The penalty for being tight fisted!

[Guest Had Enough]

This bloke's motorhome was due for a service last October but he decided to save a bit of road tax and take it off the road for a few months. He didn't have the common sense to give it a run every month or so and it stood on his drive for some time.

 

Now I'm the most unmechanical person you could imagine but even I know that not moving a vehicle for some months won't do it much good.

 

It cost him three grand and he wrote to Honest John asking if he'd a case against Fiat. Honest, like he always does, told him the unpalatable news!

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/caradvice/honestjohn/10162367/Camper-van-problems.html

 

There's a difference between being economical and just being tight!

[Robinhood]

Au Contraire. HJ quite often talks through his rather naff-looking hat, particularly about motorhomes (in fact, he was so "off-the wall" in one instance; speed limits ISTR; that I was moved to email a repudiation of his advice).

 

Whilst I would advise anyone that regular use is best, and that leaving a 'van immobile for several (in this case, probably two and a bit) months is unlikely to improve it's condition, the situation must been seen against a background of much of a dealer's stock of 'vans being left in just that condition for probably much longer, and I would hazard a guess that quite a few users of this forum will leave their 'vans immobile for several months at a time, without experiencing any major problems.

 

The only bit of advice I can agree with without major reservation is that any claim is unlikely to succeed (vehicle age and lack of servicing providing any possible defendant with good excuses).

 

The rest is (IMO) mainly tosh, and, given the attempt to start was in January, it is interesting to note this reasonably recent thread detailing not dissimilar circumstances (and note the outcome, and the fact that there was another poster with the same problem).

 

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/11-month-old-FIAT-2000-repair-bill/30521/

 

 

 

[Guest Had Enough]

Bugger! Honest John has been a hero of mine for years! I'm crushed!

 

Of course if the tax was due on October 1st, which is very likely and he booked it in for a service towards the end of January, it would be almost four months!

 

If the tax wasn't actually due then and he decided to SORN it (is that the right word) he is still likely to have wanted to save the tax for all of October.

[Robinhood]

Had Enough - 2013-07-08 5:23 PM

 

Bugger! Honest John has been a hero of mine for years! I'm crushed!

 

 

 

.....you should see the comments from those who deserted his forum and started their own ;-)

 

Had Enough - 2013-07-08 5:23 PM

 

Of course if the tax was due on October 1st, which is very likely and he booked it in for a service towards the end of January, it would be almost four months!

 

If the tax wasn't actually due then and he decided to SORN it (is that the right word) he is still likely to have wanted to save the tax for all of October.

 

.......there's almost as much conjecture there as there is in HJ's answer. ;-)

 

 

[Guest Had Enough]

Robinhood - 2013-07-08 5:26 PM

 

.....you should see the comments from those who deserted his forum and started their own ;-)

 

 

Pray tell?

 

 

[Robinhood]

Had Enough - 2013-07-08 5:28 PM

 

Robinhood - 2013-07-08 5:26 PM

 

.....you should see the comments from those who deserted his forum and started their own ;-)

 

 

Pray tell?

 

 

A number of the mods from his original "backroom" forum, and many of the habitual posters, declared UDI and started their own at www.car4play.com

 

There are regular disparaging posts about HJ and his advice (though, to be fair, there are also supporting posts on some topics).

[Guest Had Enough]

Robinhood - 2013-07-08 5:26 PM

 

Had Enough - 2013-07-08 5:23 PM

 

Bugger! Honest John has been a hero of mine for years! I'm crushed!

 

 

 

.....you should see the comments from those who deserted his forum and started their own ;-)

 

Had Enough - 2013-07-08 5:23 PM

 

Of course if the tax was due on October 1st, which is very likely and he booked it in for a service towards the end of January, it would be almost four months!

 

If the tax wasn't actually due then and he decided to SORN it (is that the right word) he is still likely to have wanted to save the tax for all of October.

 

.......there's almost as much conjecture there as there is in HJ's answer. ;-)

 

 

Not much more conjecture than your 'two and a bit months'. You can conject just as well as me! ;-)

 

But if he intended taking it off the road in October it makes sense that he'd want to get the whole month's road tax back. Am I right in assuming that you can only claim whole months?

 

So if my conjecture is accurate it's a minimum of three months and up to four!

 

Thanks for the link. I don't know about the quality of the advice but HJ's site is very comprehensive. I've just ordered a new car for my wife and his road tests and reviews are very useful.

 

Try finding a reasonable four wheel drive car with a petrol engine! There aren't that many. Most do petrol engines but only in their two wheel drive models.

 

Narrowing it down on HJ's site made things a lot easier.

 

 

 

 

 

[Robinhood]

Had Enough - 2013-07-08 5:55 PM

 

Not much more conjecture than your 'two and a bit months'. You can conject just as well as me! ;-)

 

But if he intended taking it off the road in October it makes sense that he'd want to get the whole month's road tax back. Am I right in assuming that you can only claim whole months?

 

So if my conjecture is accurate it's a minimum of three months and up to four!

