Nice People 12: Nice in Nice

silvercar

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

Many Happy Returns, Chewy!

You are over a year younger than I am, so I will be sparing with my sympathy. There are a lot of us of similar ages, though - you, me, Doozer, LIR, lemon, Lydia all within a few years in age, I think. With Nik bringing up the rear as the baby of the group (-:

Yes, Ok, I know I'm old. Thanks for the reminder!

silvercar

PasturesNew wrote: »

Suddenly got the get-up-and-go to do the drawers.... I thought.

Took a lot of little pots up to the room, opened the big plastic bags of screws/whatnot and laid the pots out in the same fashion as the image and counted the right screws into the right pots..... for identification/selection purposes. 20 little pots of little screws, plastic bits, woody bits and the glue sachets.

Next it looked like I should lay out all the bits of chipboard in the same way.... lost the will there really.

So left it for now ...... although, having typed that ... I think I'll go and count/check the chipboard parts now.

I have built quite a few self assembly bits of furniture and never bothered to check that pieces were all included, never found a piece missing. Just start building, you'll be finished by tea time.

silvercar

Spirit wrote: »

I think Mr Silvercar and Dr Tifosi also travel a fair bit.

Ash Clouds and 9/11 - world scale urgent issues are difficult as short term, people end up in the wrong place. Post 9/11 we were very lucky in that OH was home (travelled a lot to US in those days), but US colleagues could not get home, some colleagues on their way toa world conference..spent a week in Bander (Newfoundland) and post Ash Cloud a friends three generation, party of six, long weekend in NY ended up being almost a fortnight and having to move out of NY due to lack of accommodation/cost

If it stretches the displacemnt and when commerce and freight are affected for longer will be interesting

Yes Mr SC travels too much. He got home from Australia 24 hours before the ash cloud. Less long haul forecast for the next few months.

neverdespairgirl

GDB2222 wrote: »

Our present car is 8 years old and is currently worth around £5-6k. So, anything more than a parking ding will write it off.

I'd not really thought about it from a pounds, shillings and pence view - I suppose I thought of "write-off" as "wrapped round tree"!

silvercar wrote: »

Yes, Ok, I know I'm old. Thanks for the reminder!

Sorry SC. No side-swipes intended at anyone, promise!

lostinrates

One thing about dh's current role is that he travels FAR less.

GDB2222

silvercar wrote: »

I have built quite a few self assembly bits of furniture and never bothered to check that pieces were all included, never found a piece missing. Just start building, you'll be finished by tea time.

I usually check before building. Having said that, Ikea will normally give you any missing bits without fuss. It's just a pain to queue up at customer disservices.

vivatifosi

silvercar wrote: »

Yes Mr SC travels too much. He got home from Australia 24 hours before the ash cloud. Less long haul forecast for the next few months.

Dr Tifosi has been going to USA for his job. New job will be less long haul, but with potential for more short haul. We will see.

GDB2222

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I'd not really thought about it from a pounds, shillings and pence view - I suppose I thought of "write-off" as "wrapped round tree"!

There's lots more info here - http://www.rac.co.uk/community/blog/rac-blog/september-2011/what-is-an-insurance-write-off

Last year, 4 cars in 100 were declared insurance write-offs, says vehicle information firm HPI. But what exactly does the term 'write-off' mean? Well, it is industry jargon for 'beyond economical repair'. An uneconomical repair is based on a repair-to-value ratio. The repair-to-value ratio is different for each insurance company.

In most cases the car insurance company should able to tell you this figure. An example of this is if your vehicle was worth £5000 and your insurance company used a repair to value ratio of 60%. The vehicle would be considered to be beyond economical repair if the repair costs exceeded £3000.

...

Write-off categories
Category A: scrap only. For cars so badly damaged, there are few or no salvageable parts. Should never re-appear on road.

Category B: body shell should be crushed. Signifies extensive damage, although some parts are salvageable. Should never re-appear on road.

Category C: the vehicle is repairable but the costs exceed the vehicle’s value. Can re-appear on road.

