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People scare me.


Barry Cade

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I have a colleague who is lovely, but dreadfully ham-fisted and clueless, not to mention accident prone. All her cars end up with bumps and scrapes, usually on her own gate posts. Whatever car she has will always fail its MOT, if she hasn't killed it earlier. 

Few cars have lasted more than a year. She has regularly run out of fuel, misfuelled, driven on flat tyres, generally oblivious to problems unless they cause the car to stop.

She has a strange attitude to maintenance/servicing. Has been told about issues (You have light out, bald tyre, etc.) but usually thinks it can wait until the MOT. 

The gearbox died on her XC90 Volvo, spent £4k on a new box, only to scrap it at MOT time as it needed tyres. 

Realised the MOT had expired on her little Colt drop-top, put it in for test which it passed, after one new tyre, only to trade it in a day later for a Honda Civic. 

The Honda was fine, apart from asking us one day what the "Aladdin's Lamp" meant on the dashboard. After having some much needed oil it didn't last long before the head gasket went and it was scrapped. Currently driving a Mini Cooper Clubman Diesel, place bets now on it reaching its next MOT.

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I look after my cars pretty well and like to keep on top of maintenance and do plenty of preventative stuff. Been trying to get the discs and pads changed since March so it finally went in for a service, MOT and new discs and pads. to a posh local main dealer type place (MG main dealer - used to be Mazda and before that, MG/Rover) it failed its test on front discs, which really annoys me but they test before they do the jobs its booked in for, but it still annoys me.

Oh yes, it also failed on a severely corroded rear subfame! Like loads of holes all over it type holes. It's fucked with a capital FUCKED! It looked fine at Christmas when Busman and I had a look at it while it was on a ramp. Loads of post on the various SLK forums about these rear subframes, cars are galvanised, subframes are barely painted!

Oh well, only £1500 for the new subframe (genuine Mercedes) a load of new bushes and bolte etc and fitting to go with the £660 for the brakes and service. Oh hum...

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40 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Can’t you get another used subframe from a breaker? 

Chance of that seems to be somewhere between slim and none. They all rot it seems, plenty of fronts for sale very few rears. Also, being done by proper garage, they seem loathe to fix it using anything other than shiny new bits direct drom the manufacturer rather than skanky old shit covered in oil and grot and of course, rust.

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I'm in several camps here. My cars are always properly maintained, even when that makes no financial sense (new cambelt on 15 year old Clio for example, or new chassis on then worthless 2cv) but to be honest my moped only gets fixed when it breaks. It doesn't do big miles, 2.6 miles each way 5 days a week for the last 10 years, and breaks about twice a year, when I tell my mechanic to do whatever needs doing. I did leave the rear tyre long after I should have changed it, even causing one of my regulars to phone me at work and tell me off, after he followed me on his commute one day! I'd never take a gamble if the family were involved, but when it's just me using it .....

Some of you will know that I work at a main dealer, and while I know that we're often portrayed as crooks and rip off merchants, the fact is that while we may well be dearer (not always, but generally) we have far more to loose if caught doing anything dodgy, than "Dave's Garage" that can easily reopen next week as "John's Motors" with exactly the same team. Believe me, that while those names are made up, I've seen that happen many times with our customers, but equally I must say there are many great independents that I would happily recommend.  Just as a side note, nearly all of our genuine equipment front wipers are £25 a pair, and we regularly get customers telling us that Halfords are dearer - apparently in one case attaching the (£40!) wipers with cable ties as they couldn't get them to fit properly! 

Getting back on point, we regularly get customers  who refuse to spend on things that are about to break, or are even already broken  as we "just want to rip them off".  Probably the worst was a customer who wanted a wheel trim. When I fitted it, I noticed the tyre was terribly cracked, cords visible right the way around! Looking around, they were all the same. I told the woman that she needed to get them done, especially as there were 3 child seats in the back.  I was apparently "just trying to rip her off" even though I am not on  commission, told her where the nearest other tyre places are and didn't even give her a price before she drove off! Nobody wants to spend extra money if they can avoid it, but surely the safety of your family, even if you don't care if you hit someone else, you care about your own? 

