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Advice please - Scrapping Car / Buying Replacement / Living without a Car


paulj

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Hello

 

Sorry bit of a newbie problem, my battery is flat in the car, although I expect the battery is healthy.

 

I think I need to remove battery and charge it as Car is parked at end of my drive but there is a public pavement between the drive and the car.

 

Have searched videos about removing battery and have been given different advice about which terminals I should remove first the positive or negative.

 

I think it should be negative first then positive, but want to make sure beforehand, I would appreciate any advice please

 

Thanks

Paul

 

 

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Advice above all correct - but.

 

It might be a lot less hassle to charge in situ and spend an hour or two with a book policing an extension cable so no-one falls over it rather than messing about removing and replacing the battery. 

 

It'll also be quicker. Get enough charge in it to get it started once and then take it or a good drive.

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5 hours ago, paulj said:

Hello

 

Sorry bit of a newbie problem, my battery is flat in the car, although I expect the battery is healthy.

 

I think I need to remove battery and charge it as Car is parked at end of my drive but there is a public pavement between the drive and the car.

 

Have searched videos about removing battery and have been given different advice about which terminals I should remove first the positive or negative.

 

I think it should be negative first then positive, but want to make sure beforehand, I would appreciate any advice please

 

Thanks

Paul

 

 

Have you got a charger Paul?

Ping me a PM in the morning (not too early) and I'll wander round with the necessary.

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Hi, thanks for the replies and advice, I do have a charger, not sure how effective it will be. Will send you a pm bentwaters81tfw

 

Update: Got the battery charged now, engine revs way too high and coolant was dumped from radiator, frustrating as I have just pumped £600 in to the thing for repairs

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I think you need to check WHY is the battery discharged

A modern battery can hold a charge for years.

Just recently my No.1 son started a car in his yard (he breaks BMWs and sells second-hand parts ). The car had been in stock for three years, after a few turn overs the car started.

Last year my SAAB 9-3's battery was only holding a charge for about 3 days. A loose wire under the dashboard was earthing and discharging the battery

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Thanks for your message

 

On my last trip, approx 15 mile round trip the car repeatedly stalled, I also had trouble re-starting the car, with that and having to charge my mobile to arrange help took all the charge.

 

I think main cause of that is overheating, which is clear as the car now dumps significant amount of coolant when started. Now have a new problem where car revs high on its own just after starting

 

I have garage booked to look at it over next couple of days, I am very worried how much it is going to cost to repair, at some point I am going to have to stop throwing money at it at look to replace it

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3 hours ago, paulj said:

I am very worried how much it is going to cost to repair, at some point I am going to have to stop throwing money at it at look to replace it

I suspect that you should be doing that sooner rather than later - it sounds as though the present one is just going to keep costing you large amounts of your hard-earned!

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  • paulj changed the title to Advice please - Scrapping Car / Buying Replacement / Living without a Car

Just got news from Garage, its going to cost nearly £800 for replacement radiator, new head gasket, and skimming to repair. Absolutely gutted as I have just ploughed £600 in to it to get it past it's MOT, if it had broken down a month earlier I would have avoided all that expense.

 

The car is only worth £200 at best as it is an 05 Plate 206 Cat D write off, I owned the car from 2007 and it had been reliable up until last year and recent problems. 

 

So I have decided to scrap the car, not sure how I am going to get a replacement sorted, the cars in Garages locally just seem too old and overpriced, I expect I would get in to more expenses down the road. I would much prefer to buy from private sale, but that means travelling out there to test ride.

 

Just so many thoughts going through my mind, I have not settled on budget for replacement yet, my worries are more geared to living without a car. Things like travelling to test drive a private second hand car. I am also wanting to move North of the country and viewing houses.

 

I know public transport is there, I do find it very stressful travelling this way, but I am sure I going to have to do this. I usually travel 6 miles to supermarket, I looked at using an Uber, but that would cost around £18 each way

 

I don't need a car for work, the occasional long trip, and just some regular local driving for food and days out

 

Just asking for some general advice

 

 

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I got rid of my car last May. 

I then used buses. I'm lucky enough to have a free bus pass. And I walked to shops, even a couple of miles away.

Two results

1. I lost some weight and increased my stamina

2. I was able to save some money

I bought a car for the winter months. I got a 20 year old BMW for £750 - the insurance costs more.

When the weather improves I'm back on the buses.

Main downsides to using buses

1. it takes so darned long to get anywhere eg, to get to my storage unit by car, 11 minutes, by bus is 1 hour. To go up country is 1 hr 20 mins, 3 hours by bus & train, but to counter that I can sit and read and draw patterns for my leatherwork whilst someone else drives

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Hi Paul.

It all depends how much you want to spend on a car. £800 for a repair as described is not far off, and Brands seem to do an OK job.

If you bought another car, what would you get for £800?

Structurally it is sound, yes? The repair work for the MOT will be good for a while yet. The overall condition is not terminal. It could well be economically viable to fix it, then at least you know you have a known commodity.

If it comes to the crunch, go see Mike at Pavilion down the road, he will find something for you at a fair price.

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On 3/8/2021 at 4:45 PM, paulj said:

05 Plate 206

You have a local contact already I see :) but just for comparison: what's the mileage?

