To new beginnings. To the pursuit of...somethingness.

MrsMoo2U

Sorry EH cross posted I think. Good advice. I have done price comparisons and lots of companies came up with quotes I did put the registration in. Would that have been enough for them to know at that point if there was an issue? I can do a check with experian for £19.99 and I thought that I might do that tomorrow. Cheapest insurance I could get so far was £447 :eek.But I have only gone through two comparison sites so far. Aviva are offering £60 cashback through topcashback but their site keeps crashing. More than double my last insurance but then I have lost all my no claims. That will teach me not to pay to protect them. My budget was £1K to start with but I quickly came to my senses and realised that if I am driving up and down welsh mountains so much then I should really get something with less miles and a bit younger. But in my head I thought that for that amount I would get a 2006 or something. Well..............i have never car shopped before

EssexHebridean

cherisong wrote: »

Oh good advice there Moo. He said that he would put a new MOT on it. He has all the previous service history and MOT docs so it should be easy to answer those questions. Never thought about the tyre depth and the cam belt would not have crossed my mind. Although it is only 6 years old and only done 54000 miles so do you think if it hasnt been done it would still be worth trying to get him to do it when the service is done?
Love it when women pull together . Thanks ladies.

Nope, wouldn't have said so - it's not due, and I would expect that he would say as much. Personally if it were me I'd save the bargaining power for something you ARE likely to get!

Cheery_Daff

Pesky insurance We had a crash (er, well, I should say *I* had a crash ) and lost all but 2 years of Mr Daffs' no claims bonus (he'd had 9 years, but only because a previous girlfriend had crashed several years before and lost all the rest :rotfl:) Mind you, mine was just a very minor bump - just wondered whether it was worth checking if you'd retain some of it - ours wasn't protected either.

And you might well get a 2006 something-or-other for £1000, but you probably wouldn't fit Moo in it sadly!

MrsMoo2U

Thanks EH. Yes Daffs the 2006 I have seen are just not suitable for Moos requirements and, after all it is going to be the Moo Mobile and he has very particular tastes dont you know. I have asked re the no claims and they say I have one year. I have also enquired if I am due a refund as I suspended my insurance pending getting a new car but it has now expired so they say yes £74!!(reminds me I have to post off my last certificate.) Bit shocked but over the moon with that. My insurance only cost me £210 for the year, I got £60 quidco cashback and they sent me a £25 M&S voucher as a welcome present. So all in it didnt cost that much. I have to also say that they were More than helpful when I did make a claim from making the first phone call to payout took exactly 10 days. Would go with them again if they could match the lowest quote that I get. The only glitch was when they had to farm out the car hire and I was given the runaround by the car hire company but again the insurance company stepped in, sorted it and raised a complaint then sent an apology letter. Very rare customer service is that good.

In other news I have been speaking with Mr C on the phone. Got a text which led me to believe he was not having a good time so I phoned him (1hr 16 to a mobile abroad :eek) but he is so worth it. Turns out his son (who is 22 by the way) is giving him a hard time and generally being a brat. Not unusual, I often bite my tongue as I see it a lot but it is not for me to comment. I am so upset for him because he has scrimped and scraped for this holiday, it is his favourite holiday of the year as he goes with his best friend who he doesnt see often enough and the brat is spoiling it in ways that I cannot believe and will not go into on here but if I was there I would be so angry with him. Mr C sounded so down and was even saying that it was his own fault! Am now trying to think of something nice that I could do for him from a distance that would put a little smile on his face. Might have something delivered to the hotel. Just need to have a think about it.

youareallhelpingme

Sorry MrC isn't having such a good time, at 22 maybe the son should be off having his own hols (ad paying for them) and letting Mr C having one he can enjoy.


I think the garage are offering a good deal. Its the same as dad and FIL got. With the 6 month warranty the type of things it wont cover are wearable parts such as brakes etc that will be highlighted on an MOT. I have never paid for an RAC check because I think they are very expensive. If you have any concerns when you get the car you can have a "pre-MOT" check done on it by a local garage you trust - and under the sale of goods act, if they have fleeced you such as the car should have had work on MOT and the car is not fit for purpose you can go back to them and make a claim.

I would say to them, that you want it, but it is on condition that any work needed on the MOT is their responsibility not yours. FIL car had 4 brand new tyres on it too. To sell it they will need to put a new MOT on it as most people expect that on a garage purchase nowadays, so its makes no difference whether they do it now or later really and it it doesn't pass and you don't want it they can do another one later on for someone else.

I would certainly check on the cambelt issue as now you have to buy a Cambelt kit rather than just replace the belt to keep a warranty. This could be anywhere between £300 and £500 - although some cars don't have cambelts (like some of the Ford range)

Hope that makes sense!

vasseur

It IS scary buying a car. I think I get more scared buying cars than I do buying houses :rotfl:but that's probably because I am just more interested in houses than cars....all exciting though

Sorry to hear Mr C is having such a bad time. Some people just never grow up. Let us know what you decide on to cheer him up (if it's printable ).

