The grumpy thread

[Mr_Bo11ox]

^^^^ fair enough!!!

[jakebullet]

Top tip: Make your ebay seller happy to help you by being abusive, and claiming it's been over a week when it's actually 4 days. (bonus points for being a cheapskate who went for 2nd class). Ignore everything he says in reply, and send the same message again with "before I leave feedback" added on the front.

 

Fucking Tango Tony.

[dugong]

This is flipping absurd. 'The spark plugs might not have been changed so FUCK YOU! We are not going to cough up for some probelm with the aircon' What warranty is it? Not that it makes any difference as they are all a flipping piss take.

I'm sure I got shouted at for saying new car warranties were a con and that manufacturers wriggle out of them.

 

Anyway, fingers crossed you get it sorted.

[Largactil]

This is flipping absurd. 'The spark plugs might not have been changed so FUCK YOU! We are not going to cough up for some probelm with the aircon' What warranty is it? Not that it makes any difference as they are all a flipping piss take.

 

Bee Em Dubya's own warranty, under written by Mondial I believe.

 

I've only ever owned one new car, and it arrived in a load of boxes for me to put it together and SVA myself, so no warranty (They did send me a free reversing light switch for the gearbox when I mashed one fitting the engine to the chassis). 

 

Therefore I've not had the pleasure of dealing with a warranty company before - I wouldn't bother again, and wouldn't have bothered this time if they hadn't built an engine with a propensity for timing chain tensioner failure...(!)  

 

It's getting sold once I get back from Italy at the end of this month and, all going to plan, I'll be back behind the wheel of something shite which no warranty company would dream of touching.

[sporty-shite]

I am pissing myself off. Saw the Volvo 480 on the tat thread. Got myself all worked up for it and now, for some reason, I'm bottling out.

 

SHITE MOJO IZ LOW. DO NOT LIKE.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I know that feeling. Actually I find a week-long 'cooling off period' is a good shite buying technique. I want something, I wait a week and see if I still want it. 99% of the time I have forgotten all about it so I can give myself a pat on the back for not buying something I clearly didnt want.

[HillmanImp]

Had this conversation with the missus about this last night when we were in the pub. She was sayig her old Punto had a warranty and it was not worth the paper it was printed on. I tried to explain that unless its a manufacturers warranty its pretty pointless and will probably have a bigger team of people working just to get out of paying anything than those who pay out and sort claims.

 

With the expensive repairs that some cars need these days I would be surprised if any company would be able to provide a cost effective product that actually did pay out. If you charged £30 a month for a policy thats £360 a year, with some modern car repairs potentially costing thousands they really are out to make a big loss on the policy even with a small breakdown. Therefore these companies are simply there to take your money and wangle their way out of paying anything out. That wil be their entire business model.

 

What someone should be offering  (they might be I don't know much about it) is a warranty on several 'high cost' items that you might end up having to pay out on a modern car. Head gasket faliure - covered. Cambelt snapped prematurely - Covered. Gearbox borked - covered. New coil - sod off, just put your hand in your pocket and get a new one and so on.

 

As an insurer you can even assess the likelyhood of certain items on certain cars based upon how prone that model is to break down and the cost for such repairs.

 

Problem is that most people will not use this service they will istead use the £30 a month job 'cover all' policy as it seems better value and then whinge about it when it doesn't pay out.

 

If there was such a service I might be inclined to buy a more modern car. My main reasoning for not doing so is that I cant take the risk that I spend £10k on a car and then get left with a £2k bill for some mighty mechanical faliure. At that price you are forced to repair it whether or not you can afford it as leaving it is just dumb. If I spend £1500 on a car and it needs a £2k repair I just sack it off and get a new one. If I knew that in the event of a big failure I was insured against such a large bill then owning a modern would certainly appeal a lot more.

[JohnDeere]

If there was such a service I might be inclined to buy a more modern car. My main reasoning for not doing so is that I cant take the risk that I spend £10k on a car and then get left with a £2k bill for some mighty mechanical faliure. 

