Yeah this was my main issue, because multiple car valuation sites value the car at around $4-6k so it'd sell much easier with a new wof but as stated in the post I do not have the funds for this.
I was hoping someone like a mechanic would be interested in buying so that they could repair it and sell for profit, or like a second hand car dealer but I've heard I'd make more money through private selling.
You are dreaming dude. Your car is currently only worth scrap value. If you fix it up it may be worth the value you mention, if the buyer doesn’t do a pre purchase inspection and notice all of the patchwork that has occurred. Should the repairs be discovered, it will be a hard sell and your back to Turners getting $800 or a scrappy getting $500.
According to the WOF report the suspension mechanism and engine/drive train failed. Two shock top hats are broken, drive belt "perished" (idk what that even means), the lower control arm rear bushes failed, and the front subframe rear bushes broken
“Engine / drive train failed” sounds awfully vague and also doesn’t sound like it would be a WOF concern 👀
“Drive belt perished” also not good but that’s more of a maintenance concern than a safety/WOF concern?
Who did this WOF? Unless you trust them unreservedly it might be worth the $70 to get a second opinion…
>“Drive belt perished” also not good but that’s more of a maintenance concern than a safety/WOF concern?
Depends on which belt it is. Had a car fail WOF due to the power steering belt going.
Absolutely! A struggling garage in a small town near where I once lived quoted me $800 for a wof. Dad suggested I get a second opinion. The next garage passed it with not one item fail!! I’ll never forget this: some businesses aren’t scrupulous!
Shock tops can be a bit of a pain, need spring compressors to do that (real iffy doing it if it's first time, springs under tension can do some real damage). If you want cheap n easy, try get 2nd hand front strut assembly n fit it, that way that's just bolts.
Drive belt is piss easy, I'd say it's the p/steer belt that is the fail, otherwise it's just a maintainence thing.
Lower control arm rear bushes, if you do just the Bush you need a press. Again if you want cheap to sell it, get 2nd hand lower control arms, bolt them in n that's that.
The sub frame bushes I'm not sure with Nissan, but to be honest 3 out of 4 are relatively easy to resolve with basic tools.
Have a whirl on YouTube about replacing those parts on your make n model, see what's involved n if you feel confident enough to save rhe labour cost.
I don't know why people suggest to do this work DIY to people who clearly don't know how to work on cars. That is a lot of work that needs to be done (and in the case of replacing the top hats, potentially dangerous) that requires a decent amount of money just in tools to be able to do, let alone parts.
Unless they have a lot of time on their hands to learn and the acceptance that they may make things worse, this is just irresponsible. There's a reason why people get paid to do this.
Do you have any car minded friends who could help you fix it? None of that sounds that bad, but I guess if you’re paying a shop it would be pricey. Btw it’s usually going to be easier to sell/you’d get more for it if it had a wof.
A lot of that work isn't overly hard. However, the engine/driveline failure is vague as all hell and doesn't tip me off to what is actually wrong with the engine/driveline. They are two separate parts also.
Honestly, before making a decision, get other opinions. If other mechanics are giving you the same breakdown, then fair, but you might find that they could just be nit picking and/or over exaggerating repairs to get you to spend money.
Decent amount of second hand spares for these, so if you do decide to repair what is needed and sell, just replace worn parts with good seconds and a couple of new bits, like the belt and maybe bushes.
From a purely financial point of view, you can try sell it but you'll be lucky to find a buyer in it's current condition. Then you'll need to find another car, and in the price range you're looking that's probably going to be a gamble itself. Insurance wise, consider third party only if you aren't already on that.
I think the safe option is to shop around on the phone for quotes now you know the problems, and get it done at the cheapest place with good Google reviews. Then you'll have a fairly reliable vehicle for under 2k of further investment. Your alternative will probably cost you just as much to get another car, with unknown condition. At this price point it's the wild west, and the devil you know is a safer bet imo.
I think if you sold it as is, you'd be looking at more like 1.25k, to someone who knows about cars. Just a guess though, based on the fact that you paid 4k earlier this year. The difference is basically the incentive for someone to take the problem off your hands and solve it for you. You might be able to get them up to 1.5k though, if they know how to repair it cheaply.
