Big bill for my car!

[Guest]

Just had a estimate of c. £2,000 to get my new 944 sorted; 2/3 of the cost of the car! I am shell-shocked.... Have decided to get the work done but will split it into more manageable chunks so I can convince myself I can afford it.

* power steering pump
* front & rear brake pads
* front discs
* fix 1 front & 1 rear binding caliper
* gearbox & engine leak
* anti-roll bar bushes
* cambelt service
* chain tensioner
* a couple of other small bits I now forget


To help me feel better, has anyone else had a huge bill they didn't expect & what was it for? Also, am I stupid & wasting money by getting this work done? The thought of giving up has crossed my mind but I really want this car to be sorted. I am starting to think maybe I should have spent more on a better car in the first place.

 

[RC18B 911 turbo]

That's quite a big bill but that's what can happen when running these cars but when it's done at least you shouldn't have to worry about most of them for a while afterwards

 

[Riverside]

Welcome to classic car ownership []

A significant fraction of my life is spent planning what work to have done & in what order, whether to do it myself or take it to the garage (cost vs hassle), worrying about how much I'm spending, whether I'll crash it on a track day (should I get insurance this time or not?), whether I'll crash it on the road, whether it'll get keyed in the car park & so on & so on.

Personally I derive a certain pleasure from fixing broken stuff, but I hate it when I break things.

Normal cars are painless to own but give little pleasure (for me at least). When you own an 'interesting' car the ying & yang inevitably swing out a little further both ways.

hth

 

[Fen]

ORIGINAL: creamray
To help me feel better, has anyone else had a huge bill they didn't expect & what was it for?

Always - only now I just assume £1,500 or so on any car after I buy it. To be honest I think I'd end up doing it even with a brand new one.

 

[sawood12]

Looking at the list there are some jobs that are the sort of jobs that would only be carried out every 10 - 15 yrs or so and unfortuntiately it's frallen within your period of ownership. Thats the risk of owing old cars. If it is any consolation there are two ways I justify spend on my car. One is that if I add up the total i've spent on my car so far (taking out normal servicing costs and reasonable repairs) and look at what else I could have the list of cars I come up with leaves me stone cold. The second justification is that I see my 944 as much of a hobby as a mode of transport. My brother has just spent £2k on a mountain bike! If that is'nt an expensive enough hobby he only bought his previous mountain bike about 2 yrs ago for £1200. So when you put it in terms of other popular hobbies the spend is not massively excessive. Lets face it, who would ever consider bying a Porsche of any type for cheap and chearful motoring?!

 

[edh]

Some of those jobs are fairly easy diy - most are covered on here. is it an S or an S2?

Where are the oil leaks coming from? - I've not heard of gearboxes leaking before.

Even if you spend more on a "better" car, most of these jobs are going to crop up sooner or later - discs, pads, belts are all regular service items

 

[Guest]

You're slowly cheering me up. I had budgeted £1,000 to get the car sorted but to hear double that - well I'm sure you've all had that awful feeling in your stomach. I had a 3.2 Carrera Sport until 2 years ago and, when I went back over all the bills before I sold it, realised I spent an awful lot of cash on it. Just not all at once! []

But I'm thinking, what I spend cash-wise to get the car back in shape, I'll get back through the amount of pleasure I'll get from driving it. Am going to take this on the chin, pay the bills & really enjoy my car. You're right Scott, it is a hobby owning an old Porsche & one I love. And I'm going to keep this car for a very long time.

Hopefully, I'll have the car back for the Silverstone Classic this weekend (anyone going?). Am also hoping to get to the Goodwood Breakfast Club on August 5th. So hope to see some of you there. You might have to buy me breakfast as I will be broke....[]

 

[Guest]

The car is an S. Aye, some of the jobs are DIY but where I live I just don't have the room to do any of the work myself. Not sure yet of the exact location of the leaks yet, but there is definitely a small leak from the gearbox as well as the somewhere at the front. Northways are going to have a look to see if the leaks are a quick & easy thing to sort out or not. Will let you know what they come up with.

Fingers crossed....

 

[Neil Haughey]

My worst was over £5K in one hit! on a car that is probable worth £5K tops. That should cheer you up.

Have to say I don't really worry about it anymore. Both my cars have no loans or finance associated with them and have depreciated all the way already so to my mind every month that goes past without requiring new parts is like free motoring.

Put it this way if you spanked £25K + finance on a new 320D M-sport or whatever you would be looking at the calendar ever few months and thinking thats another grand I have lost!

Couple that with the fact that new or nearly new cars get worse with age whereas my S2 is better to drive now then at any other time over the past 7 years at least. This is the sort of pleasure you only get after being with a car for a long time and get it thoroughly sorted.

Basically I hate worrying about cars and 944 S2/turbo are cheap enough now that I could wreck my car and just buy another one and start again. Worrying about the thing just spoils the fun, at least thats what I keep telling meself!

 

[Guest]

Neil, you've definitely cheered me up (not that I am laughing at your previous misfortune). Am just glad to hear of someone else who's spent the same on repairs as their car cost them in the first place. To be honest, I'm already looking forward to getting the car back all sorted!!

 

[wizard]

I spent just short of 5K getting mine sorted last year..... then the bugger blew up one year later due to a poor fuel pump (possibly)

I only seen KUI twice since January.[] But she will be coming back much more healthy.[]

 

[Guest]

Well, I had my car (944 Turbo) inspected before I bought it and it needed some pretty big work doing. I, like you again had budgeted £1k, but in the end it cost £1.5k. Fact is, I know my car is now pretty much as a good an example I could get for a std 944 @ 20 yrs old at the money I paid. Just because it needed that money spent on it, doesn't make it a bad example, (ok, even if you didn't get the money off when buying) What affected my bill most was the fact that the fuel and brake lines needed doing - a 10hr job. I knew that when I bought it but inevitably the cost added up to more than I calculated even with the help of the inspection. I also decided to get it serviced while it was in, which added some more too.