I drove a pre-owned 2004 206 1.4 for several years beyond my original planning, managed to get it to 300K KM before trading it up for an Alfa 159.
Rear axles and corrosion are the main worries on a 206 - as long as that's not the case, they will drive forever if maintained timely.

 

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Yes £800 for the work and parts involved I felt was fair, I will take a look at Pavilion, thanks for the tip. My budget I have set at 10k, but I am having to re-consider things as I don't do the work commute now I have left work. Everyday driving is roughly 100 miles a month,

 

Mileage is low, only 90000 miles. The bodywork is really good, as it has been kept in my Garage, apart from some cosmetic damage.

 

It had a small shunt 3 years ago, and was written off, minor cosmetic damage, I bought it back from insurance company, so it is a Cat D.

 

Have been wondering if I can syphon the fuel from the tank

 

 

 

 

 

 

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We moved permanently to The North East from East London last year. Although we still have car, it’s not used that much. We have pretty good public transport (Metro station 5 minutes walk), great train service from Newcastle (25 minutes from home by Metro) and local shops are an easy walk (if somewhat limited). Went through 1st Lockdown without using the car. The real bonus though was buying ebikes which easily get us further afield. But all this only possible because of good local services and amenities. Good luck

 

SD

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Bit of an update and a vent

 

Good news is local scrap dealer offered me £220 for the car, phone Garage to arrange as they offered me £100, but now they are wanting to charge me £60 for recovery/diagnostics. When I phoned them initially they were more than helpful and said they would give me a free quote. I said I didn't need recovery as I have it on my insurance, and angry why this was not explained to me then. I said I was worried about the expense of the repairs, so I feel there were indicators there that this could be risk. I feel absolutely gutted, while I understand they have spent time on it, I feel it should have been made clear about possibility of charge in this event, as I said I told them I was worried about cost, and can not justify spending a lot of money on the car

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I was born in North Shields and grew up nearby. Like Swamp Donkey, we were always able to rely on a good public transport network and my parents never owned a car, nor have I. I became a commuter at the age of 11 when I started secondary school in Newcastle, travelling from the coast by train (this was in pre-Metro days) and bus every day. Since then, I've lived in various other parts of the country including Sheffield and Nottingham, both of which had excellent public transport. Whenever I could, I lived near enough to my job to be able to cycle or even walk. When that wasn't possible, though, being dependent on public transport was a big drawback. For some years I lived in Peterborough while working at RAF Wyton, out in the middle of nowhere. The commute would have taken about half an hour by car but by Shanks' Pony, train and bus it was more like 90 minutes - if everything ran to schedule. The bus service between Huntingdon and Wyton was diabolical. For most of the day, there was just one bus an hour and it wasn't unknown for a driver simply to miss out the Wyton  stop if they were running late. During the evening rush hour, they were always late and many's the time I've had to sprint across Huntingdon common as the railway and bus stations were thoughtfully sited quarter of a mile from each other. Failing the bus, it was a 4 mile walk into town, either via the grass verge of the A141 (not recommended) or cross-country down an unlit path through the fields. The train service had its own problems, needless to say.

 

When I lived in Harrogate, work and amenities were within walking distance but if I wanted to go out for the day the last train back from York was at 2050! The alternative was 22 miles in a taxi. Now I'm retired and living a shortish walk from York city centre. We get most of our food shopping delivered once a week. For day to day purposes I have no need of a car but there are still times when it would be very useful to have one. For instance, so my wife could more easily get over to see her elderly mother in Leeds or to ferry our dog to the vet - and to have a choice of vets that we're able to use. Also, we have friends in Boston Spa and while it's theoretically possible to get there by bus it would mean at least two changes and would take a very long time, even though it's only about 14 miles. I cycled over last year, it's perfectly possible in good weather if you're reasonably fit and not in a hurry but not really practical if it was going to be a regular journey.

 

So my experience is that it's perfectly feasible to do without a car and depend on public transport provided that you live somewhere that's well-served and if most of the places you need to get to are in easy reach but even then there will be occasions when you wish you had one. Where public transport isn't great, your quality of life will take a severe knock if you have to depend on it.

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Paul, if you let Brands have it, they will fix it and put it up for sale at twice what it is worth. You only have to look at their used cars. Always bargain basement stuff.

I imagine they were hoping to get it and do just that. Probably miffed Whip Street are getting it. Still better off after paying them £60. @AWFK10 This is the sticks here. Public transport has never been good, and the 'provider' cuts it where they think they can get away with it. They routed the buses down the main A14 instead of through the villages until we complained.  A14 = no passengers = no profit = cut the service/close the route, no demand. Seen it may times over the past decades.

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Thanks for the replies

 

I will check out the co-wheels club, thanks Fifer54.

 

I agree bentwaters81tfw, they were so eager to "help me out" over the phone, my health has not been great and had I been a bit stronger I would have been able to challenge them about taking it.

 

I can make a little use of the Bus service here, it is not great

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Bus service here looks great on paper but is not reliable. They seem to cut it where they want. Last time I needed a bus to travel for an eye appointment (not allowed to drive after) the bus never even turned up.

 

Local trains are just as bad they always seem to cut the service when they are a driver/train down on the network. 

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