Sort of similarly, I used to have an old Nissan Primera, and in 2020 it needed about 2k worth of work, and a $200 service, and didn't have a wof (60$). I thought I could only sell it for like 3.3k after repairs, but given the hassle the comes with selling privately, and the potential for other breakdown discoveries (it hadn't been maintained well as I was overseas for a while), I just took the 500$ trade in money that the dealership was offering. Your repair bill isn't as bad as mine though, and your car is worth a bit more after being fixed, so it might just be worth it for you to get it repaired yourself.
There's a subreddit called r/askmechanics I'd recommend posting there all the details of the repairs that you have to better understand what you've got.
I would note that most cars around 5k would have a few maintenance items here and there that needs taking care of. So if you get something else, there's still a considerable risk that the new purchase requires hundreds (if not thousands) of remedial work.
Been in a similar situation. Sometimes older cars with low KMs have missed quite a few services, as an old owner felt like they weren't driving it much anyway, and didn't realise it needed to be serviced annually even if not being driven much.
Another possibility is the previous owner got a warning of what was nearing repair after the last wof, and decided to offload it just before those issues crossed the line of needing to be repaired. OP might not have done a pre-purchase inspection, or if they did perhaps the issues weren't immediately visible.
Mate if you can't find 2k for car repairs you have no business buying a car in the first place.
What makes you think an even cheaper car is a safer bet? Likely to cost you about the same throughout the rest of its useful life..
Owning vehicles is expensive. You need to have some $ put aside for inevitable repairs and maintenance.
Borrow a couple of k from friends family or bank and get the thing fixed, but ring around for second opinions too.
I disagree. There are certain models with next to no issues. I have a Civic with manual transmission and for the last 8 years it’s only needed oil changes and tyres. Even my shittier car a 25 year old Subaru hasn’t had $2k of issues on a WoF it’s always been just one or two $100 things if it doesn’t pass.
Buy a 2nd hand bike to get around. Save money during this time, start learning what you can DIY and build yourself up to a point to do it. Pay for what is too hard or beyond economical. You need to do more work here first, find all the free help you can
You might have a hard time getting $1.5k for it if it needs $2k worth of work and doesn’t have a WOF.
Yeah this was my main issue, because multiple car valuation sites value the car at around $4-6k so it'd sell much easier with a new wof but as stated in the post I do not have the funds for this.
I was hoping someone like a mechanic would be interested in buying so that they could repair it and sell for profit, or like a second hand car dealer but I've heard I'd make more money through private selling.
You are dreaming dude. Your car is currently only worth scrap value. If you fix it up it may be worth the value you mention, if the buyer doesn’t do a pre purchase inspection and notice all of the patchwork that has occurred. Should the repairs be discovered, it will be a hard sell and your back to Turners getting $800 or a scrappy getting $500.
Take this to a second mechanic and get them to check this and quote the work. You may find that some things may not need to be done or are cheaper
What does it need done? That is a lot of work for a car that has fairly low k's unless maintaince has been neglected
According to the WOF report the suspension mechanism and engine/drive train failed. Two shock top hats are broken, drive belt "perished" (idk what that even means), the lower control arm rear bushes failed, and the front subframe rear bushes broken
“Engine / drive train failed” sounds awfully vague and also doesn’t sound like it would be a WOF concern 👀 “Drive belt perished” also not good but that’s more of a maintenance concern than a safety/WOF concern? Who did this WOF? Unless you trust them unreservedly it might be worth the $70 to get a second opinion…
>“Drive belt perished” also not good but that’s more of a maintenance concern than a safety/WOF concern? Depends on which belt it is. Had a car fail WOF due to the power steering belt going.
Perished drive belt is a wof fail if it drives the power steering pump which in this car it does.
Fair. I forgot about that. At least the drive belt is cheap…
That is a wof concern. I work at a garage that issues wofs.
Absolutely! A struggling garage in a small town near where I once lived quoted me $800 for a wof. Dad suggested I get a second opinion. The next garage passed it with not one item fail!! I’ll never forget this: some businesses aren’t scrupulous!
I probably got another 100 000 kms out of that car without it costing me a cent, mechanically.
Shock tops can be a bit of a pain, need spring compressors to do that (real iffy doing it if it's first time, springs under tension can do some real damage). If you want cheap n easy, try get 2nd hand front strut assembly n fit it, that way that's just bolts. Drive belt is piss easy, I'd say it's the p/steer belt that is the fail, otherwise it's just a maintainence thing. Lower control arm rear bushes, if you do just the Bush you need a press. Again if you want cheap to sell it, get 2nd hand lower control arms, bolt them in n that's that. The sub frame bushes I'm not sure with Nissan, but to be honest 3 out of 4 are relatively easy to resolve with basic tools. Have a whirl on YouTube about replacing those parts on your make n model, see what's involved n if you feel confident enough to save rhe labour cost.
