Changing bulbs - When did that happen?

[w3526602]

Hi,

I just came across this ....

New research has found that almost one in five motorists have waited between one and two weeks before getting it changed.

If a driver waits this long to change a blown bulb, they could receive a huge £100 on-the-spot fine.

I am aware that, in France, you must carry a spare of every type of bulb fitted to your car, and can be fined if caught short. I suspect this is the reason that headlamps now have separate bulbs ... carrying a spare sealed beam unit would be a PITA.

I believe that Halfords sell bulbs in packs, specifically for each car's make and model

A few years ago, maybe still, changing a side lamp (AKA - marker lamp) bulb was a major operation. I read of one case where the driver was pulled with a defective bulb, and RESCUE had to be called. When the bulb was changed, Monsieur Flic told the RESCUE driver to send the bill to the car's French manufacturer.  .

Me? I demand that Barbara keeps our Britannia membership up to date. They have always responded well to our calls for assistance.

Some of you will remember when Barbara was side-swiped by a HGV artic, on the M4, "taking-out" the fuse box in the near-side front wing ... no lamps at all. Dark, very wet, very windy. She phoned me (I was still in bed) to record the trucks registration, before turning for home at the next junction. After a few miles, she spotted a police car, on its elevated observation patch, so she joined him.

Plod demanded that she called out RECOVERY. 20 minutes later, he uttered a mighty "expletive", when the recovery truck arrived.

Arriving home, Barbara phoned LV, and their recovery truck arrived almost as quickly, followed by a rental car, courtesy of LV. Within a couple of days, she was driving yet another brand new Hyundai.

And then the fun started. The truck belonged to a major super-market chain, who insured themselves (permitted by the RTA, but requires a huge cash deposit with the Attorney General. I presume one such deposit covered their entire fleet, including the CEO's limo?) They ignored all correspondence, but eventually paid up ... on the courthouse steps.

We were very glad we had paid the extra £10, on our insurance premium, for LEGAL ASSISTANCE.

602

[Richard]

Thanks for that, the advise on the extra legal insurance I mean. Instructive.

The jeu d'ampoules de rechange, the spare set of bulbs, is in fact not mandatory, but carrying a set of spares is recommended. Most French don't know that. Here's a government issued list of équipements obligatoires, legal requirements. It says:

Il n'est pas obligatoire d'avoir une boîte d'ampoules dans le véhicule, mais cela peut se révéler très utile pour pouvoir changer (ou faire changer) une ampoule défectueuse sous peine d'être sanctionné en cas de contrôle.

It's not compulsory to have a box of bulbs in your vehicle, but it can be very useful if you want to be able to change (or have changed) a defective bulb, or risk being penalized in the event of an inspection. (Translation courtesy of DeepL.)

Richard
(Former literary translator (no, French). Who needs a translator with the Googles, DeepLs and Chat-GPTs of today... Well, there's more to that, but nothing Series-2-related...)

[2286]

602  I thought the requirement for replacement bulbs to be carried was europe wide not just france, I may be wrong.

The problem then becomes fitting said bulb.

Drivers falling in to two categories those who can and those who cannot.

This is further filtered by the vehicle in question.

The manufacturers love to make things as inaccessible and seemingly complex as possible.

I recall being told that to replace a headlight bulb in a mid 2000s vw passat it says front bumper and slam must be removed.

I put it on full lock and removed the wheel arch liner, it was still a headache.

The days when lamps had visible face mounted screws or the cluster removes by turnbuckles it seems have gone.

All so you are reliant on the dealer or so they hope.

[Wittsend]

I challenge this statistic:-
New research has found that almost one in five motorists have waited between one and two weeks before getting it changed.

Is it true that 73.6% of all statistics are made up? 


Looking round Norfolk I would say most motorists with bulbs out have been driving around for far longer than 1 or 2 weeks 
With fewer - or no traffic police the chances of being caught are virtually nil.

Halfords offer a bulb changing service While-U-Wait  )
(...and very good it is, I've used them a couple of times)

With the advent of long life LED lamps blown bulbs will become a thing of the past

[2286]

Re Halfords or any while u wait provider, the question is wait how long.............?

The familiar cry of have you done one of these before?

The flickering led when folks have bought cheap is an increasing problem.

Assume its to do with volatge regulation, as I understand all led are designed to run on 3.7v and must be stepped down for 12v car use?

[diffwhine]

Best way to upset a customer in a dealership is to refuse to fit the bulb they have just purchased through the Parts Department. When told that we can't fit them in for another week or so, it causes huge friction. We had it frequently - especially as a Rover dealership with Rover 75 headlight bulbs. Customers can never understand why you need to take a technician off a high paying pre-booked job to fit a random headlight bulb. Anybody who has owned a Rover 75 will know that fitting a headlight bulb is a painful and time-consuming experience.

We actually got to the point as a Land Rover dealership of putting a sign up in service and parts reception informing people of how long it takes and that it would need to be pre-booked. My gripe with manufacturers over ease of serviceability goes back decades. I made myself very unpopular with LR and Jaguar design teams over this. Looks great on CAD, but in reality all automotive designers will be up against the wall come the revolution.

[Craig T]

I changed a bulb on a first generation Ford KA once, No problem I said to my friend, it's only a bulb...

