Anyone here run a 20+ y/o car as their only car?

fancy pigeon

FiftyNine wrote: »

I drive a 97 Merc C180, my recent renewal with Axa saw an increase of about 35%, given the cars age and the fact that all insurance seemed to be rising by about that amount and more in some cases I did not do a lot of searching around. I will wait for next renewal before doing that. I do not want to buy an inferior policy with an insurance company who are difficult when you make a claim.

Another W202 driver here happy motoring away. At 212k miles and climbing. Needs a few bushes at the back and a passenger door, otherwise why would I bother drive anything else! Tax and insurance roughly costing the same as each other, I hope it stays that way come renewal in November

MrRolex

fancy pigeon wrote: »

Another W202 driver here happy motoring away. At 212k miles and climbing. Needs a few bushes at the back and a passenger door, otherwise why would I bother drive anything else! Tax and insurance roughly costing the same as each other, I hope it stays that way come renewal in November

I love hearing of cars with over 200K on them still going strong.
The highest mileage Mercedes I owned was a W124 300d with 357K on the clock. Original engine, gearbox, rear differential; still going strong.
The W202 were very good cars, and often didn't suffer with rust like the W210's of the same era. Its mad the way tax and insurance has gone though. I mean say your car is worth 500 Euro; having to pay say 636 tax plus 600 insurance every year; more than its worth itself.
You aren't alone though. I drive a 400 Euro Polo 1.0 litre as my daily, 7 years no claims bonus, clean licence, 40 years of age, and my premium went up 30% this year!
But what can one do? One has to have insurance and tax, so that's that.
When I was in Warsaw I got into a W124 300d taxi with 1 million KM on it.
The driver told me it had 3 gearboxes and 1 rear differential in its life, but it was the original engine. It sounded really smooth as well, one would never know it wasn't 100K on the clock.

Andrewf20

Yup, 1996 e36 323i. Love it. Relatively light with the 15 inch rims also. 235 k miles on her now but running great. Had to replace a load of big parts 5-6 years ago (rad, gear box, rear wheel bearings, cat, brake lines, vanos reconditioned etc) but since then nothing major. Jacking points badly corroded. 2 rear ones have collapsed over the last year. I service it every 9k miles and the engine loose very little oil.

In many ways I prefer its back to basic approach compared to the more modern beemers. Too much tech and added weight and complexity in the modern machines. And I value my spare wheel and dipstick massively. 2 items that seem to be evaporating from newer cars.

pryantcc

I'm in a 1992 Merc 190. 2.0L diesel. Insurance is about 550 a year, not on a classic policy, just a normal one.

clement

Just got my renewal for the year coming. €915. I was 620 last year and 420 the year before on a 94 nissan sunny diesel which I have owned for 9 years. 50% increase three years in a row. Can't even shop around as nobody will quote. Old cars are doomed to the scrapper.

selectamatic

clement wrote: »

Just got my renewal for the year coming. €915. I was 620 last year and 420 the year before on a 94 nissan sunny diesel which I have owned for 9 years. 50% increase three years in a row. Can't even shop around as nobody will quote. Old cars are doomed to the scrapper.

Autoline

kyote00

I ran a 1981 Renault 5 for about 8 months (Apr-Nov) in 2015.

My experience is:

- You do really need to stay on top of maintenance. Timing needed to be tweaked 2-3 times over the period.
- Driving in rush hour traffic with a classic is not fun
- people are generally very chatty in petrol stations/car parks....
- wipers/heating/cooling/lights etc were crap on old cars.
- no abs/ebd etc so your driving style needs to change

Had one breakdown - after car was in airport carpark for 10days. arrived in at 1230am, battery flat but had a jump start pack in the boot ... fan belt had been slipping so not charging properly ....



Its pretty hard on the car also, rain/heat/cold etc....

Sono

Only issue with driving these older vehicles is if it's involved in an accident and written off the insurance companies will give you nothing for it, but I do like the idea of driving a classic :-)

kyote00

I usually agree a value with them .... but who knows if they would honour it....

Of more concern than the money is that any sort of medium speed crash in an 30+ year old car has the potential to cause you serious injury.
Modern cars are very stiff/strong ---

Sono wrote: »

Only issue with driving these older vehicles is if it's involved in an accident and written off the insurance companies will give you nothing for it, but I do like the idea of driving a classic :-)

dhog4n

I've been driving a 93 Hilux Surf for the last ten years. The insurance went up from about 430 in 2015 to 690 in 2016, having been at around 350, give or take, every year before that. The initial quote was 930. When I asked why, they said because it is over 15 years old. When I pointed out that it had been over that age for 8 years, I got silence. It will be interesting to see what happens at renewal time this year.

Maintenance wise, it needs ball joints a lot at test time for some reason but, apart from a new cylinder head in 2013 it has been regular maintenance all the way.

DoctorEdgeWild

Have used a modern classic as my daily for 5 years now, since I moved to the UK. Hopefully that won't ever change!

The only time any of mine spend off the road is if I'm hunting down a part to get something fixed. Costs are low apart from tax and the myth of older cars being money pits is indeed a myth (in most cases anyway!)

My currently most used daily is an 89 Sunny Coupe and it will need a clutch at some point in the next three months but other than that, a service should be all I spend on it this year.