Tuesday 21 April 2009

Rains = Pours

My car failed its MOT last week. Argh! The major problem (of four) was that the power steering had a leak somewhere. Hence the reason for the need for a top-up a couple of weeks ago. By the way, since that day, I've checked the owner's manual for the car. No mention of topping-up power steering fluids... Ha!

Anyway, took the car back to the garage for repairs and re-test today. The fix to the part that failed was going to cost £350. With the added complication that, more than likely, fixing the leaky hose would cause the other steering components to fail, under the increased fluid pressure, and that would set me back at least £1000. And then there were the other problems to fix too. So I'm looking at a bill of at least £400 and the likelihood that it would soon escalate to four figures...

Argh! The car only cost me £500 in Nov 2007.

So, chatting to the mechanic, it seemed it made more sense to send my old car away for scrap - bringing in the huge price of £93 - and to buy another used-car from the garage for £395. Overall, I'll end up saving £100 (at least) on what I would have paid to keep my old car on the road.

Which is a fairly positive outcome - though with no money coming in (apart from what I can beg, borrow, steal, or earn from pimping myself around the town centre) I'd have preferred not to have such a big bill right now.

1 comment:

chux said...

bummer about the car dude. It was probably the best thing to just scrap it and go onto the next one. They call that banger-nomics if I recall. My last car was an ugly looking Toyota Carina/Corolla...one of them, that cost me £80 and all I had to do was tax it. We were doing the move so I had no spare cash to spend, which is why had to get it. It lasted me 6-9 months up until the MOT and rather than putting it through I just handed it to the guy I bought our latest car from. Thing is that was probably the most reliable car i've owned, totally trouble free or that time. It was vanity that made me change it, not necessity. I am pathetic arnt I!?