Recomend something cheap and reliable...

frecklesjack

...in the car line that is!

DH's car (04 Renault Megane) has just packed up at the side of the road (again). He has spent a fortune of this car in the last year and it's not worth spending one more cent on. Last year the fuel pump went and it cost over €2000 to fix - the car was barely worth that. Chatting to a renault mechanic last week he was told that now that the pump was replaced if he didn't get dirty diesel again (think that's what happened the last time) then there was no reason to think it would go again....until today. Road side assistance reckoned the car needs a new engine :mad:

So now he needs to replace the car. Will any garage accept the piece of junk as a trade-in for scrap? He got new tires put on it last Friday for his NCT (which it failed). We are very tight for money but he has a 70km commute each way to work and no public transport option. Any suggestions?

Oh and good MPG and low car tax would be a bonus. I don't think trading down in years is out of the question either.

bazz26

I'd doubt any garage will take your Megane in it's current condition, that and having failed it's NCT makes it pretty much as attractive as like trying to give someone a dose of the clap. That generation of Megane has a pretty dismal reputation for reliability and even good ones don't fetch any thing decent money wise. Them and the Laguna really were a disaster on the reliability front.

My advice would be to get the current problem diagnosed first and an estimate on how much it costs to fix. Also get an estimate on the NCT fail issues. Then decide if it is fixing it. If it costs too much then just deduct the repair costs from the market value of a similar working one and let it go cheap to be shot of it.

Also if you are looking to replace it with something economical and cheap to tax then be prepared to spend alot of cash on buying it.

shawnee

An 04 Megane with a clapped out engine is not worth much , probably scrap value. Your choice is to walk away from it and buy something cheap and reliable. There are still Corollas , golfs , almeras to be had for around 1500 quid and that is with nct. However you would be going back a bit in years but then again whats it only a number. Had a 99 starlet with two years nct and absolutely no mechanical problems and you can buy these for less than a grand while you're deciding what to do with that other yoke

Ninap

Sadly nothing cheap is guaranteed reliable, but you could be lucky. You should consider something like a 2 year old Kia with 5 years of its manufacturers warranty still to run. Good peace of mind

slimjimmc

Well, first of all I'd get a garage with facilities to do a proper check and let them tell you the engine is scrap and explain exactly why. Roadside mechanics see and know a lot of things but they mightn't be the best sage for your situation.

A plenty of cars of all makes and models fail the NCT, that's quite common and doesn't necessarily mean the car is a heap. But if it is confirmed as dead, as other's have already said, you'll get very little for it as a trade-in if they'll even accept it at all.