Davie's french attraction.

[white exec]

Result!

[daviemck2006]

At the weekend, due to bosses combo van having two bald tyres on the front which I have been telling him about for weeks, I used my own vehicles for deliveries. Its ridiculous that he has not got tyres yet on a motor that does over 500 miles most weeks! I measured the depth of the tread and one tyre is 1.6mm, the other 1.2mm. Im not chancing points on my licence for anyone, or worse skidding and crashing.

So Friday night I used the leon. Best car I have ever used for it, being auto and a tight turning circle. It does a u turn on the road outside the shop without touching pavements. The only other vehicle that has ever done that is a 107. It also has auto lights, auto wipers, full climate control and its totally effortless. I did over 100 miles, mainly stop start but 3 runs to the next town, 7 miles country roads. According to the trip computer it did 51 mpg. Thats great, thats what the 107 did near enough on the same usage so happy with that.

On Saturday I used the caddy van. Its driving position, being higher is better, its really the perfect height of seat for me getting in and out. Of course I had to work a bit harder with no automatic anythings! One big surprise is the turning circle it has. It wont do the u turn, but a quick reverse on full lock the opposite way then it will go roung no problem. Again I did about 100 miles but no trip computer working things out for me.

I have never done and have no intentions of using bigpug.

In contrast to my vehicles, his combo van is absolutely horrid. Its lower to the ground, which is bad for me, its driving position is crap, its noisy and unrefined, it wont do over 3000 revs without the engine management light on, the heating and ventilation is rubbish, the only saving grace for it is that I am not being hard on my own motors. I get a mileage allowance for my cars, but although that more than covers the fuel, it doesnt cover the wear and tare.

[daviemck2006]

I have just bought a 2010 c1 VTR+ 5 door without seeing it for my middle daughter for her 1st car. Only done 35k and with a long mot it seems a bargain delivered to my house next week for less than £1400

[myglaren]

^ My eldest granddaughter bought one last week and is over the moon with it - her first car

[daviemck2006]

This is her first own car. She has been using her hubbys golf, but with his injured hand although he is back to work he can’t go his motorbike just now so needs the car. They also flitted recently and it’s nearly an hour walk for her with two toddlers to playgroup, hence the need for another car. I helped my eldest daughter with her first car, and helped Shaun plenty so when they said Val was looking for a wee hatch I bought it, it’s her birthday next month so she will get a good present. I bought the car, Dan will insure it and off she goes

[CitroJim]

That's a very good price for a C1 Davie! They normally hold their value very well and that seems a real bargain

I still think they're simply brilliant little cars... Robyn still loves hers

[daviemck2006]

So the c1 is being delivered to me on Monday morning. It is a cat n write off. I have decided that cat n means no damage! On the pics if an insurance assessor had not marked the damage with a yellow crayon you would not see the damage. Its like lost a wheeltrim and the slightest scuff on the wheelarch. Its still got 9 months mot, but I will take it to my mot man, not for a full test, but get the important bits, steering, brakes, suspension checked before giving it to Valerie on her birthday in March. Pics will be posted on here when it arrives.

Thats me just finished doing two evenings deliveries in the caddy. Still no tyres on the combo yet. He can run the combo right down to the rims for all I care. I get mileage using my own motor and the caddy is far better a vehicle than a combo on limp home that wont do more than 2500 revs! The shop is now closimg for two weeks to get renovated, far easier closing completely than trying to work and cook amongst it. I actually need the two weeks off, I have been struggling physically the last couple months. And going to the gp is a waste of time, its like well you can take more of these tablets so go try that and see if it helps. I nearly need to change the caddy for a 7.5 ton truck just to go to the chemist now.

[daviemck2006]

Bigpug has given up her space on the drive

This is to allow for the arrival of a c1

This is an insurance write off, cat N which is the lowest level. Only 35500 miles covered, full service history, serviced every year, last service 1400 miles ago, mot till october. This is as it was delivered to me earlier today. The damage? Passenger side scuff on front bumper, front wing, front door, and a bent steering arm. Thats it. No paint broken. Jobs to do, replace steering arm reattach plastic inner wheelarch, hoover wash and polish, then let my friendly mot man look at it, possibly even mot it again though it is not due, it will give a bit of peace of mind when my daughter is going to be running my grandaughters about in it.

[Gibbo2286]

I have a feeling though I'm not completely sure that MOT's are voided when an insurance company records a car as a write off for any group. Probably best to check before you use it Davie.

[daviemck2006]

I will probably mot it anyway. It will give me peace of mind if it pases a fresh test. I cant see anything else that would fail a test, it has new tyres on the front, two 1/2 worn michelins on the back, an unused michelin in the boot. Brakes feel good, steering feels funny, probably due to the bent steering arm, so I do think it is sensible to test it anyway. Another £45 will be worth it.

[bobins]

It's currently showing as valid MOT until 9th September. It failed last year on 2 duff tyres and 2 corroded brake lines which were replaced to get its MOT. The last service looks like it was done at MOT time.

[daviemck2006]

It's currently showing as valid MOT until 9th September. It failed last year on 2 duff tyres and 2 corroded brake lines which were replaced to get its MOT. The last service looks like it was done at MOT time.

Its still showing as taxed too. But Because I bought it without a v5 I got the chassis number when I bought it two weeks ago, and have applied for a v5. I got a letter from the DVLA that it will be processed on the 13th March, so it may well still show as taxed untill then. We cant tax it untill we get the v5. Yes, according to the service boot the mot was carried out at the time of service, and its only done around 1400 miles since. There are two very recent budget tyres on the front

[daviemck2006]

From what I can find out with a bit of research that the existing mot on a write off is still valid legally by the dvla. However the company insuring the vehicle after the accident may insist that the car gets a fresh mot before they will cover it. I was told that by privilege insurance in both cases of write offs I have had when I enquired about buying them back. Both times the assessor told me that the insurance was suspended and cover would only resume when they had a copy of the mot dated after the date of claim. The c5 was a catC and the leon was catS, which are basically the same thing. Im not going to take any chances though as this c1 is for a relatively inexperienced driver, my daughter, to take her two toddlers around a busy large town, Elgin, to nursery shops etc. She probably will come down here, Macduff, about 38 miles to visit her sister, her mother, and me. It is booked in to get the steering arm fixed and a fresh mot before she gets it.

[van ordinaire]

Now, as I understand it, a car is written off if repairing will cost more than 1/2 book value (that is why I think it's wrong that insurance companies make that decision), which makes me wonder what the preferred repairer quoted for the steering arm. I do hope the place you've booked it into is rather more reasonable (realistic, even).

[daviemck2006]

£24 for the part and about 1/2 hr to change it he said, then need the alignment done. Should be less than £100 all in.