I only went to repark our Corsa after the Missus left it wide from the kerb. A slow whirring of the starting motor ensued yet after ignition, compression slowly ebbed away like a receding tide. Nevertheless, I charged its battery yet was met with the same response – that whirring sounded different as if there was no fuel supply so I checked the fuel pump fuse which was intact. Having to resort to calling out the recovery driver, he suspected low compression and so it was towed to a garage.
I bought DY13 on the 6th August 2019 for £836.40 after an auction bid of £720. I had rediscovered invoices, before the pandemic, which highlighted the seismic shift in prices since. The garage guys eventually diagnosed low compression in cylinder three caused by a timing chain jump that signalled the end of our Corsa’s service that had been trouble-free since it was bought. I had noticed timing chain rattle on start-up but assumed that was characteristic of the 1.2 petrol engine. The previous week, I’d vacuumed inside – including the air filter housing and had topped up the oil with the view to advertising for sale at around £2000.
Replacement engines for our Corsa are expensive as apparently, there are headgasket and of course, timing chain problems therefore limited supply so an estimated £800 including labour proved that it had to be disposed of as is.
Lowest offers started from £250 including the recovery man with ‘The Scrappers’ from Bolton offering £500. sellthecar.com appeared very professional but stuck at a £700 valuation for our non-runner vehicle. cashforcars.co.uk buy for the auction site Copart and offered £800 which I attempted to increase to £900 but settled at £825 including collection – not bad for a non-running car that I only paid slightly more for three and a half years ago.
In conclusion, there are many companies that offer to buy ‘non-runners’ or non-starting cars so shop around and steer clear of independent garages who will only offer scrap value. On Copart’s website, I found our Corsa which appeared to sell after the third attempt although the bid price only showed £225. We quit whilst we were ahead !
Words are copyright of Sotiris Vassiliou
April 2023
