Car dilemma

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I bought a Citroen Ami 8 van in 1975 for £25. Two years later the gear box went and I sold it for £25.
I had a scimitar which I crashed on a wet roundabout, patched it up with isopen filler and sold it for same price £600 iirc.
 
How can they make it an offence not to use a/c when it's very hot, when not all cars are fitted? Just do the same as them - open the 'flippin'' windows! :mad:

is this a thing now? If you're in continuous motion, cars do tend to use less gas running the A/C than they do running with it off and windows open.

Figure the fuel economy EPA type subgroups may eventually make it a fine to drive on the highway with the windows open or require a functioning A/C as a term of commercial sale.
 
I leave the aircon on permanently - stops windows misting up in cold weather, keeps seals in system functional.

I also keep interior at a constant temperature - no real reason to change it day to day. Opening windows increases turbulence (economy suffers) and noise (annoys me).

If the ambient temp is close to the interior setting it uses very little extra fuel. If it is hot I am likely to be a cooler, more attentive and observant driver than if hot and sweaty.

Those of more mature years must remember pre-aircon hot days - the delights of hot vinyl seat burns, windows wide open providing only partial cooling while perspiration welded shirt to seat back.
 
I've had climate control in my cars for more years than I can remember, always by choice, and its never turned off. When I drive in a car without it or where the owner has turned it off I find the car instantly more humid and a less pleasurable place to be. It lolls me into a state of sleep more quickly, and that cannot be good.

I have to admit to being a sucker for more modern cars and accept the depreciation hit. Our last four cars have all been purchased when they were about a year old and always previously owned by the manufacturers UK operation. Generally, we've paid about half list price (not that anybody pays list) but we do keep our cars for a reasonable number of years (six or more) and the depreciation is a little easier to take. I do love the modern technology and would miss this in an older car.

As with anything, what the ticket price says is much less about what the material cost of the goods are and far more about what it costs to run the business which sells it and also what the market is willing to pay. Terry's example describes things very well.

My dad bought a two year old BMW X1 from a main dealership. He kept it for four years, ensuring main dealership servicing (on my insistence) and we sold it back to another BMW main dealer when he became too old to drive. The trade in was £4K less than he paid for it originally. It was just a trade in. The dealership told us that they were struggling to get decent used BMW's with a full service history, even with a few dents (as his had)! I'd already tried the web based operators and every one of them offered substantially less than the main dealership. So, sometimes, a swanky dealership with sharp suits, isn't a bad place to go.
 
Since when has it ever been an offence to not use A/C? you choose, turn it on / turn it off as it suits you...

My best was a car bought 5 years ago, sold earlier this year with an additional 50K on the clock, and needing £8-£11k of rust and other work to bring it up to 'as new' - sold for more than I paid for it 5 years previously, so made a profit on that motoring!
As I said, it's a recently made-up rule that 'a driver must keep ventilated'! Yet it's taken until now to make it an offence to 'hog' the centre lane!
 
Bit brassed off, but I guess it is how dealers stay in business, I get they need a margin on buying but at the moment it’s quite insulting. A car same model and year in same condition with similar miles as mine retails at between £3800 and £4200 but all the dealers will offer is ‘bottom book’ at £2000 for mine. Top book is only about £2500 apparently. Really annoying when their stock is no better than the car I want to part-ex/sell. I’ve walked away from four dealers. Guess I’ll be keeping mine
It was ever thus.
 
I bought a Citroen Ami 8 van in 1975 for £25. Two years later the gear box went and I sold it for £25.
Jacob that’s very interesting-brother in law bought brand new Citroen Ami and loved it. After first service he noticed some things were not quite right so being an engineer he did next service himself. Perfectly competent he topped up the gear box but was surprised at the volume it took. Turns out gear box was dry and had no leaks- car was kept in new garage with no tell tale oil spots in the floor -so had come from factory like that! Obviously dealer jumped on the tactic of saying as not serviced in dealership it was not their problem! Also said as it had done 10k with no fluid it would probably be all right!!
He traded car in shortly after that.
 
