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The old audi was taken away for scrap. In 2012 we would have been able to sell this car for around 3,000 euros. With the economic crisis the car is no longer worth anything. We were lucky not to have to pay to have it taken away.
Second hand cars in good condition sell for a few hundred euros, if you're lucky. Cars cost too much to run these days and scrapping them or just giving back the number plate and taking them off the road is what happens to thousands of cars, old and new, every year. Insurance and road tax are too much of a financial burden and there is no extra for petrol .
The paint on our 'new' green car is blistered by the heat.
The old audi was the same.
Our daughter's car, also dark green, has the same problem.
Very few cars here have a nice cosy garage. Most cars are out on the street or under a tree all year round in blistering heat in the summer and freezing temperatures in the winter. Most however do not have paint damage. Why is it only these dark green cars who suffer so much.
The three dark green cars in our family are all different models, an audi, a ford and a volkswagen. I have noticed around the island that it is mainly cars of this colour (not all though) that have peeling paint.
Inferior paint I presume. I noticed when we made the snowman on the front of our car with snow scraped off the bonnet that our snowman had a faint green tinge.
That's odd. You would think that any dark car would absorb more heat and be affected. -Jenn
ReplyDeleteWhy green? It really is odd. My other daughter has an old white car, outside all year, and the paint is perfect
DeleteSecond hand cars here are unbelievably expensive. An old car that would cost £500 in the UK, would be £5,000 here (well almost). I recently thought of buying an old Renault Express as a runabout. Such things in England are almost given away, here the cheapest I could find was over €2,000.
ReplyDeleteThat is strange. French workmanship must be worth more. Years ago everyone here was buying second hand cars from Holland but local 2nd hands are now much cheaper
Deletea man in France offered me loads for our old volvo estate (diesel also the green of your Audi). We were sitting outside a cafe, waiting for my mother to come out of the pharmacy with our French friend. and this man came over in broken English and asked if the car was for sale. as we would of had no way of getting back to England we declined. he offered more than it was worth in England.
DeleteWe also sold a 1996 land rover defender 110 to a man who drove all the Sweden with his wife and then they drove back in the 110 and her saab. I wish we never sold it. not only would it be worth more now, but it ran a lot better than our current land rover defender 90. We remove the steering wheel and the battery when not in use. So many people try and steal them now!
Some of those old cars were built like tanks! We had an old BMW with german plates which we never should have sold. It had a history as well, supposed to have been owned by drug runners. We got it for peanuts at a govt auction
DeleteAre you finding more young people arent buying cars? Due to the prices of petrol and that younger people are more eco concious, I am wondering if they are more likely to wait and get an electric car?
DeleteAre there many electric cars over there? If people could afford the solar panels, I would assume this in the long term would be cheaper... I know the cars are a lot of money right now, but in a few years. They seem to be getting better and better.
Younger people around here are not buying cars unless they have parents with money. The number of big BMWs, mercedes, jeeps land rovers etc with greek plates outside the big hotels in the summer is incredible, you wouldn't think there was a crisis. The rich always remain rich.
DeleteHowever, I don't think eco consciousness has arrived here yet. I know some people who have electric scooters. Not something that most people would consider tho.
me again. Is the paint peeling only on the bonnet? Could you get one of those bonnet protectors to cover it? they are called bonnet bras!
Deletehttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Grey-Chequered-Bonnet-Bra/dp/B00PASYN32/ref=lp_4919987031_1_3?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1486472260&sr=1-3
maybe there is a side line business selling these in Greece.
We had a big car cover for the Audi but still the bonnet got blistered. This one was already paint damaged when we got it but maybe we'll get a cover for the summer. we rarely use the car in the summer. Hot cars are unbearable and air conditioning for the short distances we drive is not worth it. That's why we have a scooter and a quad bike, the only way to get around in the heat of summer and of course petrol for these is a fraction of what we'd pay to use the car. Thanks for the link. We got our last cover from Lidls but our local Lidls has closed down
DeletePS bonnet bras???? Someone has great imagination
DeleteAbout 20 years ago I had a bright red car which faded badly, nothing as dramatic as your green cars though! On the plus side, the less red and the more 'pink' it became, the less my sons wanted to borrow it.
ReplyDeleteMy sis in law says that bright cars are 'book-me' cars and stick out too much when the police are on the prowl. Young guys just love those bright colours tho
DeleteI have a red Peugeot, bought brand new, which has been totally re-sprayed over the years. Apparently there was a problem with a particular batch of paint, and for some reason I didn't receive a recall letter. Annoying because I've had to pay each time it goes for titivation. It is parked outside in conditions similar to yours, but seems to be OK now. I've noticed that older red and green cars here (Spain) all seem to have the same problem, and some are down to the bare metal !
ReplyDeleteI should add that second hand car prices are similar to those in France. They are quite expensive.
ReplyDeleteWe can't affford to have ours painted. Titivation doesn't make the car go any better so we just leave it. Would be nice to have a shiny new colour job tho. We did get a nice shiny new front bumper when someone backed into us
DeleteSounds like some body could create a business spraying cars LA. In Ireland cars/ jeeps get exported to Africa. They don't care if they are old. They also fix old televisions etc.
ReplyDeleteNow that would be good business for some smart greek. Plenty of old cars around here jeeps and others. Gypsies come around and collect old cars for scrap and will pay a little but they don't get the papers fixed for you.
DeleteI just sold my old Ford Ka for £425. It was in perfect nick, 10 years old and I had it from new and it had 12 months MOT. 2nd hand cars of all persuasions are a snip over here as Cro says.
ReplyDeleteThat was a bargain for someone!! Great price for a ten year old car. About the same sort of !money you'd get here....if you could find a buyer
ReplyDeleteIt's sad that you pay so much for a vehicle and this happens. Our cars are out in the weather as well
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it didn't cost you to get rid of the car. The scrap metal is worth a bit I'm sure
We could have sold it ourselves for scrap and got about 300 euros but it would have cost us half of that to get it to Athens and fix up the papers. These people took it away and did the paperwork. It was worth it in the end. The car had been sitting for 12 months under an olive tree and was not in good shape
ReplyDeleteWriting from the States, I was told that blue and green car paints are "fugitive" paints - in that they disappear! All the best, laura
ReplyDeleteLol fugitive all right! I'll look out for the blue cars now and see what percentage have damage. Thanks Laura
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