jetsam1

My wife has decided to get rid of the work car after it has passed the green card.......

The complication is that she bought in 2004 new when she moved to the UK and then let her parents use it afterwards. It is only 11 years old. It is an absolute wreck really. I had never seen a car in such a state before........ Should have said something over the last 5 years really!!

Lessons: Don't let my Father-in-law drive as he seems to have a knack for accelerating entropy (case in point our van!! Also half the new fixtures and fitting are already falling apart in the house).

SERVICING! On engine number two.......

CLEANING! At least once a month not once a decade!!!!!

So am entering the used Hungarian car market as we need the two cars plus the van atm........ Be afraid. Be very afraid....... (As my F-I-L doesn't seem untypical of the way cars are treated here...)

TerryandBrigi

I can only agree whole heartedly.
My future F-I-L specialises in semi fixes to damaged and broken bits of the car we share too.
Duck tape, panel resin, superglue and for some bits even elastic bands...(see rearview mirror?!)
Poor car......thankfully I cant stand it and he can keep the heap !!

jetsam1

The front bumper is held on by screws.........

Still haven't heard back from the garage and am starting to worry about how much might be needed to fix it. It's only 11 years old!!!!!

TerryandBrigi

haha, to a hungarian, barely run in !!

wolfi

TerryandBrigi are so right!

I "sold" my old Astra G Caravan to my wife's youngest son, it's from 2005 and now has more than 200 000 km ...

The good side of this is that there are many Opel experts here and also used spare parts cheaply available so he's not thinking (yet) of taking that car to the scrap heap - it still looks nicer than most cars around here ...

fidobsa

Yes, cars seem to last longer than houses in Hungary. People think my 1968 house is really old and I suspect they don't believe me when I tell them my cottage in Scotland is at least 200 years old.

jetsam1

The thing is because it costs so much to transfer the registration bangernomics doesn't really work here! Plus even old cars are still very expensive. HUF500000 for 1990s cars with high Km.............. We were offered 400000 HUF for the Opel. In the UK I'd just scrap it!!!!

fidobsa

I could do with one of those Opel experts to look at my 2004 Vauxhall Combi van. As it is right hand drive and it will no longer start it is currently sitting in my carport with ivy growing up it! We didn't get far due to the language barrier but the farmer who owns the house next door to me was asking about it. If I could get it running perhaps he would buy it off me. I think the registration costs are less for vans.

sowise

Hungarians buy right hand drive vehicles ??? I have a fantastic peugeout 406 diesel that I don't want to take back to the UK to sell as she is a '98 2L diesel and no one here seems to want her although she is in perfect nick - if anyone knows Hungarians who would want that please let me know!

jetsam1

I thought you couldn't sell RHD cars here?

fidobsa

I met some Hungarian market traders who had flown to England, bought 3 Mercedes Sprinter vans and drove them back to Hungary. The first time I saw them their van had GB plates but a few weeks later it had Hungarian plates.

sowise

where was that Fidobsa ?

PaulinEger

When we first started visiting Hungary we bought an old Skoda to leave over here rather than hiring a car. My wife's cousin had the keys and he ran it into the ground, leaving us with a repair bill each time we came over. He also didn't care where he parked and amassed a number of parking tickets. Since moving here I've only seen him a couple of times and don't really care to speak to him other than tell him where to get off. USER!
On another note, I'm more into practicality and cost-effectiveness when it comes to cars. For 3 1/2 years I had a Lada Samara which had done next to no kms and returned around 40mpg. In the time that I owned it I hardly had to spend any money on it at all. I now have a '96 Opel Astra 1.4 estate which I bought from my mechanic for 180,000 huf with 2 years műszaki, so bargains can be had here

fidobsa

Nagykanizsa Sunday market about 2 years ago. The trader sells used car tyres so you might see him at other markets.