Jacob that’s very interesting-brother in law bought brand new Citroen Ami and loved it. After first service he noticed some things were not quite right so being an engineer he did next service himself. Perfectly competent he topped up the gear box but was surprised at the volume it took. Turns out gear box was dry and had no leaks- car was kept in new garage with no tell tale oil spots in the floor -so had come from factory like that! Obviously dealer jumped on the tactic of saying as not serviced in dealership it was not their problem! Also said as it had done 10k with no fluid it would probably be all right!!
He traded car in shortly after that.
Mine was just overworked - 3 kids and a dog in the back going up a rough track and the main shaft in the gear box just poked itself though the casing. It had been a nice little van to drive though.
 
As I said, it's a recently made-up rule that 'a driver must keep ventilated'! Yet it's taken until now to make it an offence to 'hog' the centre lane!

That doesn't make it an offence to use or not use a/c, just that the car should be ventilated. Perfect common sense.
It was the typical media response, as usual, that completely went over the top suggesting fines for not using a/c.
 
The same rule also warns drivers about bright sunlight. According to the Highway Code, you should slow down or even pull over if you are "dazzled by bright sunlight." If the sun does shine in your eyes and you are forced to look away from the road, a police officer could claim you were driving without due care and attention.
This is another good one. A couple of roads I use backward and forward to work at certain times of the year have the sun low on the horizon and straight in front of me when driving. I assume that won't happen now as that will be taken into consideration when laying out new roads :unsure:
 
This is another good one. A couple of roads I use backward and forward to work at certain times of the year have the sun low on the horizon and straight in front of me when driving. I assume that won't happen now as that will be taken into consideration when laying out new roads :unsure:
They'll just nudge the sun up a bit. Sorted.
 
Or just wait a few millennia the world is tilting more each year.
 
The statement is journalistic licence which doesn't reflect the reality of Magistrate's sentencing guidelines:

"Drivers could be slapped with a £5,000 fine for failing to follow a simple rule in hot weather. Part of Rule 237 of the Highway Code states that a driver must keep their car 'well ventilated' to avoid drowsiness. If you ignore the guidance and subsequently lose control of your vehicle, you risk being landed with the maximum fine in the most serious cases."

For offences for which fines can be imposed depending on the offence, there are five levels each of which has a maximum. Namely:

Level 1: £200
Level 2: £500
Level 3: £1,000
Level 4: £2.500
Level 5: Unlimited.

However, magistrates are given sentencing guidelines for offences of average seriousness, which can be increased or decreased depending on any aggravating or mitigating circumstances of the offence and the offender. The amount of any fine fixed by a court must be such as, in the opinion of the court, reflects the seriousness of the offence. It will invariably be far below the maximum. (EG: Hitchhiker standing on a slip road to cage a lift: £2,500. Motorist who stops to pick them up: £2,500 + 3 penalty points)

An overarching principle id determining the level of fine to be imposed on an offender is that the court is based on what might be termed 'equal misery', in that it must take into account the circumstances of the case including, in particular, the financial circumstances of the offender so far as they are known, or appear, to the court. Someone existing on welfare benefits or in a low paid job with little or no disposable income will be in a very different position from someone on £100,000 a year, and the actual fine imposed will reflect that.

Motoring offences appropriate for imposition of fine or discharge – Sentencing

And just to make life more interesting, to ensure that offenders from all walks of life aren't discriminated against on the grounds of who they are, magistrates have to taken note of the 'Equal Treatment Handbook, which runs to 547 pages and makes interesting reading:

https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Equal-Treatment-Bench-Book.pdf

Many, if not most, speeding offences are picked up on camera. Lucky for some!

The notice of intended prosecution is sent to the registered keeper, who must disclose who the driver is. Failure to provide such details will mean that the fine (and points) will be imposed on the registered keeper. Fair enough so far, but supposed the driver is a Premier League footballer? The registered keeper, as often as not, will be the Club (A PLC), so they are sent the letter of intended prosecution. If they don't disclose the driver's name (which of course they won't), the Club will receive a heavy fine, and whatever the level is, it will be well within their means to pay. The driver keeps his clean licence, free to offend again and again, till maybe one day, they get stopped by a cop. Then just do as one well known former manager did: Get 'Mr Loophole' to get you off by saying you had an upset tummy and urgently needed to get to a loo.

Could make me cynical.
 

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