Mot fail- when is it too much to repair?

bristolCraig

New Member
United-Kingdom
I have a Audi A2 2003 plate 1.4 sport. It’s had 8 previous owners prior to me. Which for a 19-year-old car probably isn’t that bad. I bought it is as a runaround. It’s done 130,000 miles. At its last MOT the only thing it failed was emissions. Since I’ve had it it’s had nothing but issues. At what point do you scrap a car of this age when it’s costing more than you ever paid for it? Be keen to know? I keep thinking it’s lasted this long it must be a good quality car.
 
I have a Audi A2 2003 plate 1.4 sport. It’s had 8 previous owners prior to me. Which for a 19-year-old car probably isn’t that bad. I bought it is as a runaround. It’s done 130,000 miles. At its last MOT the only thing it failed was emissions. Since I’ve had it it’s had nothing but issues. At what point do you scrap a car of this age when it’s costing more than you ever paid for it? Be keen to know? I keep thinking it’s lasted this long it must be a good quality car.
Hi bristolCraig,
Bought mine at 122,000. And now sitting at 278,000 it’s survived a broken cam belt &
does 1000 miles a week without to much work .
I call that reliable in my book
1.4 tdi amf engine.
Cheers
Keith.
 
So it has possibly had 19 years of poor servicing and bodges to keep it going.......

Only you know when enough is enough, all I will say is ONCE the faults are found and items repaired correctly these are good cars. But buy it as a cheap run around after numerous others then you should anticipate Pandora's box. Lucky you do not have an FSI.
 
I have a Audi A2 2003 plate 1.4 sport. It’s had 8 previous owners prior to me. Which for a 19-year-old car probably isn’t that bad. I bought it is as a runaround. It’s done 130,000 miles. At its last MOT the only thing it failed was emissions. Since I’ve had it it’s had nothing but issues. At what point do you scrap a car of this age when it’s costing more than you ever paid for it? Be keen to know? I keep thinking it’s lasted this long it must be a good quality car.
I'm wondering what kind of issues are we talking about, if last mot only showed emission? Are they underbody issues, like ball joint or cv boot issues, or engine problems, like EML on all the time and fixing 1 cause opens another one?
Sometimes they originate from 1-2 problems, and trying to work around it just causes more problems, instead of paying a bit more which fixes the issues properly. Yes happened to me as well.
 
Initially it failed on emissions only, paid to get that resolved as that was the only fail. I thought, that’s not to bad for a 19 yr old car. Ten days passed so couldn’t get it retested at original MOT station. Booked another garage for MOT, two weeks after first. It passed on emissions but fails on six other things neve picked up in MOT one. All four Coil springs, fractured corroded, suspension arm
Ball joint corroded broken, drive shaft boot split broken. Long list of things that I am now debating if worth getting repaired or not.
 
It rather sounds to me that your car is a neglected person, rather than a bodged one. In my view, this is a much better place to be, all the things that you mention are doable, and once done will last for a goodly period. When was the cam belt last done? What happened to your original MOT station? They should be able to re test and they can hardly "find" all manner of other "horrors". They might be able to charge again though.

There is an extremely good Audi bunch of people in Bath. VASS. Very good, and would give your car a proper once over and advise accordingly.

PS I am assuming that the retest was with another outfit. Seen that it was, so perhaps a re test with the first MOT station is a starting point.
 
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Generally in Norway a new car depreciate £5000 a year. Considering this, you could in Norway spend that amount of money every year in repairs. It is however impossible to spend that much money in repairs every year to keep an A2 roadworthy.
 
Thanks for all the advice, much appreciated. It’s helped me to make a better decision about the car. Not sure about the cam, guess I best investigate a little more.
 