 

I think that's the Koreans do so well with owner-drivers.  Buy the Kiaundai, don't worry about major expense for seven years, (or four years if you buy after the first owner's finance/lease).  Worry-free motoring for the masses - and if you spend £15k new on a car that you keep for 7 years and sell for £1k, it's costing a predictable amount of cash that's not eye watering.

[cort16]

With the warranties I recon it's fair enough that they have certain criteria like age, mileage, annual mileage and service history. What's not fair is they happily let you sign up even if your car already doesn't meet the warranty with all the criteria hidden in T&C's. Also I noticed some of them have exceptions like they don't cover turbos or DPF 'sor cars with dual mass fly wheels.

They happily take your money then tell you, you've not serviced it right, the moon is in the wrong cycle for your warranty to apply or the part that's gone ping isn't covered so your warranty is invalid even though you've been paying it for years.

 

My thoughts on cars are either buy a sub 1500 snotter that you can afford to write off if it goes pop or buy a new car with manufacturer warranty. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night with a 4-5 year old 10 grand car sitting on my drive. The 5 series forum is full of folk who have been  tabasco bummed with £1500 clutch changes and £2000 auto gear box rebuild. FUCK THAT!

[Largactil]

Agree whole-heartedly - Think there is some sort of 'major drivetrain failure' warranty out there?

 

The warranty I have *is* the manufacturer's warranty, and I took it mainly because my modern is the most expensive car I've owned in over 10 years, and if something big went it'd be thousands to sort. Piece of mind, I suppose.

 

Anyway, one bitten and all that

 

(Still haven't heard back from the garage today - Not sure whether this is a good thing, but I'm working away till next Tuesday, so don't need the car till then anyway!)

[Mr_Bo11ox]

'Tabasco bummed' fucking LOLZ!!!

[Pillock]

My 3rd party warranty successfully wriggled out of every claim. They have a cute phrase which is "progressive failure" which to them means something along the lines of wear and tear. To me, it means it went wrong and took a bit of time to do it.

 

Example: the pressure pipes that monitor how clogged the dpf is on a Ford/PSA diesel. Mine clogged, and ruptured despite main dealer servicing every time. Note this isn't the dpf itself, so not a consumable. Got knocked back by garage, I phoned to argue, was called back by a grunt obviously employed to bounce claims who just kept repeating "progressive fault" in a variety of similar, but different statements.

 

Also, the reversing sensors weren't covered as they were a factory fitted option. Which makes me glad the £1200 touchscreen satnav never went wrong.

 

In fact I've just made myself angry all over again so I'm going to leave them a load of bad reviews all over the internet.

[Cavcraft]

Here's how it works at Cavcraft: check funds, X amount in the bank. Go on eBay (or wherever) type in the ceiling price, then keep looking until something jumps out at me. 

It's usually 'Oh, I haven't had one of those before, I quite like that' and then a Google check of common faults, some time researching prices, a quick internet chat with the vendor and off to go.

[Mr Lobster]

 

My thoughts on cars are either buy a sub 1500 snotter that you can afford to write off if it goes pop or buy a new car with manufacturer warranty. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night with a 4-5 year old 10 grand car sitting on my drive. The 5 series forum is full of folk who have been  tabasco bummed with £1500 clutch changes and £2000 auto gear box rebuild. FUCK THAT!

 

Bang on I reckon. You either run cheap stuff that is essentially disposable if something bad happens or buy new or very nearly new. Spending £10k on a five year old car is essentially utter madness.

[Inspector Morose]

Note to BX. The green stuff that makes your suspension, brakes and steering goes on the INSIDE of the pipes. Okay?

Note to pipes on above car. If your going to split, please do it in a more accessible place, can you?

That is all.

[chaseracer]

Repairs going well, Andy...?

