SportKa MOT advisories question - oil leak

AliceBanned

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Just bear in mind, as it feels like throwing money at "this car" again, that the car had nothing at all to do with this one.

If you'd replaced it back when everyone was saying scrap it then you could well have hit exactly the same pothole and be facing more expensive damage on something with more expensive parts prices.

Meanwhile, all your spending over the past 18 months is probably less than you would have lost so far in depreciation alone on a replacement

Agreed, and in any case the car only feels extortionate because I am both trying to save and to repay devts. That is what the struggle is really about.

AliceBanned

I'm on my phone hence the typos.

AliceBanned

Richard53 wrote: »

If you can, get a few photos of the pothole, and if you can include something like a ruler to show the depth, even better. A lot of authorities regard only holes of a certain depth to be 'claimable', and solid evidence of the hole's dimensions would be helpful.

Thanks Richard I will be doing that on Saturday morning. It is the A41 so might be tricky but think I will spot it easily enough and I am sure it is a bad one. Never felt anything like it!!

AliceBanned

Richard53 wrote: »

If you can, get a few photos of the pothole, and if you can include something like a ruler to show the depth, even better. A lot of authorities regard only holes of a certain depth to be 'claimable', and solid evidence of the hole's dimensions would be helpful.

Ps the guy I spoke to at insurer was hopeless..said it is so hard to claim from government blah blah. He has no idea how anarchic I can be.

AliceBanned

Couldn't see this last night - maybe it hadn't been taken out straight away or it was too dark - but this morning the front offside tyre is flat - the wheel that hit the pothole.

Not sure whether to take it to the tyre place locally or my usual mechanic - usual mechanic doesn't do tyres and tracking but may need to look for other faults?

Thanks for any advice.

Rain_Shadow

Put the spare on and let your usual mechanic sort out what damage there is to the steering and suspension first. Then go and get a new tyre and have the wheel inspected for damage.

AliceBanned

Rain_Shadow wrote: »

Put the spare on and let your usual mechanic sort out what damage there is to the steering and suspension first. Then go and get a new tyre and have the wheel inspected for damage.

Thanks Rain Shadow. I have booked it in for later this afternoon (my usual garage). He said they have had a few bad ones this week. One came in having hit a pothole that was 6" deep!

I will also cycle back to the spot this afternoon, take pics and file a complaint and insurance claim with the county council. I phoned them this afternoon and it has been logged. I really think it is a dangerous spot.

The car has alloy wheels and there may be damage so it could end up very pricey. I hope to get 'refurbished' tyre as I don't want to spend much more. The front tyres were fairly new. I had them both replaced about a year or so ago. I didn't get the tracking done or the back ones done at the time. Will report back when the garage has seen it.

AliceBanned

I hope it won't be a write-off! Just had the dreadful thought..:(

AliceBanned

Mechanic thinks it is probably just the flat tyre - you can see the spot where it hit and has also damaged the wheel. They will let me know tomorrow whether the wheel needs replacing and tracking doing. For now just a replacement tyre. I drove to the garage with it flat (about 1/4 mile) and yesterday from when it hit (about 1 mile) as I didn't recognise the steering problem as being a flat tyre. I think I should have put the spare on but it was a major road, it was dark and I don't know how.


I suppose I need to sort out and get a jack for the future as I don't have one, and the radial tyres are more prone to bursting.


The mechanic did say the county council will pay out (he thinks) as they are usually pretty good, and there is a lot of evidence to prove it, especially as it was only just MOT'd.

Rain_Shadow

Do learn how to change a wheel. It isn't difficult and next time you might be somewhere a lot more difficult to get help.

I actually think that demonstrating how to do it would make a useful addition to the driving test.