The new news 24 thread

[Split_Pin]

46 minutes ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Of interest/relevance to us here: Woman, 18, not shortlisted for job at estate agents as 'car is too old' - BBC News

I'd have struggled with that in the past, indeed I'd fall foul of it now as the RX daily driver is nearing 12 years old.

Does seem a bit harsh on an entry-level vacancy, and surely an applicant's argument will be that if they get the job then they would 'upgrade' to something of suitable age? 

The woman who came to speak to us about our house was the owner of the Estate Agency and turned up in a ropey 300c. Absolutely acceptable IMO.

[IronStar]

1 hour ago, captain_70s said:

Estate agents are all about show.

Can't sell a £500k, mid-terrace, anthracite grey dream if you rock up in a Deliveroo driver's ride...

My work got very pissy with me the one time in 5 years I ever failed to get to work due to a breakdown because my car was old and strongly suggested I bought something newer so as to not let them down again.

I hope you told them that they are welcome to pay for a new car if they don't like what you're driving

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

The "no old cars" thing is enshrined in the NHS as well.

My late Mother was working as a Phlebotomist (Blood Sample Taker (Dad claims she was a vampire is a previous life) ) and had to travel between Medical Centres, Old Folks Homes etc

Not allowed to have a car over Five Years Old.

She told them where to stuff the job in the end.

[artdjones]

42 minutes ago, Momentary Lapse Of Reason said:

The "no old cars" thing is enshrined in the NHS as well.

My late Mother was working as a Phlebotomist (Blood Sample Taker (Dad claims she was a vampire is a previous life) ) and had to travel between Medical Centres, Old Folks Homes etc

Not allowed to have a car over Five Years Old.

She told them where to stuff the job in the end.

If they feel in their pointy heads that they need that level of newness they should pay for it.

[barefoot]

4 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Of interest/relevance to us here: Woman, 18, not shortlisted for job at estate agents as 'car is too old' - BBC News

I'd have struggled with that in the past, indeed I'd fall foul of it now as the RX daily driver is nearing 12 years old.

Does seem a bit harsh on an entry-level vacancy, and surely an applicant's argument will be that if they get the job then they would 'upgrade' to something of suitable age? 

A woman of 18 would do well to insure a newish car. Never mind insure it for business as is clearly required in this instance. 

[Popsicle]

Vehicle tax has increased on the couriering Caddy, £30.18 a month, up from £29.31. A whole 87p a month more, robbing buggers 😂.

What with the increased revenue, will our pot holed strewn highways become billiard table smooth?

I went with a right wallop down a grand canyonesque hole last Friday, near to the nuclear fuel place round Preston way, had a fair bit of weight on the van at the time. 

About 600kg in the stillages.

After the pothole hit a new exciting hum appeared at speed, getting louder and louder as the speed increased. FFS now whats broke? I had both rear wheel bearings replaced last week and all four droplinks, at least nothing was banging. Popped to see the mechanic earlier, front nearside wheel bearing gone. He ordered one straight away and told me to pop back in a couple of hours. Brilliant service from the garage as usual for me, really impressed with them. £150 later the exciting hum has disappeared. 

I was on a good run with costs for the van this year, hardly cost me owt over the first 20k miles, now I've spent £832 on it over the past 9 days.

I know there are a few other costing nerds on here, but in shock news higher mile vehicles cost more to run than lower miles ones:

100-200k cost me £3915
200k-300k cost me £5261
300k-400k cost me £2557
400k-500k cost me £5237 so far, vans on 482k

So it looks like 200k miles or 400k miles is the sweet point to bail.

 

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

2 hours ago, Popsicle said:

So it looks like 200k miles or 400k miles is the sweet point to bail.

So your planning on taking it to 600K ?

[Remspoor]

6 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Of interest/relevance to us here: Woman, 18, not shortlisted for job at estate agents as 'car is too old' - BBC News

I'd have struggled with that in the past, indeed I'd fall foul of it now as the RX daily driver is nearing 12 years old.

Does seem a bit harsh on an entry-level vacancy, and surely an applicant's argument will be that if they get the job then they would 'upgrade' to something of suitable age? 

Why does mum 

Look like Ozzy Osbourne?

[Popsicle]

6 minutes ago, Momentary Lapse Of Reason said:

So your planning on taking it to 600K ?

I like your thinking!

