Learning to Drive and Buying a Car

[BigJag]

On 10/10/2024 at 6:47 PM, Browser Brady said:

Not sure if this is the best place for this but……

 

Dropped my car in to be serviced to a main Ford dealer garage.. It’s a 2014 Ford Mondeo.

When i got it back the radio was disabled and asking for a code. I rang back the garage and they said bring it back in.

Seemingly they need to remove the radio to get the code and they said it’s a big job. They had the car for 7 hours. 

When i got it back the second time the air vents/blowers were not working properly. As in there are 3 sets of vents where you can blow air, the windshield, down by your feet and by the steering wheel.

Only air will come out on the windshield now and i can”t seem to adjust the temp. It seems no warmer or colder if i turn on the AC or if i turn up the heat to max. 

Rang em back and they said it’s a coincidence and that removing the radio has nothing to do with the air vents and air con. They said they can take a look for approx 180 quid. Essentially they said it’s not their problem. 

Naturally i am less than impressed but i know very little about cars. Am i correct in thinking it’s too big of a coincidence that they remove the radio and the next day my air vents and AC are acting up ?

 

They also tried to charge me for fixing the radio and i said it was working when i brought it in, they said they would “let me off with it” and waived the charge.

The way it’s been left is the guy in the service dept is “going to speak to his manager” to see what they can do for me..

 

Any advice ?

The radio shouldn't be asking for a code unless it had been without power for an extended period of time. Did they explain what they did on the service? Was the battery changed?  If the code was unknown, they may have had to retrieve a serial number from the radio. The code will be on record somewhere. A dealership should be able to access that information quite easily. Make sure they give you the code and keep it safe for future use.

Swapping a radio in and out shouldn't take longer than an hour. Does your Mondeo have dials or buttons for the A/C controls? If they actually have had the radio unit out of the dashboard. They may have disconnected elements of the A/C unit.  Should be quite easy for them to reconnect.

[Browser Brady]

On 11/21/2024 at 5:33 AM, BigJag said:

The radio shouldn't be asking for a code unless it had been without power for an extended period of time. Did they explain what they did on the service? Was the battery changed?  If the code was unknown, they may have had to retrieve a serial number from the radio. The code will be on record somewhere. A dealership should be able to access that information quite easily. Make sure they give you the code and keep it safe for future use.

Swapping a radio in and out shouldn't take longer than an hour. Does your Mondeo have dials or buttons for the A/C controls? If they actually have had the radio unit out of the dashboard. They may have disconnected elements of the A/C unit.  Should be quite easy for them to reconnect.

Wow sorry, meant to come back on this.

 

So the Garage said they would charge to look at it. I said i am accepting that and the guy said he would speak to his manager and call me back. He never did, i left it a week ( gave him a bit of rope) and then i landed in to the dealership with a nice raised voice ( so others could hear, including the manager.

”whats the plan for dealing with my car, twice you said you would call me and you haven’t done so. All i want is my car back working the way it was when i dropped it in”

Kinda half created a bit of a scene, i could see the manager wandering around curiously.

They agreed to take a look, sure enough there was cable not connected. They reconnected it and all was fine.  10 min job in the end. A lot more frustrating then it should have been. 

[BigJag]

Excellent, a positive result. 

[Jazzy G]

I just got done applying for my provisional licence. The thought of driving absolutely terrifies me. I'm sure I'll have a handle on the actual mechanics of driving a car, but it's all the other road users that'll terrify me. Still, it'll be a really useful skill toi have, as it'd mean I'd be able to run errands for my mum, or take over driving duties from Vicky if things got a bit too much for her, meaning we'd be able to go on longer road trips.

[SuperBacon]

Just got a new (old) car. A decent enough Ford Focus from 2007.

Sorry, road tax is how fucking much these days?????????

This is enough to turn me into a Mail reading "the government hate motorists and 15 minute neighbourhoods are designed to trap the population" nutter.

