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Post by freddiemercurystwin on Jul 4, 2023 17:55:40 GMT
12 years! Good god man it sounds like it's terminal, you can generally tell if the battery is the OEM by a bit of googling and they usually have a date of manufacture on them.
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cubby
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Post by cubby on Jul 4, 2023 19:58:05 GMT
Yep, will get a new one fitted once this is done.
Still waiting for the man to show...
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Post by freddiemercurystwin on Jul 4, 2023 20:24:18 GMT
Perhaps you could while away the time by collecting C-Cells on the beach.
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cubby
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Post by cubby on Jul 4, 2023 23:50:27 GMT
Ugh, just got back. Took 4.5 hours after we called for engineer to turn up. When he arrived he apparently got told our job had been cancelled, because they cocked up the procedure when they tried to get a local mechanic, and he had to spend 15 minutes on the phone with RAC trying to sort that out before he could even take a look.
They were trying to send him on to a different job and get us towed to Upton, when our job is just a flat battery. Luckily he fought against that. It didn't fill me with much confidence for staying on with RAC, tbh. Engineer was helpful, but everything prior to him being able to help was pretty shit.
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Post by paulyboy81 on Jul 30, 2023 18:19:30 GMT
Anyone used The Electric Car Scheme salary sacrifice shenanigans?
Wife has just been offered this through work and for the amount of money she currently spends a month on diesel (plus other incidentals) we can lease ourselves a brand new electric car, with servicing, tyres and insurance chucked in for good measure no less.
Seems like a no brainer, just wondering if anyone else had gone down this route with the scheme and had any thoughts?
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Jul 30, 2023 20:20:45 GMT
I dunno if our company had their pants pulled down by the scheme provider but hardly anyone has signed up to ours because the prices are ridiculous. Even as a salary sacrifice, it’s still cheaper to just walk into a main dealer and pay list price.
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Post by paulyboy81 on Jul 30, 2023 20:47:58 GMT
Not been too bad for us, varies though it seems.
We're looking at an MG4 Long Range and the discount is considerable on that versus the other avenues we've explored, especially with the mileage my wife does.
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Post by killerbee on Jul 31, 2023 6:31:51 GMT
I’ve just started on a salary sacrifice scheme - had the car (Skoda Enyaq) delivered last week! For me, it felt worth it, but you have to do the sums for yourself.
The main thing that makes it worthwhile is saving the tax and NI. If you’re in the 40% tax bracket, you save more than if you’re on 20%, obviously so ymmv.
The bare quote for my Enyaq is over £850 a month, but because that comes off before tax, the actual net cost is more like £470 - because I’d never have seen the rest anyway, because of tax. If I was leasing the car myself, or taking a PCP, I’d be paying it out of taxed income so the total cost I see on payday each month is not that different.
Then if you consider it’s an all-in price, with insurance, servicing, Road tax (when it starts to apply for EVs), tyres and -for me - even the cost of the home charger included, it’s actually pretty good. The other thing to remember is that you’re not paying any deposit for the new car - that can be thousands of pounds, so a higher monthly cost is to be expected.
As I say - you need to do the sums for yourself, and it’s definitely more valuable if you’re paying 40% (or higher!?) tax rather than 20%, but I figured it was worth a go.
The Enyaq is a lovely car so far, btw. Definitely put it on your list!
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Post by gibroon on Aug 2, 2023 10:59:12 GMT
I'm really hoping my work signs up for the electric car salary sacrifice thingy. My car is 13 years old and it would be a no brainer for me getting an electric car. Could charge at work for free, have a driveway, don't do a huge amount of miles a week. The Enyaq looks a great car and very plush but wanting something smaller from my Passat Estate. Test drove a MG4 a couple of months ago, which was a blessing and a curse as it was much better than I expected in the flesh, a little bit cheap in some areas but most cars have that. A very nimble and nippy car, I had a huge grin on my face after the hour I had with it. Just need the monies now.
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cubby
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Post by cubby on Aug 11, 2023 20:15:17 GMT
Yet another RAC callout. On yet another trip, this time my mum's in the car as well as my partner and the dog.
