Bangers chat
- Thread starter not-bono-ever
- Start date
Chz
Stark Raving Sane
No, it was Total Car Check. You can't search for cars in general, it's just for looking up price history on a particular number plate so you have an idea if the dealer's already discounted it and you don't have much room for maneuver.
Silas Loom
A lome the lenthe of a yerde
Oh, that’s interesting! The two private sellers on my radar have erased their number plates from the photos, which stops Total Car Check and the gov.uk MOT lookup. I suppose there could be a reasonable excuse for not wanting the number plate to be visible in public, but it makes me feel more comfortable with the transparent approach that dealers take.
Silas Loom
A lome the lenthe of a yerde
I’m really surprised by how many of the WAVs in my price range are diesel. These are not vehicles that do a lot of bombing up and down the motorway. They will spend a lot of time unused.
We bought an ex-fleet 2014 diesel Merc in 2017 because we thought it was the environmentally sound thing to do. A year later, diesel drivers were reviled as particulate monsters and our car, which was mainly used for very short trips, was pretty much permanently in limp mode, despite regular and expensive particulate filter replacements. So, we’ve learned our lesson: petrol or electricity only.
I can see why fleets were still buying diesels for their road warriors in 2014, but why on earth were Motability (which pays for most conversions and takes on the resale risk) still betting on diesel for disabled drivers in the 2010s? Weird. And a serious restriction on my choices in a very niche market.
We bought an ex-fleet 2014 diesel Merc in 2017 because we thought it was the environmentally sound thing to do. A year later, diesel drivers were reviled as particulate monsters and our car, which was mainly used for very short trips, was pretty much permanently in limp mode, despite regular and expensive particulate filter replacements. So, we’ve learned our lesson: petrol or electricity only.
I can see why fleets were still buying diesels for their road warriors in 2014, but why on earth were Motability (which pays for most conversions and takes on the resale risk) still betting on diesel for disabled drivers in the 2010s? Weird. And a serious restriction on my choices in a very niche market.
Chz
Stark Raving Sane
Because it's long enough ago the that diesel downsides hadn't come home to roost for most people. It's generally thought that you'd be mad to buy a diesel for less than 10k miles a year now, but back in 2012 they were selling them to little old ladies that never did more than pop over to Morrisons in them.
Puddy_Tat
happy mew year
I'd handle with care.
There is concern in some quarters about showing a registration number (Google Street View tends to blur them, and most estate agents will blur them if they take a photo of a house with a car parked outside) - there is the risk that someone will see a car and generate a 'clone' and this reduces their chances of doing that, but on the other hand, a car is visible all the time it's on the road.
When selling a car, it does at least hint as having something to hide...
Silas Loom
A lome the lenthe of a yerde
And who is going to clone a WAV? I’m fairly sure that despite their popularity in fiction, from Davros to Strangelove, there aren’t really that many disabled supervillains or bank robbers.
Silas Loom
A lome the lenthe of a yerde
Puddy_Tat
happy mew year
dunno really.
i hadn't really thought about it, but if you were robbing a bank, it might attract less suspicion and let you park nearer a bank
there was a brief spate of mail-bag robberies from trains in the 60s or 70s where one villain would pose as a wheelchair user, back in the days when trains had guards vans, carried mail-bags, and when wheelchair users were heaved in to unheated guards vans with no access to carseys...
Silas Loom
A lome the lenthe of a yerde
Ah, that’s why TOCs are so reluctant now to provide ramps or personal assistance to heave wheelchair users into trains. Bitter experience and an understandable interest in not being coshed.
hash tag
Books, not bombs
Theres a thought...what about trying the conversion specialists to see if they know of any cars knocking around. It is just possible that someone has mentioned to them they were thinking of getting rid of their converted car. They might not be on the websites but by word of mouth. Worth a punt?
Silas Loom
A lome the lenthe of a yerde
I’m sure that if I knew someone in the trade and I was very patient I could be tipped off, but converters only really engage with people who are specifiying from new, and in most cases Motability picks up the tab so they don’t end up with a lasting commercial relationship. I did call a converter today to ask about the headroom of their Zafira conversions, and got through to a very knowledgeable bloke who was happy to chat WAV engineering as long as I wanted, but they had no interest in me as a customer.
It’s quite a stratified market, I’m discovering, and it’s heavily driven by Motability, who dump most of the barely used or end of lease cars on the market, where they are sold by specialist garages at £20k+. Users who buy these and then sell them in a few years - which is the end of the market I’m at - sell through channels like Autotrader, but I think the specialist garages also pick up the ones which get back into the motor trade as trade-ins, which is why they also have limited stock at £5k-£10k. You get a very small number of WAVs in mainstream garages, but they don’t really know how to sell them.
I think that when you get below £5k valuations, WAVs are like most other mobility devices - they end up sitting unused in an elderly person’s garage until they die, at which point the kit is too knackered to be safely sold to anyone with disabilities, and it is junked.
