Just a thought or two on electric cars

[w3526602]

Many dealers offer 30 day insurance with new cars, maybe this is a better way to give you more time to renew ?

Hi,

That thought had crossed my mind, but it has been a long time since I've seen anything like that being offered, so I assumed such offers were not current practice.

Co-incidentally, I found a renewal letter, dated 2021, beside my PC, but have no idea how it got there.

Hyundai IX 20 SE @ £399.39 (1600cc)  and Land Rover Freelander SE TD4 @ £378.58, on the same LV policy, or something like that. Things went a bit pair-shaped, when I explained how I wanted to be the only  driver, but not the owner, of "Barbara's" Hyundai.

I quoted the case, that arrived on my desk at DVLC, circa 1974. An irate lady was complaining that we had given her car to her chauffeur. Our insurers issued our documents with further delay.

602

[Wittsend]

Being ex civil service/CSMA LV should be your starting point.

[Gareth]

Careful with the insurance! My father in law has just had nasty shock which has resulted in him cancelling his spur of the moment purchase of a Lexus Hybrid. He had a BMW I3 and that was about £1500 to insure last renewal (he is 89 yes old). Lexus was horrifically expensive with quotes of £5k plus. Most companies did not want to know. He decided to cancel and stick with the BMW.

[w3526602]

Being ex civil service/CSMA LV should be your starting point.

Hi Alan,

Are you saying that being ex-Civil Service is an advantage to CSMA customers?

I think there is a 10% advantage to both policies, if your house is also insured with LV, but check that.

OT. Barbara made a unilateral decision to stop paying the mortgage ... I think the underwriters like it that way .... compound interest.
The house seems to be worth several tens of thousands of pounds more than when we bought it 4 or 5 years ago. Anyway, nobody is depending on us dying rich.

602

[w3526602]

 Hi,

Returning to electric cars ... the Citroen (Visa? Definitely Citroen) is reputed to be the cheapest NEW battery powered car, at about £8,500 ... but factor in about £1,000 for your own charging point in your front garden.

Think 2CV, but a little prettier, and smaller. Everybody needs two cars.

602

[linesrg]

Good morning all,

Just a reminder that there are grants for fitting chargers in Scotland - £400 ATM I believe. 

Regards

Richard

[jonhutchings]

OT. Barbara made a unilateral decision to stop paying the mortgage ... I think the underwriters like it that way .... compound interest.
The house seems to be worth several tens of thousands of pounds more than when we bought it 4 or 5 years ago. Anyway, nobody is depending on us dying rich.

602

Seems an odd decision - many mortgage companies and banks and pretty sympathetic if you talk to them and explain any issues with payments and will help you. I know nothing about your finances but paying £1000 to have an EV charger ( a non essential item) installed but not paying your mortgage seems an odd priority, and would certainly count against you when seeking assistance.

Usually the penalties if you miss several payments outweigh the "saving" of not paying, it's far better to talk to your mortgage provider first, rather than just stop paying.

[w3526602]

Hi Jon,

I'm glad to say there is nothing worrying about our finances. In fact it was only the day before we decided to buy a new car, that I suggested to Barbara that "Its about time we spent some money!"/b]

She agreed!

This is in contrast to our situation a couple of years ago. I can't identify what changed.

Three or four years ago, I wrote to our (now) lender, who specialised in SECOND mortgages, asking if we could use a SECOND  mortgage as a FIRST mortgage. The deal was done in a matter of days, close to my 80th birthday.

Our lenders wrote, offering a £25 reward, for suggestion as to how they could improve their service. I told them my logic. Their cash arrived. 

Every time I look in our Saturday newspaper, I see their advert, offering what I had suggested. I'm guessing they made a lot more than £25 from my suggestion. I think their advert suggests that they do not require monthly repayments so assume they are investing other people's money, relying on COMPOUND interest to fund their own retirements.

We are "paying" 4% interest, and until recently, had been making large (to us) capital repayments.

We are avid watchers of DIY SOS, on morning TV, where they move into somebody's dilapidated house, and do a major (usually structural) renovation ... frequently involving installing an automatic WC, that performs the "wiping" functions for you.  It reminds me of the old joke about the night a monastry burned down.

Time to get my kit off, the ladies have arrived.

602

[w3526602]

Be careful - you are heading into SVA and radially altered vehicle territory

Hi Alan,

I respect your advice to "be careful".

However, last time I looked at RADICALLY ALTERED VEHICLES (a long time ago), it worked on a points system ... which I do not have to hand.

Changing the engine would (have) cost you 1 point, and the transmission would cost you, I think, 2 points. Changing one axle would cost you 2 points, but changing both axles would still only cost you 2 points (if I read it correctly). My mind is blank on the points value/cost of changing the steering.

Changing the chassis/body shell will cost you 8 points, which makes it impossible to retain enough points to keep above the required 13 ( I think) points.

There are lots of little loopholes, but you'd need to be dedicated, or VERY rich, to take advantage of them. Non-structural bodies are not included in the survey, and I have never seen mention of non-standard wheels.

I don't think that the type of fuel is taken into account. So replacing the IC/CI engine with electric, and connecting it direct to the gearbox, and changing nothing else will cosy you only one point.

