back in Early July to get the crossmember done and the mot at the same time.
Also need to get a new tyre fitted too.

So what do you all think to that little lot. He's also told my wife that the Terrano is really solid underneath and the crossmember will make it 100% underneath. He says it's better than most newer Terranos that he's seen including my 05 plate that I PX'd the other week. Best source some front wings then hadn't I.

[clivvy]

I think its pretty good mate, though im interested in the air con thing as I want to fix mine, but I cant fix it until I know what's wrong with it, I cant find out what's wrong with it, until I have aircon gas and dye in it :/

[jims-terrano]

Well you know where the garage is Clivvy.

I guess we can trust him by now, or we'll get BigBunny to sort him out

[clivvy]

Originally Posted by jims-terrano

Well you know where the garage is Clivvy.

I guess we can trust him by now, or we'll get BigBunny to sort him out

er...no I forgot lol

[Bigbunny2007]

Glad your getting sorted Jim, it will be a solid truck when the front cross member is done
While this dry weather is about get some rust proofing done

[macabethiel]

I agree with Rustics earlier post about offsetting higher maintainance costs against relative lack of depreciation.

Working in the motor trade I see some very twisted logic to buy new or late used. If you look at people on PLP's yes they have a nice new motor with a manufacturers warranty but pay a fair bit each month on the payments and are locked in for the contract period.They are usually locked into dealer servicing too and that's not free or cheap. When the plan ends they hand the car back and then may have a penalty for excess mileage or a fee for paintwork rectification etc. They might not have any deposit to carry forward and they are offered another deal with a new set of payments and the cycle starts again. As you have lost your initial deposit when you started the plan this leaves you with no equity to go back to normal ownership as you have to find all the dosh!

I have usually bought a vehicle over 5 years old so it has lost at least 2/3 of its new cost already. Choose carefully and keep mileage reasonable, service and repair it yourself whenever possible or have it done by a trusted mechanic if the job is not something you want to tackle. I tend to keep my vehicles for an average of 7 years though my record is 12 years.

When that dreaded big bill comes (my worst ever was a new steering box for a W124 260E it cost around £1200 fitted for the genuine part) I ask myself a simple question how much of a better vehicle would I get trading in my vehicle and adding the cost of the big bill?
In the case of my old 260E it was scrap without a steering box and with a new box fitted it was still worth around £1000. I had a new steering box and kept her for another 2 years and sold her for £850 with a staggering 184,000 miles on the clock.

What worries me now is that with modern engine systems you are relying on a computer telling you which part to replace first to cure a fault and some of theses little relays/ control units/ Mini ECU's etc can cost £350 a go.
A faulty gearshift module can leave an automatic stuck in park and can cost £800 for the part as a small bit of plastic in the switch module has failed. I met one of our customers a couple of weeks ago a really nice young Asian chap who had bought a 8 year old Merc CL and it was stuck in Park. He did some research on the gearshift module and found there was one part for the European Market and a different part for the Australian Market. The UK one had a build life of 10 years and had a plastic actuator lever. The Australian part built to withstand the heat had a metal actuator lever! He was looking to dismantle the module and have a metal part made to replace the plastic one.

At present all three of my vehicles have mostly Merc running gear but only one has the badge. Over the next 4-10 years if I continue to wake up with a pulse we will reduce down to one car between the two of us. I am just hoping to avoid the flat cap and Micra ownership club for as long as possible.lol

[jims-terrano]

Originally Posted by Bigbunny2007

Glad your getting sorted Jim, it will be a solid truck when the front cross member is done
While this dry weather is about get some rust proofing done

Yeah hoping it will be a solid motor after all this. Today would of been perfect for the underseal but got dragged down to a dog show at Newark