Jesus wept. If the fucking horn goes off on this one nonstop like the last, look for large flames from the Winchester area as I burn the fucker to the ground.

Absolutely detest cars and driving.

[King Coconut]

Is it an automatic? 

[SuperBacon]

3 minutes ago, King Coconut said:

Is it an automatic? 

NO! I have the knees of an 80 year old and this will push it past the century mark.

I just can't afford an automatic at the moment.

[WyattSheepMask]

48 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

Just got a new (old) car. A decent enough Ford Focus from 2007.

Sorry, road tax is how fucking much these days?????????

This is enough to turn me into a Mail reading "the government hate motorists and 15 minute neighbourhoods are designed to trap the population" nutter.

Jesus wept. If the fucking horn goes off on this one nonstop like the last, look for large flames from the Winchester area as I burn the fucker to the ground.

Absolutely detest cars and driving.

How much have you been quoted? Mines been £20 a year ever since I passed 15 years ago

[SuperBacon]

10 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said:

How much have you been quoted? Mines been £20 a year ever since I passed 15 years ago

Quoted? Sorry I didn't realise I could shop around for tax ???

[WyattSheepMask]

Fine, how much are you paying?

[Rossman]

1 hour ago, SuperBacon said:

Just got a new (old) car. A decent enough Ford Focus from 2007.

Sorry, road tax is how fucking much these days?????????

It's all dependant on which tax band the car is in, from the amount of Co2 it produces. Bigger engine cars will emit more Co2 so price goes up. The government has been fiddling with the tax bands so older cars which emit more Co2 have had the tax bands go up. So they look less economically viable and people buy newer cars.

For Road Tax, the sweet spot is cars made around 2008 to 2017. The government offered low tax on some diesels and petrols, with the stop/start function. (complete waste of time and can be turned off, but you get cheap tax)

Government changed the taxing method from 2019 to now. To stop the above loophole and pay more tax. My wife has the exact same car (make, model, engine, etc) as me. Mines from 2015 and I pay £20 a year. Hers is from 2021 and she pays £190.

 

Edited March 24, 2025 by Rossman

[SuperBacon]

6 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said:

Fine, how much are you paying?

They want to charge me £250! I'm writing to Clarkson.

[deathrey]

17 hours ago, Rossman said:

It's all dependant on which tax band the car is in, from the amount of Co2 it produces. Bigger engine cars will emit more Co2 so price goes up. The government has been fiddling with the tax bands so older cars which emit more Co2 have had the tax bands go up. So they look less economically viable and people buy newer cars.

For Road Tax, the sweet spot is cars made around 2008 to 2017. The government offered low tax on some diesels and petrols, with the stop/start function. (complete waste of time and can be turned off, but you get cheap tax)

Government changed the taxing method from 2019 to now. To stop the above loophole and pay more tax. My wife has the exact same car (make, model, engine, etc) as me. Mines from 2015 and I pay £20 a year. Hers is from 2021 and she pays £190.

 

This is very true, my dad has a diesel BMW 5 Series and his road tax is £30 for the year! 

We pay nothing on our electric car, our other car is an old VW Golf and I think the tax and insurance is heading towards being more than what the cars worth!

Edited March 25, 2025 by deathrey

[SuperBacon]

The guy that's bought next door drives a Tesla. God they're embarrassing aren't they? 

You know when he's coming home as this weird UFO noise starts up. You know The Simpsons Movementarian episode where its revealed that the leader is blowing a comb and that's what makes the noise? That's exactly what it sounds like.

Grow up.

[Jazzy G]

On 3/25/2025 at 1:49 PM, deathrey said:

We pay nothing on our electric car, our other car is an old VW Golf and I think the tax and insurance is heading towards being more than what the cars worth

When I tried learning to drive at age 17 my mum paid £300 for an E-reg Renault 5 for me in the hopes of being able to take me out for practice in it, and it being a first car for me once I passed my test, but she got quoted £900 to add me to the insurance so it didn't happen.