Wonder if anyone else has noticed this.

I've always, since I've been driving, always been on the look out for a cheap car just for fun.

When I first past my test you got half decent cars with tax and test and that ran perfectly for less than £300 (And we are only talking 5 years ago here).

Now though since this scrappage scheme has come in has anyone else noticed it is impossible to find a decent cheap car about.

Over the past few weeks I've only found 1 car that could be considered cheap and be used as a daily right away.

Every other car for sale at the minutes seems to have little or no MOT and tax. Or if they do have MOT and tax they have a problem that prevents it being driven i.e. clutch gone. Even then I've seen cars like this going for £1000+.

So basically every car for sale is one thats not eligable for the scheme, which I personally think is stupid. Why should you take a taxed and tested perfectly working car to get scrapped?

Thoughts?

Auto trader have some stuff on, was noseing through yesterday, there's a taxed and tested ax for a feww hundred quid, just a shame to find all the good ones are miles away :(

yeah its hit hard, i always keep a look out, but lately theres been nowt but genuine scrap fodder, that dealers wont take on the scrappage scheme!

a mate of mine is scrappage scheming his polo, next to nothing wrong with it, but it makes sense for him, as he wants a new car

all the bargains are in scotland i've noticed.

My mate paid £360 for a V reg 1.4 8V off here, dragon green, valver bumpers and lights.

10 days mot and tax, needs a new wing, everything else is good on it, the car itself is clean with FSH.

chuck another 140 at it and it's good, you've just gotta look about.

Other factors are scrap prices are still relatively high, and people have got less money, so are more inclined to keep running the same wreck as opposed to upgrading.

The other thing is, the cars from the period that should be now be cheap runabouts (late 90's) weren't made as well as the ones before them ie, 5 years ago, you could go and get a usable mk2 golf or polo for bugger all (not because there was anything wrong with it, just because they weren't wanted anymore), now you're looking at mk4 polos and mk3 golfs being that age, they just haven't lasted as well as a whole.

I know it's not VW-based as such, but a big factor is the Ford Focus. Even the first ones are fetching good prices for a V/W-reg car, whereas good late Escorts are getting in short supply, so this kept a lot of cars out of the banger market.

i object i just got a 1,4 8v 6n yesterday that runs sweet as a nut with fsh and all the mod cons for £400 smakkers with 6 months tax and a years mot whoo very proud of it now just gotta save to mod it lol

Edited 22 January, 201016 yr by dub loon

Auto trader have some stuff on, was noseing through yesterday, there's a taxed and tested ax for a feww hundred quid, just a shame to find all the good ones are miles away :(

My mate was selling one for £150 nowt up with it, 3 months tax + test! If I'd known you were looking...

it scares me, i dread to think of any mk1 or mk2 rocco's polos or golfs going to waste coz old people not knowing what they are :(

Auto trader have some stuff on, was noseing through yesterday, there's a taxed and tested ax for a feww hundred quid, just a shame to find all the good ones are miles away :(

this is happening to me, looking for a mk2 golf...all the good ones i find are miles away from me

good cars are always miles away, get on a train, plane, blag a friend/mum/relative for a lift.

I've travelled half way across the country for most of my cars, i cant think of one thats been local, but id much rather travel 200 miles for a good car than settle for shit on my doorstep

it scares me, i dread to think of any mk1 or mk2 rocco's polos or golfs going to waste coz old people not knowing what they are :(

I bet theres a lot of that going on at the moment tbh....

good cars are always miles away, get on a train, plane, blag a friend/mum/relative for a lift.

I've travelled half way across the country for most of my cars, i cant think of one thats been local, but id much rather travel 200 miles for a good car than settle for shit on my doorstep

The clostest car iv had was just over an hour away, if you want something decent then go and get it

it scares me, i dread to think of any mk1 or mk2 rocco's polos or golfs going to waste coz old people not knowing what they are :(

I bet theres a lot of that going on at the moment tbh....

good cars are always miles away, get on a train, plane, blag a friend/mum/relative for a lift.

I've travelled half way across the country for most of my cars, i cant think of one thats been local, but id much rather travel 200 miles for a good car than settle for shit on my doorstep

The clostest car iv had was just over an hour away, if you want something decent then go and get it

I too have always travelled to get a car, took a plane to London to get my G40 then drove it 500+ miles back home haha.

Good to see some people are still getting bargain cars, just seems so little of them.

all the bargains are in scotland i've noticed.

Takin the piss min? There's fuck all up here, the bargains are all down south!

I remember the days where you could get a 24v Carlton GSI with a couple of months ticket on it for a few hundred quid, gutted. I wonder if my Mk2 Golf is worth more than the £600 I paid for it 2 years ago?