I've always felt with stuff like this, that it's cheaper to maintain a car, than to repair it when it goes bang. Those that lease their cars do tend to find that out when they get fleeced massively by the finance compaies if they haven't taken care  of the car. 

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Reminds me...

A 17yr old colleague with only the slimmest grip on reality bought a brand new Yamaha RXS100. He lived in a village about 6 miles away and rode it in every day.

In the space of 6 months it went from brand new to 50p worth of scrap. Totally shagged.

Everything bent, broken, rusty and dented. Some of his "mates" borrowed it once and never bought it back. I was found dumped down a farm track. I don't think it lasted a year.

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I suspect a lot of the issue is that cars have become too reliable and need so little maintenance compared to two generations ago that people now ignore stuff.

When a car needed an oil change, points cleaning/gapping, plugs cleaning/gapping, carb twiddling and a general sunday afternoon fiddle-with at least every 3000 miles, and at a service actually needed things like grease points lubricating etc.etc, people realised that cars need maintaining.  You simply couldn't drive a car without either knowing something about what you were doing with it, or had a friend/spouse/whatever who did.  If you ignored little problems, they very very quickly became show-stopping problems.  Even tyres.  In the 60s and 70s just about everyone had to change a tyre on a regular basis due to punctures.  If you couldn't change a tyre at the roadside, you were going to be stuck for a fair while on a regular basis.

Now you can leave a car for 20k miles between services, and even then they don't need 80% of what a car i the 1970s needed.  If you miss that service, it will probably keep going for another 20k miles before anything actually happens that causes you an issue.  Leave a set of plugs in for 100k miles?  They'll probably still work.  When it comes to a service, everything is sealed-for-life.   And when was the last time you changed a tyre at the roadside?  I've not done one in years.

I even heard a few years back, when some dozy moo got her Renault Megane stuck having parked it on some wet grass, say "I thought modern cars didn't get stuck".  Sums it up really.

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8 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Twice on the hard shoulder of the M1 Southbound in the last three years, and once outside the pub last year.

Then you've been very unlucky.  Most people these days get a flat tyre about once every 5 years, possibly longer.  In the 70's it was at least a couple of times a year.

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2 hours ago, Talbot said:

Then you've been very unlucky.  Most people these days get a flat tyre about once every 5 years, possibly longer.  In the 70's it was at least a couple of times a year.

Agreed, definitely doesn't seem to happen much these days. I've been driving 16 years and I can only remember changing a wheel at the roadside twice. I guess tyres are stronger than they used to be? 

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Here in London one of the things people do is drive about on flat tyres - saw (and heard) one yesterday like there is nothing wrong.

Bought a Fiat Panda off a very nice man in Highgate a few years ago - a few doors down from George Michael's old house - no house under £2M.  No brakes  to speak of when I drove it home - found out going down Highgate  Hill...

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Think Talbot has summed it up.

My job is fixing things, and my colleagues who also fix things for a living seem to be non the wiser when it comes to car maintenance.

If it doesn't ping or bong, then it isn't broken, and even then you just press a button to ignore.

I think modern car design has a lot to play in this too;

Spare wheel ? Nope call the AA or RAC to fetch you home, with a wheel and  tyre they carry on board. 

Dipstick- Don't be silly a clever little sensor knows everything, so sit on that warm seat and wait for a BONG.

Even things like eliminating water temperature gauges, to me just drives home the 'I don't care, just get me from A to B'

Folk I work with find it mad I spend good money on Tyres, OEM Cambelt kits and other parts, when "Just use Euro Car Parts, and buy the cheapest tyres as they're all the same these days"

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Did a quick poll of some of the staff where I work.  Less than 50% of people could answer what engine size they car was.  Almost no-one knew what type of brakes they have, and only one person knew what style of suspension their car has (and he's a car nut).

