I’ve wondered about it but remain confused about UK transport policy especially when EVs are impractical for me.
If I drop hours and partially retire I could potentially use an occupational salary sacrifice scheme to lease a car which would probably be quite tax efficient but at the moment might affect my pension.
We also have a SORNd 20 year old VW Polo which I think I mentioned before got a lot of mold on the seats but last time I tried still turned over once the battery was charged. Wouldn’t rely on it for a long trip but might work out for short or dirty trips to the tip.
Something to look into for sure as it’s just sitting there (elsewhere) with a couple of flat tyres and lots of algal growth!
I wouldn’t be able to drive it to a local garage (several within a few miles) - would they be able to use their trade ‘plates’ to do so if I can get the tyres fixed by a mobile team? Maybe just better to get it towed and tested before spending on new/secondhand tyres.
My reservations about it are that that one of the front suspension coils/springs went bang and snapped years ago (heard it from inside the house) and replacing was tricky as that damaged part of the chassis but it was fixed and passed MOT. Probably the reason I never sold it to a family for a youngster when they asked as I didn’t want to pass on a dud (apart form the fact it was Mrs AC’s car).
Yes, this is the best way. Do not go to a ‘garage’ with coffee machines and a receptionist
It’s McPherson struts, it’s an hour per side to replace a broken spring. They need to be done in pairs.
Interesting. What sort of damage and where?
The top of the suspension strut fastens to the inner wing and the bottom to the lower arm, unless the strut itself broke I’m at a loss as to the cause of the damage.
Potentially describing the wrong thing entirely but whatever those spring like things were at the front one went bang while parked on the street and potentially another (or the ‘fixed one’) failed when I drove out of a car park dropping the front side down.
Not sure they replaced both but was told that the fixing points (chassis to me) were damaged and had to be fixed, maybe welded.
Ideal little run around car I just wouldn’t be able to sell it to anyone in good faith as such and would be wary about heavy loads/long journeys assuming it can be salvaged.
Was always serviced/repaired/MOTd at the main dealership - probably far from the most economical option.
I think I mentioned a seemingly very good independent garage we took the old diesel T-Roc to when there was a Gloplug issue and they tested and advised for free - shame it’s 20 miles away from the Polo!
Sorry to hear that, all you can do is be supportive and offer appropriate advice if possible without becoming involved.
Assuming your youngsters are uninvolved directly maybe just a good time for them to concentrate on their studies and avoid distractions they can’t control. Hope that makes sense. (You know all of that without me commenting of course, just trying to offer a little support).
Incredibly, apart from an assessment this afternoon, music studies are now over until September. They like students to go off and either play gigs, record or crew things like festivals.
Without going into detail, my offspring is directly involved in the sense that one of two odd looking accusations has been levelled at a band mate and house mate (the other being aimed at another band) and three of the band who live as a five at present will be living as a three from August including the accused.
No-one in a great place but my offspring is presenting better than most if nithing else.
Thanks. It’s actually been a goal since I went self employed some 21 years ago. I’ve been working 4 day weeks for around the last 12 of those years, less now due to the post pandemic recession here in New Zealand, so I’m probably a good 4 or more years of work in credit as such.
I don’t have a fixed time in mind to stop working completely. The economic situation here has changed our plans a bit, so really aiming to have enough work to cover our costs comfortably without drawing on retirement savings too early with some left over for more discretionary items - holidays mostly.
The main factor for us is housing. The value of exisiting houses has dropped here, but land and building costs have increased so moving to a newer equivalent home is not so likely now. Whereas previous generations would be looking at downsizing in retirement we will likely have our daughter with us, as the supported living she will need is very limited out in the community (really, regular families are in the same situation with housing costing to much for our children’s generation anyway - we have multi=generational families in our street now). We will have to revisit that in a few years and I expect there will be compromises to make.