 

[Inspector Morose]

Green stuff returned to where Citroen intended. Bloody T piece at the LHM tank finally broke too after temporary bodge gave up. Engine steam cleaned, glow plugs removed and water pumped back out before starting. Looking a bit more habitable in there now. The amount of shit that came off was unbelievable.

Only a million more leaks around the engine bay to find and cure and I'll be happier. Next stop, cam cover seal.

Made myself feel better by stripping the wheels and giving them a coat of Lidl zinc paint with an added coat of lacquer. Looks a little less scruffy now with the new (original) trims on.

Oh great. Now clutch won't fully clear. Balls till tomorrow.

[HH-R]

Gah, after wasting two days of my holidays with the car at the garage and them insisting they couldn't find a fault, I borrowed a £15 EOBD reader and it shows a faulty camshaft sensor. Thought they were being kind not charging me for a diagnostic fee but I'm starting to think they have just mucked me round and couldn't really be arsed to look at it.

[AlabamaShrimp]

Gah, after wasting two days of my holidays with the car at the garage and them insisting they couldn't find a fault, I borrowed a £15 EOBD reader and it shows a faulty camshaft sensor. Thought they were being kind not charging me for a diagnostic fee but I'm starting to think they have just mucked me round and couldn't really be arsed to look at it.

Camshaft sensor? Why would a car need that? What I don't understand about 'modern' cars is the ecu and multiple sensors that only seem to fuck up. Cars were OK for decades without all that crap

[UmBongo]

Why do all MK4 Golf drivers behave like utter retards on the road?

[Bobthebeard]

Camshaft sensor? Why would a car need that? What I don't understand about 'modern' cars is the ecu and multiple sensors that only seem to fuck up. Cars were OK for decades without all that crap

Humans were ok for decades without politicians, but we are stuck with them now........ They fuck up even more than ECU's and multiple sensors. That is progress.

[Bobthebeard]

Why do all drivers (apart from me) behave like utter retards on the road?

EFA

My thoughts exactly.....

[michael1703]

Too hot to sleep, no breeze with all windows open

 

On the plus side, decide to have a 4AM fry up

[Cavcraft]

Why do all MK4 Golf drivers behave like utter retards on the road?

 

You've pretty much answered your own question there.

[twosmoke300]

Cars gained cam sensors after the 2001 emissions banding . Closer control over engine timing and injection I suppose.

[steve_earwig]

Too hot to sleep, no breeze with all windows open

Time to buy a fan?

[chaseracer]

No excuse for a 4am fry-up then... 

[cort16]

It's modern car chaos theory. When a butterfly flaps its wings in africa an eml light comes on in an Astra in Bogner.

 

When I unplugged the MAF on that  BMW 316i the auto gearbox completely freaked out. It held onto gears and was giving really jerky shifts. As soon as I replaced the MAF it was supa smooth again. Why?

[gordonbennet]

It's modern car chaos theory. When a butterfly flaps its wings in africa an eml light comes on in an Astra in Bogner.

 

When I unplugged the MAF on that  BMW 316i the auto gearbox completely freaked out. It held onto gears and was giving really jerky shifts. As soon as I replaced the MAF it was supa smooth again. Why?

 

Same as when the downshift cable on the old MB snapped, gearbox had no input so drove as if the engine was on tickover, the temp repair i did with an electrical wire connector lasted 6 years...didn't fail either  but the gearbox had to come out to fit the new cable.

[Joey spud]

Cars gained cam sensors after the 2001 emissions banding . Closer control over engine timing and injection I suppose.

As above modern shite needs to know not just crank position but also where cylinder no1 is so it can start that sequential injection malarkey.

 

On stuff like hdi Peugeots once they are running you can unplug the sensor and they carry on fine untill you turn them off again.

Actually at a training day we were shown how to start one with a dead sensor by frequently touching the sensor wires together while cranking the engine.

when you got the frequency of the on/off signal right it fools the ecu into thinking its seeing cylinder no1 and off they go..