Getting Rid of Cars ...

Aha, but, alas, if the car crumples good, is saves YOU...(or so they say -- Ford do -- seems to be the case with you and the kids, Liana) -- a Volvo might stay intact after a head-on ninety collision with a juggernaut, but those inside might get a bit jarred. As for statistics, well...there's damn lies...

You still have to pay even if you take it to a scrapyard. However, if you live in Camden in London there is a scheme whereby you take it to them, and they'll take it off your hands for nowt. I'm sure other councils have the same kind of scheme. Not Oxfordshire though. They charge 35 pounds.

Park it outside the tax disc neighbours house - place an ad in the local paper stating that the car has lots of parts (free) for spare or repair, and that people can come and remove what they want. Sit back and snigger as the car is gradually reduced to bits of rusting cog outside the nasty neighbours house. If you think it might get you bad karma, think of it as their karmic payback for last year.

The blame lies partly on the de-valuing of scrap metal in an increasingly "throw away society". With the scandalous levels that many (esp London) council taxes sit at, I think this is a service that should defo be free! £35 shame on them! See when you add all these little "extras" up over a year - £5 here to dump certain things off at the tip, £60 for new trainers cos you trod in dog crap in the park that the council is incapable of cleaning - council tax is even higher than you think!

Any driver hitting a juggernaut at 90mph was probably already 'jarred' when they got in the car.

I sold a VW Beetle for three bottles of whiskey once (one bottle with about four inches slurped off the top during the negotiations). When I told my bank manager as he was writing a loan agreement for a new car, his hand paused momentarily on the contract before he agreed it was "a good price" and signed the deal. I swear by Volvos too. My 4-door family number looks dead boring (turbo badge discreetly removed) but needs very little spent on it and it just runs and runs. It comes with an eight-speaker sound system and it goes like shit off a shovel. It hits 135 easily and has about 40 break horse more than the Scorpio Cosworth I had before. Don't tell Mrs Shirt.

The most reliable cars are Japanese, I know this from experience. Also there was a survey a couple of years ago about reliability, and of the top 50 cars the first 15 were all Japanese. The 1st one was Toyota and the 50th was that little Audi TT number that you see beetling about - probably on its way to the garage. [%sig%]

I traded a Kawasaki 650 for two Ford Pinto's and a color television once.

I just got this info off the web. Not quite as dominant as you say then fatal! ......................................................................................................... The most reliable car manufacturers in the UK Mazda has been named the most reliable car manufacturer in the UK according to data from independent automotive warranty specialist, Warranty Direct. The Japanese company, which is responsible for the world's best selling roadster, the MX-5, has topped the Warranty Direct Manufacturer Index (www.reliabilityindex.co.uk) for the last three years. With nearly a quarter of a million cars sold in the year so far, second spot goes to Britain's most popular brand, Ford ­ a rise of two places in the Index since 2001. The biggest improvement since last summer came from Japanese firm, Nissan, which jumped nine places to 8th in the list of 23 manufacturers analysed. The leap is good news for workers at the firm's Sunderland plant who are responsible for production of the Micra, Almera and Primera. Japan's four leading manufacturers all make it into the Top Ten, whereas Germany's Mercedes (11th), Volkswagen (13th), BMW (16th) and Audi (18th) all slip down the table based on claims handled by Warranty Direct in the past twelve months. At the other end of the table, Jeep, remains the worst performer due to failures on air-conditioning units and rear suspension and axle problems Subaru's dramatic fall of eleven places to 22nd in the table may surprise a few observers. Land Rover and Alfa Romeo remain in the bottom five at 21st and 20th respectively. Warranty Direct Reliability Index 2003 Pos. Manufacturer 1 MAZDA 2 FORD 3 HONDA 4 TOYOTA 5 VAUXHALL 6 HYUNDAI 7 PEUGEOT 8 NISSAN 9 FIAT 10 VOLVO 11 MERCEDES 12 CITROEN 13 VOLKSWAGEN 14 MITSUBISHI 15 RENAULT 16 BMW 17 ROVER 18 AUDI 19 SAAB 20 ALFA ROMEO 21 LANDROVER 22 SUBARU 23 JEEP

I didn't see the Mini-Cooper on that list. Was thinking about getting one for my daughter...they look so cute!

You'd expect God to make the best cars :)

Wasn't the pope-mobile a Toyota?

Liana, how can you drive a car that ... ahh, I see. >>volvo knockers, doncha love 'em?<< Why? Do their nipples light up in daylight? Bingo, I'd have thought you would be driving an elan. sheesh.

