When the repair costs more than the car is worth

There is no percentage that decides this for you

The rule people repeat - that a repair costing more than the car is worth is never worth doing - is a rule of thumb, not arithmetic. It compares a vehicle estimate with one repair quote but leaves out the other inputs. This page does not apply that ratio or substitute its own threshold.

Choose one future period that fits your circumstances and compare the routes over that same period, including any time without a car. Twelve months is one optional comparison horizon; it is not an objective valuation formula. Comparing the quote with zero would omit the costs and receipts on the other routes.

What to do

• Work the four broad routes out in the same units: what you pay out, what you get back and what remains at the end of your chosen comparison horizon.
• Do the arithmetic before you ring the garage back, not while the car is on the ramp and someone is waiting for an answer.
• Treat this page as a way of laying the decision out, not as a verdict. Nobody who has not seen your car, your quote and your circumstances can make it for you.
• OBDCode UK does not publish vehicle values, repair prices or any threshold at which repairing stops making sense, and does not link to valuation services.

Four broad routes, with the same questions for each

This guide compares four broad routes: have the repair done; sell or part-exchange the vehicle as it stands; propose it for scrappage; or keep it off the road while you decide. These are worksheet headings, not an exhaustive list of every option under a contract, insurance policy or finance agreement.

Repair. Record the quoted scope, the evidence behind the diagnosis, what remains unquoted, the use you expect from the vehicle, and the MOT and recall inputs below.

Sell or part-exchange as it stands. Record the fault information, any written offer and its conditions, outstanding finance, insurer involvement, timing, and transport needs. Use the related sale guide for the sourced process.

Scrap. Record the proposed operator, the records and notifications to verify, the finance and insurer position, collection or storage timing, and any written offer. Use the related ATF guide for the sourced process.

Keep it off the road while you decide. Record the proposed storage location and permission, relevant dates, tax, SORN, insurance and finance questions, transport costs, and a review date. Use the related off-the-road guide for the sourced process.

What to do

• Answer all six for each broad route you are considering, including any you initially dismissed, so that the worksheet uses the same inputs.
• Read any finance agreement and ask the finance provider or insurer which routes are available in your case before including those routes in the comparison.
• Write the answers down. A decision you can show someone else is a decision you can defend to yourself a month later.

Checklist

• What do I pay out in the next month under this route?
• What do I get back, and how long until I actually have it?
• Which continuing payments, agreements or practical arrangements need checking afterwards - tax, insurance, storage or finance?
• How do I get around in the meantime, and what does that cost each week?
• What has to be notified, to whom, and by when?
• What cannot be undone once I have chosen it?

What to count on the repair side

For the Great Britain MOT process, GOV.UK says an MOT lasts a year and that you can check your MOT history online to find out when it runs out. Sources: ^[1]

The GOV.UK MOT status service finds out whether a vehicle has an MOT certificate and when it runs out, using the vehicle registration number. Sources: ^[2]

The GOV.UK MOT history service shows the past results of a vehicle's MOT tests, including whether it passed or failed and the mileage recorded when it was tested, and lets you check when the next MOT is due. Sources: ^[3]

For tests done in England, Scotland or Wales, GOV.UK says the history also shows where each test was done, what parts failed at each test, and if any parts had minor problems. Sources: ^[3]

GOV.UK says the MOT history may also tell you if a vehicle has been recalled for a safety reason, depending on the manufacturer. Sources: ^[3]

GOV.UK says that for cars, motorcycles and vans you can only get results for tests done since 2005, and that for a test done in Northern Ireland you can only get results for tests done since 2017. Sources: ^[3]

Where a manufacturer has recalled a vehicle because of a serious safety problem, GOV.UK says you need to get the car fixed or replaced by the manufacturer and that you will not usually have to pay for any repairs or parts. Sources: ^[4]

The quote in front of you is one input on this side of the comparison. For your chosen horizon, record the quoted work alongside other identified work, timing, transport and use inputs without treating the result as a vehicle valuation.

What to do

• Check the official MOT record yourself and copy its dates, results and mileage into the worksheet; for a test done in Great Britain, also copy the listed failed and minor items.
• Ask the garage in writing which items it has already identified but left out of the quote and what period its answer covers. Treat that answer as an input, not a prediction.
• Ask what test evidence implicated the quoted part and what uncertainty remains. Record a proposal to fit a part to see whether it helps separately from a confirmed repair.
• If a recall is outstanding, take it up with the manufacturer or a franchised dealer before you fund the same work yourself.
• If the MOT expires within your chosen horizon, include the test date and only the record fields available for the nation where it was tested.
• Where the official record lists advisory or minor items, record them as observations without assigning them a failure date.

Checklist

• The quoted work itself, including VAT, and whether it is a fixed price or an estimate that can still move.
• Whether the quote follows a confirmed diagnosis or proposes fitting a part to see whether it helps.
• What the garage has told you is coming next - the items it has seen on the ramp but has not quoted for.
• The date the MOT runs out, taken from the official record rather than from memory or from what a seller once said.
• For a test done in Great Britain, every item recorded as a failure or as having a minor problem at the last test, and whether any of them is still outstanding.
• The mileage recorded at the last few tests, so you can calculate the distance recorded between tests.
• Whether an outstanding safety recall covers any part of what you are being asked to pay for.
• Work the vehicle is due anyway within your chosen comparison horizon regardless of this fault, such as tyres, a service or a timing belt.
• Age and mileage as context for all of the above, rather than as a verdict on their own.

OBDCode UK does not ask for or transmit your registration number. Enter it only after you have opened the official GOV.UK service.

