6in1 Jump Starter Power Pack

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I hate that Keeping You in Your Lane thing. Have had a hire cars fitted with it.
When I'm on the motorway, I like to make very long & smooth lane changes - when it's not too busy. That widget meant I had to "force" the start of the manoeuvre. I soon found the off switch.
I don't drive tired, so it's not really any use to me.

If you indicate when changing lanes it won’t do that thing to you…

 

[StoneRoad]

If you indicate when changing lanes it won’t do that thing to you…

I do indicate when pulling out but not every single time when returning to the inside lane, especially when I'm only going 'round one car or whatever.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I do indicate when pulling out but not every single time when returning to the inside lane, especially when I'm only going 'round one car or whatever.

That’s why it happens. You can turn it off.

 

[StoneRoad]

That’s why it happens. You can turn it off.

Yeah, I know I can kill it, It gets shut off everytime ...

 

[Sasaferrato]

In retrospect that must be what's happened. It was fully charged when I put it in the boot a few months ago, thinking I was being clever by putting it there

First lockdown, car not used for a month, came to start it. Nada. Borrowed charger, wouldn't hold charge.

The garage I've used for a decade sent someone out with a new battery and fitted it for me. Ouchie fucking ouch financially. Then six months later, sold the car.

 

[weltweit]

One expense I would always take when using old second hand cars is AA or RAC or the like membership.

My current banger has only broken down properly once which was in a field some 30 miles from home. The battery completely failed with no warning. The AA came out (quickly) replaced the battery and I was mobile again.

Because I have always had old vehicles, cars and bikes, I have always had AA membership and have frequently called them out, every time they have repaired my vehicle at the side of the road. I wouldn't be without them.

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

I'm always a bit surprised that people are surprised at the cost of ownership of a car. Maybe it didn't hit me as hard when I started driving (I drove older cars, and fixed a lot of things myself, which helped), but it's undeniable that driving a car results in significant ongoing costs. Your tyres overall will collectively be costing you somewhere around 10p/mile (25000 on a set of 4 at £50 each); your clutch rather less at half a penny a mile. You're going to need a new battery every 4 years or so - not so much of a mileage cost, more a time-based one. Bulbs can cost a fair bit to replace if you pay someone else, but you're going to be spending a bit of money on them over the years, likewise stuff like windscreen wipers. Brakes need replacing fairly regularly, depending on how you drive the car, etc. I think I usually get 2 years, or about 60,000 miles, between brake jobs. But you also need to be aware that at some point, discs and drums will need replacing, albeit less often than the pads/shoes, and if you're unlucky, as I was last year, you'll find that a caliper has seized and needs replacing. Pads all round, 2 discs, and a caliper cost me £600 (fitted).

If I average it out, though, my annual maintenance costs on the car are probably around the £4-500 mark. It's got a few dings and dents, which I've never bothered to get anything done about (it's actually a cosmetic write-off, having become tractor-smoothed as a result of an encounter with one), and I do all my own oil changes and basic maintenance, which means not all that much in parts and dead cheap labour.

It's the price you pay for the convenience (or essentiality, if like me you live in the sticks) and fun of having an independent means of transport. But yes, it's also a source of fairly continual unexpected expense.

Yep, I miss the days when I use to do most of my mechanics myself, saved a fortune and that was with having to take days off my self employed driving job.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Fuck me, is this what it's like, having to shell out £££ every couple of months?

basically, yes

a few years ago (after the previous puddymobile got nicked and written off) i did work out just how much a week it cost to have a car (before actually moving it) and did seriously question whether it was worth it and whether i wouldn't do better getting groceries delivered now and then / occasional minicab / hiring something for going away a few times a year.

and then there's depreciation / finance (although previous car was well and truly paid for - i had it 20 years or so - and it was starting to gain in value again)

as i was thinking about job hunting at the time, and as aged mum-tat is 40+ miles away (and there's always the chance of an emergency just after the last train out of this part of the world has gone for the night) i decided to replace it.

did slightly less than 2,000 miles between the last two MOTs although the last year or two has not been normal.

I hate that Keeping You in Your Lane thing. Have had a hire cars fitted with it.

the what now?

i still haven't quite adjusted to moving in to the current century of motoring...

