Hi Guys,

i’m just after some advise please.

i’ve got a 1996 Octavia 1.6se diesel manual estate company car. I’ve had it from new and it has had a really easy life, lots of motorway miles and is dealer serviced and it has been totally reliable up until now.

i now have to make a decision, do I get a new replacement company car or buy my Octavia and run it for 2 to 3 years.

it has got 96000 on the clock and I would be doing around 25000 miles a year, maybe more.

what I would like to know is:

what major service expenses can I expect in the next 50-75000 miles (ie cam belt) and approx cost?

is the Octavia known for getting to higher mileages (do others run high mileage Octavia reliability)?

what do you think is a fair price?

it’s in good condition except for a broken front grill (hit a pheasant and it wasn’t repaired due to the £1000 estimate).

 

thanks 

 

Do you mean a 2016 company car?

It’s a company car I got new in sept 2016, I am still running it, but it’s due to be replaced.

 

Just now, Solarbeezer said:

It’s a company car I got new in sept 2016, I am still running it, but it’s due to be replaced.

 

You put 1996 in your initial post.

Sorry just saw my typo- yes 2016 not 1996

The way I see it is that any car costs are a lottery. Some cars can be hassle free and others be nothing but trouble. As long as a car is serviced and taken care off it will get way beyond the 100,000 miles mark. You will need to change the cambelt and water pump at some point. Prices range from £350 ish up to £500 at main dealers.

The main issue with higher mileagr diesels will be the dpf, as they do block and will eventually need replacing. You can just get them cleaned properly for a lot less and it will be as good as new.

Taxi drivers use these cars and swear by the reliability of the Octavia.

I bought my 3 year old company car (Oct est 1.4TSI) a couple of years ago. It was on lease to the company from VW finance, but the mechanism to buy it was through BCA (car auction people) - that is how VW dispose of their lease vehicles. So the price was set at auction price + a very little bit. Way less than anything equivalent I could find from dealers or privately.

It had been serviced through the lease by Skoda, and I could then get an extended Skoda warranty - I took all component cover with £100 XS, 10K mileage. 1st year (i.e. 4 years old) was £250. 2nd year £155. Doesn't cover everything (wear and tear etc), but seemed a very good deal. Haven't had to use it.

The mileage should make it pretty cheap to buy, and they do have a reputation for reliability and reasonable running costs  - as said above, they are popular with cabbies for good reason.

If you know it's in good nick, well looked after and serviced, and reliable, then the risks are relatively low, and you just weigh up the cost of personal car tax on a new company car vs the cost of running/owning the one you have. Depending on what you might have in mind for a new one, and your tax rate etc (and how you think that might change in the near future!), it's probably financially preferable to buy the old. And of course, whether you want a new car on the drive (even if it's not yours!).

Mine at 5 years old still looks like new and no plans to change it!

At 25,000 miles a year I wouldn't expect the DPF to be clogging up anytime soon.

 

One major issue for me would be that pheasant.  If it's a company car and it's insured, then I'm asking myself why hasn't it been repaired? All sounds a bit dodgy.

 

A quick look on autotrader shows similar cars with that mileage selling betweem £6500 an £7000. If you take off their profit that means I'd expect the car to be worth around £5000. It's easy to find out - just go to a few car buying sites an see how much they'll offer you for the car. Remember to describe it accurately !

 

It's recommended the cambelt ( and probably waterpump given that it's a diesel ) be changed at 5yr so there's a £500 outlay coming up. You have accident damage on the car which we 'assume' is £1000 (although why it hasn't already been repaired worries me - could it be more than £1000? ) So straight away that's you looking at paying £3500 for the car just to break even.

 

It doesn't cost anything to ask how much the lease company will sell it for but I have a feeling they'd be looking for more money than that.

Edited 22 June, 20205 yr by Guest

Thanks for the info, I went on a few sites and valuations range from just over 5000 to 6500. I was expecting around 5000ish from the lease company.

 

The grill wasn’t repaired because my company put it off and then it got conveniently forgotten, I didn’t mind at the time as I would have had to pay a part of the cost and it was a shocking £1000 as the grill is integral with the bumper and it would need a whole new front end bumper and respray..

i don’t know what would happen with this if I did look at buying, I could live with the cosmetic damage if  I could get a reduction in price, but I think my company would need to claim off their insurance and fix it before handing it back.

9 hours ago, Solarbeezer said:

Thanks for the info, I went on a few sites and valuations range from just over 5000 to 6500. I was expecting around 5000ish from the lease company.

 

The grill wasn’t repaired because my company put it off and then it got conveniently forgotten, I didn’t mind at the time as I would have had to pay a part of the cost and it was a shocking £1000 as the grill is integral with the bumper and it would need a whole new front end bumper and respray..

i don’t know what would happen with this if I did look at buying, I could live with the cosmetic damage if  I could get a reduction in price, but I think my company would need to claim off their insurance and fix it before handing it back.

 

That is correct re the grille if going the dealer/official repair route, however it is possible to just replace the grille itself, but it requires cutting out the old and plastic welding the new one. It is a bumper off job, but that's no big deal.

 

There are aftermarket grilles about too, such as the Superskoda one, but you'd be cheaper with one like this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283820585969

 

Edited 23 June, 20205 yr by pist0nbr0ke

I would look at it like this.

If you pay £5000 for it and then budget a reasonable amount for servicing/tyres/repairs over 3 years, say £3000 (Cam belt/pump will be about £800), then it’s going to cost you £222 per month, and that’s if you drive it to the scrapyard and crush it on the last day. In fact, it will probably still be worth a few quid even 7 years old with 175 k miles on the clock, and you might not have spent the full £3000 on maintenance. I wouldn’t even bother about the grille unless it annoys you.

I have seen these with well over 300,000 miles and the dpf’s etc definitely respond better being worked regularly.
If that £222/month is close to what the new company car will cost you then go for the new one. That’s my 10 pence worth 😀

Edited 23 June, 20205 yr by classic