Steven, remind me a couple of months down the line, I think we need to try and pull off a money maker. There's plenty of otherwise sound cheap cars that have failed emmissions tests and nothing else for the MOT. I've got OBD stuff for the laptop, and an exhaust gas analyser, and a few old cats lying about too

it scares me, i dread to think of any mk1 or mk2 rocco's polos or golfs going to waste coz old people not knowing what they are :(

the trouble is the scheme has it all backwards. A customer of ours is getting to the point where her rocco is costing her money all the time. She doesn't want to spend a massive amount on having it overhauled when she can get a C2 for 6 or 7K. So to her, the car is "worth" 2K and frankly I don't have 2K and wouldn't spend that on a ratty rocco. So off it goes to the scrappage scheme. I'd love to have given her £500 for it but from her point of view it's not worth it.

I have just picked up a polo coupe for £125 (non starter) which is why I'm here. Before that I had a Corsa which cost me £25! they are about!

good cars are always miles away, get on a train, plane, blag a friend/mum/relative for a lift.

I've travelled half way across the country for most of my cars, i cant think of one thats been local, but id much rather travel 200 miles for a good car than settle for shit on my doorstep

Exactamundo

Plus, if you really want a certain car then youve got to be prepared to travel, i once racked up nearly 700 miles in a weekend to get a car, my old beige mk2 loon, got it from Colchester

I might of just got lucky though, theres a car i want litterally round the corner from me, i should get it for double figures

When the guy finally rings me back to say he has sorted the stuff out to sell it

Everyone thinks the scrappage scheme somehow saves them money though.

My BMW I'm using as a daily is a 15 year old 318is that I bought for £900, so far on maintainace I'v spent £300 on it and I've had it 5 months now. So take that to a monthly average it is £60.

I keep getting told by my parents "By a new BMW, you'll not have to spend anything maintaining it and it will save on fuel, you'll be better off"

So I did a little working out and came up with this.

New BMW 118d, 60 ish mpg so on my daily run a week it will cost £30...£120 a month that works out as.

My BMW just now I use £60 of fuel a week...£240 a month so it is a fuel saving of £120.

But then there is the maintainance, on a new car you don't really have to maintain it as its brand new, but you do have a monthly payment. So in order to break even, taking the fuel saving and the maintainance cost it comes to £180 a month, so if a new BMW 118d costs less than £180 a month I'm saving money...but it doesn't it costs £300 a month and thats with a £1k deposit!

Oh and to T_F_G bargains in Scotland? Thats where I live, there is nothing up here!

Everyone thinks the scrappage scheme somehow saves them money though.

My BMW I'm using as a daily is a 15 year old 318is that I bought for £900, so far on maintainace I'v spent £300 on it and I've had it 5 months now. So take that to a monthly average it is £60.

I keep getting told by my parents "By a new BMW, you'll not have to spend anything maintaining it and it will save on fuel, you'll be better off"

So I did a little working out and came up with this.

New BMW 118d, 60 ish mpg so on my daily run a week it will cost £30...£120 a month that works out as.

My BMW just now I use £60 of fuel a week...£240 a month so it is a fuel saving of £120.

But then there is the maintainance, on a new car you don't really have to maintain it as its brand new, but you do have a monthly payment. So in order to break even, taking the fuel saving and the maintainance cost it comes to £180 a month, so if a new BMW 118d costs less than £180 a month I'm saving money...but it doesn't it costs £300 a month and thats with a £1k deposit!

Oh and to T_F_G bargains in Scotland? Thats where I live, there is nothing up here!

Get a Picanto.

Rather have a Previa!

Haha win.

My mate was after a cheap car last week after his mk1 espace died. Went round all the places we used to look and everything we came across was over £1k, even the shitty ones.

He found a Hyundai accent for £350 in the end. Not ideal in his eyes but at least he won't have to walk.

theres a shed load of early 90's audi 80's about currently around were i live. most have suspected HG failure.

Found a V6 Quattro for £250 with early signs of HG failure. might go have a look at it.

The bargains are still there. You've just gotta look a bit harder and be willing to travel further. Last September I managed to get a mk3 Polo with 50k on it for £150. Had some tax and test on it to. I've been lucky as most of the car I've bought have either been quite close to home (150 miles radius is what I class as close). I've bought a few from miles and miles away though. The Vento my mate bought but I drove him down to collect it but then when he sold it I bought it off him. I think we went to Brum for that, I can't remember now, lol.

Its a shame the scrappage scheme has forced the used market this way really. There is a silver 6n2 GTi round the corner from me which has a snapped cambelt, I contacted the woman about buying it (I knew the cambelt was gone) and she rang me back to tell me she was getting 2k for it via the scheme. Its a scandal really because I know if the scheme didn't exist or had ended that i'd of had a perfect 6N2 GTi for really cheap that I could of done up. Its not even like half of the newer cars are any good either, I know i'd rather fix up and drive a VW Polo GTi than drive around in a crappy 1.2 hyundai!

How is she going to trade it in for £2k?

You need to drive the car there to get the trade in, or so I understand it.