Ax^
Silly Rabbit
if you have a blue badge you can park right outside the bank
that handy for bank robbers
Silas Loom
A lome the lenthe of a yerde
WAV bought. Ended up spending £7.8 on a 2016 Fiat Doblo with 33k miles on the clock, so the budget was exceeded rather, but it had all the WAV features we wanted: power winch, two rear seats squeezed in with room for the chair to reverse into, and much higher headroom than the Zafira. Thanks for all advice and Chz for the app recommendations - very useful for peace of mind and squeezing a couple of hundred off at the end,
hash tag
Books, not bombs
Hi Silas Loom, I've just found this and had no idea it was a thing.
hash tag
Books, not bombs
If any car could handle a record decks it would surely be a Citroen, especially something like an old DS or a 2CV. Also some of the big old yank tanks.A list of 'old man with a few quid" cars
There's surely a gap in the market for cars with vinyl record players in them. Or maybe the target audience would all be riding fixie bikes, and have no interest in cars.
Silas Loom
A lome the lenthe of a yerde
It is indeed a thing! Brilliantly, though, I had to set up a monthly direct debit anyway, as to register the car as exempt I will need to take the V5 log book (which DVLA hasn’t sent to me yet), plus my PIP letter, in person to a post office. That excursion will be rather energy-intensive and take quite a bit of planning. Still, if they made it too easy then everybody would want to claim it.
Puddy_Tat
happy mew year
possibly stating the obvious, but i'll repeat it -
with a vehicle class that has annual vehicle tax of zero (including historic vehicles) it's not 'tax exempt' - you still have to go through the process of 'taxing' it each year, just that no cash changes hands, and you still need to do the SORN thing if it's off the road and not insured.
some people have got in to bother because they assumed you just don't need to do anything.
the government website seems to contradict itself on this.
This page says
The page it links to says you have to claim at a post office.
may be worth a phone call to swansea (have a cushion and a cup of tea or whatever on the go while you're waiting to get through)
and bear in mind that not all post offices do car tax stuff.
with a vehicle class that has annual vehicle tax of zero (including historic vehicles) it's not 'tax exempt' - you still have to go through the process of 'taxing' it each year, just that no cash changes hands, and you still need to do the SORN thing if it's off the road and not insured.
some people have got in to bother because they assumed you just don't need to do anything.
the government website seems to contradict itself on this.
This page says
The page it links to says you have to claim at a post office.
may be worth a phone call to swansea (have a cushion and a cup of tea or whatever on the go while you're waiting to get through)
and bear in mind that not all post offices do car tax stuff.
hash tag
Books, not bombs
You are Tim Dowling; I claim my prize
The car was the last bastion of the CD and the full-length album. Now they are no more | Tim Dowling
New cars are no longer being equipped with CD players – who can doubt that the end of the format is nigh, asks Guardian contributor Tim Dowling
Elpenor
a clown’s heart and a mandolin
My car is beeping at me when I turn the ignition as the service is now overdue (2009 Mercedes b class, 111k miles)
Short of having the service done, is there any way to stop the car scolding me? It passed MOT with no issues a few months ago, has had new tyres this year and drives absolutely fine. I want to keep driving this car forever, replacement is not on the horizon
Short of having the service done, is there any way to stop the car scolding me? It passed MOT with no issues a few months ago, has had new tyres this year and drives absolutely fine. I want to keep driving this car forever, replacement is not on the horizon
dessiato
4 years and I still cry sometimes
If you have the owners manual it might tell you how to reset the service light. Failing that there'll be something on the Web to tell you how.
Nivag
Well-Known Member
On my old Saab if you kept the clear display button held down for 30 seconds it would reset the service counter/light.
Puddy_Tat
happy mew year
as others have said, there may be a way you can do it by pressing the right combination of buttons, there may not.
in general (and without knowing all the circumstances) i'd say that not bothering with servicing can be a false economy, though, if you're planning to keep it going indefinitely rather than keep it going until something goes wrong then replace it. MOT covers things that are safety related, it's not a substitute for a proper service.
if it's that age and mileage, it's probably out of all warranties now, so an independent garage is likely to be better value than a main dealer (i'm not sure you still have to do main dealer even if it's under warranty) - depending on where you are, there may be an independent mercedes specialist somewhere near. i used to go to an independent peugeot specialist, but they were in the arse end of nowhere so a pain to get home from / back to.
Elpenor
a clown’s heart and a mandolin
My exhaust went on the day of the election, so July 4th, hit a pothole and had to drive 70 miles home with a very noisy exhaust
Garage put it on the ramp and fitted a new clip or whatever the part was a week later. £50 or so. Not a Mercedes part just a generic one
Today is January 4th. 6 months later to the day. The same thing has happened (no pothole this time though) I assume whatever part it was is knackered or needs replacing
Oh well was going to book a service anyway
Garage put it on the ramp and fitted a new clip or whatever the part was a week later. £50 or so. Not a Mercedes part just a generic one
Today is January 4th. 6 months later to the day. The same thing has happened (no pothole this time though) I assume whatever part it was is knackered or needs replacing
Oh well was going to book a service anyway
