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BorniteIdentity

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29 minutes ago, BorniteIdentity said:

33k since May? What the fuck are you doing in it?! 

About 8k a month lol - I've been putting about 100k a year on it over the last 2 years - before that it had a normal life

 

47 minutes ago, Eyersey1234 said:

How old is the Zafira? 

13 years old 2007

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5 minutes ago, Talbot said:

That's 274 miles every single day.  Weekends, bank holidays and easter/christmas/etc. all included.    If you work on the basis of working "normal" days (IE 5 days a week with 25 days holiday a year) that becomes 425 miles every working day.

That has to be impossible, surely?

Yes a lot of folk think that, I deliver things all over the country, some days fairly local, other days a 1200 mile round trip to the top of Scotland. It just kind of adds up without you realising. Some days its just a couple of hours work, the next day you could be on the road for 16 hours. It's what I've done most of my working life, I reckon I've covered over 3 million miles so far! Not for everyone I know, but I've tried office/warehouse type jobs and I hated it. I can't believe I get paid to plod all over the country in a world of my own - I keep waiting for the kick in balls to bring me back to reality.

I know a few owner drivers that do 150k a year, there's some big regular runs out there if folk want them. How do you think all the tat that folk order online gets to them?

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2 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

I've done 650-700 miles over a couple of days (Chelmsford-Eastbourne-Chelmsford-Lincoln-Eastbourne-Chelmsford) and it's not something I'm keen to do on a regular basis. I like driving but for that many hours it becomes a chore. I take my hat off to you sir!

Thank you - It can be a chore, particularly going into London, but then driving up to the remote parts of Scotland, Cumbria, Cornwall or Wales make up for the shit days. Most jobs are a chore, a means to an end, I'm very fortunate with the work I get, I kinda fell into this contract just over two years ago. Thought I'd see how it went and I've never looked back. I always had my own vans before, never thought I'd get the opportunity to earn decent money driving a car.

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7 hours ago, Popsicle said:

Yes a lot of folk think that, I deliver things all over the country, some days fairly local, other days a 1200 mile round trip to the top of Scotland. It just kind of adds up without you realising. Some days its just a couple of hours work, the next day you could be on the road for 16 hours. It's what I've done most of my working life, I reckon I've covered over 3 million miles so far! Not for everyone I know, but I've tried office/warehouse type jobs and I hated it. I can't believe I get paid to plod all over the country in a world of my own - I keep waiting for the kick in balls to bring me back to reality.

I know a few owner drivers that do 150k a year, there's some big regular runs out there if folk want them. How do you think all the tat that folk order online gets to them?

I wouldn't fancy your fuel bill. Have you had many major failures with the car? as we all know AVAS.

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7 hours ago, Talbot said:

That's 274 miles every single day.  Weekends, bank holidays and easter/christmas/etc. all included.    If you work on the basis of working "normal" days (IE 5 days a week with 25 days holiday a year) that becomes 425 miles every working day.

That has to be impossible, surely?

The hardest thing I have to believe is that it's been done in a Zafira.

A ZAFIRA.

ZAFIRA WITH VAUXHALL SEATS.

How the fuck?

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51 minutes ago, SiC said:

The hardest thing I have to believe is that it's been done in a Zafira.

A ZAFIRA.

ZAFIRA WITH VAUXHALL SEATS.

How the fuck?

I found the Zafira I blagged on loan to be annoyingly competent. Good potent motor and comfortable enough.

If I was doing the same gig I’d not know what to do it in. Maybe an A4 avant or a - me being me - an Avensis tourer. But the cheapest car is normally the one you already have. 

Great work regardless! 

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9 minutes ago, BorniteIdentity said:

Good potent motor and comfortable enough.

Vauxhall seats seem to be very much Marmite. Some people get on just fine with them. But there are plenty of people who find they almighty agonising back pain and thus end up truly detesting them. 

I'm one of those. 

I actually quite like the Astra H and Vectra C styling too. Looks still pretty fresh today in my eyes. Just I know I could never own one again because of those seats. 

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8 hours ago, Popsicle said:

some days fairly local, other days a 1200 mile round trip to the top of Scotland

That has to be over 2 days though? 

1 hour ago, DVee8 said:

there's some big regular runs out there if folk want them.

Does it pay well enough?  Given the stress and shit I get at work, the thought of driving for the vast majority of the day is quite appealing.

