At what point do you scrap a car?

Soldato
Joined
1 Jul 2003
Posts
6,231
Location
There's a voice that keeps on calling me.
Is that the original MK1 yaris then, that auto box was also the MMT, ie manual with actuators. The MK1 was reliable but it feels a really really old car, we have a MK1 and a MK2 in the family, and its a night and day difference. You would be lucky to get 12-1300 for it, more like half that.
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Oct 2008
Posts
5,949
This. Yaris is a fantastic little car and ideal for that sort of use. My sister's 2002 Yaris is still flying through MOTs every year despite only occasional use as a backup/station car, and she doesn't really look after it at all.
£650 spent on what are essentially some consumable items - if there's nothing else wrong with the car, and it's worth it to your mum in terms of having reliable transport, I'd say it's worth paying to sort.

My 2004 Mk1 runabout just passed its MOT again this year. Few years ago had to replace a wheel bearing and seems to eat windscreen wipers, having to replace them usually once a year due to splitting but they're only cheap.

Already mentioned above but I'd consider cost of repairs vs how long likely to be able to keep the car on the road vs cost to replace it with a much newer car. & then depreciation of a higher value var. £600 isn't bad if can keep the car for another 2 or 3 years+
 

IC3

IC3

Soldato
Joined
3 Dec 2011
Posts
9,830
All those bits you mentioned in your post can be done in a day on a driveway, parts won't be much from places like autodoc either.

If you don't want to do it or just want an excuse for a new car, put it on eBay auction stating all the things you know that are wrong with it, to cover yourself and see what happens? My mate bought his little brother a car this way, the guy got more than scrap value and he got a 1 owner car that just needed a few bits changing.
 
Caporegime
Joined
29 Jul 2011
Posts
36,340
Location
In acme's chair.
At what point do you scrap a car?

Roughly when it becomes an appealing prospective purchase for me. :D

In seriousness though, unless it has a blown front shock and a blown rear shock, it doesn't need all four replacing. They are replaced in pairs. You could also cheap out and replace just the blown one with a second hand shock from a breaker.

I also doubt it needs a whole exhaust replacing. It probably needs a piece of it replacing, or maybe just a small hole migging up.

Tyres don't come into it.

Ridiculous idea to scrap it for those reasons if that is all thats wrong with it. You say its worth £1200 and might cost £500 to fix, and scrap value is about £150? How do the maths even begin to add up in a way that makes scrapping it seem like a sensible idea? :p
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
15 Jan 2005
Posts
4,569
Location
UK
Get shocks from a scrappy. Got a 2005 Avensis with 132k miles, bought it 4 years ago, it was 1 owner from new who serviced it at Toyota every year. I just change the oil and filter annually, it's never given me any trouble at MOT until a spring had a small piece missing at the bottom. Go to scrapyard, £30 for a shock+spring, fit myself in an hour. It looks awful and the steering is getting a bit woolly but otherwise runs fine, these cars will last forever.
 
Associate
Joined
8 Jul 2014
Posts
2,147
Location
Hampshire
My station car was a trusty 1.6 Focus. A fabulous car, freezing cold mornings - started every time, and never missed a beat. The only thing that got me to scrap was rust. :(

I miss it now and definitely agree I would keep hold of the car you know.
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
5,538
The garage has come back and said they can repair it all for £300.

So we've gone ahead with the repairs.

Good to hear, sounds like the right decision - scrapping it to buy a similar value car (1000-1500) could easily throw up worse bills in the next 12 months and there's really no financial sense in spending 4-5k on a car to avoid a few hundred pounds of consumable repairs (shocks, exhaust are also consumables - just longer lived, like clutches and turbos).

I guess to answer the question - the time to scrap a car is when you're bored of it and want something new. Or it's French with electrical gremlins :D
 
Back
Top Bottom