I am wanting to buy a Fiat 500 that will be around about 10 years old but I don’t believe that there is anyway that I am able to play media from my iPhone to the car speakers. I have heard of the blue and me adapter, how does it work and is it good?
General iPhone media/ blue and me adaptor
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General iPhone media/ blue and me adaptor
You don't really want a(Fiat 500 at least) car that old even at 6 years old our car has required considerable numbers of parts replacing which wasn't that expensive as I could do it myself.
As for phone you'll struggle, simplest way is to replace the radio with a aftermarket one?
As for phone you'll struggle, simplest way is to replace the radio with a aftermarket one?
Hello and welcome to the forum.
Read this thread as everything in it is relevant to what you're proposing to do.
The sad reality is that if your budget will stretch only to a 10yr old car, a 500 is probably the last vehicle you should be considering - you'll do better with practically anything else.
It has the lowest depreciation of just about any car in its class, but this is based on its fashionability, not its reliability or cost of ownership. Great for the first purchaser as it keeps the initial cost of ownership low, but those costs then get passed on to all its subsequent owners.
The 500 is a car perhaps best bought new and traded away before the warranty runs out.
I would disagree as long as you buy the right one. I think we would all agree that as long as they are maintained correctly they should last. As long as you can find a low mileage one then why not.
What is your budget? Have you considered buying a damaged repaired one? You can buy a repaired car for almost half the cost of one that hasn’t been damaged. Again, you just need to know what you’re buying. You will easily get a 2012/13 plate with low mileage for around £3k.
What is your budget? Have you considered buying a damaged repaired one? You can buy a repaired car for almost half the cost of one that hasn’t been damaged. Again, you just need to know what you’re buying. You will easily get a 2012/13 plate with low mileage for around £3k.
Agree with Typecastboy.
The doommongers like to make out that the 500 is a ticking time bomb, it isn’t. Yes, a twinair car be somewhat of a liability, but the 1.2 and 1.4 are pretty solid cars.
The doommongers like to make out that the 500 is a ticking time bomb, it isn’t. Yes, a twinair car be somewhat of a liability, but the 1.2 and 1.4 are pretty solid cars.
I'm not saying it's a ticking time bomb, just that secondhand values are substantially higher than other cars in its class and that there's no justification for this apart from fashionability. This makes them (relative to most other cars in their class) poorer value when bought used. It also makes finding a decent one with a budget of two grand somewhat unrealistic.
Why buy an 8yr old 500 when you can buy an 8yr old Panda (objectively a more practical car with fewer niggling faults) for half the price?
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Different strokes...
Why buy a new 500 when you could get a 2nd hand 3 series touring like mine for less and have a car which is 10 years younger in terms of platform, is more economical and more practical?
Why buy a new 500 when you could get a 2nd hand 3 series touring like mine for less and have a car which is 10 years younger in terms of platform, is more economical and more practical?
Good question, though they're such different cars that most folks looking at one likely wouldn't be considering the other.
If you're a newly qualified 17yr old, insurance might be one reason
. The size of the potential bill if you are sufficiently unlucky to have a serious problem in the first three years might be another, though I'll concede it's unlikely with a decent late model 3 series.I can see the appeal of a new 500 on a pcp, though when you crunch the numbers, cheap motoring it ain't. What I don't get is paying half the price of a new Panda pop for a 10yr old 500.
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Our 6 year old Mazda 6(at the time) sub 60k miles cost £2400 from a dealer, good car bar the rust
Does it cost more to insure if a car is now, for example, CAT S?
Having already been bitten my conclusion is that these cars do not tend to be maintained and are run on a budget. Same story for other small cars BUT Fiat/Alfas don't tend to tolerate skipping maintenance as well as a Honda/Suzuki/Toyota for example.
For £2500 I would buy a Swift. Yes boring but it will go on for longer.
For £2500 I would buy a Swift. Yes boring but it will go on for longer.
Probably. A CAT S is more likely to attract a surcharge that a CAT N, and some insurers won't insure them at all.
Buying repaired written off vehicles is not for the novice car buyer; the risk of spending your hard earned cash on a pile of useless junk is considerable. You need a lot of experience in inspecting motor vehicles to go this route, and even more so with CAT S cars. This historic thread makes interesting reading, and this particular accident repaired pile of junk wasn't even recorded. The real fun starts at around post #28.
You'll certainly get back less (much less in the case of a CAT S) if the car is then written off again, and the repair threshold will be lower, so that even minor damage is likely to result in the car being written off and you being offered a lower settlement.
It will also seriously affect its value. WBAC pay about 50% of their normal valuation for properly repaired CAT S cars.
For a typical 2010 500 pop in reasonable order, they'll currently pay around £2100 for an unrecorded car. Adding CAT S to the description drops that to £1080.
A similar car is currently being offered on a dealer's forecourt for almost £4500. Not bad for a near nine year old car that was likely bought new on scrappage for about £7000. I'll wager the previous owners had cheaper motoring than the next buyer is likely to get.
As I've said before, an older 500 is one of the worst value for money used cars you can buy.
If you're still seriously considering buying a CAT S car, please read this first.
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No, it makes no difference to premiums at all with the vast majority of companies. They want to know otherwise they could accuse you of not disclosing something if you had a claim. As long as the car is mot’d after any repair the insurance companies don’t have a problem with it.
Also as I think I mentioned the new cat S and N don’t make sense. I’ve had Cat N cars that the airbags have gone and Cat S that haven’t. They would have always been Cat C cars with the old system. Since the Cat S started I have not had one Cat S that was actually structurally damaged.
I believe that the benefits of buying a much cheaper, much newer better condition car that has had damage repaired far outweighs buying a 10 year old high mileage car that could break down at any minute despite the obvious lower pay out if you did claim.