The plan was to get something else at 500k, however, I am now leaning towards carrying on for a bit longer and just seeing how it goes, after all most things on it are pretty new at the moment 😂.

I'm also tight, every time I look online at newer vans I just think, HFM.

[Remspoor]

On 16/03/2026 at 13:48, Remspoor said:

Took a boat now in the UK. Tomorrow is my dad's funeral. I have mixed emotions we did not have a great relationship.

Watch out for a Spanish registered car. It may be be and the wifey 

I really have mixed feelings about my father. Most of our relationship was not a great one. Anyhow he is now cremated and that is that.

The ferry is a sort of odd. We had an inside cabin so no window. But woke up because I felt the boat was not rolling on the gentile wave. Getting up and walking to the rear deck proved we had docked. Some 2 to 2.5 hours before we was due to disembark. Crew  member said the lorries leave early then the other passengers can disembark.

There is a Morrisons petrol station right near the port. Petrol in the UK is way cheaper than in The Netherlands, where is was hovering around the 2.50€ per litre. Trying paying by card because we had no cash. All 4 of our cards were blocked for outside of Europe. Wife managed to change one, via the phone app, for world wide usage. We both forgot about that  lessons learned.

I may upset some folks here, but I have to say. Since we (the wife and I) was last in the UK, some 6 years ago, the deterioration of road surfaces, the amount of roadside litter and the lack of road sign cleaning is very noticeable.

On the plus side  the countryside is has not changed and it is fantastic to see those views around us. That pleases us very much, you really cannot beat that

 

[bramz7]

And that makes 3 Alfas on fleet.

174k but very well maintained. The engine seems in particularly good health. The ride is pretty harsh over bad surfaces but that's probably due to the big alloys. 

I don't currently have a sensible car. 

 

[High Jetter]

5 hours ago, barefoot said:

A woman of 18 would do well to insure a newish car. Never mind insure it for business as is clearly required in this instance. 

Sounds discriminative to me, unless specified in the ad. Maybe a company pool car for them to use? Oh, no Estate Agents...

[Zelandeth]

5 hours ago, Remspoor said:

I really have mixed feelings about my father. Most of our relationship was not a great one. Anyhow he is now cremated and that is that.

The ferry is a sort of odd. We had an inside cabin so no window. But woke up because I felt the boat was not rolling on the gentile wave. Getting up and walking to the rear deck proved we had docked. Some 2 to 2.5 hours before we was due to disembark. Crew  member said the lorries leave early then the other passengers can disembark.

There is a Morrisons petrol station right near the port. Petrol in the UK is way cheaper than in The Netherlands, where is was hovering around the 2.50€ per litre. Trying paying by card because we had no cash. All 4 of our cards were blocked for outside of Europe. Wife managed to change one, via the phone app, for world wide usage. We both forgot about that  lessons learned.

I may upset some folks here, but I have to say. Since we (the wife and I) was last in the UK, some 6 years ago, the deterioration of road surfaces, the amount of roadside litter and the lack of road sign cleaning is very noticeable.

On the plus side  the countryside is has not changed and it is fantastic to see those views around us. That pleases us very much, you really cannot beat that

 

We had that last time we went to the US.  We even made a point of advising our bank we were travelling overseas.  Yep...moment we tried to use a card, they locked everything!

[Llessur]

I did a thing and replaced the broken fan knob on ye olde Ford Ranger (or Courier as they insist on calling it here).

The old one had given up on life due to previous farmer owner's harsh fingers (not pictured):

Now it is new again and has the ability to control the air without falling off. It also lights up at night (although to be fair, the old one did that too):

Side note: What happened to those nice green dashboard lights off the 80s/90s? It's political correctness gone mad.

[artdjones]

15 hours ago, barefoot said:

A woman of 18 would do well to insure a newish car. Never mind insure it for business as is clearly required in this instance. 

In Ireland it's older cars that are more expensive to insure. The cheapest quotes are usually for cars 0-6 years old.

[IronStar]

4 hours ago, Llessur said:

Side note: What happened to those nice green dashboard lights off the 80s/90s? It's political correctness gone mad.

We decided as a society, that colours that were initially picked based on contrast, required output power to see them, and eye strain are no longer looking modern enough. Then we went ahead and replaced green and warm orange with dazzling white, shining with the brightness of a thousand suns. Then we went one up, and replaced those with the displays, because seeing where you’re going and not having glare around you whilst you’re driving at night is overrated. 

