In January of this year, my 2006 Ford Fiesta 1.25L petrol ran up a £1100 service+MOT bill - which included one replacement engine mount bracket, new nearside suspension coil and new starter motor. I posted in the Forum whether it was wise to have spent all that money for such an old weather beaten car with high miles on the clock. The advice here was that I should have thought about that BEFORE I sent it in for a service+MOT. But now that I'd spent all that cash, the best thing to do was to keep the car and use it for another year. Which is exactly what I did!
So - the Fiesta is still running, now on 140K miles, but in January, its due its annual service+MOT again. SO...with a couple of months still to go - what do I do? Hope that this time the bill won't be so high - and keep it going for yet another year? Or cut my losses now - and buy a similar used car for whatever my budget of £6K will get me?
Any advice welcome. I use the car for daily commute to work (about 30 miles per day, mainly motorway).
Last edited by: ah207 on Tue 4 Nov 25 at 12:32
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Can you ask a garage for a pre MoT or just submit it for one during the 12th month of current one's validity?
Am I right in thinking Fiestas are subject to corrosion? A good look underneath and around the cills etc would be another good bet.
If it's reliable and does what you need then I'd say hang on to it.
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Run it to the MOT time, put it in for an MOT, if it passes fine, just get a basic oil service after. If it has advisories, get the garage to cost them for you and decide if you want to spend, if it fails find out how much to fix, and then decide to carry on with it if it fits your need, or dump it.
Dont chase or try and justify past expenditure.
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Agree with Zero.
Past repairs are sunk cash. Spent a fortune on my 2005 Berlingo with exhaust, alternator and reshimming the valve follower do dahs only to get rid when steering went funny.
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Absolutely agree with Zero BUT while I've no idea what £6k might buy, if you were inclined to do so v. a few hundred quid spend you'd want to do your best to make sure you what you were buying was likely to be fairly reliable and inexpensive for a few years. As in "better the devil you know" thinking...
Last edited by: smokie on Tue 4 Nov 25 at 13:25
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One of my sons runs a 2004 focus with 120 k miles under its belt . Put it in for its mot last month , thinking it may be time to move it on. Needed 2 wiper blades and a lower suspension arm . All done and dusted, with the mot for just over £300 . Hopefully it’ll do another year at least. Btw , the aircon blows freezing cold . Never been touched on the 10 years of his ownership.
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The drawback of waiting until the car fails is that any replacement becomes a distress purchase. £6k doesn't buy anything very new, perhaps something 8+ years old from a dealer. If your requirements are specific, start now as you'll be very lucky to fill at short notice.
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Thank you everyone for chiming in with your thoughts. Definitely appreciate the time and free advice! Always bit of a minefield when it comes to moving on from an older car - and replacing with a slightly newer one! There's always pros & cons. I think the best thing to do is to take it into my usual mechanic in December - and get a pre-MOT check done, just to get an idea of what the cost(s) might be to get it through its MOT in January. Anything around the £400 mark means I will keep it going for another year - assuming no big repair (eg clutch) is on the cards in the near future. I'll drop in again for an update - but its definitely helped to get a few opinions in here. Thank you as always.
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Ford Fiesta - Decision time - again - Bromptonaut