 

[two sheds]

and then there's depreciation / finance (although previous car was well and truly paid for - i had it 20 years or so - and it was starting to gain in value again)

top cars, anglias

 

[Puddy_Tat]

top cars, anglias

hmph

previous puddymobile on wikimedia (i did manage to recover a few things including garfield after it had been stole - it ended up about 20 miles away, the first i knew it had gone was when i got a phone call late one night from old bill there asking if i was owner of..., where was it? could i go and check? oh bugger)

 

[two sheds]

could have been worse, friend had car nicked and driven into lamppost - she was charged for removing it.

 

[mauvais]

Now the weather's turned cold again the car battery dies if I don't run the car around the car park every day. So it's died.

Two pages of this and nobody has commented on the above.

If you do this, your battery will be flat in no time, cold or not, old or not.

Every time you start the engine you take a big chunk of charge out of the battery. You need to drive for a considerable period of time, maybe an hour at fair speed, to get some charge back into the battery. And that's contingent on the alternator working and the battery being in good condition.

If you don't drive it enough then you need to put it on a smart charger and this takes hours. I don't know what you mean by jump starter but it sounds like maybe you have a smart charger.

Car batteries are good for about five years and then slowly start to decline.

 

[pug]

EVERY TIME I DEAL WITH A FLAT BATTERY THE WATER IN THE BATTERY IS LOW, I TOP THEM UP FROM THE KETTLE COLD THEN ONCE CHARGED THEY WORK. I DO IT TO MAINTAINANCE FREE BATTERIES IF THEY HAVE FILLING HOLES UNDER THE STICKER.

sorry for shouting

Also multimeters are cheap, the charge from the alternator must be checked when a new battery is fitted to make sure that the alternator is working properly otherwise the charge can be too high and wreck the new battery.

 

[scalyboy]

Two pages of this and nobody has commented on the above.

If you do this, your battery will be flat in no time, cold or not, old or not.

Every time you start the engine you take a big chunk of charge out of the battery. You need to drive for a considerable period of time, maybe an hour at fair speed, to get some charge back into the battery. And that's contingent on the alternator working and the battery being in good condition.

If you don't drive it enough then you need to put it on a smart charger and this takes hours. I don't know what you mean by jump starter but it sounds like maybe you have a smart charger.

Car batteries are good for about five years and then slowly start to decline.

As a learner, my opportunities to drive it around for a few miles are limited, depending on when/if friends or neighbours with a licence are willing to sit in the passenger seat with me. I’ve done it a few times but generally it’s just been round the car park every other day (this was my instructor’s advice, to keep the battery going and prevent everything from seizing up was what he said IIRC).
This was ok until the cold weather set in

 

[mauvais]

It's bad advice - you would be better off not starting it at all. I barely drive my car at all at the minute and it's fine.

Cars do benefit from being used and moved, in general. But short trips don't help - quite the opposite really.

 

[two sheds]

Now you say that I recall that I bought my first car in the Netherlands (Volkswagen Beetle) with a few inches of snow on it after it hadn't been used in months - started first time.

 

[Sasaferrato]

could have been worse, friend had car nicked and driven into lamppost - she was charged for removing it.

A friend, whilst a tad refreshed, ran his brand new Rover 2000 (he got it that day) into a telegraph pole. The stump ripped the sump out of the car.

Consequences?

12 month ban and £500.00 fine.
Court Martial, demoted from Sgt to Cpl.
Paying for a car he didn't have.
Fucking huge insurance premiums for quite a while.
He had to pay for the replacement of the pole.

An expensive lesson.

 

[Dogsauce]

Sometimes it is worth paying the likes of Halfords to do simple tasks. I’d changed lightbulbs before in my ex’s Megane years ago and it was a piece of piss, not worth paying someone else to fit it. With the Avensis we had a couple of years back I googled changing the front bulb and loads of comments saying it was an absolute ball ache and you needed to take other bits apart to get at it. So the Mrs took it down the hill to Halfords, handed over seven quid and sat there for 45 minutes while some confused teenager struggled to work it all out. Bargain.