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

mikey72

fatpiggy wrote: »

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.

I'm not appalled, fair play to him. Good car as well.
I never went for lessons on a motorway.
Never even needed the test for my moped either, and it didn't need to be restricted.
On the day I was sixteen, I put the L plates on, and shot off at 45+mph on my Honda SS50.
I lived to seventeen, and had a Marina van, which lasted about 2 months until an older "experienced" driver wrote it off as he shunted it off the main road I was on when he came straight out over a give way sign with his landrover. The meant I could move onto a twin carb, 1750 Hillman, within a few months of passing my test. Then a 3.5 litre SD1.
I've had enough of the nanny state for now.

Silk

Great thread and must say I loved reading it, I only saw it by accident and wished I'd seen it last night for the tension :rotfl:
The lads done great and you must be very proud of him ....sounds like he's 18 going on 35 :cool:
18 year old with an Alfa ...girls are going to love it :beer:
Are we going to see a piccy of his new pride and joy then ? I think a few would like to see it

egon

Great to hear your son is back home!

What a lot of non-sense from some. When I did my driving test, I had to test-drive and pick up/ collect a lot of cars due to my apprenticeship. 1.8l and 2l engines no problem. What would my boss have said, if I refused????
It is down to the driver and not the car.

moneysaver12

I started reading this last night and am please that he is home safely and got his insurance, i think that both of you did great espcially your son.

johnswife

I started reading this thread last night and had to come and check he got home safely.

Well done to him and what a great mum.

glad it all worked out.

photome

fatpiggy wrote: »

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.

What a load of rubbish.

I passed my test when I was 17 and the next day drove from Portsmouth to Norwich, that was 32 years ago and 100,000,s of miles later I am still here and I have never injured anyone else.

The boy done well...except he bought an Alfa

tomstickland

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.

Not really.
A 1.6 won't normally set the world alight in terms of acceleration. I'd expect the braking distance of the Alfa and, say, a Micra to be about the same.

Motorways are the easiest roads to drive on.

Not that I think the purchase was well planned. I wouldn't advise doing such a long journey, but as long as they concentrate and are sensible it should be OK.

Brian1966

photome wrote: »

What a load of rubbish.

I passed my test when I was 17 and the next day drove from Portsmouth to Norwich, that was 32 years ago and 100,000,s of miles later I am still here and I have never injured anyone else.

The boy done well...except he bought an Alfa

Good luck to the lad and pleased that he made it back safely.
I am a 'professional driver' drive coaches the length and breadth of the country and find in a lot of case that it is 'attitude' and not age that presents major problems.
Some 'kids' jump in a car.. any car and drive like lunatics, no regard for safety, overtaking at every opportunity etc. Others whether young or not drive sensibly as is the case with the OP'S son by all accounts.
I find older business types, maybe running late for a meeting to be just as dangerous in their 'high powered' company vehicles, tailgating one of the most common faults.
I was 19 when I passed my test and drove a 1200cc Renault 5. those first few miles, alone and unsupervised were frightening but I just plodded along. Within weeks my confidence was sky high but I still remained sensible. My first motorway experience proved scary but it was all a learning curve.
By 21, still young I had passed a PSV TEST and within weeks of passing was carrying 49 passengers and up all over the country.
More than 20 years later I still am.
Most days I see one accident or another, lost count of the number of 'idiots' that see a coach coming towards them whilst waiting to turn and just go for it assuming that I will stop.
Driving down country roads I regularly get overtaken on blind bends mainly by the so called 'experienced' drivers.
Age can play a part but as said at the beginnig of this post being young behind a wheel doesn't make them any more of a danger than older drivers

k18dan

Brian1966 wrote: »

Good luck to the lad and pleased that he made it back safely.
I am a 'professional driver' drive coaches the length and breadth of the country and find in a lot of case that it is 'attitude' and not age that presents major problems.
Some 'kids' jump in a car.. any car and drive like lunatics, no regard for safety, overtaking at every opportunity etc. Others whether young or not drive sensibly as is the case with the OP'S son by all accounts.
I find older business types, maybe running late for a meeting to be just as dangerous in their 'high powered' company vehicles, tailgating one of the most common faults.
I was 19 when I passed my test and drove a 1200cc Renault 5. those first few miles, alone and unsupervised were frightening but I just plodded along. Within weeks my confidence was sky high but I still remained sensible. My first motorway experience proved scary but it was all a learning curve.
By 21, still young I had passed a PSV TEST and within weeks of passing was carrying 49 passengers and up all over the country.
More than 20 years later I still am.
Most days I see one accident or another, lost count of the number of 'idiots' that see a coach coming towards them whilst waiting to turn and just go for it assuming that I will stop.
Driving down country roads I regularly get overtaken on blind bends mainly by the so called 'experienced' drivers.
Age can play a part but as said at the beginnig of this post being young behind a wheel doesn't make them any more of a danger than older drivers

Here here!!! I totally agree, I'm 26 and have been driving since I was 17, its about time others take the same view as yourself including most motoring organisations, its attitude as well as age

dacouch

elvch01 wrote: »

I totally agree & I had a similar experience with MORE>THAN a couple of years ago. The quote on my car was about 25% cheaper with them, so I accepted their price & purchased immediately. When I did not receive a cover note, they tried to play me along for a while, but I had a confirmation email along with the original quote reference. I persisted when they tried to re-quote me at a higher price (saying the original quote was lost) and eventually they accepted the orginal price as quoted. I actually benefited in that they immediately issued a cover note when I could prove that I had paid for insurance, and then 6 weeks later, they isued a new policy, so I got 6 weeks for free

As an aside, I think that the original mis-quote was caused by me performing a lot of "what-if" stuff on the website using the browser "back button" to go back & try alternative options/add-ons etc and it confused their application; so when they gave me a very good quote I just went ahead and purchased it

May be thats why they call themselves More Than....:rotfl: