Hi all, Last week had my first ever bump on Friday and whilst it wasn't big, insurers think: "Based on our information it appears your vehicle is beyond economical repair and therefore we will appoint Copart to uplift the vehicle for a physical inspection to take place first. If at this point it is deemed repairable, we will contact you to book into a garage otherwise the engineer will discuss the value of your vehicle. " As it turns out I don't get a courtesy car whilst they decide, and only will if it is deemed repairable. Car still drives fine (as far as I can tell) and so I've managed to delay the collection to Friday (was meant to be collected today) to give me a bit of breathing room but yeah, need to get looking at a replacement sharpish it seems... Current car is a Nissan Pulsar, petrol, 2014, 80k miles. Couple of niggles but overall like the car, on my insurance documents it says the value is £5380, so I guess looking at replacements in the 5-6k range, although it seems like that'll get me a worse car so maybe I'll get more for mine not sure. Had hoped next car would be electric but we hadn't planned on changing quite yet so looking for recommendations. At the moment doing 85ishmiles a day (4x20ish) commuting until my wife passes her test at which point it'll halve. The commuting is mostly b roads, once every week or two drive 150 miles round trip to the office, mostly motorway. Other than that mostly driving around town etc. Couple of longer trips a year probably (Glasgow to Essex and back). Want heated seats and cruise control, this car has some sensors, rear camera but they wouldn't be missed that much I don't think. Any recommendations? Haven't looked at lease/pcp/whatever else options so not sure if they'd be worth considering vs outright buying.
Just a heads up mate they will definitely write it off and then sell it online on their auctions for a disgustingly high price, and nick the cats and other stuff off it, I know many people who have bought cars and fixed them off there and have worked in the trade in various ocupations motortrade wise. Co-Part are scum mate. I know this doesn't help with the new car choice, but it should give you a bit less stress knowing you'll get your payout vs wondering whilst those jobsworths long it out. Did you not get a choice of where to send it for inspection? I always have had that option - my personal preference is to send it to the crappest incapble jobsworth garage locally and they'll again just not bother and say it's a write off - saves you stress and pretty much garranties you get your money back. After all who wants something that was worth money not marked as crashed and worth nothing resell wise - so IMHO when the worst happens the best thing you can do is get it written off and get something fresh - unless it's a classic/something you care about and never want to sell/run till it returns to the earth with rust
You could still go electric on your budget, just. But you'd be limited to a 24kWh or 30kWh Nissan Leaf of 2012-2107 vintage. Neither of which would cover your office trip without stopping to charge each way.
I didn't get a choice, I submitted the claim Friday morning, and in the afternoon had a text with a link to enter some details and had the collection arranged for today. Had assumed it would be repairable as it drives fine and that would have been less faff but we'll see. Yeah I've seen a couple, was more just the fact we weren't planning on changing yet so not sure we've got the money savings wise to upgrade to something we'd want electric wise. But income has never been better so maybe could consider finance of some sort if we wanted to go the electric route. That journey to the office is already 1h 30m - 2h each way so don't want to make it any longer really
Around the 10-12k mark you can pick up 40kWh Renault zoes which have a 150ish mile range or a "newer" Nissan Leaf (i.e. 2017 plate or newer), both with comparatively low miles (<50k miles). I personally think the Renault Zoe is a great run-around car for town etc but would limit day trips to 1hr away and 1hr back type distances to be comfortable without charging at the location (which is getting easier). Do watch out for the battery lease though models with an (I) are battery owned or otherwise you need to double check that the battery finance is cleared. The newer Leafs are nice cars also and they come in 40kWh and 64kWh battery options, the later being a >200mile range all rounder but you have the risk of the Chademo "rapid" charge port becoming outmoded in the coming years. The "fast" charge port is a Type 2 so no issues with home charging or up to 22kW charging out and about. You then move into the £15-£20k range to get something like a Kona or Kia E-niro which are great family cars by all accounts but haven't been around long enough to get into the cheap and chearful price bracket. This was based on searching at the beginning of the year and used electric car prices have been on a downward trend recently so there may be bargains to be had. A good benchmark website is a company called drive green as they are EV specialists. Probably a bit more expensive than the best deals on autotrader but they have a nice range and easy to navigate website: https://drive-green.co.uk/
The problem with longer trips in the pre-2020 Renault Zoe, is that it's up to 22kW AC charging only. Even then, 50kW DC charging was a £1000 option until late 2021. Other used EV specialists I know of are Cleevely EV, who not only sell used EVs, they will also come and service them on your driveway Eco-Cars - Although they're based in the far North of Scotland, they'll buy to commission at the auctions.
