She's still going.

[Stevesixty7]

New MOT on my 16 year old girl. Cost me £195 that's including the £45 MOT fee, so not too bad. Failures were a fractured offside rear coil spring and nearside and offside suspension component mounting corroded, requiring welding work. She's worth it, engine and gearbox are perfect and the interior is immaculate. Taking age into consideration, I'm happy with that. 

Have any of you had a bigger bill for a younger car? Just curious.

[dtulip8]

Good work! Always nice to see cars soldiering on, mines a bit younger at 12 but it’s passed every MOT with flying colours. Hope to keep it until it literally disintegrates.

[pistolpete1]

My dad has a 1999 T reg 2 litre Zetec still going,  and just passed the MOT test. 

Not sure what work was done,  but it had to go in for a repair to pass. Only 80k miles and lots of rust,  but he loves driving it so keeps it going! 

[pistolpete1]

And my 2005 Focus 1.6 (115 bhp) Ghia is in for its MOT in 10 days time..... Fingers crossed! 

[aachanak_bhayanak]

Im gonna buy ford very soon..

[pistolpete1]

On 11/5/2018 at 12:16 AM, pistolpete1 said:

And my 2005 Focus 1.6 (115 bhp) Ghia is in for its MOT in 10 days time..... Fingers crossed! 

And it passed! 😀😀😀

[Ubetcha]

My '02 recently retired, MOT had expired and the chassis was rotten. Ironically that would of been the only thing it failed on, there is always a price living next to the sea! 

[isetta]

I previously had a Mk1 focus, sold it when 14 years old. with regard to rust it was excellent underneath other then the front subframe had a hole rusted in the bottom which needed welding.  not as bad as in this youtube video though

 

[FatHead1979]

11 hours ago, isetta said:

I previously had a Mk1 focus, sold it when 14 years old. with regard to rust it was excellent underneath other then the front subframe had a hole rusted in the bottom which needed welding.  not as bad as in this youtube video though

 

Wow, that is NASTY!

[isetta]

it can't have gone like that just between one MOt and the next if in use. perhaps it was out of use for a few years and left parked in wet grass or something

[TomsFocus]

12 minutes ago, isetta said:

it can't have gone like that just between one MOt and the next if in use. perhaps it was out of use for a few years and left parked in wet grass or something

Salty sea air can do this in a matter of months sadly, as someone that's lived on the coast, I'd never buy a coastal car! 😮 

[FatHead1979]

23 minutes ago, isetta said:

it can't have gone like that just between one MOt and the next if in use. perhaps it was out of use for a few years and left parked in wet grass or something

More like the bottom of a lake! 

[williamweb]

Just spent £300 on welding around the rear top dampeners on my 14 year old mk1.I almost got rid but love driving her so much she’s had a reprieve.👍

[Msc1]

Good to hear. I also have a 16 year old silver fox which also failed its MOT on a fractured rear spring and a missing heat shield. Done the jobs today and she's back in for her retest on Tuesday. Including MOT and cost of parts, £150 all in. Its better the devil you know sometimes and I've spent a fortune on her this year this rebuilding the A/C, new brakes all around, 80% suspension overall and other jobs. 

[scoop64]

i have a 98 Astra as well as a 2006 focus, had the Astra 9 yrs ,dont want to let it go ,so what ever it needs at mot/nct it will get it, but in Ireland the insurance industrie is killing the market to keep old cars ,some will not quote cars over 10years old , most wont quote over 15 yrs old ,if you do manage to get a quote it will be a ridiculous amount, alot of good old cars being scrapped with nct/mot because of it, is this happening in Uk yet?

 

[pistolpete1]

7 hours ago, scoop64 said:

i have a 98 Astra as well as a 2006 focus, had the Astra 9 yrs ,dont want to let it go ,so what ever it needs at mot/nct it will get it, but in Ireland the insurance industrie is killing the market to keep old cars ,some will not quote cars over 10years old , most wont quote over 15 yrs old ,if you do manage to get a quote it will be a ridiculous amount, alot of good old cars being scrapped with nct/mot because of it, is this happening in Uk yet?

 

Not that I'm aware of. No problem getting insurance for my 2005 recently. 

