MOT Reminders

When I take my car to the garage who services it he has to take the car to a registered MOT center to get it passed.

 

I did before I took ill - to get something of a decent size, you are talking a lot of cash each month and then you have to hand the car back at the end of three years or so, and then there is the usual wrangling about a scrape on an alloy or a chip on the bonnet....

I could rent on the days I need a car, but even that is relatively expensive and does not allow for those spur of the moment trips, plus I have to accept that my mobility is nowhere near good enough to be walking to car hire places all the time. For most things, such as going round town etc, I will still be in my wheelchair as I simply cannot walk for that sort of distance. Going back to work, it will be wheelchair & bus, although that comes with its own problems thanks to the ever decreasing frequency of bus services around here - and if there is a wheelchair (or even a parent with a buggy) already on the bus..... well, that is a wait of 40-60 minutes as a minimum. I start to go back to work as of next week, so we will see how that pans out in practical terms and then go from there.

It may be that I have to consider a car purely to restore some level of normality, but I do not want to go back to the commuting pattern that we were doing before I took ill - - I would rather use the car less frequently, and have something that is for days out, if that makes sense. The reason I said Volvo or Jag was purely based on my past experience - they are like armchairs on wheels, usually automatic, and rarely look their age; you can get one at 10-15 years old, and yet it still looks and feels like a really nice car.

 

I've not long got shot of a deal just like that - the car I had was worth less than the amount that I would have had to buy it for (and I would have had to finance that purchase at a similar monthly rate to the one I had been paying) - we toyed with the idea of carrying on, and keeping the car sitting there until I got fit enough, but it made no sense financially (the payments were £400 for the car, then there was the service plan etc on top).

I have a contact in 'the trade' - friend of a neighbour - and having a bit of a boys chat at the weekend, he was saying that he gets tons of stuff through his place. He showed us a couple on his phone, one of which was a Jag XJ at around 10 years old, absolutely mint condition; he reckoned that the finance on that one would be around £160 - £180 a month, which is vastly less than we were paying, so there is tons out there. He had a Range Rover too which was nice, but I wouldn't see me going for something like that.

I do get free travel, which is handy, but yes it is going to be difficult in peak hours particularly as we are out in the sticks here, so whilst we have the traffic levels that they get a wee bit further in, we don't have the bus and train services to match. Having said that, we are still better off than many parts of the country - another ten miles out from here and you would be stuffed if you lived there and didn't have a car.

 

@Fat Controller Have you looked into the Motability Scheme?

Home | Motability Charity

 

I have, but with my limited PIP term it might be detrimental to me to use that component of my benefit to have a brand new car sitting at the door. If, as is likely, I lose PIP once I improve in health, I would then instantly lose the car - not fun.

Interestingly, I have had a chat today with that friend of my neighbour who still has that rather lovely Jag, which has dropped in price (think he wants it out of his stock before the end of the year) which is now at such a price it is only a fraction of my mobility component each month. Given that it is over £250 less per month than the Nissan was costing, and the insurance is only £3 a month more than I was paying....... I must admit, I am getting very tempted.

He also has a Range Rover, but that is way too big for me, and he tells me that he struggles to get Volvos that are in good enough condition that he is happy to sell - - he deals only in a small number of cars, and they have to be spot on for him to be remotely interested in them. He categorically will not sell Audi as they have "trouble stamped all over them" (never thought I would hear that about an Audi!), but does also have Mercedes and BMW's........ but, those are back up toward the money I was paying for the Nissan.

I could obtain finance up to about £20k without much trouble, as my credit rating is now back to normal (sorted the Santander problem out, and to their credit they corrected my file) - BUT, I do not want to be going back to lashing out over £400 a month on a car.

I also don't want to go back to driving around town and sitting in traffic every rush hour - I would like us to walk and use the bus, and then have something nice that we can use for weekends and holiday days out, that way also saving on fuel whilst also being better for our health. Of course, if the weather etc was bad, then we could fall back on the car, but I don't want it to be our default.

So, yes - - I am definitely thinking..........

EDIT - I also do have to admit that there is a bit of me screaming at myself that after the year I have had, I kinda deserve a bit of comfort, but I am trying to keep that voice at bay

 

That is what I was paying - three years into the PCP deal, it got handed back and I had absolutely no equity in it (it was worth about £3k less than they wanted for me to continue to buy it outright, mostly thanks to the government demonising diesel). Oh, and that doesn't include the service plan that I was paying for every month too. £15k in the three years and nothing to show for it. Makes this £6k Jag look like an absolute bargain!

 

Perhaps, but apart from the initial cost, there is also maintenance, MOT, tax and the Insurance which for a Jag might not be cheap. While you, yourself, might think/believe you are medically fit to drive a car, as you were before you fell ill, the Insurance company might not think so if you inform them of the past problem., and if you don't and the Insurance company doesn't like that they could invalidate your insurance and refuse to pay any claim.

 

My reasons for even giving it consideration are many, but the main one is that I have had two in the past, and I love them; I know for sure if I were to go for something (sensible!) like a Fiesta or similar, it would then be a daily runner because that is what they are - daily runners, and I really, really don't want to go back there.

I did a lot of restoration work on my last Jag (bought it as a project, knowing what I was getting myself into), so am quite comfortable with their ins and outs - they are actually not all that expensive in terms of spare parts, it is mostly fuel and insurance that kills people. Insurance, as I am an old, safe, git is not a problem, so that leaves fuel; if it is not a daily runner, but quite literally a domestic thing and my toy (and that is the big thing really, it would be a toy for me), then fuel shouldn't be too silly.