Check the MOT history of a vehicle

Check the MOT status of a vehicle

Check if a vehicle, part or accessory has been recalled

What to count on the other side

For each route that does not keep this vehicle in use, record both receipts and outgoings over the same chosen horizon. A possible receipt for the vehicle is one input; transport, timing and any replacement-vehicle inputs are separate entries.

What to do

• Record the cost of any weeks without a car for the same chosen horizon used for the other routes.
• Compare the total cost of getting a replacement on the road against the total repair cost, not the advertised price against the quote.
• Label each figure by what it is - for example, a written offer, an estimate or an advertised asking price - and do not treat those labels as interchangeable.
• If an insurer is already assessing the vehicle, record the status, decision points and documents it has requested. Use the related total-loss guide to verify its process and category inputs before deciding.
• OBDCode UK does not value vehicles, does not link to valuation services and does not recommend replacing your car. Use whatever source you would normally trust for figures.

Checklist

• What the vehicle realistically raises in its present condition with the fault disclosed, rather than what it would raise repaired.
• Whether anything is still owing on it, the terms of any finance agreement, and the finance provider's current instructions for a proposed sale or scrappage route.
• The full cost of getting a replacement on the road, not its advertised price: transfer, tax, insurance, any deposit or first payment, and anything it needs immediately.
• Whether your insurance changes on a different vehicle, and what happens to any no-claims position.
• How you travel while there is no car, for a realistic number of weeks rather than an optimistic one - fares, lifts, deliveries, time away from work, school runs.
• The proposed storage location, permission or conditions for using it, and any quoted storage cost until the vehicle has gone.
• What you give up by changing vehicle: a remaining warranty, a paid-up service plan, a permit tied to the vehicle, a towbar or fitted equipment you would have to buy again.
• Whether the replacement genuinely removes the risk, or just moves it to a vehicle whose history you do not know.

Compare more than today's quote

Today's decision should compare future inputs from now to the end of your chosen horizon. Keep a separate history of earlier repairs to identify recurring symptoms or a possible complaint, but do not add an amount that cannot be recovered to either route's future cost.

A fault that returns after paid work may indicate an unresolved diagnosis or a repair complaint. Compare the symptom, system, diagnosis and work before deciding whether it is a repeat, a new fault or a complaint about prior work.

What to do

• Choose a look-back period and list each repair with its date, mileage, reported symptom, diagnosis and work completed.
• Mark entries that touched the same system, but do not assume they were one fault; compare the dates, symptoms, test results and invoices.
• Where paid work and the reported fault are unchanged, record that separately and use the related repair-rights guide to check the complaint route before counting another repair.
• When the diagnosis is contested, an independent inspection is one input you can choose to price and scope before deciding.
• Treat amounts that cannot be recovered as sunk costs: do not add them to either route's future total. Keep any live complaint or possible recovery separate.
• Give the decision a deadline and list any tax, insurance and storage amounts that would fall due before that date.

Include time off the road in the comparison

Under the Great Britain MOT process, GOV.UK says you cannot drive or park your vehicle on the road if the MOT has run out, and that you can be prosecuted if caught. Sources: ^[1]

For that Great Britain process, GOV.UK gives only two exceptions: driving the vehicle to or from somewhere to be repaired, and driving it to a pre-arranged MOT test. Sources: ^[1]

Under the Great Britain MOT process, GOV.UK says you cannot renew your vehicle tax if your MOT has expired, and that if your tax is due to run out you should register the vehicle as off the road. Sources: ^[1]

You cannot drive or park your vehicle on the road if the MOT has run out. You can be prosecuted if caught.

Keeping the vehicle off the road while you gather the inputs is one of the broad routes in this worksheet. Record the proposed storage location and permission, relevant dates, finance and insurance terms, SORN and tax questions, transport costs, and a review date.

What to do

• Before the MOT runs out, record the proposed storage location, whether it is on a road, permission to use it, finance and insurance terms, and any local restrictions.
• Use the official action above for the nation where the vehicle is tested before relying on an expiry or journey rule. This page does not publish penalty amounts.
• Ask your insurer what cover you need while the vehicle is standing, rather than assuming that a vehicle you are not driving needs none.
• Set a review date and include any standing and transport costs up to that date in the same comparison.
• Use the structured off-the-road related guide to verify the UK-wide DVLA SORN and vehicle-tax inputs; this page does not restate that process.

Great Britain: Getting an MOT — GOV.UK

Northern Ireland: MOT and vehicle testing — nidirect / DVA

Where each route is handled

For Northern Ireland, nidirect directs queries about car tax, vehicle registration and SORN to DVLA in Swansea, and queries about driver licensing and tests, MOT and vehicle testing to DVA. Sources: ^[6]

Use the structured Related guides entries for sourced detail once you know which inputs apply. This page does not restate the legal or process outcomes for sale or part-exchange, authorised scrappage, SORN and vehicle tax, or insurance total loss.

Before opening the relevant guide, note whether you have a known fault and proposed sale or part-exchange, a proposed scrap route, a storage location and off-road dates, insurer involvement, a disputed quote or authorisation, a contested diagnosis, or recurring symptoms after paid work.

OBDCode UK does not buy, sell, value, scrap, recover or insure vehicles, does not recommend any dealer, buyer, scrap operator, insurer or valuation service, and receives no commission from any route described on this page.

Important

This page sets out a way of comparing your options. It does not value your vehicle, does not publish repair prices or market figures, and does not contain a threshold at which repairing becomes the wrong answer.

If a finance agreement applies, check its terms and ask the finance provider which routes are available before you commit to one.

Do not drive a vehicle that a reviewed safety conclusion says should not be driven in order to get a second quote, reach another garage or deliver it to a buyer. Arrange recovery instead.