Your fleet running reports

[Barry]

People really are cvnts.


Ioniq6 went back today, the inspector was very thorough, picked up on the small repairs on bumpers easily, and flagged some v minor corrosion on two of the diamond cut wheels, says Hyundai will try to charge for those being repaired (dafuq - its manufacturing failure not mine).

Possible £450 ish bill if I can't dispute the wheels at least, ho hum.

Car was pleasant to drive in general, a flat chassis, good body control, brisk power unit, breaks were fine. Onboard software was dreadful for its price point IMO, but overall its a decent car. I felt like a grown up in it, which anyone that knows me understands, I am not a grown up.

So, I'm left without a car for the first time since I can remember, and no solid plan on where to go from here, leasing has its benefits but I was on edge the whole time, and getting stung for bills that I'd ignore on a privately owned car is a little tedious too.

Mood this morning is one of "fckit, I'll just buy a cheap supermin to get around in for now" but I know that'll drive me mad having no power..

[Jobbo]

@Barry can you find a cheap used EV now? I guess 'cheap' is relative, it'll probably still be £15-20k for something in good condition.

[Barry]

@Barry can you find a cheap used EV now? I guess 'cheap' is relative, it'll probably still be £15-20k for something in good condition.

You can get the eNiro for that price range yeah, just wary of being out of warranty while these cars prove themselves out. The EV repair industry still feels poorly supported too.

[Rich B]

i was chatting with my old man about leasing yesterday - the only car i’ve ever leased was the Golf and when i handed it back it was immaculate, but the guy was still out there for an hour checking every inch of it. he called me up for a tiny scratch inside the door reveal next to the kick plate. you couldn’t see it from every angle but he said it was a problem because he could feel it with his fingernail.

i got a bit of t cut and made it so he couldn’t feel it with his fingernail.

He also flagged up that the boot had some marks inside. i told him it was normal wear and tear as it was a boot.

I didn’t get charged for either, but it did take the shine off the whole experience a bit.

[Jobbo]

I've leased a couple of cars myself and had no issues at all on collection. An ex-girlfriend leased a Polo which had quite noticable dents on the passenger side and was taken back without asking her to pay anything. I think you can get lucky or unlucky on collection depending on the person who picks it up. But the uncertainty isn't great.

[mik]

I think you can get lucky or unlucky on collection depending on the person who picks it up. But the uncertainty isn't great.

I expect some companies think longer-term and want you to lease with them again, whilst others are thinking shorter term > in which case incentivise your inspectors with a percentage of the amount they mark down the post-lease value......

[DeskJockey]

@Barry can you find a cheap used EV now? I guess 'cheap' is relative, it'll probably still be £15-20k for something in good condition.

You can get the eNiro for that price range yeah, just wary of being out of warranty while these cars prove themselves out. The EV repair industry still feels poorly supported too.

Zoes are rather cheap these days, a decent ZE40 can be had for well under £8k, battery lease cars for even less (obviously comes with a monthly cost, but means the battery is Renault's issue). If you just need a runabout with 110-150 miles of real-world range (weather dependent), that's not a bad shout.

Core issues (in my experience):
* Pre-19 cars are disconnected because they have a 3G modem: no app (no WiFi either), no live traffic, no software updates.
* Post-19 cars (facelift) don't have the side airbags, and didn't do well in the Euro NCAP because of it.
* The charging port is a known problem and may fail (£700+ to replace).
* General French car issues.

[Holley]

Tesla went back with 3 scuffed alloys, only one key card as lost the other, no air filter service, front tyres on the edge of legal, broken front parking sensor and a service warning light on. Oh and I didn't clean it either. I thought I'm not going to any effort only for them to charge me anyway. Total cost, all fine sir .

[Carlos]

Same here my wife has had 7 lease cars the last 15 years and although all had some minor dings, scuffs etc only 1 we paid a charge for and that had a nasty down to the metal scuff across the back of passenger door going in to the front of rear door, I had touched it in but it really needed painting to retail it again and I think they charged £300 for that so couldn't moan.

They will often note some minor issues but most of these will be considered normal wear and tear.

We did have an £800 bill for "scratches" on every panel of my wife's purply black Gashcai which were more like light swirls from washing and when I sent a photo of the inspector drying the rain off the car with a plastic squeegee they apologised and sent a £0 invoice

ETA - the squeegee chap was the only time I've had to deal with Manheim and it felt like he was incentivised to find something.

[Barry]

ETA - the squeegee chap was the only time I've had to deal with Manheim and it felt like he was incentivised to find something.

This was Manheim today, and he used a squeegee to clear some overnight rain off the roof (I cleared the rest of the car but the roof was still frosty before he arrived).

[MikeHunt]

I've leased a couple of cars myself and had no issues at all on collection. An ex-girlfriend leased a Polo which had quite noticable dents on the passenger side and was taken back without asking her to pay anything. I think you can get lucky or unlucky on collection depending on the person who picks it up. But the uncertainty isn't great.

This is so true.