Initially it failed on emissions only, paid to get that resolved as that was the only fail. I thought, that’s not to bad for a 19 yr old car. Ten days passed so couldn’t get it retested at original MOT station. Booked another garage for MOT, two weeks after first. It passed on emissions but fails on six other things neve picked up in MOT one. All four Coil springs, fractured corroded, suspension arm
Ball joint corroded broken, drive shaft boot split broken. Long list of things that I am now debating if worth getting repaired or not.
If you don't take your car back in 10 working days to the same MOT station, you can STILL take the car back to that exact same place even a month later, but you have to pay the full MOT, not only half of it. That's it. There is no law that you can't take it back there if you want to.

I think you'd have booked the car in again for 1st place you had been, instead taking it to another garage, where you have to pay the cost of full MOT check either way.

I've been in similar situation very recently, my advice is to either take the car back to the 1st garage, see what they come up again, if this time they give you a different list, then ask why didn't they include that on the previous MOT, or take the car to a 3rd garage, it cost another £40 or so, but sometimes really worth getting another opinion, just like in my case.
 
It rather sounds to me that your car is a neglected person, rather than a bodged one. In my view, this is a much better place to be, all the things that you mention are doable, and once done will last for a goodly period. When was the cam belt last done? What happened to your original MOT station? They should be able to re test and they can hardly "find" all manner of other "horrors". They might be able to charge again though.

There is an extremely good Audi bunch of people in Bath. VASS. Very good, and would give your car a proper once over and advise accordingly.

PS I am assuming that the retest was with another outfit. Seen that it was, so perhaps a re test with the first MOT station is a starting point.
Fully agree Simon, I have experienced this many times in the past 47 years.
 
i didn’t take the car back to the first station due to them having no availability for testing, the other garage could test the car more quickly, hence I went there. My initial point being is it worth repairing?

thanks all, been very helpful so far, much appreciate. 😀
 
Also once an MOT tester enters something as a FAIL on the system then no other testing station can make that item a PASS until it is rectified. So just going to another testing station now is pointless, and lets be honest the first tester should have picked up those extra faults. The unfortunate part was the unavailability of a RETEST at the original station.

Unfortunately this also proves the MOT is not worth the paper it is written on in many cases.

A learning experience but in my opinion repair the now known list of defects including any advisories and have the belts, tensioners, idlers and water pump replaced shortly after getting an MOT pass certificate.

This obviously depends on your budget. I always think that it takes a couple of years to get a used / abused A2 back to a good standard.
 
It’s sounds like it’s bolt on bits, and although it costs labour, the parts are cheap enough.
every car I’ve bought over the last 30 years i have replaced items such as balljoints and rubber bits, and usually just do the lot. I do my own work, but I have proved that it’s a good move as both my 60 year old Landrover and Volvo Amazon have been reliable and passed every mot in 10 years. Had I not done it they would both fail on random things every year which it annoying. I stay stick with the devil you know, as anything else could just be more trouble, and even if you went out and bought new there’s no guarantee it won’t cost big money within a few years. There are new cars about that are a total nightmare with known (and unknown) issues. Ford ecoboost with the wet belts are failing under 10,000 miles for example.
 
The question to ask yourself is, how much will it cost me to replace the car, then the new car could have problems... If the A2 has been otherwise reliable a cambelt if required and fresh mot might be a better option.

The original test missed the extra items or has the next test centre been looking for work ? One of the two has got it wrong
 
Like others have said, just take it back to the first MOT place.

Having said that, nothing in the list sounds major, it's just routine. Personally I'd get that stuff changed regardless.
 
Like others have said, just take it back to the first MOT place.

Having said that, nothing in the list sounds major, it's just routine. Personally I'd get that stuff changed regardless.
Hello Mike, I’ve read many of your posts on here and on the TDI forum and found your advice on the subject of fuel economy to be invaluable. Glad you’re not forum-dead after all!
 
My gut feel is, unless you are handy with spanners, that car has reached the end of the road with you. It will be very expensive to have repaired, ask the garage that failed it for an estimate to check.
Don't scrap it though if the repairs are overly expensive, somebody here may take it on or offer it to one of the recyclers.
 
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