MOT Thoughts
Posted: Thu 21 September, 2023 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Domestic, Driving, KwikFit 4 Comments »Following on from getting the car’s MOT Test done this week, I had a look back on the history of my car’s MOT tests (that’s just a link to the service, not to my specific vehicle) Something I find interesting on it all is the inconsistency of what’s reported as faults.
I’ve noticed it before – but even when using the same MOT Test Centre, they don’t seem to check the same things every year.
As an example – last year I had advisory warnings about corrosion to the rear doors, and to some suspension components. This year? Neither of those problems was mentioned at all – and I know I haven’t had any work done to sort them out!
It’s not just this test centre, either – the same was true when I was using the Kia dealership down in Milton Keynes, and I know was true with the Saab (an exhaust back box that was blowing one year and not the next, for example) and I thus assume for the Ford as well. (I didn’t really check/track then)
Obviously it’s meant more for looking at current serious faults that would make a vehicle dangerous – although in that case I don’t quite get why misaligned windscreen washers or headlights result in a failure rather than a “needs fixing” – but the lack of consistency on the historical ones just leaves me with a bit of a feeling of “This is all just subjective and/or guesswork, isn’t it?“
An Expensive Time
Posted: Tue 19 September, 2023 Filed under: Customer Services, Domestic, Driving, Finances, KwikFit Leave a comment »This September-October period is always an expensive one for me.
The main thing is the car – because I got it in October , it means that this six weeks or so includes MoT (and any associated fixes), Service, Tax, and Insurance Renewal. This time it also included a visit to the local dealership to get the handbrake cables replaced (because KwikFit decided they couldn’t/wouldn’t do it, and some other load of old cock that they told me) as it wouldn’t have passed the MoT with them un-fixed.
The handbrake thing is one that’s been going on as long as I’ve had the car – every other MoT gets a warning about “handbrake too high” or “little reserve play/motion”, whoever’s fixing it does something, and it’s OK again – but it got a better-ish fix at KwikFit last year, and then got worse again recently. So far the newly-replaced cables seem to have sorted everything though.
Anyway, the MoT was yesterday, and it passed fine. It failed initially (but only for misaligned windscreen washer and misaligned headlights) but was then fine. Not bad for a car with 220,000 on the clock!
The insurance renewal was mentioned elsewhere, as it was farcical, but is now fine – and I’ve managed to keep it at the same level as what I was paying for the last year, so happy day.
Alongside that (because God Knows, I’m shit at planning) it’s also been time to sort out my tenancy renewal on the new place – which has involved a small-ish raise in rent, although not as much as initially suggested. And then I also ended up organising for a company to come and deal with the front garden and so on, because it’s a bombsite and needs dealing with (and I am emphatically not a gardener!)
So yeah, it’s all been a bit costly. Utterly doable though (which is lovely, and still a good thing compared to ten years ago) and at least I know it’s now all organised, so the rest of the year isn’t too bad at all. Thankfully!
Insurance Renewal Fuckery
Posted: Thu 14 September, 2023 Filed under: 1BEM, Advertising, Domestic, Driving, Finances, Legal Leave a comment »This being the time I bought the current car, it’s also time for that annual festival of fuckery – Insurance Renewal.
I knew that this year was likely to be a pain in the arse – there’s been plenty of coverage about how insurance premiums have gone up massively as part of “the cost of living” (which in the case of insurance etc. seems to me to be just rabid profiteering – I don’t see how inflation and food costs have a knock-on effect to the car insurance industry!) so I was expecting it to be stupid. I just wasn’t expecting quite how stupid.
So – I got my renewal letter through from my current insurers, and they’d managed to double my insurance. For no changes – the address change happened before last renewal and the car hasn’t changed (other than in losing value for having been driven another 25,000 miles) But no, somehow they feel they can justify doubling the price.
Well, frankly they can fuck off.
So off I went to that site with the meerkats (because it annoys me less than the one with the opera ‘singer’, or the one with the weirdly confusing existential ads that make no sense) and looked at what was available.
As it turns out, I got a deal with a different insurer for all the things I wanted, and paying the same as I have been this year. Which I reckon is a total win, all told. So far it’s been painless – I’ve cancelled the renewal on the current one (while laughing on the phone at them, because doubling the quote is just fucking ridiculous) and the new one is in place to start in early October.
But it does make me wonder about what the business model is for so many of these insurance places. I have to assume that there’s a huge number of people who just blindly accept the renewal cost without looking elsewhere (and if that’s the case then they bloody well deserve to be ripped off, in my opinion) but that’s pretty mind-boggling, given the prevalence of these comparison sites and so on now.
Discharged/Recharged
Posted: Thu 4 May, 2023 Filed under: Customer Services, Driving 2 Comments »When I was starting the car in York on Sunday to come home, it took a lot longer to get going than usual. Never a good sign.
I figured that it had already had 300 miles of motorway driving in the last 36 hours, so was either not charging properly or the battery was fucked. (Which I’ve experienced before) But then by the time I got home, I’d forgotten about it, and didn’t check things. (I blame the post-drive “stunned monkey” phase)
So yesterday when I was due to go off somewhere (thankfully nothing essential, nor involving anyone else) the sodding thing wouldn’t start. Battery flatter than a very very flat thing. Tits.
As it worked out, I tried some mobile places for battery replacements, and while most were less-than-useful (“Oh no, fully booked today and tomorrow!” and so on, and one that promised a callback within 30 minutes to arrange and then only called back an hour after that, once I’d sorted out the people who did turn up) I did manage to book one, and it all went smoothly. He turned up early (having called to check it was OK to do so) and checked the car’s diagnostics as well to make sure it wasn’t a problem with the alternator or anything. Then when we opened the bonnet it was obvious that the battery was utterly, utterly fucked. Corrosion on the terminals and so on, definitely knackered.
Anyway, long story short, it’s all been replaced and tested, and everything is happy and smiley once more.
I’m off to be on-site again tomorrow so it’ll get a good run as a test-bed for everything, but so long as it starts and continues to do so, I’ll be happy.
(I checked back on here, and it turns out that battery was installed in October 2017, so it’s had a good run!)
Ticketed – Cancelled
Posted: Wed 3 May, 2023 Filed under: Customer Services, Domestic, Driving, Milton Keynes, Parking 1 Comment »Just under six weeks ago now, I got a parking ticket in Milton Keynes, despite having paid for the necessary parking. Needless to say, I lodged my appeal about it when I got home, did all the online form-filling, added the receipt from the parking payment, provided a contact email address, job done.
And then silence.
I chased it up by email a couple of weeks ago. And then silence.
Now, I assumed that as I’d heard nothing (and no further bills had come to tell me I needed to pay it) that the appeal had worked, but I’d have expected some form of notification.
So yesterday I decided to make sure it was all sorted, this time by phone.
Only… There’s no phone number.
- Yes, there’s one on the page about parking tickets, but that turns out to be only for the licensing people.
- Then there’s the council switchboard, who give you a different number for the parking people.
- Then that department give you the actual number for the parking ticket people
- And finally, on the fourth call, I got to the right place, confirmed that the appeal had been processed and the ticket cancelled, and that they’d (allegedly) sent me a letter telling me that. (And fuck only knows why they pay to send a letter when I’ve given them an email address they could use for free!)
So at least it’s all sorted, and it hasn’t cost me anything. But still,