This time I was on the M25 on the Heathrow junction, so 6 lanes. It was interminable traffic, constant stopping, and I went to change gear but suddenly the clutch pedal has zero resistance, and it's almost impossible to change gear.
I somehow managed to get it into gear and trundle out of the M25 lanes, despite the cars bombing it along trying to slip into the gridlock. I really should have kept it in 2nd gear and trundled along, but I didn't want to pull over on the motorway if I could help it. I managed to nearly get off the motorway, stopped at some traffic lights, ready to turn left and look for a petrol station or garage to pull up at. Except this time I wasn't able to get it into any gears at all, I was properly stuck. I smacked the hazards on and we had to endure RAC's stupid system again.
We were stuck at the traffic lights for nearly 2 hours, waiting for either RAC or the police to turn up to tow us. Eventually it was the highway team who towed us to a BP station. While we were waiting a mechanic pulled over to have a look and figured it was the slave cylinder that was spewing transmission fluid, which was frustrating to find out because we'd mentioned to various mechanics that the gears don't feel right and asked them if the transmission was okay, and they all just fobbed us off saying it's fine, and then this happens..
So if anyone wants to know what happens if you break down and need to get a hire car to continue your journey with RAC, here's how it played out for us. They arranged a hire car with enterprise, but we had to make our own way there. So we had to unpack our stuff from the car, dog included, and get a bus and then walk to the enterprise at Heathrow, which isn't really designed with pedestrians in mind. And then it took about another hour to finally get into the hire car, which we've only got for 72 hours while our car is being fixed in Slough, which is something I'm not even thinking about at the moment.
So that's a journey we set out at 11 planning to arrive at 3pm where we still haven't arrived yet.
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Day
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Post by Day on Aug 21, 2023 8:56:18 GMT
Hey all, anyone have any recommendations for car insurance when your vehicle is 20 years old and is your only mode of transport? Our Mini Cooper S car insurance is up next month and they've just told us they won’t continue it as it's now 20 years old and classed as classic, aarrrgg.. ffs! We're getting some quotes in with Hagerty & Footman James but wondered if anyone had any recommendations...oh, in the UK too! Cheers!
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Aug 21, 2023 9:21:36 GMT
My f-i-l switched to Adrian Flux when his MX5 aged out. I dont know what the definition of a 'classic' is, but its a low mile one with the flippy headlights so it might be on a classic policy rather than old, but they seem to insure most things other people wont.
I moved my Abarth over to them when I confirmed it was remapped and it didnt cost much more than my existing admiral policy.
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Post by AccidentProne on Aug 21, 2023 9:24:36 GMT
Was just about to recommend Adrian Flux. Not used them for classic cars, but they're pretty good on regular car insurance. Been with them for years now and they've always matched any other cheaper quotes I've got from the usual comparison sites. Also don't tend to take the piss with their renewal quotes.
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Day
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Post by Day on Aug 21, 2023 9:46:02 GMT
Many thanks Bongo & AccidentProne, both for Adrian Flux is a good sign, I'll get in contact with them now! Many many thanks both! :-)
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Post by elstoof on Aug 21, 2023 12:35:49 GMT
I think you have to watch out with classic insurance because there’s no NCDs on those policies, so you’ll lose anything you’ve built up if you get a new car in a few years time. At least from what I remember about it all
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Aug 21, 2023 12:54:29 GMT
I dunno if our company had their pants pulled down by the scheme provider but hardly anyone has signed up to ours because the prices are ridiculous. Even as a salary sacrifice, it’s still cheaper to just walk into a main dealer and pay list price. I actually looked at this in a bit more depth and it actually is *reasonably* competitive when you drill down into it. Its packaged in with fully comp insurance, service/maintenance, lease-life warranty and tax. Once you factor them in its not actually terrible. £360 net, all in for an MG4 isnt actually bad.
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Day
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Post by Day on Aug 21, 2023 16:26:38 GMT
I think you have to watch out with classic insurance because there’s no NCDs on those policies, so you’ll lose anything you’ve built up if you get a new car in a few years time. At least from what I remember about it all Cheers elstoof, will keep a look out for that! :-)
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larrybong
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Post by larrybong on Aug 21, 2023 17:15:36 GMT
Looking at getting an MG4 as I don't want to buy another petrol car and 2nd hand EVs with the range I need are almost as expensive as a new MG4.