 

 

I could pick a few arguments with your semantics, but we might just as well debate how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. (.........please don't ;-))

 

However narrow or wide you set the conjectural range, my original comments still (IMO) apply, and the two (easily remembered) posts demonstrate that there is good reason to doubt HJ's views of cause and effect.

 

Whatever, I find it rather difficult to agree with him, or indeed to take the element of Schadenfreude from the occurrence which it rather seems that you have.

 

(The advice I took HJ up on was, indeed, about Motorhome speed limits, where he was just plain wrong. I happens to us all, but most of us limit visibility of it - say on a forum - whereas he went to print in a national Daily).

 

[spospe]

HJ's forum went 'off air' a few years ago due to its being updated and moved to new servers. It was during this time that some of the original posters (and mods) from the HJ Backroom forums set up their rival forum at: www.car4play.com

 

At that time I had been a member of HJ's Backroom forum for some time and I received an email invitation from www.car4play.com to jump ship and move to them. I was asked to say to anyone who queried my move, that I had found www.car4play.com whilst surfing around.

 

It was obvious to me that HJ's Backroom forum had been hacked in order to get the email addresses of members (including myself). When I wrote to HJ's Backroom forum pointing this out and warning other members that their details had been compromised and that both HJ and www.car4play.com were suspect, all my posts were removed by HJ's mods and they refused to publish any comment on the matter. I have not used either HJ, or www.car4play.com since.

 

 

 

 

[colin]

Had Enough - 2013-07-08 5:55 PM

 

Robinhood - 2013-07-08 5:26 PM

 

Had Enough - 2013-07-08 5:23 PM

 

Bugger! Honest John has been a hero of mine for years! I'm crushed!

 

 

 

.....you should see the comments from those who deserted his forum and started their own ;-)

 

Had Enough - 2013-07-08 5:23 PM

 

Of course if the tax was due on October 1st, which is very likely and he booked it in for a service towards the end of January, it would be almost four months!

 

If the tax wasn't actually due then and he decided to SORN it (is that the right word) he is still likely to have wanted to save the tax for all of October.

 

.......there's almost as much conjecture there as there is in HJ's answer. ;-)

 

 

Not much more conjecture than your 'two and a bit months'. You can conject just as well as me! ;-)

 

But if he intended taking it off the road in October it makes sense that he'd want to get the whole month's road tax back. Am I right in assuming that you can only claim whole months?

 

So if my conjecture is accurate it's a minimum of three months and up to four!

 

Thanks for the link. I don't know about the quality of the advice but HJ's site is very comprehensive. I've just ordered a new car for my wife and his road tests and reviews are very useful.

 

Try finding a reasonable four wheel drive car with a petrol engine! There aren't that many. Most do petrol engines but only in their two wheel drive models.

 

Narrowing it down on HJ's site made things a lot easier.

 

 

 

 

 

I have two four wheel drives which have petrol engines, one of which HJ praises due to it's good all round vision, guess what is the only let down with it, the blind spots *-)

 

p.s. just realised I've told a lie, I've got three 4x4's with petrol engines

[Guest Had Enough]

Robinhood - 2013-07-08 6:33 PM

 

Had Enough - 2013-07-08 5:55 PM

 

Not much more conjecture than your 'two and a bit months'. You can conject just as well as me! ;-)

 

But if he intended taking it off the road in October it makes sense that he'd want to get the whole month's road tax back. Am I right in assuming that you can only claim whole months?

 

So if my conjecture is accurate it's a minimum of three months and up to four!

 

 

I could pick a few arguments with your semantics, but we might just as well debate how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. (.........please don't ;-))

 

However narrow or wide you set the conjectural range, my original comments still (IMO) apply, and the two (easily remembered) posts demonstrate that there is good reason to doubt HJ's views of cause and effect.

 

Whatever, I find it rather difficult to agree with him, or indeed to take the element of Schadenfreude from the occurrence which it rather seems that you have.

 

(The advice I took HJ up on was, indeed, about Motorhome speed limits, where he was just plain wrong. I happens to us all, but most of us limit visibility of it - say on a forum - whereas he went to print in a national Daily).

 

Yes I admit to a smidgen of schadenfreude as I think that he was very daft. There's a difference between being sensibly economical and foolishly tight!

 

I don't think that there's a verb 'to conject' by the way. That was me being jocular! And yes, I also know that a conjecture can't also be accurate as it's unproven! I must watch myself with you it would appear!

 

Anyway, I know for certain that 3,239 angels can dance on the head of a pin. So there. ;-)

[Guest Had Enough]

colin - 2013-07-08 7:31 PM

 

I have two four wheel drives which have petrol engines, one of which HJ praises due to it's good all round vision, guess what is the only let down with it, the blind spots *-)

 

p.s. just realised I've told a lie, I've got three 4x4's with petrol engines

 

You've had better luck than me. We were looking for a soft roader to replace my wife's Nissan X-Trail petrol version. We need a 4x4 in the family because of where we live and we wanted a 'traditional' 4x4 and not a crossover like the Qashqai.

 

My wife does lots of short journeys and I know all about diesels and dpfs and I'm convinced that many people buy diesels when they should be looking at petrol engines.

