Car advice

[RandomGuy.]

7 hours ago, jamamafegan said:

I’m under the impression that if you have to change a tyre on a 4x4 then you have to change all of them or it will f**k the 4x4 system? I have an X-Trail which is a 2WD but with the option to change into 4x4. So it’s not an AWD or permanent 4x4. My question is: I need to change the two front tyres - should I get the two back ones changed as well?

Its fine unless you've got a BMW X1, which utterly shit the bed unless all four tyres are perfect and destroy their transfer box.

Bizarre, shitty, cars.

Found out today someone is buying a car but willingly paying twice the price they need too. Bad debtor so unable to get finance anywhere apart from some "specialist" finance company (Jigsaw?), and over 5 years will be paying just over £25k for a car for sale for just under £12k.

Truly one of the most baffling decisions I've ever heard anyone ever make. Its a 3 year old Suzuki FFS.

[Andy Dufresne]

My wife's car insurance is due for renewal next month and after phoning up to query the price they went ohhh we can give you a discount.

[flyingscot]

17 minutes ago, MixuFruit said:

BiL like this. I drive a 15 year old car thats long ago paid off and I quite enjoy tinkering when stuff does break. He has to be seen to be driving something with a relatively recent plate on it and having defaulted on stuff before can only get this kind of finance. The lengths people will go to in order to appear like they are better off than they are, even if it's ruining them in reality, really does my head in.

I got a Skoda and people at work were asking me why I didn't get something fancier like an Audi. I don't really care that much to pay a thousands more for a badge on what is largely the same car. 

[RandomGuy.]

19 minutes ago, flyingscot said:

I got a Skoda and people at work were asking me why I didn't get something fancier like an Audi. I don't really care that much to pay a thousands more for a badge on what is largely the same car. 

I bought a Octavia VRS and got years of being asked why I didn't just buy a Golf instead.

3 years, an upgraded turbo, and a remap later, I've got a car thats quicker than a Golf R, comfier, cheaper to run/maintain, far more practical, and still hasn't cost me as much as a similarly aged Golf would've done at the time.

The obsession with the badge on the front genuinely baffles me. VW/Audi cars have been absolutely shite for years now.

[RH33]

31 minutes ago, flyingscot said:

I got a Skoda and people at work were asking me why I didn't get something fancier like an Audi. I don't really care that much to pay a thousands more for a badge on what is largely the same car. 

I’ve just bought a Skoda Fabia Monte Carlo to replace the Mondeo that was laced with issues.

Can’t say I love it but it’s 14 plate, 34k miles on clock and spotless. 

[mac.i]

I bought a Octavia VRS and got years of being asked why I didn't just buy a Golf instead.
3 years, an upgraded turbo, and a remap later, I've got a car thats quicker than a Golf R, comfier, cheaper to run/maintain, far more practical, and still hasn't cost me as much as a similarly aged Golf would've done at the time.
The obsession with the badge on the front genuinely baffles me. VW/Audi cars have been absolutely shite for years now.

Less likely to be woken in the night by some armed men who want the keys too...... Golf R is notorious for this!!

[RH33]

7 hours ago, mac.i said:

10 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

I bought a Octavia VRS and got years of being asked why I didn't just buy a Golf instead.
3 years, an upgraded turbo, and a remap later, I've got a car thats quicker than a Golf R, comfier, cheaper to run/maintain, far more practical, and still hasn't cost me as much as a similarly aged Golf would've done at the time.
The obsession with the badge on the front genuinely baffles me. VW/Audi cars have been absolutely shite for years now.

Less likely to be woken in the night by some armed men who want the keys too...... Golf R is notorious for this!!

Guy next door has someone try and nick focus sport, they got disturbed and legged it. Apparently they’re easy to nick.

 

[Shandon Par]

8 hours ago, mac.i said:

10 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

I bought a Octavia VRS and got years of being asked why I didn't just buy a Golf instead.
3 years, an upgraded turbo, and a remap later, I've got a car thats quicker than a Golf R, comfier, cheaper to run/maintain, far more practical, and still hasn't cost me as much as a similarly aged Golf would've done at the time.
The obsession with the badge on the front genuinely baffles me. VW/Audi cars have been absolutely shite for years now.

Less likely to be woken in the night by some armed men who want the keys too...... Golf R is notorious for this!!

I suppose, like the Escort Cosworth before it, the Golf R and Audi s3 have the badge of (dis)honour or being the serious criminal’s choice of wheels. 

[Empty It]

Guy next door has someone try and nick focus sport, they got disturbed and legged it. Apparently they’re easy to nick.
 

I've heard that the STs are very easily stolen.

[Ross.]

11 hours ago, MixuFruit said:

BiL like this. I drive a 15 year old car thats long ago paid off and I quite enjoy tinkering when stuff does break. He has to be seen to be driving something with a relatively recent plate on it and having defaulted on stuff before can only get this kind of finance. The lengths people will go to in order to appear like they are better off than they are, even if it's ruining them in reality, really does my head in.

Yeah, the garage under my work is wild for that. I have a 5 year old Polo that gets me around, there is someone else who has a 10 year old Golf, and the rest are all high value. The usual Audi's and BMW's but a few Teslas, a couple of Maserati's and a few American muscle cars. The folk driving them probably pay more per year to lease them than I paid for mines outright.

[thistledo]

12 hours ago, MixuFruit said:

BiL like this. I drive a 15 year old car thats long ago paid off and I quite enjoy tinkering when stuff does break. He has to be seen to be driving something with a relatively recent plate on it and having defaulted on stuff before can only get this kind of finance. The lengths people will go to in order to appear like they are better off than they are, even if it's ruining them in reality, really does my head in.