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Genetic you say? I’m going to be having words with Mrs N as my youngest seems to have that- she hates the stuff. Whereas the rest of us like it....

 

As for @Popsicle’s job, I’m jealous . I’ve managed the 100k a year a couple of times and pre-covid usually do 80k , but my cargo talks and means I can’t eat, sing or fart whenever I feel like it. Plus I rarely go anywhere interesting, just the same old trips to airports. One of the years I did 100,000 in one car was a Vauxhall - an M reg. Omega 2.0 CD manual,bought with 25k at just under 3 years old.  I changed the oil a couple of times, tyres and front pads as well, that was it. I pity the poor sod who bought it at 4 years old ,they probably think AVAS!

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So many questions I'll try and answer them all and not de-rail the thread.

13 hours ago, DVee8 said:

I wouldn't fancy your fuel bill. Have you had many major failures with the car? as we all know AVAS.

My fuel bill is around £1400 month - but I'm VAT registered so claim 20% back. My other half does 8 days a month on regular runs, she does about 3.5k miles a month in her car. No real major failures, motorway work is easy on cars, alternator, radiator, crankshaft pulley, idler pulleys, rear brake calipers and a few suspension parts is about it really. It does get an Oil & filter service every 10k (every 5 weeks ?) and a full service every 20k. I do look after it as its my source of income, so I try to be as proactive as possible with repairs and maintenance. 

 

The cars been in the family since 2010 so I know its been well looked after.

13 hours ago, SiC said:

The hardest thing I have to believe is that it's been done in a Zafira.

A ZAFIRA.

ZAFIRA WITH VAUXHALL SEATS.

How the fuck?

Yep a few people mention this, I just find it really comfortable, like an old pair of slippers!

12 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

I found the Zafira I blagged on loan to be annoyingly competent. Good potent motor and comfortable enough.

If I was doing the same gig I’d not know what to do it in. Maybe an A4 avant or a - me being me - an Avensis tourer. But the cheapest car is normally the one you already have. 

Great work regardless! 

Thats how I viewed it, owned the car already so just put it to work. I never thought it would still be going strong - I do look around for what to replace it with if it went bang, but I really don't have a clue. As its an auto and I really wouldn't go back to a manual the VW group DSG boxes scare me a bit.

12 hours ago, Talbot said:

That has to be over 2 days though? 

Does it pay well enough?  Given the stress and shit I get at work, the thought of driving for the vast majority of the day is quite appealing.

I very rarely stay anywhere overnight unless waiting for ferries to the Scottish islands, I prefer to turn and burn and kip in my own bed - the option for staying in a hotel is always there on long trips and I do get reimbursed the costs.

The more you do the more you earn, On a good month income can be over £6k but obviously I've all my expenses against that. I run as a limited company so just take the minimum out for me and our lass for tax purposes and leave the rest in the business and draw a divi at the year end. There is no stress at all with what I do, load up and go nobody on your back, not expected to break the rules of the road or my back, but equally not take the piss. It does help if you like driving and your own company though.

11 hours ago, NorfolkNWeigh said:

Genetic you say? I’m going to be having words with Mrs N as my youngest seems to have that- she hates the stuff. Whereas the rest of us like it....

 

As for @Popsicle’s job, I’m jealous . I’ve managed the 100k a year a couple of times and pre-covid usually do 80k , but my cargo talks and means I can’t eat, sing or fart whenever I feel like it. Plus I rarely go anywhere interesting, just the same old trips to airports. One of the years I did 100,000 in one car was a Vauxhall - an M reg. Omega 2.0 CD manual,bought with 25k at just under 3 years old.  I changed the oil a couple of times, tyres and front pads as well, that was it. I pity the poor sod who bought it at 4 years old ,they probably think AVAS!

I used to be the same, same runs same faces day in day out. It soon gets boring doing the same thing every day. Thankfully my cargo is silent and doesn't give a fuck what shit songs I'm singing to at the top of my voice, how many fags I smoke or how many Maccy D stops I take! The AVAS thing makes me laugh, I think I must have been lucky, But over the years Vauxhalls have been really good to me, whereas Mercs, particularly Sprinters have emptied my wallet on a regular basis.

 

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Just now, stripped fred said:

One thought I had, do you find it easier at the moment with more people working from home and less traffic on the road. I would have thought it makes life a bit easier....