MrsMoo2U

Me - I so agree with you. BUT there is some history to his relationship with his son for which he had no control over. Wont go into it but suffice to say that some women should be banned from having children when using them as an emotional blackmail tool. So Mr C has a big (un deserved) guilt complex where his son is concerned. It has only been the last few years that he has been able to have a holiday with him so he does his best to organise something. I cannot think of anything that I could do to cheer him up from here. I did think about booking him a one to one ski lesson (this would be his dream and would give him some time and space to enjoy himself) but I checked the price and I just couldnt afford it with the car business and everything.

I am very interested in houses Poles and love viewing and buying them. Strange isnt it how buying a car is freaking me out. I am still dithering over the RAC checks. They told me that it would be £205 and they can do it on Friday. This led me to doing my household accounts and checking out all my credit cards interest rates etc etc etc.
Scary money post may follow because I have switched my money head on for the first time in ages. Checking out stoozing, shuffling and snowballing next. So if nothing else the buying of cars has refocused me.

As KC says - to infinity and beyond and all that.

youareallhelpingme

Good luck with the money stuff, hope it all makes sense.

I agree with you - we have the same here with a close family member, mother is a psycho nutter and uses the child every chance she gets. :mad:

MrsMoo2U

Scary Money Post

Well, I extracted my head from sand for a few hours this afternoon. Prompted in part by me trying to work out how to shuffle money around for the said car. So I rang every credit card company and asked them to break down my o/s amounts and how much interest was on each as I have spent time shuffling them recently. I was pleasantly surprised by the amounts o/s although very shocked at the APRs. Whilst speaking to one card they offered me a 0% balance transfer offer until July. I had just spoken to two others (I am ashamed to say that I have 4 on the go. None maxed I hasten to add and all due to me doing shuffles etc and not cancelling any) who, it so happens were confirming that my 0% were coming to an end. So I had intended to use said card that offered me the 0% to shuffle around for the car purchase as I only had a very small amount on it from the holiday and I have the money to pay that off which is what I was phoning to do. Anway, the outcome is that I have moved my 2 cards whose deals end this week over to the other card. I now still have all debt on 0% apart from one small amount that I will be paying off next week. This will mean I will only have amounts on 3 cards also. HOWEVER it means that whilst the transactions are going through I will not have enough balance on any one particular card to pay the difference between my cash reserve and the cost of the car. So it might mean that I revert to my buying a very cheap car or hoping that the other car doesnt sell in the next two weeks. I had no option it was a one off on the phone today offer for transfer at 0% with a low fee.
Interest on cards were as follows from next week
Virgin - 29.9% APR :eek: a snowball indicated that if I paid off the minimum it would take me 52 years to pay it off:eek: I also had an amount that is 0% until October.
Barclaycard 14.9% - not so bad compared to Virgin.
MBNA (same as Virgin) 0% til April but then 29.9%
Mint 21.6% but with very small balance (petrol and unexpected hotels from holiday) due to be paid off out of next weeks wages. They offered me 0% until July.

So I moved Virgin at 29.9% and Barclaycard at 14.9% over and I now have
Virgin 0% until October
Mint 0% until July
MBNA 0% until April

The two balances will be paid in 7 to 10 working days. There was a fee of 3%. The fee is the equivalent to how much interest I would have paid in just 2 months. So a fair saving there I think. It has also helped me to focus where I need to be paying the money as I have done a bit of snowballing too.

I have been working on an SOA this evening to try to get my mind in order. I have no intention of sharing that on here but I may well update my signature and set myself a target to pay off at least one card as it is due to end at 0% in April. So I think I need to set myself a few little targets and maybe join some challenges or something.

Pity about the car and hopefully it will still be there in 2 weeks when I will be able to release a bit of money from the barclaycard to make up my shortfall. If not I am sure that something will come up soon. Back to looking at individuals with older cars I think for now. Unless I win the lottery but then I would have to buy a ticket.

EssexHebridean

Back in early/mid July 2009 we'd decided to buy MrEH a car, and knew we were after a C3, so I started stalking affordable ones on the internet. Found a respectable looking '03 place lurking about across the other side of London so I rang up after it as it sounded really ideal - but the dealer had just be diagnosed with swine flu so was out of action for a week! :eek: After that we were away for a week at the beer festival, and I figured the car would be gone by the time we got back. Had a quick sneaky peek the day we got back, and it was stil on his site, so called him and agreed to go and test drive - the deal was done that night! If it;s meant to be, it's meant to be and the car will be yours. Remember also if it IS still lingering about in a couple of weeks he will be more receptive to a price drop!

Good work on the card shifting - sounds like an extremely sensible plan, especially in relation to that Virgin one! :eek:

Hope MrC starts having a better time of it soon. How about just sending him a text saying "Love you" or something simple. I know that would put a smile on MrEH's face.