I've never understood the need to always have something new-ish and pay over the odds for it either, except I can only imagine it's their image they are concerned about. I recently got rid of a car I had for 15 years, bought it cash as a young lad but after the arrival of the wean and the fact the car was slowly being reclaimed by nature it was time for something new. Ended up thinking I'll treat myself and go to Audi, I have to say Audi salesman are, I'd say rather expectedly, complete and utter bellends. All I wanted to do was look at a couple A4 estates and maybe test drive something this expensive before I bought it. He was essentially trying to get me to agree to buy the car after driving it and kept on disappearing for 10-15 minutes at a time. Now angry at his behaviour I decided to get my own back, finally got a test drive and managed to drive us into horrendous traffic on the M8, he was absolutely furious, took us ages to get back. During the drive I proclaimed it was a great car and I wanted it. We got back to the dealership and he was about to do his disappearing act again and I said not bother I'd changed my mind. I genuinely thought he might have taken a swing for me, said I'd lost him another sale during that, I politely thanked him for his time and left. I could hear him furiously ripping up paper as I turned and walked away. 

Ended up going to Arnold Clark (I know) and buying a nice Golf GTI, that had more gadgets than the Audi and they weren't optional extras. It was also far nicer to drive. About half the cost of the Audi as well.

[Empty It]

Just noticed I've not had a renewal for my car insurance for a while so I checked and it auto renewed in November for £530 down £30 from last year with Admiral. Out of curiosity I decided to check a comparison site as my points expired this year, the cheapest quote was £149. Admiral will be getting an ear full at lunch time and the insurance will be getting binned regardless of how cheap they try give me it.

[Ron Aldo]

Just noticed I've not had a renewal for my car insurance for a while so I checked and it auto renewed in November for £530 down £30 from last year with Admiral. Out of curiosity I decided to check a comparison site as my points expired this year, the cheapest quote was £149. Admiral will be getting an ear full at lunch time and the insurance will be getting binned regardless of how cheap they try give me it.

Don't think you'll get anywhere with them unfortunately. Most insurers send a renewal reminder which will tell you that it renews automatically unless you tell them not to.

The best you'll probably get is a refund on any remaining months but they'll probably take an "admin fee" to process the cancellation.

[Empty It]

Don't think you'll get anywhere with them unfortunately. Most insurers send a renewal reminder which will tell you that it renews automatically unless you tell them not to.

The best you'll probably get is a refund on any remaining months but they'll probably take an "admin fee" to process the cancellation.

Aye not expecting cash back and fully expecting a cancellation fee from the wankers

[Ludo*1]

Recently moved home and my insurance was due in 11 days time (at the time) and called my insurance company up to get that fix and for them to update my quote. I went on compare the market and as a new customer they would have offered me a deal for £150 whilst the renewal was £250. They wouldn't let me know my renewal until I'd updated my address for a £28 admin fee. I said I'd just leave it and start fresh with a new company. They said that I was obligated to inform them of the switch of address as if I gave 7 days notice, they'd charge £60-odd since I had 11 days on the contract.

Despite being a rip off, I agreed, as they were substantially cheaper than anyone else. They then came back with a renewal of £1800 - Even the guy on the phone was embarrassed.

Tried to subscribe as a new customer but was now only getting the ludicrous offer. So went for the next cheapest at £275. Next day I got an e-mail from them offering my original renewal price.

f**k Brightside man.

[welshbairn]

2 hours ago, Ludo*1 said:

Recently moved home and my insurance was due in 11 days time (at the time) and called my insurance company up to get that fix and for them to update my quote. I went on compare the market and as a new customer they would have offered me a deal for £150 whilst the renewal was £250. They wouldn't let me know my renewal until I'd updated my address for a £28 admin fee. I said I'd just leave it and start fresh with a new company. They said that I was obligated to inform them of the switch of address as if I gave 7 days notice, they'd charge £60-odd since I had 11 days on the contract.

Despite being a rip off, I agreed, as they were substantially cheaper than anyone else. They then came back with a renewal of £1800 - Even the guy on the phone was embarrassed.

Tried to subscribe as a new customer but was now only getting the ludicrous offer. So went for the next cheapest at £275. Next day I got an e-mail from them offering my original renewal price.

f**k Brightside man.

I got shafted a bit like that with the Post Office car insurance, picked them solely on price but they had loads of hidden charges. Utter c***s, think it was some Irish firm running it. 

[die hard doonhamer]

The insurance market will change a bit this year, from October companies cannot offer a renewal price of more than the equivalent new business price. Will be interesting to see how things change, but logically companies will look to still make the same profits, which means new business prices will likely go up everywhere.

[PWL]

I only started using Compare the Market after a ridiculous premium jump from Aviva after a good few years with them. I now never renew and shop around when it comes to existing policy running out.  Yes it's half an hour's work but the savings are mental. And that is when sticking to household name insurers. Some of the smaller ones are even cheaper. 

Worth doing it for all your insurance products at renewal and not just vehicle. 

TL:DR never auto renew. 

[CountyFan]

On 19/01/2021 at 21:35, keithgy said:

My wife's car insurance is due for renewal next month and after phoning up to query the price they went ohhh we can give you a discount.

I got my renewal in last week. Fully £500 more expensive than last year. They are no longer my insurer. 

[Empty It]

I only started using Compare the Market after a ridiculous premium jump from Aviva after a good few years with them. I now never renew and shop around when it comes to existing policy running out.  Yes it's half an hour's work but the savings are mental. And that is when sticking to household name insurers. Some of the smaller ones are even cheaper. 
Worth doing it for all your insurance products at renewal and not just vehicle. 
TL:DR never auto renew. 

This^

Anyone not comparing any insurance every renewal period is throwing cash away.