I work for an Engineering company.

I was going to ask people how long it was since they last checked their tyre pressures.  I didn't dare.

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On 11/2/2020 at 10:59 PM, stephen01 said:

never fear I thought I have a bulb kit in the glove box, nope couldn’t be found for love nor money. I popped a headlight bulb out the Honda before the wife went, you know one is better than none?!  but the van was a different type, walked down to the massive Tesco while the lad was doing kickboxing. Not a single bulb kit.  Literally had to drive home on mains, surprisingly only got flashed a couple of times, thankfully home was only about 3 miles and by the time I’d left rush hour was over.

Don't think I've seen a bulb kit in a Tesco either, though every now and again my local one will have a shelf-full of Redex at half-price which is an offer I have availed myself of on occasion.

On the other hand, I remember going to a large supermarket in France about 5 years ago (can't remember which chain it was now) and found an aisle with an impressive selection of car spares (for French cars, obvs).

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I'm a bit guilty of this. My Almera desperately needs a service as it's been 3 years and 10-11k miles since the last. However, I have found the motivation and recently asked my local garage to quote me for a full service. They haven't been very forthcoming. They Mot'd it back in July - passed with advisories. Receptionist said that it was a nice car but still don't seem interested in working on it. :huh:

It's not for money reasons that I haven't got it serviced but as a sington it's just a bit awkward to coordinate around a full time Monday to Friday day job. The oil must be as black as the Ace of Spades ♠ now. 

Edited by ProgRocker
Damn autocorrect
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Headlight popped on the Combo on Sunday. Popped into my local Shell - no H7 bulbs. Popped into Morrisons petrol station - don't sell bulbs. Ended up driving to Hucknall and picking one up from Texaco for £4.

I suppose people are now used to Halfords fitting them for a fiver, so don't need to keep spares.

(Incidentally, I did have a spare but my ham-fistedness resulted in the bulb shattering - my excuse, it was dark...)

BTW Wilko's sell bulb kits for a tenner.

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2 hours ago, ProgRocker said:

I'm a bit guilty of this. My Almera desperately needs a service as it's been 3 years and 10-11k miles since the last.

This is kinda my point.  Can you imagine absolutely any car from British-Leyland from the late-60's or early 70's being able to do that?    They could barely manage 3 months without something needing to be fixed, never mind 3 years.

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The polish like a bit of car maintenance, they seem to understand the value of looking after things. I’ve often thought in somewhere like the Australian outback people must look after their cars, a conrod going through the block midway through a 1500 mile trip in the desert probably means you will be brown bread by the time someone finds you.

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14 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Most European service stations have a pretty decent range of bulb kits, tow straps and the like and often lots of gadgets for truckers too. Not exactly bargain prices but they must sell or they wouldn't stock them

I have a feeling carrying a bulb kit in the car is a legal requirement in quite a few European countries - from memory the French in particular require all sorts of things to be present in the vehicle.

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1 hour ago, AnthonyG said:

I have a feeling carrying a bulb kit in the car is a legal requirement in quite a few European countries - from memory the French in particular require all sorts of things to be present in the vehicle.

I remember my parents getting a first aid kit & a warning triangle for going to France in 1989, my Dad's Carlton had a compartment at the side of the boot for stowing them away.

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16 minutes ago, louiepj said:

I am now imagining the size of the bulb kits with both front headlamps and tail lamps for some led lamp equipped cars and vans where the bulbs aren't replaceable.

Another case where the law has not kept up with current technology.  Given that a surprising number of vehicles (well, certainly Audis anyway) have redundant lamps, that means the car complies with the law without the driver having to do anything.

Although I did always wonder:  If you have to carry a spare lamp in the car, what happens if you do have a lamp failure and you swap them out.  From that point on you no longer have a spare lamp on board, so technically you are no longer legal to drive.  Does that mean you have to carry two spare lamps for every fitment?

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