[Metal Guru]

10 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Sounds discriminative to me, unless specified in the ad. Maybe a company pool car for them to use? Oh, no Estate Agents...

From the employer’s POV, they probably didn’t want to appoint her and then be told, she can’t afford to insure her car and then they have to go through the recruitment all over again.

[D.E]

12 hours ago, Remspoor said:

Petrol in the UK is way cheaper than in The Netherlands, where is was hovering around the 2.50€ per litre.

Yes, and it's a new record high. Yay....

[captain_70s]

27 minutes ago, IronStar said:

We decided as a society, that colours that were initially picked based on contrast

Fun fact, I am partially red/green colourblind. So my the red speed indicator on my Volvo's strip speedometer goes nearly invisible when combined with the green dash illumination. 😂

[Lonestar]

Just had the car tax renewal through for the Astra. An extra 44p a month. I think I can live with that.

[Bren]

Did the throttle cables on the busa. Out on my mountain bike as it's glorious here.

[Somerset Suffolk]

Ex Girl friend (were still friends !) 2006 1.25 Zetec Fiesta - She's had it for about 17 years - great little cars - in for its MOT 

 

But MOT cat says no !

Failed on boot cover nearside track rod 

 

 

 

 

New boot fitted and re test ....

 

 

 

MOT cat says yes ! thanks MOT cat you're the best ! 

[davehedgehog31]

Today's magic trick involved squeezing near 5 metres of Lexus into a council lockup. I had to put a foam floor tile between the back wall and the bumper and get it touching to be able to close the garage door. Extracting myself from the car meant contorting out the back door and if I have too many fish suppers it will be stuck in there forevermore. 

[cort1977]

MOT cat looks like he takes a stern line on corrosion of a load-bearing structure within 30cm of the mounting location.

[wuvvum]

Got the oil and filter change done on the Rover - the pump I bought off eBay turned out to be completely useless so I ended up driving very gingerly up onto the ramps and doing it the old fashioned way.  5 litres of finest* Mannol 10w40 took it to just over the minimum on the dipstick, so I bought another litre from the local shop to top it up.  That's all the fleet up to date on oil changes now, which is good as my stock of oil is more or less depleted.

As it was a glorious day today I ran the Volvo up to Tesco for a couple of gallons of 99 octane unleaded, then took it for a brief spin.  The brake pedal feels a little softer than I remember it but the brakes work well enough.  I do need to clear some of the crap out of the boot though as the rear silencer was grounding out over some of the bigger speed bumps.  Other than that it drove fine, the new radiator top hose I fitted last year seems to be helping to keep the coolant where it should be, and the ancient battery has survived another winter which is good.

I got a £50 Halfords voucher recently for being a good boy at work, so last night I drove in to Norwich and treated myself to a new lithium jump starter - the Noco Boost I bought a couple of years ago is still working fine but isn't quite man enough to start the Merc or the van on its own when they're properly flat, and the cheapo eBay special I've had for about five years is on its last legs - can't complain mind as it's done a lot better than I expected given what I paid for it.  The Halfords jobbie was £61.99, so down to £11.99 with the voucher, which is cheaper than even the crappiest jump starter on eBay.

[Split_Pin]

7.5 litres in the CDT, not a Junkman-friendly sump (anyone still remember that!)

The L322 takes 9 😬

[HMC]

27 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

7.5 litres in the CDT, not a Junkman-friendly sump (anyone still remember that!)

The L322 takes 9 😬

yes! IIIRC MERC 2.4 v6 has an @Junkman offensively large sump.

Come back @Junkman

[Split_Pin]

I was made redundant last January, which was hell and now, 14 months later, like a .44 calibre bolt from the blue, I have been told I'm being made redundant again.

[davehedgehog31]

11 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

I was made redundant last January, which was hell and now, 14 months later, like a .44 calibre bolt from the blue, I have been told I'm being made redundant again.

Sorry to hear that man, hopefully you've been informed with plenty of notice and you get sorted with something else quickly. 

[Lord Sterling]

9 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

I was made redundant last January, which was hell and now, 14 months later, like a .44 calibre bolt from the blue, I have been told I'm being made redundant again.

Man, I am sorry to hear that. What is going on? I seriously hope you can fond something off the bat soon and may it be something you've been looking for and will enjoy. Sometimes you gotta go through the pain to find the ease.