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Advice required on cheap car - to £1,500

glenda

pfm Member
Hi folks,
We live around 1.5 miles from a small town with excellent public transport but the track leading to our property is onto an A road with no pavements. The path at the back of the house leads to a paved cycle path.
We are hoping to house a Ukrainian family from the end of the month , a woman and 3 girls over 12.My wife is between jobs so can do the driving for a month.
After that, we're not sure. I was thinking of lending/giving the family the money for a car.
I know nothing about cars and am a non driver. Can you buy a reliable car for £1500 max? Just comparing it to a bike where I would never recommend a £100 bike.
Any advice appreciated.
Thanks
Tony
 
Just a thought, try contacting a local 2nd hand car dealer and see if they could help. People are mostly very positive about the plight of Ukrainians so an association with such would be a bonus for any business involved.
Excellent idea
They could go for the publicity and cheap or even free
 
I use a 1998 Ford Focus to commute to work. 40 mile round trip. Cost me £600 four years ago and never fails. Only have wear and tear repairs on the yearly service. It's a Ghia so the CD player is decent enough as well. Appreciate a lot of people would not want to be seen driving a 25 year old car (my son is one!) but it certainly doesn't bother me.
 
Just a thought, try contacting a local 2nd hand car dealer and see if they could help. People are mostly very positive about the plight of Ukrainians so an association with such would be a bonus for any business involved.

This - they may have a P/X knocking around you could borrow.

Failing that, as a connoisseur of low budget motoring, a manual Ford Focus or Peugeot 307/308 5 door or estate spring to mind.
 
You should be able to find a Honda Accord at around that price. Honda reliability and ample room, especially if you can source an estate.
 
my Dads Ford Focus has been bullet proof. His early one rusted away.

"They all do that, Sir, it's a feature". Mechanically they are bulletproof as you say, they do tend to rust. Mazda 3 and Volvo S40/V50/C30 are based on the same platform as the Late-2000s model Focus
 
Ford badge, 10+ years old, ideally below 100k miles. Petrol engine if you can find one. Yes, fuel use will be more but they won't be doing mega miles. Ensure 6+ months MoT. £1500, take your pick, even in the current world of elevated prices.
I run older cars, my current car is a 2009 diesel Audi A5 with 188k miles on board. I had great service from a Ford Mondeo 1.8 petrol, 2003. Bought it in 2014 with 95k miles, covered 60k incident free miles in 4 years at a cost of about £300 a year in servicing and MoT repairs (the usual run of brakes, suspension bushes, bearings etc). 38mog average over that time and tyres at £50 a corner. It was nice to drive too, against the odds. I'd have a Mondeo, Focus, Fiesta as a daily hack tomorrow, without hesitation.
 
I would get an insurance quote and see how driver licencing works before worrying too much about vehicle specifics. That sorted, a 10-15 year old Ford Focus/Fiesta seems sensible.
 
Definitely check insurance first and don't forget vehicle licence duty as well, differences there can be huge.

I'd say for a car at this level the make and model of the car is rather less important than the condition and history. I'd be looking for a 10+ year old small engined petrol car owned by an older person that doesn't drive a lot and has it serviced every year.
 


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