Looking at your bill - I would attempt to do the brake jobs as that can be pretty labour intensive, and you could save a few bob by sending them to a specialist or asking on here how to refurb them.

Ultimately, for the first time for me when buying a car, the most important thing was seeing what jobs had been done, and what jobs were required soon. I discounted quite a few cars @ £6k that hadn't had a recent clutch, cambelt as it made them very overpriced IMHO.

Chris.

 

[Gordon Attar]

My first bill from Northways was £1500 last month.

Had to have the cam belts done as it had been 8 years(20k) had all belts and liquids changed, full 48k service, needed a clutch master cylinder, water pump,aircon regas, £770 of parts in all and £540 of labour and then I spent £800 on the paintwork!

Thats almost as much as I spent on my 964 over 3.5 years and more than I've spent on the 993TT so far and I new of £1300 worth when I bought it(new discs, pads and rear dampers), which I delayed for a year. The car stopped quicker than my 964 so I wasnt to worried.

Ask Ray what needs doing for the MOT and what can be delayed and plan accordingly.

 

[pauljmcnulty]

I'd add two things.

Firstly £2k is not even in the same league as the cost of the depreciation on even a modest car such as a Focus over a year. You own a Porsche, so need to expect the repair costs to be a bigger hit than with most lesser machinery. I know it's easy to say as it's not my wallet...[], but if you work out the running costs of a 944 over a few years it's not going to be as horrendous a figure. The problem is, you don't notice the depreciation on a car as it's not money up front. The same with the cost of the money invested in a new car rather than in the bank. To put it in context, every car and van I've owned since the early "bangers" has lost at least £2k per year in value, whereas the 944 has lost about £1.5k in over three years. Put that way it's a no-brainer, and the Porsche looks nicer on the drive than a van....[]

But, I'd think carefully about whether the car is worth the investment. I don't know what you paid for it, but I'd want to know that there were not going to be any more big bills coming. If the bodywork needs a bit of attention, the suspension is sagging, all the fuel and brake pipes are corroded and the clutch is on it's last legs for instance, you could be in for a series of unpleasant shocks!

I guess that there are two ways of running a 944. You can buy a banger and run it into the ground, or, as most people here do, think long-term and be realistic about the unexpected big bills.

 

[DavidL]

I think we all get these bills from time to time. I've had some covering a good chunk of what you need doing. Is it worth it - of course it is especially with the gulf between the good cars and not so good getting bigger as every year goes by.
As has been said this is the price you pay for not having a car that depreciates - just think of the list of goodies you would be able to put in an ad in the unlikely event you need to sell it. Would it sell - of course, as its in good health and you can prove it.
Makes a decent PPI well worth it too.
Do what you can DIY and farm the rest out in affordable chunks.

 

[Guest]

Some very good advice in your replies, thanks guys. It is less than a new car would depreciate by (my Mini Cooper S lost me £3k in 12 months). I am lucky that the car has another 11 months before the next MOT to get all things sorted. Ray Northway said the rest of the car seems sound (clutch seems good, suspension good & the brake & fuel pipes have minor corrosion but apparently they'll polish up ok) so I have a bit of confidence that she's worth saving.

I'd love to be able to do some of the work myself but don't have any space (or even any expertise) to do it at the moment. Ongoing, am going to teach myself to do the basic maintenance to keep costs down. This is the first time I've bought a classic car without getting a PPI; I've learned my lesson!

Ray said to concentrate first on making the car steer & stop like it should & leave the cambelt service & the two leaks for the moment (still another 8k miles before the belts have to be done but would prefer to do sooner). So, am going focus on these first. This work will cost about £1,000 & I've given them the go-ahead to do the work. Next will be to sort the leaks & replace the belts. Finally, will need to replace the headlights, sort the leak from the rear hatch & then do some minor bits & pieces. Then, once I've sold a kidney, I will treat the car to a new paint job.

Well, my old Merc definitely will have to go now to fund the 944 repairs. But, even with all the work required I am very happy I finally bought my 944 which hopefully will be with me for a very long time. And I've finally rejoined the club.

 

[pauljmcnulty]

You've made a happy man very old.....or something like that! [&:]

Personally I think the only thing that will keep the cars a league above chav-level is the attitude you guys show to your cars. It might seem like a lot of effort and money sometimes, but it pays huge dividends in the long run.

 

[John Sims]

£2K? Ha! I laugh at your miserly sum []

I haven't dared add up the final bill on Beakys brake and suspension work but I am pretty certain it was three times that.....and I need the belts doing this year, and the hand brake wants a dose of looking at, and I've found some rust.....and the list goes on.

On the plus side.....there isn't an alternative car less than £40K that I would rather have (and that would have been £100K+ new)

 

[Fen]

I'm not sure I agree with your last statement John - I was quite tempted by an M12 for example, though nothing sub £25k would do.

I do however agree my brakes, suspension, wheels and tyres came in about £6k in parts only. In fact I know what I spent on the car (roughly) but I still can't see where it all went if the chassis was only £6k.

 

[Diver944]

Ray, there are always going to be years where you are hit by a sudden big bill with these cars when something major wears out. I have been very lucky with my own S2, were it cost just under £1k for the first 8 years over 90k miles but then last year it had three big bills totalling over £3k []. First it was belts, rollers, waterpump, camchain and service followed by rusting brake and fuel lines for the MOT and then rounded off with replacement ECU's for the engine and ABS system

Once Northway have sorted out the immediate items then you should be able to allow your wallet to relax a little and prepare it just for regular maintenance []