Another addition to the fleet?

[Steve McF]

Well, it looks like we are getting another car off a friend which will more than likely sit in my garage for a few months as my son builds up his driving expereince in my Peugeot 107, with a view to any potential insurance policy being a bit cheaper after he turns 18.

So a friend who has just bought a newer Ford Focus estate was getting rid of the one he has had for the last 3 years - a 57 reg 1.6 Climate, with (admittedly) 158k miles on the clock (he has been doing around 25k miles a year). He offered it to my son for £500. When I looked these up online, they tend to sell for £1500 - £2000 or more. The car has a clean MOT history for the last 3 years (no advisories), and recently serviced and a new alternator fitted.

We had a look over the car, and aside from a bit of a water leak in the boot (known problem), and brake disks looking a little worn on the back, it seems a pretty honest car. In fact, the guy had been to Scotland and back in it just over the Christmas period before getting his newer car.

MOT is due again in mid Feb, and we are hoping to get the car this coming weekend.

So quick question - anyone ever had one of these, and can give us some pointers about things to look out for in the future? If we SORN it immediately, it'll sit in my garage for a while, so plenty of time to have a dabble with fixing/upgrading things!! Or, Imight temporarily transfer the 9-3 insurance onto it (and temporarily SORT the Aero), and use it for work for a few weeks.

The Timing belt was done about 3 - 4 years ago from what I can gather.

[carrera]

Petrol or diesel ?

Diesel ones have a problem with the fuel filter and supermarket fuel causing a non start situation

[Steve McF]

Luckily (I hope), it's a petrol

[Steve McF]

Here it is......

[Steve McF]

Well just picked it up. Seems a solid car for its 155k miles. No unusual noises, although rear brake rubbing noise is noticeable on braking, so may need that looking at for MOT.

Also timing belt was done about 4 years back at 85k miles, so no immediate worries about that. Everything seems to work ok so far.

First thing will be to try to fix the water leak in the boot area, but I've got a fair idea what is causing that.

[carrera]

Rear brakes might just be very low pads (or even shoes)

I would check out the general wisdom on timing belts. On VW's 70-80k is the max if you want reliability, never mind what the manufacturer says...

Have fun

[Steve McF]

So, I wanted to use the car for a bit, but as it is about to be transferred over to my Son's ownership and the road tax cancelled, I'l trying to find out the best way to be able to use it temporarily.

Tax is about £240, so I could pay that, and SORN the car when we take it back off the road again. I tried to add the car temporarily onto my Saab insurance policy with Swinton, but they won't do it. Tried to do the same on with my Peugeot 107 policy, and the same happened. I could put the Saab in the garage, and trnasfer the policy to the other car temporarily, but it'll cost me £15 admin charge each time I swap it, and I'm not sure if the premium will change.

We have another car, our Qashqai, which is in the wife's name, so not sure if I can try that one, as I'm only a named driver on that policy.

So I just got a quote on GoCompare for temporary insurance for me only on the Focus, and it is coming out at around £65 for a week and £100 for 2 weeks (although I've since got a couple of quotes around £85 - £90 for 2 weeks).

I just wondered if anyone else has dabbled with temporary insurance, and got any recommendations about who to try?

[sgould]

I used thes a couple of times  https://www.dayinsure.com

There is also this lot  https://www.tempcover.com  and the RAC /admiral do something as well.