Car finance advice please- getting rid of neg equity??

motorguy

GwylimT wrote: »

An airbag that is turned off or disabled can still go off during an accident, you need to remove them when using a rear facing seat, it used to just be the type that didn't have a roll bar handle, but now its all rear facers.

Can you back this up at all?

I cant see how this is correct, as it would mean you'd be driving a car with an airbag removed and the functionality within the car to deal with the airbag disabled.

I cant see this being legal, particularly come MOT time, or if you were in an accident with a non child passenger on the passenger seat.

GwylimT

motorguy wrote: »

Can you back this up at all?

I cant see how this is correct, as it would mean you'd be driving a car with an airbag removed and the functionality within the car to deal with the airbag disabled.

I cant see this being legal, particularly come MOT time, or if you were in an accident with a non child passenger on the passenger seat.

It isn't illegal to remove an airbag, however if you have one fitted it must be working, so if you remove it you just have to ensure the airbag warning light doesn't come on, although if it does it is easy to sort out. Some insurance companies require you to inform them, we don't have a front drivers airbag, didn't effect our insurance at all, we thought the personal injury side may go up a little, but it remained the same as did the cover.

motorguy

GwylimT wrote: »

It isn't illegal to remove an airbag, however if you have one fitted it must be working, so if you remove it you just have to ensure the airbag warning light doesn't come on, although if it does it is easy to sort out. Some insurance companies require you to inform them, we don't have a front drivers airbag, didn't effect our insurance at all, we thought the personal injury side may go up a little, but it remained the same as did the cover.

You implied though that it was a legal requirement.

GwylimT wrote: »

Rear facing car seats can only go in the front passenger seat when the airbag is removed

Have you any evidence to support that?

Johnmcl7

GwylimT wrote: »

It isn't illegal to remove an airbag, however if you have one fitted it must be working, so if you remove it you just have to ensure the airbag warning light doesn't come on, although if it does it is easy to sort out. Some insurance companies require you to inform them, we don't have a front drivers airbag, didn't effect our insurance at all, we thought the personal injury side may go up a little, but it remained the same as did the cover.

No, it isn't just that fitted airbags must be working - all airbags that were originally fitted must be working with the exception that a passenger airbag is allowed to be switched off. While it may be the case that an mot tester might not be able to tell the airbag has been removed if the warning system has also been disabled, it's still technically an mot fail.

John

motorguy

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

No, it isn't just that fitted airbags must be working - all airbags that were originally fitted must be working with the exception that a passenger airbag is allowed to be switched off. While it may be the case that an mot tester might not be able to tell the airbag has been removed if the warning system has also been disabled, it's still technically an mot fail.

John

And thus i cant see an insurance company being too chuffed if a passenger puts in a claim for injuries because there was no passenger airbag to protect them.

londonTiger

diffiicult situation. this is precisely why MSE users shun buying car on finance. Because when your circumstance changes you have to sell the car and left with a massive debt hanging over you and nothing to show for it.

If it helps taking 15 grand for a car with 17K left on it is probably a fair trade. If you downsize to a 7K motor you'll have 8K left to spend on baby stuff - which can be expensive. Just get something uber reliable.

baby seat on tghe front passenger of a roadster seems quite complicated and it appears you have to do a few trade off the law vs insurer vs mot tester if all the above is true^^

forgotmyname

I think your calculator needs new batteries.

Sell your car for £15000 with £17000 left on the finance doesnt give you £8k left over.

Your minus £2000... Before you even start to look for another car.

Quiet_Spark

GwylimT wrote: »

An airbag that is turned off or disabled can still go off during an accident,

Where does the electrical supply come that the detonator needs when an RTA occurs?

londonTiger

forgotmyname wrote: »

I think your calculator needs new batteries.

Sell your car for £15000 with £17000 left on the finance doesnt give you £8k left over.

Your minus £2000... Before you even start to look for another car.

I was referring to OP buying a 7K car after "receiving" the 15K. That would give them 8K in cash,

londonTiger

Quiet_Spark wrote: »

Where does the electrical supply come that the detonator needs when an RTA occurs?

its best to be safe and physically remove the fuse or other component from the airbacg rather than deactivate it by a switch. After all it could be put back in from the jolt of the accident or driver may forget to disable it before the drive etc.

Better the devil you know I say, I'd be much more comfortable knowing the airbag was physically disabled than on some setting in the computer which I'm not sure to what extent it deactivates.