Most of my cargo is medical stuff to patients homes or hospitals, so lockdown didn't happen for me workwise as things carried on as normal as possible. From a purely selfish point of view when we first went into lockdown I was living the dream! Driving round London like I owned the place, seeing nothing but the odd lorry on motorways for hour after hour, services empty, diesel down at nearly £1 a litre! Just nowhere to get any grub from. The traffics definitely picking up but its nowhere near pre-lockdown levels unless I get a Cornwall, Devon, Lake District job then it be a bit of a bugger. I think when the kids start going back to school it might get back to shity traffic levels though.

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7 minutes ago, sierraman said:

How many more miles do you reckon it has left in it?

Hopefully many more but not a clue to be honest - if it folded up today like the Blues Brothers car at the end of the film I couldn't complain. It was never designed to lead this life but it keeps plodding along - I've no concerns about anything with it. Engine, box, turbo, injectors, fuel pump, hubs are all original - it still has the original DPF and regens every other day or so ?. Most I've ever had out of a vehicle was 390k from an 02 Sprinter - it would be nice to beat that. I'd probably fix it if it did die as parts are cheap and plentiful. I do have a Vectra Estate diesel auto, our lass uses it 2 days a week, as a back up if the shit hits the fan so I would keep earning.

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I honestly think this Zafira is fantastic. Most modern cars are capable of huge miles, not just the 90s Toyotas I love. 

However, we live on a small island - cars are cheap and everyone seemingly likes new stuff. Most are never given the chance to shine! 

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1 hour ago, BorniteIdentity said:

I honestly think this Zafira is fantastic. Most modern cars are capable of huge miles, not just the 90s Toyotas I love. 

However, we live on a small island - cars are cheap and everyone seemingly likes new stuff. Most are never given the chance to shine! 

I agree, it would be nice if my Focus got to this mileage 

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1 hour ago, BorniteIdentity said:

I honestly think this Zafira is fantastic. Most modern cars are capable of huge miles, not just the 90s Toyotas I love. 

However, we live on a small island - cars are cheap and everyone seemingly likes new stuff. Most are never given the chance to shine! 

My Avensis is now on 177,500, though only the last 2500 have been in my ownership. Apart from petrol and replacing a punctured tyre, I've done nothing to it.

But the law here in Spain on UK registered cars means I must get rid of the Avensis within the next few weeks. Hopefully I'll sell it to someone that needs to get some stuff back to the UK. 

Still not decided what to replace it with. Cars here are both expensive and  with higher mileage than in the UK. And I have to consider that many are for sale because they have been flogged to death! Seen quite a few 6 year old cars with 300,000 kms on the clock. Maybe I'll get something 10 to 15 years old with knackered paint(hoping it will be mechanically fine) rather than something a couple of years old with low mileage.

 

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Well the Pug was dragged off today. Been a great car for many years, but all sorts of niggling little things that stopped working and upcoming large maintenance tasks finally pushed the scales into "replace" rather than "repair" territory.

Final Score:

1442852818_pugfinalscoresmall.thumb.JPG.7344717742183d12e40a86ee558fc4fd.JPG

If the replacement is anywhere near as good I'll be happy.

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5 minutes ago, Norbert said:

Well the Pug was dragged off today. Been a great car for many years, but all sorts of niggling little things that stopped working and upcoming large maintenance tasks finally pushed the scales into "replace" rather than "repair" territory.

Final Score:

1442852818_pugfinalscoresmall.thumb.JPG.7344717742183d12e40a86ee558fc4fd.JPG

If the replacement is anywhere near as good I'll be happy.

That's good going 

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  • 1 month later...

A satisfying milestone was achieved yesterday in my 2005 Skoda Octavia VRS, that's the second mk1 Octavia I've taken past the magic 200k mark, my diesel one achieved it on the motorway though so I missed the moment.

20201020_145921.thumb.jpg.ba7ce8d29264fbca11e23d05f761f7cc.jpg

20201020_154911.thumb.jpg.245d0c5d571c605acf70a86a1bb1e7ef.jpg

And no, it didn't celebrate by putting the EML on, the first photo was taken while the ignition was off!  It's been on for ages because I've unplugged the noisy and pointless secondary air pump and haven't got around to doing anything more permanent about it yet.

I've not been very kind to it of late - the clutch is almost done for, the wheels desperately need a refurb and I think it needs a new throttle body but other than that it's still quite brilliant.  It's probably about time I paid it a bit more attention.

Image

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