There is much to be said about running an old car. When I say old, I mean 20+ years. There is also something nice about owning something new and shiny. The trouble is that new and shiny objects come with a monthly amount you have to pay and sometimes, though more often than not, it isn’t actually yours in the first place or at the end of your terms of the agreement.
There was a post on Twitter recently about how some people view older cars with disdain. Let’s be honest, manufacturers do in some ways too. Without the purchase of new cars would mean the likes of you buying something secondhand would be non-existent. Take my Berlingo’s first owner. She bought the car new in 1998. Brand spanking new without a blemish on its new Poseidon blue metallic paint.
Specified with all the options like ABS, aircon and a sunroof, it was a top-spec car. She bought it from White Hart in Seven Oaks and I’m sure my old friend Miles sold her the car. He could sell sand to the Arabs and with that, I’m sure he was responsible for the many well-specified Citroëns you could buy on the secondhand market in Kent.
But is it viable to buy and run an old car without going broke? According to my findings through research which is nothing more than looking at the Birdy Fleet of Broken Dreams, The Berlingo is my newest car and also one of the cheapest. Between 2018 and 2022, the total purchase figure for the 6 13,000 pounds. For that even today, I could have a pretty decent car on the drive. I could probably have 2 but that’s it. Just 2. And to be honest, with current prices for VW camper vans, that 13,000 wouldn’t allow me to have one of those so that thought and this paragraph are just nonsense. So ignore it.
Back to running an old car. Many people signal the virtues of it. Mostly those old cars tend to be second cars or classics. Many petrol heads around will class an old car as a classic. For me, and many who own one, a Berlingo doesn’t really feel like an old car. Probably helped in some way by Citroen having only updated the vehicle 4 times in its 27-year model run.
Is It Viable Or A Work Of Fiction?
I bought Bobby Berlingo on a bit of a whim. I wasn’t really looking for yet another vehicle but Ebay showed this one, poorly described in the title and for £235, I became the new owner of this 20-year-old vehicle with a reported fault with the steering rack hence its low price and probably no other bidders.
Brief History.
Prior to me, this Berlingo had 2 previous owners. Both had from what I could see, looked after it. You couldn’t say it was pampered like it is now. The car stank of dog and there was hair in orifices that shouldn’t have had hair in them. It also sat on cheap tyres and its service history was down to essentials only. However it was still working and bodily speaking, it still looked presentable. The only downside to it was the sunroof was screwed closed due to many old plastic parts having failed.
New Car Treats
Like any new car, we go on a spending spree. Over mats, mud flaps etc, we all add them. Recently, Chris Pollitt from Car and Classic/N2G bought a Daimler. He purchased tailored over-mats and it filled me with joy that he had. It’s the little things.
Then there are those trinkets that make a car special like window deflectors and headlight guards. Thanks to the wonders of the web, this is all so much easier to find than it once was.
Running Costs.
Purchased on 3/2/18 OK, this piece has gone somewhat off track to what I had in my mind as I planned it. I was thinking about the ups and downs of daily driving a 20+ year –old car. Trouble is, it has been pretty much all up.
The first fault on purchase wasn’t the steering rack but a failed N/S front spring. Something Berlingo’s are notoriously known for. That was replaced and it was all ok until the first MOT under my ownership. A slight weep of a rear brake hose and a handbrake that wasn’t as effective as it should be. A new hose and an adjustment and all good. That was at 62,000 miles.
Since then, the miles have increased. I’d like to say that since then, in the dramatic style of many motoring shows on TV, the faults kept on coming. The bank balance was kicked in the gonads and I had to whore myself out to the lowest bidder to keep it on the road but this isn’t the case. In fact, it has been quite the opposite. I even added a section on this website about running the fleet. You’ll find it very sparse on updates.
Apart from the expense of getting the sunroof to operate, there hasn’t been a bill that has exceeded 350. And that large one was for the cambelt and water pump change at my local independent. It’s quite tight in the engine bay and I wasn’t really feeling it. As much as I like to tinkerer, there are times I’ll send the car into the garage. Another reason was having had to have a new auxiliary belt and tensioner at 00000 miles, there were a few issues with seized bolts. Now having those when doing a cambelt can spell a big headache. So to the garage, it went. But that was more running costs and preventative maintenance. The last cambelt change was over 10 years ago.
Problems
There have been only 2 major problems to crop up. First was the one-way valve in the fuel system that started to give the occasional instant starting problem I’d become accustomed to. And the steering occasionally stiffened up. Rectified with a new part and as mentioned a belt and tensioner. Apart from that, there have been 4 new glow plugs. This was an unnecessary extravagance in a way to possibly rectify a lazy lump on initial start-up from cold. It didn’t work. Still does it but hasn’t caused any problems.
There were the new brake pads and discs as advised on the MOT that didn’t need doing but I did them anyway. And then the N/S front track rod. A part that was replaced twice due to premature failure of the pattern part. This was replaced by a new part from Citroen at not a lot more than the pattern part. Sometimes paying for genuine parts is best as mentioned here. https://frontseatdriver.co.uk/2022/09/why-using-genuine-parts-on-your-land-rover-is-a-smart-and-profitable-idea/
And that has pretty much been it I’m afraid to say. This February saw our 5th year together. In that time we have travelled over 25,000 miles. Not bad for £235 on the purchase of what some will see as an old-shita.
So it can be done. Sometimes it can’t but if you choose a vehicle wisely, you can save a lot of money a month. I’ll admit, I am a bit frivolous with my fleet and don’t always buy cheap, especially tyres. The car has to be reliable and I’m sure there are things I could not have had fixed, bought or done to it like spending £800 on sunroof parts. Adding up all the invoices I have for running repairs and trinkets, including £13.33 a month for the sunroof, the Berlingo has cost me £71.27 a month (plus fuel, tax and insurance). Now come on, you to want a piece of this action don’t you?
Geek-fest Numbers
2018
982.79
363.40 running repairs
+800 roof
2019
658.06
492.54 running repairs. Fuel valve and radiator
2020
435.45 62.45 59.48 12.40
Aux belt discs mot rocker cover
599.10
569.78 running repairs
2021
7.50 45 197.99 17.44 95.86 462.61
Front spring, mot, gear shift linkage
881.95
462.61 running repairs
2022
354.62
2023
£0 at the time of writing on January 20th 2023
ALL running costs
tyres mot/tracking
4276.46
855.29 a year