Is it worth fixing my car?

SantryRed

Hi all,

I'm driving a 1998 Volkswagen Polo, 1 litre engine with about 120,000 miles on it.

I've had the cars 4 years now, and in all that time, I've only ever had one engine problem which was a faulty distributor that was fixed for less than 100 euro. Other than that, any money that has gone into the car has been purely to pass the NCT, but I'd say I've put less than 350 euro in max since buying the car 4 years ago.

Fast forward to last week, and the head cylinder gasket blew, and it is going to cost between 5-600 euro to fix it. The car is essentially worth about 600 euro I'd reckon, so should I just scrap it?

I'm going away in July and won't be back until October, so my options atm are:

1. Get the car fixed now
2. Leave it stored and fix it when I come back and buy a bike for now (300 euro and nice weather atm, have been using a bike to get around for the past couple of weeks)
3. Scrap it now and use that money to buy a bike and look at getting a new car when I'm home.

What would people recommend? It has been a great little car, and has given me very little problems, which is why I think it might be a bad idea to just scrap it.

djimi

I wouldnt spend that sort of money to fix a 98 Polo, but perhaps thats just me.

CharlieCroker

Not worth it.

Throw it up on done deal as spares/repair stating head gasket problem for €3-400 and it should get a response

zwind

head gasket may still give trouble even after replaced.

just drive it until it dies .

Pat Mustard

If the car has a market value of €600 while operational, but needs a €600 repair (say), then that's a current market value of zero, in reality.

However, it may have a few hundred euro scrap value.

If you are happy to travel by bike, scrap the car and get a bike.

I would want car for myself. Depending on available budget, I would probably try to figure out whether I wanted to repair or replace the car. But that's just me.

You understand that if the car is just going to be left for months that the battery will run down, unless it is on a trickle charge.

dgt

You could source another working engine and swap them

SantryRed

Thanks for the help everyone.

With the bike to work scheme, I can pick up a good road bike and equipment for about 200 quid, so gonna scrap the car and then buy a new one when I get home in October. Will pay to put myself on my parents insurance just incase I need to drive anywhere for the next few months.

Thanks again.

Kaiser D

€600 seems rather expensive for a head gasket job on a 98 Polo.

Gael23

Head Gasket on a Car that old means the end of the road. Totally uneconomical to consider a repair

corkgsxr

It wont be just the head. It had a cooling issue if the head went.

id scrap it