I had to jack it up, take the wheel off and remove the wheelarch liner to get at the back of the light unit. Even then the washer bottle kind of hindered access. Probably took best part of an hour after I recovered the plastic clips and replaced all the ones that broke on removal.

My Toyota though, easy-peasy, bulbs are right there in the engine bay under bayonet fit covers.

Craig.

[Beowulf]

We were very glad we had paid the extra £10, on our insurance premium, for LEGAL ASSISTANCE.

602

Hi 602,
If I`ve read your post correctly, you have breakdown cover with LV= Britannia Rescue.
If you're also a member of Boundless, formally the Civil Service Motoring Association (who sold Britannia Rescue to LV=), then these two memberships entitle you to free Motor Legal Expenses Insurance.
If I`ve attached it properly     the photo describes the cover.

[w3526602]

If I`ve read your post correctly, you have breakdown cover with LV= Britannia Rescue.
If you're also a member of Boundless, formally the Civil Service Motoring Association (who sold Britannia Rescue to LV=), then these two memberships entitle you to free Motor Legal Expenses Insurance.

Hi Boewolf

Er... I think you've got it.

We'd been with LV for a long time before the lorry sideswiped Barbara, which was shortly before she retired from Bristol where she was the DVLC delegate to a DPM's Task Force, working in Bristol. Most of the other delegates were Chief Superintendents, from around the country. She believed she was the poor relation, but recently we found that on military bases, she would be regarded as equal in rank to 007 James Bond. But not paid equally.

And now I'm being called for tea. I will return shortly.

602

[Theshed]

Part of the problem is that many vehicles have virtually inaccessible bulbs that require major surgery to change and even modern LED's are not infallible.
No evidence of course but I believe it a deliberate ploy to 'encourage' owners back to the dealer for a simple bulb change. £££
I have heard of some cars that require bumper removal to change a headlight !
Legislation should be in place to require the more important bulbs, side, brake, indicator lights be easily accessible. Not going to happen though.

[w3526602]

Hi,

I return from my earlier post, but still OT ...

My brother-in-law was an MoD Press Officer, and was offered a posting to Germany, which was great, until he found he was considered equal to a Major, and would be expected to pay the relevant MESS BILLS ... on Civil Service HEO salary. He declined the posting. I think he then became Press Officer for the Victoria and Albert Museum. He is now free-lance, and seems to be doing very nicely.

602

[w3526602]

Legislation should be in place to require the more important bulbs, side, brake, indicator lights be easily accessible. Not going to happen though.

Hi Threshed,

I did a few weeks working in a BMC COMMERCIAL garage in Croydon after I left the RAF, in 1967. The garage had a "Big Book of Prices" for jobs They were the prices quoted, and CHARGED for, based on the expected time taken.

If you did the job in less than the quoted time, you got paid for that time, and could move onto the next job.     . I was usually a few hours in credit by Wednesday, but never achieved a bonus on Friday. It seemed the Foreman could allocate profitable job, to benefit his pet crony.

The only way you could earn a bonus on a PRE-DELIVERY SERVICE was to check the wheel nuts and tyre pressures, change the engine oil, and sign off on all the other tasks. Can anyone here remember British  Vehicle Manufacturers reputations in the 1960s?

602

[Ben2a]

Haha what are he chances I thought a side light had gone on the way home from work today in my 88", took the lens off wiggle the bulb, and now works 

[gatekrash]

My brother-in-law was an MoD Press Officer, and was offered a posting to Germany, which was great, until he found he was considered equal to a Major, and would be expected to pay the relevant MESS BILLS

I've just come back from a stay at an MoD establishment, and with Sqn Ldr rank (equivalent to a Major) I didn't think the £0.66p per night mess bill for accomodation and laundry was too steep !  The £1.68 for a full cooked brekkie wasn't too bad either 

With regards headlight bulbs, the Mrs' older Yeti was one of those that needed half the front of the car removed to change the headlight, cost over £300. We changed to a later Yeti a couple of years ago and it's been re-designed so it's a straightforward couple of clips.

Apparently Skoda told us this is due to an EU regulation on Construction which now states that headlight bulbs need to be changeable at the side of the road, although I've googled and can't find anything.

[2286]

Best way to upset a customer in a dealership is to refuse to fit the bulb they have just purchased through the Parts Department. When told that we can't fit them in for another week or so, it causes huge friction. We had it frequently - especially as a Rover dealership with Rover 75 headlight bulbs. Customers can never understand why you need to take a technician off a high paying pre-booked job to fit a random headlight bulb. Anybody who has owned a Rover 75 will know that fitting a headlight bulb is a painful and time-consuming experience.

We actually got to the point as a Land Rover dealership of putting a sign up in service and parts reception informing people of how long it takes and that it would need to be pre-booked. My gripe with manufacturers over ease of serviceability goes back decades. I made myself very unpopular with LR and Jaguar design teams over this. Looks great on CAD, but in reality all automotive designers will be up against the wall come the revolution.

Sequence build in the factory and an infatuation for hidden fixings or single use items.

What is wrong with surface mount lense screws, if they are stainless no corrosion issues.

I recall the early 90's protons that were old mitsubishi were great to work on, bolt on easy access parts.  Their only crime in the eyes of the public, dated styling.

My lasting memory of the rover 75 was the enormous oversize rear number plate, where were they made up dw?