Mrs Crap got a Kia Ceed not that long ago and absolutely loves it. She's driven a whole bunch of cars through work and personally owned, and says it's one of the best cars she's driven. They come well spec'd and comfortable enough to not anger my nerve damage too much on long journeys.
I test drove a 4 yr old Kia Rio which was ~£9k with <20k miles on it and it was a great petrol car for the money with all the mod cons (air con, cameras, parking bips, sat nav etc)
Sorry to hear your car is likely to be written off. It really hurts to have beloved car written off. My first car that is solely at my disposal was written off. I met my (now) wife in it and we went to many places around the country. Loved it. But it was written off due to some idiot crashed into it and pushing it into a solid pole, bending the frame. Another thing with write-off is that insurance company will do as much as humanly possible to pay you pennies. Typically they will pay you what you'd get if you sell your car, not how much it would cost you to buy another one! The key question for EV is, have you got driveway? Can you charge overnight? If not, despite I'm a big EV fan, I don't think it's a suitable option. If you can charge overnight on cheap home tariff, EV's are worth considering. Because you can get it down to 3p/mile rather than 13p/mile at ~55mpg. At 10k annual mileage, it's a saving of £1000 a year straight away. Meaning you can stretch slightly for a more expensive car. Second hand EV prices are just perfect for someone looking to buy right now.
Or just get a nice used reliable Golf for 5k Example here: VOLKSWAGEN GOLF TSI SE 1.4 Turbo Petrol 5dr *1 Year Warranty* ULEZ Free | eBay
Thanks for all the input, we're trying to work out what kind of thing we want to aim for (spend less on a 'worse' car and save a bit of money, basically replace it with another, probably have to spend a bit since will want one with less milage, or try to get something a bit 'nicer/newer'). Kind of £3-5k for a cheaper/older/'worse' care, guessing £6-8k for basically the same car just a bit newer/lower mileage, or maybe £10k+ (and as a result probably some kind of financing) for something nicer/electric maybe. Heated seats do limit things but at the moment they're a must apparently Cheers, just annoying really since it still drives fine and just don't want the faff of trying to replace it to be honest! Yeah we do have a drive, wouldn't even consider an electric car without one. Yeah I had a gander on a couple of comparision sites and since at the moment we're on for 20k+ miles this year if nothing changes could save a decent amount on fuel even without changing tariff (which I'm not doing yet as I'm currently trying to sort out the mess our energy bills currently are).
Yeah we did consider something like that, we just both assumed chances of that going wrong were high (have never really trusted any in car powered things ). But if not then yeah it cerrtainly makes more options
I wouldn't use one of those add-in pads, just get the car that has the right kit! Heated seats on proper cars aren't that difficult to find, and the OE solutions are worth getting imho. Maybe not that engine, which isn't very reliable... But I'd agree on the suggestion - Mk6 or Mk7 Golf with petrol engine, preferably the 2.0T.
What is the actual damage to the car, i was rear ended in a Citroen c8, by a DS3. When i got out to survey the carnage, her car was a right mess, but i struggled to see what was wrong with mine. The tow bar mount took the brunt of it, i had a small scuff on the bumper, not visible from more than 2 foot away, and a 1/2" gouge on the fibre glass tailgate.Written off Cat N, cost to repair £2500 ish. Bought the car off the insurers, intending to run it into the ground, so not worried about resale value. Total cost £278, that included an MOT, which it had passed only a month prior to the accident, but had to be redone. No difference to insurance cost. Sadly 2 years later it succumbed to the dreaded rot, stupid tyre fitters not using the jack points over the years.
Yeah those twin charged things are a timebomb... The 2.0T's that snap their chains even when replaced every 30ish k miles... Nah mate. The bam 1.8T was a strong engine but not the 2.0T hence why they go for nothing.
The 1.4 twincharged was bad enough that the dealers stopped offering extended warranties at the time... As for the EA888, I've not heard of one which was serviced and had the duff tensioner replaced having chain issues, but I can't say I've spent much time mending them. No such thing as a perfect car, whatever you choose it'll have inherent issues, unless you go for a 90s Toyota.
Apparently the newer TSI's are fine, still super fussy on the timing chain though, not something I would want to try and tackle myself just seeing the locking tools for it. I've been debating a Caddy recently so spoke to a friend who working for a VW Indie he told me what to watch out for with those lumps, an then promptly told me if I got one he will remap it to 185BHP, which from a little 1.4 just boggles my mind.
