Help!!Son is stuck 300 miles away from home with his new car .

shelovestobuystuff

Just checked and he is only 40 miles away now,hope they have not been speeding as they appear to have made very good time.They have stopped for early lunch and to stretch their legs then home very soon.Thank goodness.

k18dan

I think you and your son should be commended :T
How many parents have gone out a bought their sons/daughters a brand new fiesta or the like to trash it or crash it within the first year (seen this done often), your son has sourced and bought a second hand car himself.. and paying for the insurance himself, he was responsible to get a insurance quote before he went (it didn't work out - but he did try) and didn't drive home with no insurance which is done often.

The likely hood is he will look after and care for the alfa because he paid for it him self.

When/If I ever have children I want them to be as respectable as your son has proved to be, yer you had to pick up the pieces this time but he is young and this is how we learn. its an advencher that he will always remember, and talk about when he is older.

I would now go out and buy him a Haynes Manuel and some car cleaning gear from halfords (on 3 for 2 at the mo ) to get him on his way.

:beer:

sunshinetours

k18dan wrote: »

I think you and your son should be commended :T
How many parents have gone out a bought their sons/daughters a brand new fiesta or the like to trash it or crash it within the first year (seen this done often), your son has sourced and bought a second hand car himself.. and paying for the insurance himself, he was responsible to get a insurance quote before he went (it didn't work out - but he did try) and didn't drive home with no insurance which is done often.

The likely hood is he will look after and care for the alfa because he paid for it him self.

When/If I ever have children I want them to be as respectable as your son has proved to be, yer you had to pick up the pieces this time but he is young and this is how we learn. its an advencher that he will always remember, and talk about when he is older.

I would now go out and buy him a Haynes Manuel and some car cleaning gear from halfords (on 3 for 2 at the mo ) to get him on his way.

:beer:

Good on you - a nice post and I totally agree. I'm in mid (ok mid to late!) 30's and I still remember the excitement of first cars and first big trips. As the mum said its character building and far too much negativity in threads like this which shows the sad view of life many hold these days. Far too easy to knock someone anonymously rather than offer sound positive advice

Hope your son enjoys the car, although breakdown cover and a Haynes manual are essentials for owning an old Alfa I'm afraid!

dacouch

I hope he enjoys the car, Jeremy Clarkson would be justly proud of him

Shoshannah

Wow, what a post!

Glad to hear you've got it sorted out and that your son is home safe. Surely it must have been freezing sleeping in the car? I've always frozen when sleeping in the car! :rotfl:

People have been quick to criticise, I admit when I first read the original post I suspected a prime example of idiocy but I have been pleasantly surprised. It was pretty foolish of him to buy a car 300 miles away and hopefully he has learnt from that, but at least he did try to get quotes beforehand and at least he paid the eyewatering premium in the end.

No problem with Alfas being unreliable, it just means lots of opportunities for him to learn to look after and maintain his own car. :T This is a skill that is sadly neglected nowdays; car maintenance should be a more major part of the driving test in my opinion.

And although a brand new driver on a 1.6 156 may not be the wisest decision from an insurance point of view, there is no reason it is heading for disaster. Please try and help him to mature into a careful and considerate driver, not some mindless boy racer.

My first car was a 115bhp fuel injected 2.0 car. I never had any problems connected to the power of the car, just the usual new driver errors and the odd terrifying moment due to inexperience. I learned from these, and to be honest they would have happened whatever car I was driving!

Remember, my mum's old 1.0 Metro was capable of going 75mph in a 40mph zone... it's not the car, it's the way you drive it.

shelovestobuystuff

He,s home:j.Arrived just after 1pm absolutely exhausted and went straight to bed.The car is gorgeous.I am dying to go and polish the badges up and it really needs a good wash but I will leave him that little pleasure.

I am sure he was quite comfy sleeping in the car as he definately went prepared.I spotted a pillow and sleeping bag in the back seat when I went out to have a look at it.

uktyler

A day he will no doubt remember, good on him!

When everyone moans about the youth of today this proves some of them have got get up and go.

Yes he took a risk by buying a car that far from home, but I reckon the whole experience will make him appreciate his car more.

He was gained valuable driving experience into the bargain. Personally I think you should be proud of him.

thescouselander

I'm sorry to hear about this story. More Than must make a habit of this - it happened to me too!

When I bought my current car I got a quote from the More Than website - they quoted me £450 but when I phoned to get the insurance they said they couldn't insure me on the car (I had already committed to buy the car at this point) .

In the end I got insurance from Direct Line for £50 more so no big deal. But here is the important bit:

I made a complaint to More Than threatening them with the FSA - I won and they were forced to pay the difference between their quote and what I ended up paying at Direct Line.

I suggest you might want to take similar action if you have proof of the original quote they gave and that it was still in the validity period.

fatpiggy

I've just read this thread, and frankly I am appalled. Two weeks after his test, and he buys a 1.6? What size car did he learn on? The majority of driving school/instructor cars are no more than 1.2. There is a huge difference in acceleration and body weight and consequently braking distance between these two vehiccle sizes. Two weeks after his test he drives on motorways despite never having had a motorway lesson? Two weeks after his test he wants to drive 300 miles, and with another totally inexperienced person with him? In a hours lesson you might drive 10 miles. I had my licence for 11 years before I bought my first car and had 5 motorway lessons first, (plus some advanced lessons with another instructor) as I had never driven on a motorway myself (there aren't any in Cornwall). 10 days after I bought my car I drove 150 miles in one day on all road types and was EXHAUSTED when I arrived. You may think your son is a responsible paragon of virtue but let me tell you what happened to a lad I was at school with. A week after I passed my test he passed his and the very next day wrote off his father's car and a teacher's while giving his mates a lift to school. Luckily no-one was hurt.

Mark_Hewitt

Why does everyone say you need special motorway lessons? After I passed my test I found motorways the easiest thing to drive on!

There's lots of things you need extra lessons for but IMO motorways aren't one of them