[FatHead1979]

17 hours ago, scoop64 said:

i have a 98 Astra as well as a 2006 focus, had the Astra 9 yrs ,dont want to let it go ,so what ever it needs at mot/nct it will get it, but in Ireland the insurance industrie is killing the market to keep old cars ,some will not quote cars over 10years old , most wont quote over 15 yrs old ,if you do manage to get a quote it will be a ridiculous amount, alot of good old cars being scrapped with nct/mot because of it, is this happening in Uk yet?

 

Thankfully not, that sounds ridiculous.

 

I've got an early Mk2 Focus saloon (05 plate) and haven't had any issues getting sensibly priced insurance.

[isetta]

Not heard of anything in UK against older cars. Not sure what their rationale is on it.

MOT/NCT should mean they are no more likely to be unsafe than newer cars (although I think in ROI cars are NCT exempt at 25 years old? is that still the case?).  In UK it has recently changed from pre-1960 to 40 years old.

Insurance companies do get strange ideas. Do they think if you can't afford a newer car you must a an untrustworthy waster who will drive when drunk? 

or is it because they say there are problems repairing due to lack of parts available, but if the car is old it won't be worth so much.  Better to pay a total loss on a £750 car than paying £1500 to repair a £3000 car isn't it?

Or have they decided that if a car is not new enought to have ABS or tyre pressure sensors , airb bags all round it must be a death trap.

It can be hard to work out what goes on in the minds of insurance companies

 

[TomsFocus]

Insurance and tax are both ridiculous in Ireland from what I've read, different systems to here.  The high tax on older cars will be just as much of a factor for scrapping as the insurance.  It's also a way of reducing emissions by forcing the older cars off the road.

 

Insurance is usually cheaper on newer cars over here but not to the same extent. 

Partly because they have more safety features, active city stop is a good example, as a huge number of claims happen for slow traffic bumps in urban areas.  And of course multiple airbags stop a lot of injuries that could otherwise be claimed against.  Wider tyres and bigger brakes with ESP etc also help reduce the number of accidents.  They've also got all of the manufacturer parts so remain at the original standard, unlike an older car which is often fitted with cheap tyres and lower quality aftermarket suspension or brake parts which could contribute to a collision.

People are assumed to care less about a cheap, old car than one they've sunk a lot of money into.  Which often is the case tbf...how often do you see a 3 year old car covered in dents and scrapes, with trim missing, only one hub cap left, bulbs out, wing mirror taped on...compared to the number of 10 plus year old cars like that!  Of course, people drive what they can afford, but that does mean spending the bare minimum and keeping the car 'just' legal to pass MOT, which means cheap tyres etc as my earlier point. 

The other reason is fewer accidents happen to new cars purely because there are less on the road and they've been on the road for a shorter amount of time.  As they age, more accidents happen involving them so the premium for that particular car goes up.  Having said that, more new cars (particularly sporty ones) are being stolen now so the low accident rate may be wiped out by the high theft rate with some modern cars.

[scoop64]

The argument for the insurance company because of high claims payouts in Ireland,  a young driver buys old car for €500 takes out insurance then crashes car  in to wall with passenger in car ,passenger then puts in claim for injuries gets paid out the splits it with driver, supposedly this was happening, so refuse insurance for cars over 10/15yrs old,  now i have the car 8 yrs, never made a claim ,clean licence,driving 30 yrs, then one day i decide to go and crash my car in to a wall, tar everyone with same brush, its all a big con really , insurance company's can do what they like, surprise it was over here first we normally follow suit to what UK does.

[JohnF]

Our X reg 1.6 auto estate is 18yrs old, 134,000m,  biggest bills were coil pack (125,000m), fuel pump and new filter (114,000m),  £100 welding to rear sill rust (March 2017) which had crept unseen under the sealing too near the seat belt attachment.  Everything else is original, apart from brakes, oil, plugs, wipers etc.  I grease the brake pipes and keep the underneath bits free of rust.   With its Yamaha engine, Mazda auto and clever rear suspension for capaciousness,  Ford really got this one right.  Even the exhaust and all the rubbery suspension bits and boots are still original.