How much to keep those M.O.T's valid?

[T1BBST3R]

Was wondering how much your cars cost to keep on the road? I use mechanics generally at £45 an hour with VAT added on everything so this could be why i'm finding repairs a bit expensive. That's why I don't have an old Renault, the thing would hardly be out of the garage.

Just spent £550 having an alternator, timing belt and an ac service. getting the arches done at the end of the month too, thats another £250.

Last year think I spent £1k on an ongoing electrical problem, a relay, shocks, tie rod, driveshaft gaitor and having a thermostat changed twice by an incompetent mechanic. (First thermostat was taken off the bill at least although I'm pretty sure there was at least 1 talkative coffee break totted up somewhere......)

Year before was probably £350 on a timing belt change with a cat fitted and a dodgy MOT from round where I used to work plus a £100 service and I think around £50 for a rear spring.

Oh, and the year before that the car caught fire so I needed an entire new car.

[Robsey]

Typical rotation is £350 one year,
then two years with a modestly cheap bill.

Until 2017, which cost me £7k
(total rebuild, full service plus loads of emissions related parts).

[James McGrath]

I spend more than I care to think about on all of our cars.
To be fair, most of what I spend is utterly unnecessary to keep them on the road.

The LS and CD auto have had no money spent on them at all this year, apart from oil and other service parts that I fitted myself. So say £50 each for them.

The CD manual has been very problematic the last 18 months or so. It had an ongoing hesitation problem that turned out to be the fuel pump. This was not solved until I'd replaced almost all the ignition system, allot of the fuel system and lot's of other sensors. So say about £500 for that.

The Diplomat is pretty reliable in all departments other than the dreaded rust. I've spent about £1500 on this car over the last two years just on bodywork and welding. Although that does include a rather nasty accident that happened about 18 months ago which involved replacing two doors, both sills and wheel arches.
This car still needs work though, I'm anticipating another big bill for its MOT this year.

The V6 has up until now not needed very much, but again this car had an odd hesitation issue which turned out to be a completely blocked catalytic converter. Again I spent allot replacing bits that it didn't really need. When I finally got it fixed and back on the road it needed new brakes and will need new sills and wheel arches for it's rapidly approaching MOT.
I expect that this car would have cost me around £1000 before the year is out.

This does not include tax, insurance and the cost of the MOT itself. It also does not include all the money spent on accessories, cleaning products and a whole raft of other non-vital expenses.
Worth every penny for the enjoyment I get from it though.

[Robsey]

Agreed - you do not usually have a 20-odd year old Cavalier if you wish to have a cheap runabout.
Any 20+ year old car will more than likely have regular age related hiccups.

That said, once you have sorted any major niggles, the car can be moderately cheap to run.

I do not expect any huge bills for the next few years after my next batch of tyres.
So hopefully just typical service items for the next 5 years or so.

Thank goodness - I cannot think how much I have spent since the car went back on the road in March 2017.

[Envoy CDX]

The Cav, erm - less said about that the better. It's ongoing and my wallet is empty.
The Yaris £128in bits, MOT and so on. but most of the work I do myself.

I would recommend you invest in a tool kit and a hayne's manual going forward, start with small jobs and build up your skillset if the money is becoming an issue.

[ilovedmymantas]

The Cav, erm - less said about that the better. It's ongoing and my wallet is empty...… but most of the work I do myself.

I would recommend you invest in a tool kit and a hayne's manual going forward, start with small jobs and build up your skillset if the money is becoming an issue.

I agree, I've always bought a hayne's for a new (to me)car.
If you haven't seen one, the jobs are rated by difficulty. If you tackle the "one spanner" items it gives you the confidence to try more difficult things. Warning! It can get addictive ! The upside is it costs you less to maintain your car

I try not to think about the cost anymore