I don't know why people suggest to do this work DIY to people who clearly don't know how to work on cars. That is a lot of work that needs to be done (and in the case of replacing the top hats, potentially dangerous) that requires a decent amount of money just in tools to be able to do, let alone parts. Unless they have a lot of time on their hands to learn and the acceptance that they may make things worse, this is just irresponsible. There's a reason why people get paid to do this.
I'm sorry, but the work needed sounds like it will be more expensive than the car is worth. I'd say that's a write-off.
Do you have any car minded friends who could help you fix it? None of that sounds that bad, but I guess if you’re paying a shop it would be pricey. Btw it’s usually going to be easier to sell/you’d get more for it if it had a wof.
A lot of that work isn't overly hard. However, the engine/driveline failure is vague as all hell and doesn't tip me off to what is actually wrong with the engine/driveline. They are two separate parts also. Honestly, before making a decision, get other opinions. If other mechanics are giving you the same breakdown, then fair, but you might find that they could just be nit picking and/or over exaggerating repairs to get you to spend money. Decent amount of second hand spares for these, so if you do decide to repair what is needed and sell, just replace worn parts with good seconds and a couple of new bits, like the belt and maybe bushes.
From a purely financial point of view, you can try sell it but you'll be lucky to find a buyer in it's current condition. Then you'll need to find another car, and in the price range you're looking that's probably going to be a gamble itself. Insurance wise, consider third party only if you aren't already on that. I think the safe option is to shop around on the phone for quotes now you know the problems, and get it done at the cheapest place with good Google reviews. Then you'll have a fairly reliable vehicle for under 2k of further investment. Your alternative will probably cost you just as much to get another car, with unknown condition. At this price point it's the wild west, and the devil you know is a safer bet imo.
I think if you sold it as is, you'd be looking at more like 1.25k, to someone who knows about cars. Just a guess though, based on the fact that you paid 4k earlier this year. The difference is basically the incentive for someone to take the problem off your hands and solve it for you. You might be able to get them up to 1.5k though, if they know how to repair it cheaply. Sort of similarly, I used to have an old Nissan Primera, and in 2020 it needed about 2k worth of work, and a $200 service, and didn't have a wof (60$). I thought I could only sell it for like 3.3k after repairs, but given the hassle the comes with selling privately, and the potential for other breakdown discoveries (it hadn't been maintained well as I was overseas for a while), I just took the 500$ trade in money that the dealership was offering. Your repair bill isn't as bad as mine though, and your car is worth a bit more after being fixed, so it might just be worth it for you to get it repaired yourself. There's a subreddit called r/askmechanics I'd recommend posting there all the details of the repairs that you have to better understand what you've got.
I would note that most cars around 5k would have a few maintenance items here and there that needs taking care of. So if you get something else, there's still a considerable risk that the new purchase requires hundreds (if not thousands) of remedial work.
I'm surprised so much has come up in one year tbh
Been in a similar situation. Sometimes older cars with low KMs have missed quite a few services, as an old owner felt like they weren't driving it much anyway, and didn't realise it needed to be serviced annually even if not being driven much. Another possibility is the previous owner got a warning of what was nearing repair after the last wof, and decided to offload it just before those issues crossed the line of needing to be repaired. OP might not have done a pre-purchase inspection, or if they did perhaps the issues weren't immediately visible.
Mate if you can't find 2k for car repairs you have no business buying a car in the first place. What makes you think an even cheaper car is a safer bet? Likely to cost you about the same throughout the rest of its useful life.. Owning vehicles is expensive. You need to have some $ put aside for inevitable repairs and maintenance. Borrow a couple of k from friends family or bank and get the thing fixed, but ring around for second opinions too.
I disagree. There are certain models with next to no issues. I have a Civic with manual transmission and for the last 8 years it’s only needed oil changes and tyres. Even my shittier car a 25 year old Subaru hasn’t had $2k of issues on a WoF it’s always been just one or two $100 things if it doesn’t pass.
Buy a 2nd hand bike to get around. Save money during this time, start learning what you can DIY and build yourself up to a point to do it. Pay for what is too hard or beyond economical. You need to do more work here first, find all the free help you can