 

Most of the contenders do not do a 4x4 petrol. Nissan no longer do one in the X-Trail, Kia and Hyundai don't and now the Skoda Yeti doesn't as they've discontinued the 1.8 4x4 petrol.

 

The Ford Kuga and Toyota RAV4 only list 4x4 petrol models with an auto box.

 

In the end we've settled on a Honda CR-V petrol model. It seems to be a small list. I didn't look at Land Rover as I've had friends who've had with awful reliability problems with their Freelanders.

 

And a good local dealer was a consideration as well.

 

[colin]

My latest purchase is a Suzi SX4, I've found Suzi's to be very reliable and this model meets most of my needs, with this model due to be replaced next month there are good deals to be done. I would have liked to get hold of a Swift4x4 for a test drive, but at the moment they arn't importing them.

[Guest pelmetman]

Never heard of "Honest John".........til this thread........he looks like a dodgy Telegraph reader.......nice hat though :D............

 

Makes a valid point though ;-)...............campers of any age..........do not like sitting around for months on end *-).....................which is why people should think whether they will have the time to use it on a regular basis............if not, then they're best advised to get a caravan ;-)

[Colin Leake]

Had Enough - 2013-07-08 8:44 PM

 

colin - 2013-07-08 7:31 PM

 

I have two four wheel drives which have petrol engines, one of which HJ praises due to it's good all round vision, guess what is the only let down with it, the blind spots *-)

 

p.s. just realised I've told a lie, I've got three 4x4's with petrol engines

 

You've had better luck than me. We were looking for a soft roader to replace my wife's Nissan X-Trail petrol version. We need a 4x4 in the family because of where we live and we wanted a 'traditional' 4x4 and not a crossover like the Qashqai.

 

My wife does lots of short journeys and I know all about diesels and dpfs and I'm convinced that many people buy diesels when they should be looking at petrol engines.

 

Most of the contenders do not do a 4x4 petrol. Nissan no longer do one in the X-Trail, Kia and Hyundai don't and now the Skoda Yeti doesn't as they've discontinued the 1.8 4x4 petrol.

 

The Ford Kuga and Toyota RAV4 only list 4x4 petrol models with an auto box.

 

In the end we've settled on a Honda CR-V petrol model. It seems to be a small list. I didn't look at Land Rover as I've had friends who've had with awful reliability problems with their Freelanders.

 

And a good local dealer was a consideration as well.

 

That's what we have just ordered but with the auto box. Bit on the slow side with regard to acceleration but we are in no hurry and it just has a comfortable quality feel that is hard to quantify but just seems to give a feel good factor.

 

The other one on our list was the Freelander (We always try to but British made products where possible) but that is now no longer available with a petrol engine.

[Guest Had Enough]

Colin Leake - 2013-07-09 7:24 PM

 

Had Enough - 2013-07-08 8:44 PM

 

colin - 2013-07-08 7:31 PM

 

I have two four wheel drives which have petrol engines, one of which HJ praises due to it's good all round vision, guess what is the only let down with it, the blind spots *-)

 

p.s. just realised I've told a lie, I've got three 4x4's with petrol engines

 

You've had better luck than me. We were looking for a soft roader to replace my wife's Nissan X-Trail petrol version. We need a 4x4 in the family because of where we live and we wanted a 'traditional' 4x4 and not a crossover like the Qashqai.

 

My wife does lots of short journeys and I know all about diesels and dpfs and I'm convinced that many people buy diesels when they should be looking at petrol engines.

 

Most of the contenders do not do a 4x4 petrol. Nissan no longer do one in the X-Trail, Kia and Hyundai don't and now the Skoda Yeti doesn't as they've discontinued the 1.8 4x4 petrol.

 

The Ford Kuga and Toyota RAV4 only list 4x4 petrol models with an auto box.

 

In the end we've settled on a Honda CR-V petrol model. It seems to be a small list. I didn't look at Land Rover as I've had friends who've had with awful reliability problems with their Freelanders.

 

And a good local dealer was a consideration as well.

 

That's what we have just ordered but with the auto box. Bit on the slow side with regard to acceleration but we are in no hurry and it just has a comfortable quality feel that is hard to quantify but just seems to give a feel good factor.

 

The other one on our list was the Freelander (We always try to but British made products where possible) but that is now no longer available with a petrol engine.

 

Great minds think alike! The CR-V is made in Britain of course, so provides jobs for British workers and the thousands of people in the supply chain supplying everything from car parts to the burglar alarms and fire extinguishers.

 

I ordered our CR-V on Friday evening. We wanted a specific model in a specific colour and it's coming from the factory. I had a call from the dealer today to tell me that it will be with them on July 18th and we'll have it a couple of days later. Is that good or what!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest pelmetman]

Had Enough - 2013-07-09 7:32 PM

 

Great minds think alike! The CR-V is made in Britain of course, so provides jobs for British workers and the thousands of people in the supply chain supplying everything from car parts to the burglar alarms and fire extinguishers.

 

 

I think your mate Rich (Tracker) has got one ;-) ................my first new car in 1977 was a Honda Accord, back in the day when they were no bigger than today's Ford Focus :D