pslewis

Really!

Tonight my wife, driving home from walking dog and lightning struck a tree and it landed on her car! She is ok - glass in hair and shaken .... her car has a dented roof, smashed windscreen and dented bonnet. The car was worth £1000's to us, being a 1 owner mint 1986 car with 60,000miles - but, of course, its worthless to the insurance company.

So? what to do? claim and get £200 (when the excess is taken off) or start again?

The answer, I think, is to start again ..... now, question -

She does about 1500 miles a year, so its a waste spending loads on a replacement ........... what would you recommend as the best car for £500 - £2000? Needs to be small engined and reliable, the floor is open .......................

Pete

Robertio

iTrader: (1)

Sorry to hear that Pete

Something like a Ford Ka?

hades

Bad news.

However, if whe wants something small engined and reliable with the floor open, that has to either be one of those cars from the flintstones or an old Fiat

Sensibly a Ka. Or a Corsa. Or a Fiesta. Or a Polo. Or pretty much any of the major superminis, as I assume she's not very bothered about the driving experience?

ajm

nightmare - glad she is ok! I spose you will finally have to stump up the dough to buy the old dear a new car!

Dracoro

What car was is pete? Is she after a normal car like mentioned above (ka etc.) or something with more oomph? Old and reliable - mk2 golf gti? 106xsi? 306?

Tim-Grove

Bad news mate. for £2k you'll be looking at about a 4 year old supermini if you hunt about.

We had a rummble of thunder today, weird you normaly only get thunder if it warm.

ScoobyDoo555

Sorry to hear about that Pete. Hope she's ok though

I was in the same type of position back in September (her car blew up - not worth anything either)

I ended up buying her a Ford Mondeo 1.8 GLX. She loves it - great boot space, loadsa room for the kids. Good insurance, cheap to run.

Cost me £1200 for an N reg. Fabbo car. I even like driving it.

No frills motoring,.....

Dan

pslewis

Thanks for the sorrys' all if you know what I mean?!

She had a Nova, 1litre, 60,000mile minter, 1986 on the 'C' cost us nothing to run, she only does a very few miles - I have been thinking and she only does about 1500miles a year! It was absolutely ideal for her, reliable to a fault ... these cars don't exsist do they? certainly not for the market value of £400

Gutted as it all sinks in - its the aggro isn't it? How will she get to work, simple stuff like that ..... nightmare!

She is in bed now, shock I presume?

Pete

Chip

Pete,
Why are you worried about cost if your earening 100k

Chip.

DEC14N

sorry to hear about this.
Just sold a VW polo 1.4cl '96 75000miles for £2000, point being it was an excellent small car, cheap to run, very reliable, loads of space even though it's a little car.

unclebuck

Blimey... That's a one in ten million (or something)

Glad she's ok.


UB

[Edited by unclebuck - 1/28/2004 11:14:52 PM]

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

Probably an act of God, trying to get you for all the wicked wind ups you do. But the snow is so thick he probably couldn't see it was you!

F
ps only joking for all you humour-less types out there, hope shes OK blah blah etc.

IWatkins

Sorry to hear the news Pete, glad she is OK.

As for a car, consider something like a Pug 306 1.4XL or above. Can be had cheap, has basic toys and fairly simple so nothing really to go wrong. Still, they can come with elecy windows, power steering and central locking/alarm/immob.

I have an older one (K reg) that I use to nip out for milk etc. in (I work at home) so it only does 1-2k a year. Starts everytime (even if I leave it for two weeks).

Cheap to insure (grp 4 IIRC) and cheap(er) to road tax.

It is so cheap I don't even care about parking it anywhere, which is really great.

Cheers

Ian

si_kosta

Mark 3 Golf 1.4CL or GL.. You can pick up a good M plater with 80k ish for about £1500-£2000 and theyre failry solid cars.

mart360

SAAB 900 turbo

mega grin factor..........

and enoooormous boot for all that shopping

and as its a BIG heavy car, she can just bump the little town runabouts out of the way..


Mart

SJ_Skyline

Pete,

Thank God nobody was hurt!!


[edited cos I didn't read correctly!]

[Edited by SJ_Skyline - 1/29/2004 10:41:58 AM]

yoza

His Mrs was in the car.

Nissan Sunny, they are cheap and run forever.

Glad your bird is OK, put a rollcage in the next one, you know it was meant for you.

Dunk

iTrader: (1)

Can I bring my chainsaw around for logging ?

(Glad all is OK)

D

TopBanana

I bought a mint Nissan Micra 98R 33k FSH from Blackbushe auctions yesterday for £1725 inc buyer's fee. Very nice it is too.

Dave P

Glad your wife is ok.

I myself purchased a Nissan Sunny 1.6 GL for £550 with 108,000 miles on the clock, and it's just entering it's 3rd year.

I've spent about £350 on it of which £100 was an exhaust pipe and £80 MOT's.

Starts first time every day, even after having been left in the cold, wet and damp for 5 weeks.

It's even quite fun to drive.

Dave

Scoob99

iTrader: (1)

Pete sorry to hear that mate, glad your wife is OK, hope you get it sorted soon.
Cheers
Colin

Hanslow

Pete, sorry to hear the news but glad no-one was hurt.

How about an older Honda Civic? Quite cheap to buy and run, very reliable. Possibility?

Jolly Green Monster

iTrader: (4)

Glad she is okay..

Wife does similar miles, maybe slightly more (3000miles)..

She had a Purple 1995 1.4 Corsa GLS thing.. lol

Had an accident in it and wrote it off.. was impressed with the protection given.

We tried many cars in the same price range and ended up buying another Purple Corsa 1996 1.4 lol..

I'd recommend a Corsa, doesn't have to be purple though.

I seriously could not find something that did as you asked it so well and was reliable for the same price.

I wouldn't worry about getting a car with below average miles though, as if anything this last one which had 29,000miles on it when bought has had a couple of teething problems.. nothing major (wheels bearing, water pump) which I think is more down to under use.
The previous one with average miles never caused us a problem really in 4years of motoring other than the expected exhaust and brake pads etc..

JGM

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

Glag to hear the wife is OK

You can get an average miles fiesta flight for 2k, loads of kit, especially compared to a 86 Nova, the heater will actually be effective

Dunk

iTrader: (1)

Pete,
My dad is about to get rid of a 306 Diesel turbo (96/N, 5dr, 88k, full Peugeot history, 1 owner.) for c. £2k if it's of any interest. (Car is in Tidmarsh)

D

Dazza01

Must have been pretty scarey u see these type of things now and then ususlly after a good storm and never think about the person driving it, normally just walk by and laugh at the car, but glad to hear ur wife escaped serious injury.

How's the dog ??????????? poor animal must have made a right mess on the back seat ???

pslewis

Dog was fine!!

On the verge of buying a Nissan Micra 1.0 1996/P 47,000miles

Anyone got one? Any trouble? I have heard of a starting problem with the plugs/damp etc.? It has a timing chain so no worry over that snapping - is it easy to change, as its rumbling (or the rollers are!)

Any help from anyone?

Pete

andrewdelvard

I thought you had money? What are you buying this pos then?

pslewis

So if you have money, you MUST spend it all??

Muppet!

Pete

andrewdelvard

Nobody spends all their money on a car Pete but I'm suprised that a person of your financial muscle doesn't spend a little more considering how worried you are about reliability and other issues.
You haven't been fibbing about all this money have you Pete?