I've got a mazda thee days... tra la la (waits for stormys "how can you drive a car made by a company who makes lightbulbs" joke)

Someone will buy it. If I can sell a Niva Cossack for £596 then there's potential to sell anything.

i gave my ford fiesta away a few years ago, 18 years old, only about 40,000 on the clock - it was owned from new by my dad's aunty and she rarely used it, my sister bought it off her, and then a few years later gave it to me as my first car...so when it looked to be on it's last legs i was going to scrap it, but overheard a woman at work talking about buying a car for her son...told her he could have it for nowt, it needed a bit of work, he was very pleased, and insisted on giving me a bottle of jack daniels, which i thought a fair trade... i think he got another 8 or 9 months out of it... the jack daniels didn't last that long

ebay

Yeah, people keep advising me to ebay the mondeo that's been sat in my drive for over a year now but I never seem to get round to it. The 12 yr old shell is worthless but the 2.5 litre v6 24 valve engine is only 4 yrs old ... sigh. Interestingly, I did the 'who you should vote for' thing and it said the Green party was second favourite on my list. How does that tally with my love of petrol guzzlers? (don't answer, I know the quiz is highly flawed!) I used autotrader to flog my recently deceased father-in-law's Focus. Placed the Ad on a Friday night, had a phone call Sunday pm, they viewed it at 6pm (by coincidence they only lived 40 mins away from us) and we agreed a sale an hour later. They turned up with cash 3 days later. Since then I've had about ten other calls and wished I'd put a higher price on it but we had to get shot of it asap. Anyway, from what I've heard your best bet is to put it on ebay with a £1 reserve ... cars tend to find their value on ebay (apparently) and someone will take it off your hands. *wonders why he doesn't follow his own advice ... ah, laziness, that's it)*

*places ad on ebay for unwanted rhs bracket*

i've just bought a car off ebay. 54,000 miles, immaculate interior/exterior, full service history, one owner since new. a volvo estate which runs like a dream. have a guess at how much it cost me. go on.

If it's a Volvo then you paid too much. £5?

Volvo drivers: the lights are on but ... (smiley emoticon thing just in case you think this is personal which it isn't)

Ooh, I know lots about this having a) once kept a car with a tax disc for 3 months b) scrapped my little red fiest (weep - the memory is still near) c) once been given a car You can keep a car without road tax if it's off the road... if you have a garage or driveway, that is enough. You scrap a car by taking it to a scrap yard where they will scrap it for you. If they tow it away you will have to pay. You can give a car to anybody - I am sure someone would want it. last year my friend gave me 'the big white shark' which was an F reg white nissan bluebird, which lasted about 8 months before it finally died. It was great. When I drove around in it I felt like some kind of 70s detective trying to pick up chicks.

Fish can't drive? Flee, my prettys, it's a Cane Toad harvester - not Noddy's nor Kermit's, Gogo mobile! Drive it over to Liana's naughty neighbours place, set fire to it, then call the Police and report it 'Stolen' and hour or so prior! Kill two birds and the need for more goat stones in Liana's yard, with a crappy old French Floater!

point a) should have read : once kept a car for 3 months WITHOUT a tax disc. I can't wait to get my specs back.

thanks ferg ... i don't have a drive or a garage ... bit common like that ... would mostly like to give it to someone who needs it ... so if anyone knows anyone who would like a fully functioning Citroen Xantia with one dangly mirror then let me know ... otherwise i will be driving it to the scrap yard on April 30th ...

My choice of parking spaces are on the main road up from our flat, right in front of a sign that says "Curb Crawling - we've got your number: Norfolk Constabulary"

My girlfriend's son just became a car salesman. Did pretty good his first week too...sold a new Corvette and three other Chevy junkers. The kid is a vehicle freak! He's 19, owns two cars and a motorcycle. I'll stick with my bumpy pickup truck.

Ebay isn't really an option for a scrapper because they charge £35 to list cars I believe. Bingo, take no notice of the Volvo knockers. I've been driving them for 20 years and they are the most reliable, solid cars you can buy. A bit thirsty I admit, and not the cheapest for spares, but they don't need them as often as those Dagenham dustbins that stormy collects. Stistics apparently prove they are the safest car to be in in an accident as well.

a man that owns a mondeo is in no position to be throwing stones... unless it is at it.

volvo knockers, doncha love 'em? talk about settling for easy targets. perhaps i should buy one of them "off-roaders" with bullbars and blacked-out windows, so that if i hit anybody else, cars, cyclists or pedestrians (particularly children) then i'm guaranteed to cause them maximum harm. anyways. the point is, i want a car that can do two hundred thousand miles before it conks out, and volvos and merc's are the only motors in that league. and yes, safety is important to me and my kids, and a volvo is one of the few cars that could take the impact of these tonka-toy chelsea tractors without splitting in half.

I bought a volvo after some twat in a fiesta had written my car (and almost my kids) into obliteration. I was concerned at how easily the car had crumpled, (it was a rover, should've known - hated it anyway) and freaked out that we were all alright when we should've been dead. That volvo I bought felt safe, solid etc etc. I ran it 'til it dropped to pieces - it had done more than 250,000 in the end. Plus, it was too heavy for girly me - had muscles like popeye after twenty kilos of spinach in the end. But I loved it.

I'd take it fish, I've been thinking about getting a car again.

I always knew that Curb Crawling guy lived in Norfolk.

if you do dan, i will slip a choc mayo cake into the glove box ...

put an ad in your local paper/ shop window explaining why you are giving it away

Will that melt?