My car died last week. It's a smal saloon MG, limited issue. The cam belt shattered and broke valves and other damage. The garage quoted at least £1200 to repair it. Just not worth it. We virtually gave it to garage instead of final bill as it would have cost money to tow it back home to sell for spares or repair.
Been looking at small used cars, so little locally. Found one I like, no reply at garage for two days. We drove over to see it today, still there but no staff on site, only answerphone available. Are businesses closing due to covid?
If it's just you and your husband, Caran, I would look into a VW Up - I know two people with them who love them, and I've never read anything negative about them in the press or online. Good build quality, and cheap to run and insure. Some good info here:
go to ebay, search by category, cars, then put £1000 in as max, refine for further desires using options on the left. Then sort in order of distance. You now have a list of cars near you that fit your parameters. I did it and some potentially very good stuff came up. You must be thorough when viewing though a lot of them will have problems but in among the dross there will be some gems.
I sense, you are not asking for advice on which new car to get, but as to whether your local garage will open soon.
Some businesses will not re-open because they have gone under and that might well be the case for this garage. There is nothing stopping garages opening though, so you might need to look elsewhere if they aren't open by next week. What does the answerphone say?
I have had a couple of superb cars for less than £1000.
In 2007, I bought a P reg (1996) Honda Accord Aerodeck with 90K on the clock for £990. I got rid of it in 2013, with 240K on the clock. Had no problems with it at all and it was running perfectly when I got rid of it.