A few that stick in my memory are the jag that had been battered 2 days before in a car park and it wasnt checked because it was raining. The Golf R that was picked up late on a friday and the driver was grinning when he informed me that we would have to keep it all weekend as he was running late.

My wife's fiat 500, which had done only a fraction of the allowed miles was collected by a jobsworth, who setup a marquee and spent several hours checking the car over. All he found was a worn drives mat, but his celebration was short lives when I told him that the car wasnt supplied with mats, we had purchased them ourselves and had left them for good will, but due to his attitude we would rather bin them.

[Jimexpl]

I haven't driven the 125 for a few weeks because the battery was on the way out. Finally got around to swapping it this morning and my reward was the top hose popping off on the radiator on the way to drop the kids at school!
Sitting working from the car waiting for it to cool down now to see if I decide to risk refitting it and driving to the garage, or wait for the RAC who currently show a 12.40-3.40pm response time...Clearly Clerkenwell is in the middle of nowhere!

I can't imagine it's the hose that is the problem, as it doesn't appear to be in bad condition - more likely the water pump has given in. Electric water pumps are great until they are not.

[integrale_evo]

X5

I’ve been doing the rear subframe bushes. £50 model specific puller set from eBay worked a treat, not too bad of a job at all, it’s just the size / weight of everything with takes more work when you’re used to normal cars. Made a bit trickier by using poly bushes so had to drop it further to get the top part in. Regular ones just push back in from underneath.

IMG_8584.jpeg (260.66 KiB) Viewed 193 times

Old ones weren’t hanging out, but all had noticeable cracks.


Would have been easier if I’d listened to Sundayjumper and just bent the exhaust hangers out of the way. However the split centre box was an advisory on the last mot so bit the bullet and got choppy choppy.

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It looked like it was going to be quite easy to fabricate an unsilenced section, however it’s proven to be more of a pain than anticipated. I was hoping to just overlap where it meets the downpipes, but when I started it up it was blowing badly. I expect I’ll have to take the whole thing off and fully weld it.

[Sundayjumper]

Would have been easier if I’d listened to Sundayjumper and just bent the exhaust hangers out of the way.

Porsche MOT yesterday. Flying colours. Six miles.

[mik]

Porsche MOT yesterday. Flying colours. Six miles.

[Matty]

@Barry can you find a cheap used EV now? I guess 'cheap' is relative, it'll probably still be £15-20k for something in good condition.

Brand new (well, pre-reg) Dacia Spring for <£10k these days! Bargain.

[mik]

Decided to swap out the oil in the Evora's supercharger. Lotus don't quote a service interval on this, but general guidance seems to be that it's a good idea to change it after 10+ years or 50k miles, which seems sensible to me, and if it really never needs changed.... why is there a drain/fill plug?

They changed for later (higher power) models, but the S1 Evora (and early V6 Exiges) use a Harrop TVS1320 'charger, which has Eaton internals. I mention this as the drain plug proved to have an imperial size. 3/16" to be precise. I have old imperial allen keys, but the plug was on too tight - just bending the key. Unfortunately I didn't have a 3/16" allen socket, but I did have a 5mm, so decided to file that down. Fits like a glove - loosen plug - lovely. Aren't I clever?

Tightened it back up very gingerly and I then ordered the replacement oil. I drove the car in the interim (so put a couple of heat cycles through the engine), and when I went to actually do the job.... the bastard wouldn't budge and just rounded off the aperture. Muthahubbard

Insert a days delay whist I ordered a T35 Torx bit that I could file a taper onto and then hammer it in. There wasn't much room to swing a hammer however, but..... it worked. Phew. And luckily Powerhouse (who supplied the oil) also sell new drain plugs. Phew.



Replaced it today - syringe out and in job (with the car jacked up on one side to encourage the oil towards the aperture (or away whilst refilling). The oil that came out didn't look or feel horrific, but it definitely looked used. Which is what you'd expect after nearly 12yrs / 47k miles. Which made me glad I bothered.




Edit: Powerhouse advised that my experience is not uncommon - they dont’t use a 3/16 Allen in-house when they work on any Eaton charger > they use a T30 Torx instead which has never failed them. Ironically I considered this at the start of the process and dismissed the idea.

[V8Granite]

After years of different Allen keys I now have these 2 sets....

https://www.screwfix.com/p/wera-l-keys- ... dUQAvD_BwE

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wera-Hex-Plus- ... d_source=1

Both really nice.

I've tried a lot of others but these are now my keys of choice when travelling.

Dave!

[Explosive Newt]

Would have been easier if I’d listened to Sundayjumper and just bent the exhaust hangers out of the way.

Porsche MOT yesterday. Flying colours. Six miles.

The garage is 3 miles away, right?

[jamcg]

After years of different Allen keys I now have these 2 sets....

https://www.screwfix.com/p/wera-l-keys- ... dUQAvD_BwE

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wera-Hex-Plus- ... d_source=1

Both really nice.

I've tried a lot of others but these are now my keys of choice when travelling.

Dave!

I use wera Allen keys, they have a funny concave shape that are supposed to bind in where others don’t- and it actually works- I have used the ones that come with radiators etc that have just rounded off and then used the wera ones to great effect