Category the vehicle is repairable but repair costs are significant compared to the vehicle value. Can re-appear on road.

The ABI Salvage Code dictates that Category A and Category B cars are broken for spares and the body shell crushed. However, write-offs in the latter two categories can be sold on by the insurance company, either to the original owner or to a third party via a car salvage company. They can then be repaired and, provided they pass a Vehicle Identity Check with the DVLA, can be put back on the road.

These can represent a bargain, if they are priced accordingly. An older car can be repaired to an acceptable standard at a lower cost than that dictated by an insurance company’s exacting standards. These cars will provide many more years of good service at a great-value price – just so long as the buyer is aware of their past.

Some sellers try to pass off Category C or Category D cars as non-damaged motors by hiding their past. If the buyer does not carry out a history check, they will not be aware the vehicle has previously been damaged, and so will pay over the odds. This is why vehicle history checks are so important.

GDB2222

PasturesNew wrote: »

The destructions had a little grid with each part number (as referenced in the construction drawings) and how many. So I laid out individual cheesecake pots (which I keep for this sort of random purpose) in the same grid layout, then put the right bits into the right pot.

Then, I just have to look at the picture, see which part number I need, consult the grid to see which position - and go to the correct pot. Saves me getting 2-3 screws that look the same mixed up and only finding out when one side falls away as the screws weren't the right size

As I use up each pot I turn it upside down.

OCD at its finest I'd say
Systems are everything.

I think you are very wise. I'm not convinced it's OCD, or at least it's on the borderline between OCD and utterly sensible. Can something be both sensible and OCD?

Lots of the parts look similar, but aren't. My then teenage son put together his bed from a flat pack kit. He got one part upside down, with the result the bed has broken. It's been a nuisance ever since, with one bit propped up by a pile of books.

michaels

silvercar wrote: »

Yes, Ok, I know I'm old. Thanks for the reminder!

You and I are in our own special group

GDB2222 wrote: »

There's lots more info here - http://www.rac.co.uk/community/blog/rac-blog/september-2011/what-is-an-insurance-write-off

Last year, 4 cars in 100 were declared insurance write-offs, says vehicle information firm HPI. But what exactly does the term 'write-off' mean? Well, it is industry jargon for 'beyond economical repair'. An uneconomical repair is based on a repair-to-value ratio. The repair-to-value ratio is different for each insurance company.

In most cases the car insurance company should able to tell you this figure. An example of this is if your vehicle was worth £5000 and your insurance company used a repair to value ratio of 60%. The vehicle would be considered to be beyond economical repair if the repair costs exceeded £3000.

...

Write-off categories
Category A: scrap only. For cars so badly damaged, there are few or no salvageable parts. Should never re-appear on road.

Category B: body shell should be crushed. Signifies extensive damage, although some parts are salvageable. Should never re-appear on road.

Category C: the vehicle is repairable but the costs exceed the vehicle’s value. Can re-appear on road.

Category the vehicle is repairable but repair costs are significant compared to the vehicle value. Can re-appear on road.

The ABI Salvage Code dictates that Category A and Category B cars are broken for spares and the body shell crushed. However, write-offs in the latter two categories can be sold on by the insurance company, either to the original owner or to a third party via a car salvage company. They can then be repaired and, provided they pass a Vehicle Identity Check with the DVLA, can be put back on the road.

These can represent a bargain, if they are priced accordingly. An older car can be repaired to an acceptable standard at a lower cost than that dictated by an insurance company’s exacting standards. These cars will provide many more years of good service at a great-value price – just so long as the buyer is aware of their past.

Some sellers try to pass off Category C or Category D cars as non-damaged motors by hiding their past. If the buyer does not carry out a history check, they will not be aware the vehicle has previously been damaged, and so will pay over the odds. This is why vehicle history checks are so important.

I had a car written off because someone drove I to the door and dented it. Cheapo repair would have been about 60 quid but insurance company repair was about 800. I bought it back from insurance co for 20% of their valuation and drove it with a dented door for 2 years before giving it to my sister who drove it for a few years too. I thought only a cat c needed a Vic?