Watched and read many reviews but wondered if anyone on here has a MG4 and could offer their opinion as to whether it's as a good a 'bargain' as it seems compared to the alternatives and expensive 2nd hand options with 200+ miles range.
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Aug 21, 2023 17:36:17 GMT
All the reviews I’ve seen have said it’s a fantastic car for the money other than one major flaw, the driver assist being shit to the point of dangerous.
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larrybong
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Post by larrybong on Aug 21, 2023 17:44:11 GMT
Saw something about the lane assist being a major pain on UK roads but it can apparently be turned off. Just annoying as it defaults to bring enabled when you start the car so you have to manually turn if off each time.
Not annoying enough to make me spend the extra £7-9K it would cost to get an equivalent new EV though
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Post by PatrickEwing on Aug 21, 2023 18:35:11 GMT
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larrybong
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Post by larrybong on Aug 21, 2023 18:36:36 GMT
Yeah, saw that video. Knew I knew the guy but couldn't quite place him.🤦♂️
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Post by snackplissken on Sept 28, 2023 10:42:38 GMT
I finally own a car again after getting out of a PCP scheme, that I feel I've been stuck in since about 2016. It's more on my own choice of thinking the monthly cost was 'cheap' and it being fairly low maintenance. I think this past year made me realise that with everything going up in price.. do I need another new car? I had a VW T-Roc on order, and just cancelled it, then traded in my Mini which was in 4k positive equity, and got myself a lovely Civic again with only 28k miles.
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Post by freddiemercurystwin on Oct 1, 2023 19:54:07 GMT
So, I watch quite a bit of UK Dash Cams (YouTube channel), I don't have a dash-cam myself but I think if I did I would stop if I'd caught an incident on it and I thought it might prove useful to someone who's just had some kind of incident but I'm surprised at how many people seem to capture incidents and then just drive on regardless, only to upload it to YouTube etc.
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cubby
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Post by cubby on Oct 1, 2023 19:59:39 GMT
Well you've got to upload it before someone else does, that's why crashes cause more incidents now as everyone races to get home first.
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loto
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Post by loto on Oct 2, 2023 5:50:32 GMT
My car insurance has gone up nearly 50% this year. I’ve not had any change in circumstances so fuck knows how Liverpool Victoria can justify it. I’ll shop around, but I always find it a pain I blame Brexit
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Post by snackplissken on Oct 2, 2023 9:15:15 GMT
It's gone up for everyone.
My colleague was telling me he wrote off his Civic last year, but it only had minor bumper damage from what it looked like (skidded on some ice and hit a wall). They said it would cost 13k?! He accepted the 13k and walked away. Then he noticed the car had been sold via copart, and is back on the road. I suspect the car needed perhaps £750-1k for a new bumper? guess it has all the sensors for parking, so maybe more. Anyway nowhere near 13k write off. But I then noticed a Reddit post, where someone said they wrote off a car with minor damage for 18k?! Someone in a car park bumped their side rear tyre wall.
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Post by paulyboy81 on Oct 2, 2023 10:48:44 GMT
My insurance renewal came through last week as well, 54% increase, which means it's "only" £436 now, but even so, quite the jump from £283.
Funnily enough I was actually pleasantly surprised that was all it was, I drive a Focus ST and just assumed with all the price gouging going on with insurance lately a hot hatch would make me a sure bet to receive some ridiculous near thousand pound renewal figure.
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loto
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Post by loto on Oct 2, 2023 11:22:34 GMT
Yeah, was reading in the Guardian about a bloke with a Tesla (model Y) with a £4500 renewal. I’ve just got a Golf, but the mind boggles. I’ve done a couple of comparisons and the renewal is competitive so looks like I’ll have to suck it up.
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cubby
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Post by cubby on Oct 2, 2023 12:33:53 GMT
My insurance renewal came through last week as well, 54% increase, which means it's "only" £436 now, but even so, quite the jump from £283. Almost identical figures for me too. I'd stayed with Churchill for years as they were always cheapest for me, but had to switch to Aviva this time using the Martin Lewis comparison doo dah. Still ended up being nearly £100 more after adding on extras.
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