Before motherdecides to scrap her car!!!

[mitsuru]

Mother has set her heart on a Volvo Estate
(& I'm trying to steer her to get an automatic to make it easier for her)

Here are some details let me know if it should be scrapped or sold as
spares or repair?

Escort Estate 'S' reg
The MOT is out on 18th April 2012.
1600cc Zetec engine
5 speed manual transmission
Factory CD Stereo with code
Air Conditioning (which works)
Ford alloy wheels
Dark Green
Cloth interior.
mid and rear exhaust sections replaced
New Brake pads and shoes

List of Repairs the escort estate needs for MOT.
Holes in n/s sill
Rot in front passenger foot well
Both front tyres
Tracking? mother mounts the curb
Rear right Brakes Binding? it's had a new bearing and shoes.
Front Brake pipe/hose connection not secure
Rear Bumper needs replacing/repairing due to reversing into post
Front bumper needs replacing/repairing as of minor bump
Exhaust Cat/front pipe needs replacing as gone internally

As I think it is best to get the bad points stated so the
prospective buyer knows what they are looking at!
What should I advise her to do?

[mjslonergan]

Keep the zetec, scrap the escort...

[mitsuru]

the engine needs the oil checking and topping up at least once a fortnight

[mjslonergan]

Minor problem

[owelly]

Ebay with reserve at scrap price. Or strip and sell the parts. Or list the car as 'breaking for spares' but customers agree a price for parts with you, then take the bits off themselves.

[mitsuru]

Well £400 paid for a 'R' reg Volvo V70 T5 auto 2.3L estate.
and it has a towbar so dad is happy as mother will not need
to borrow his discovery to tow the trailer
MOT march 2013
tax may 2012

And boy does that thing move
Errr I had to be put on the insurance temporary as a named
driver so we could get it home.
So got on the A19 at Stockton to get off at Castle Eden, &
gave it a stretch of the legs

Mother has decided to just scrap the Escort tomorrow.
(removing the battery first as it's less than 6 months old)

[mitsuru]

Well as I have been put on the volvo's insurance for a month(temporary).
It would mean that I could get out and about to sort bit out for the car,
IF I hadn't thought the tracking was out on it and took it to have it
sorted!!

Why because I spent my money on essential parts for mothers car which I
was savings for my car. Volvo's factory fit 16" wheels should have tyres
which are 225/55/r16. And you are aloud to go 10mm either way tolerance
wise so upto 235 or down to 215 wide.

The previous owner had fitted 205/50/r16 to all four wheels!!!!
So all tyres needing replaced, and while the wheels were off I had a looked
at the discs and pads. The discs didn't look bad but the pads looked like
they were almost down onto the metal.

Once the the tyres were off the rims you could see that each one were illegal
to use in different ways, so replacing them was £70 each, 4 way tracking £20.
On the way from M&M tyres to home I stopped of and picked up some brake pads
at Sewells Car Spares in Billingham, I had called them while the Volvo was up
in the air. Brake pads £20 inc vat. I will fit them in the morning weather
permitting.

Bugger I'm deep in the red!!!!!!

I spent a little time loading all the scrap car parts into the back of the
escort estate so we can get a bit of money when it gets weighed in.
All the old neon and voyager cut up drive shafts, suspension springs, rotten
and damaged alloy wheels from around the back of the garaged were wheeled
out.

Sorry for the Volvo moment. With taking the escort to be scrapped, I get to
raid the scrapyard, but it will probably be in the rain.

[mitsuru]

After mother bought the car, I went on the government website,
and did an MOT history check. On it's last MOT there were
advisories on the MOT which it failed on but 2 days later when
the car was retested these advisories weren't listed.

Advisory Notice issued
Date of test: 16/02/2012

Front 2 Tyre worn close to the legal limit (4.1.E.1)
Front Brake pad(s) wearing thin (3.5.1g)


The well worn pads on the left came off the left side, the right
were just as bad!



So why wasn't these advisories listed on the retest?
I would have thought that pads this thin and damaged would
have been a failure. I had to use a breaker bar to get the two
bolts that held on each calliper.

The moral of this, never believe an MOT certificate as they are
never always produced by a reputable garage/testing station.

[MFrV1]

I think MOT testers can only fail brake pads if they're under 1.5mm thick (some say to check using the thickness of a 5p).

And yet, if a dust cover is split...

[mitsuru]

RIPPED OFF!
I went back to M&M tyres in Middlesbrough to sort out the mistake with the tyres.
As the car had done a few miles on the tyres and after consulting with mother(as
it's her car) I stated to the owner that I would accept the difference credited
back onto my visa card and NO credit notes as it was their mistake.
(which they had agreed it was)

They put 3 remoulds on the car and one new tyre and tried to say that there was
very little difference cost wise between a new tyre and a remould!

I was stood around in their reception and garage, I think because I wasn't going
away and I was talking to other customers, made the manager have to deal with
me. I think that because I walked with a stick and wasn't in good health he thought
that he could wait me out and I would go away.

He wouldn't tell me what the cost was of a remould tyre which they put on, and all
I could get back was £40 total out of the £280 and that took some doing.

I will NEVER EVER use them again!!!!!!

[owelly]

It's handy to have an internet phone in your pocket in these cases. Just look-up the remoulds with Google shop and show them the price....
I bought four 'New' snow tyres for the Bongo bus and when they arrived they were remoulds. The guys admitted it was a mistake on their Ebay listing and offered to arrange a refund and collect them but as it was nut-deep in snow outside and the chances of getting any snow tyres was getting rather remote, I had no choice but to fit the remoulds. It still irks me when I see them....

[mitsuru]

As I was doing the dishes mother came back from taking My
Great Aunt Polley (86) to hospital for her appointments.

She was not amused and neither was I when she showed me!





This is the reason why we never get remoulds/retreads!
Now I will have to deal with M&M tyres again FFS!

[mitsuru]

Okay here is what happened today!
Rather than let mother get on the phone and rant.
I got her to call M&M Tyres and get a quote for a
tyre of the same size.

She was quoted £40 for a remould/retread and £50
for a new tyre.
So £70 per tyre is what they originally charged me.
Over charging me £20 on a new tyre and £30 per tyre
on the other three.

When we got down to M&M tyres mother did all the
talking, and I just stood there keeping quiet.
(Mother is 4 foot 10.5 inches)
Mother stated who she was and what she had just been
quoted on the phone and what I had been charged for
her tyres. You could see it in her eyes she was not
going to stand for any bull!!

He first was taken aback byhow she knew what the
prices were, and he first tried to make out that the
person she must have spoken too must have given the
wrong details! This was dismissed immediately as she
recognised his voice from the phone call quote

He agreed the tyre needed replacing and while that
was being done a further £80 was credited back to my
Debit card. While doing this he made the comment that
he must have wrote the price for a different tyre when
he was doing the original bill.

£300 originally charged £20 for tracking and £70 per tyre
£120 in total credited back (no credit notes)

Next time I need tyres I will just send mother to the
same place!!