Hello Matt65.

We've been working on this subject for a few weeks, trying to find an option for our members and visitors. At the moment we're not quite ready to publish what we have learned.

There may be an option you could look at, but your trustee will have to correspond with the finance company to agree to you taking out this finance before they give it to you.

Will your trustee do this? If so give us a call or fill in the Contact TDA form and we'll point you in the right direction. Without support from your trustee you may struggle to do this yourself.

My car is now 13 years old (touch wood). Hoping it lasts a while yet

Moneybarn may be of use to you but expect to pay 30-40% APR.

Paul

Im about to enter into a trust deed and both our cars are 9 years old and have high millages on them.

Im not sure of the level of mechanical experiance you have but barring the really big stuff most things can be done on a car at the house.

I had no experiance of working on cars a year ago. I had no money and needed to be able to fix some clunks, bangs and a few worrying ratteling noises. I thought it was going to be MEGA bucks to fix the car and was going to have to trade but also knew with my fancies as they were / are I would not get credit.

Instead I joined a local college for a night school intro to mechanics coures whcih was for 12 weeks and cost £80.00. As part of this course we used my car as a project (as did many of the other course members and their own cars) and fixed everythign whcih was going wrong on my car (broken springs, breaks, pads, trim issues, full service etc). All I needed to do was pay for the parts whcih the college got through their discounted catalouge The istructor got me (with loads of help from him) to do the work on the cars and it saved me a fortune.

As a result I now service and maintain my cars 99% of the time whcih saves a fortune and it means the 9 year old cars we have a running great.... And thats with 100K + on the clocks!

It's worth looking into and considering.

Hi colski

What a fantasic post. I had a near similar one trying to get some joinery work done and after the 3rd ridiculous quote & I mean quotes of up to £6500 for changing 5 doors and surrounding checks (materials were £800)I started looking at college & night classes to do it myself.

Fortunately I got a guy ( Lithuanian) who charged me £90 a door and his work was exceptional.

I'm sure there's a moral to the story somewhere.

TDA you should have a wee trades section on the forum.

Mark

Another good way of managing an older car is joining a car forum.

For example I own a vauxhall so have joined a vauxhall. On these sites there are loads of people who own similar cars (dont worry thyey are not that geek-ey normaly lol) and will have experianced problems similar to the ones you have. If my car starts to make a noise this is always my first port of call. I describe the issues and people come back to me with things to check (as i have no idea where to start normaly), sugested solutions, places to get parts and guides on how to conduct repairs etc. This helps you adviod the garages or if you do need to go to the garage helps you pinpoint the repair and stop unnessesary work being carried out...

Forum sites over all are great for this. I use them for most things, car repairs, house DIY guides, gardening guides, cooking etc.... and my latest favourate site is one which is helping me greatly setting up a Trust Deed and getting me out of the finacial black hole that I am in!

Wonder what site it is I am refering to...?

mark I might get that number from you when TD over!!!!

Brilliant posts colski.

I also found the owners forum for C1s really useful. A few geeky petrol heads and a load of 'others'

Takes the mystique out of car repairs and maintenance for those of us who just about manage to locate the petrol cap and washer fluid reservoir.
Saved me money on knowing the dealership tricks and avoiding them, also has a store for regular items, trims, mats etc. I saved money on a clutch kit, delivered next day and later had the confidence to request parts (all door locks) delivered by dealer be ordered on 'Off The Road' basis.
Apparently, it costs the dealership so they don't offer it and they're not allowed to pass it on. If your vehicle's held captive waiting for parts, they should order it 'OTR'

Hi cal

No problem. I'm not easily impressed with tradesmen through years of experience, but this guy was unbelieveable. Took his shoes off in the house and never stopped for tea, coffee etc. We got him to do a huge amount of other stuff to the point it was becoming a hostage situation!!

Mark

Received the following from my trust deed administrators:

'In the first instance I would advise that as you defaulted on your contractual payments you will find it difficult to obtain credit by way of Hire Purchase or otherwise. The companies who are included in your Trust Deed will have registered these defaults with a credit reference agency.

You may want to consider selling your vehicle and using the proceeds to purchase a new one outright however please bear in mind that I will have an interest in any vehicle worth over £3,000 therefore you should stick to one valued at less than this. I do however appreciate that due to the repairs needing done, it may not be worth much.

You currently do not have a monthly car payment in your expenditure and if you had this added expense, you would be unable be make your contribution according to the income and expenditure done at the outset.

Let me know once you have had the MOT and how much it will cost. Also if you find out how much you could sell your car for it may be an option to provide a payment break to assist you raise further funds.'

On the basis of the above I have decided against changing the car as a £3k car could be in a worse condition than my own which I have owned since new and I know it's history.

My vw golf was 2500 and touch wood runs fine!!!!

Paul