602

PS ... are not (were not) battery powered vehicles MOT EXEMPT?

PPS ... I will not go into my thoughts of a vehicle propelled by a windmill. 

[w3526602]

Seems an odd decision - many mortgage companies and banks and pretty sympathetic if you talk to them and explain any issues with payments and will help you.

Hi Jon,

I know and agree.

A very long time ago, I wrote to our lender, asking if we could miss ONE monthly payment due to a temporary shortage. They OK'd it by return of post. Why shouldn't they? Any non-payments go into the "compound interest" bracket.

I think that dividing the interest rate into 72 gives you the number of years it takes the original loan to double

Our daughter later did the same thing, but that was when she was a "fish-wife" (selling wet fish, filleting, etc). She later became a Bank Manager, and seems to have left those sorts of deals behind her. I suspect that she operates at a "Dick Francis hero" level.

602

[w3526602]

I know nothing about your finances but paying £1000 to have an EV charger ( a non essential item) installed but not paying your mortgage seems an odd priority, and would certainly count against you when seeking assistance.

Hi Jon,

Sorry, IF we all have to go onto electric cars, I regard being self sufficient in being able to refuel it, as essential. I can visualise having to queue, waiting for somebody else to get their car out of the way.

Without going into details, Barbara's old Hyundai traded in for £7,000, which more than covered the deposit on the new Hyundai, and the remainder is interest free. All the people who live in MK, and don't have a car, travel by taxi ... at £5 a pop, so £10 return. That would cost me £50+ each week, without actually going anywhere.

I crossed the road through the village a couple of weeks ago ... and found I was unable to mount the 6" high kerb up to the footpath. I would certainly be unable to board a bus. All steps in my bungalow and garden have been lowered to 4" or less. I would not even attempt to climb a normal staircase. Obtaining a mortgage at 80ya was not a problem.

When we asked the LA for a Disability Facilities Grant,(DLG) the Social Worker walked in, asked to see our bank statements, took a quick glance, said we were not entitled, and walked out.

We both get 25% of our Civil Service salaries, an neither of us did the usual 42 years (18 to 60) service. We both get the full State Pension. We both get Attendance Allowance ... I get the reduced level, as I do not need (but do receive) assistance in getting ready for bed. Barbara gets the full AA.

If we don't spent our money, we are penalised when being assessed for DLG. If we do spend our money, we can be penalised for deliberately getting rid of our assets. Rock and a hard place!

DLGs for less than £1,000 are not Means Tested, and you can keep coming back for more. The downside is that it can take a year before you get you money, and if you start before the Grant is approved, payment can be cancelled.

The LA provided a ramp out of the front door, for Barbara's wheel chair. 1:5 slope. The chairs anti-tip wheels grounded. The Mk.2 model was 1:8, which I was unhappy limping down. We paid our builder £4,000 to raise the level of the drive, in brick surface, which still left an "upstand" across the bottom of the door. So he removed  the full 1500mm wide door frame, complete, moved it out 3", and dropped it down the front of the step, leaving just enough clearance for the door to clear the door mat, and glued it all back in.

My understanding is that the Building Regs (and Factories Acts?) require any slope between levels to be less than 1:12.

602

PS, Back on topic ... what is the difference in price for charging a car from my own meter, and charging from a public charger? Our nearest street chargers are about a quarter mile from our house, with no public transport to and from.

[Wittsend]

The DVLA website Radically Altered Vehicles

Is very clear on the subject.

Remember we don't make or interpret the rules. The rules were Brough in to try and stop people finding loop holes and trying to cheat the revenue man.

Remember too, that whilst you may retain your "points" and Historic Vehicle status, if the alterations were done recently and you have no evidence or paper-work to back up your "claim" that the alterations were done at least 40 years ago, the vehicle will be subject to an MoT test.

Sticking an electric motor in, removing the gearbox, sticking it on little car wheels is not going to work to give you a tax and MoT free drive 

[Theshed]

I think it will be many a long year before we all have to be completely electric so I would not worry about that.
Around Merseyside many of the busses are 'kneeling', in that the front of the vehicle is lowered on it's suspension to allow easy access.
Also a large number of stops have been raised to allow step free access.
Of course non of this helps if you are unable to walk to the stop but the above adaptions also allow for wheelchair access to many busses.

[w3526602]

Sticking an electric motor in, removing the gearbox, sticking it on little car wheels is not going to work to give you a tax and MoT free drive

Hi Alan,

You may well be right ... but what is the official attitude when somebody yanks the electric motor out of a milk-float, and drops a V8 in? (It HAS been done ... probably in the mid-1980s). Would somebody declare that is still electric powered?

Whatever, there is nothing in my pipeline to persuade me to suck-it-and-see.

602

[w3526602]

Around Merseyside many of the busses are 'kneeling', in that the front of the vehicle is lowered on it's suspension to allow easy access.

Hi Threshed,

Thanks for the above, but unlikely to be useful to me.

My village shop is about a quarter mile away, with no buses travelling along that route.

I travel to and from my daughters, five days a week, circa 3 miles each way, along Wattling Street. There are bus shelters along that road, often with people, presumably waiting for a bus ... but I have no recollection of EVER seeing a bus. Opposite my road's exit onto Wattling Street, is a road accessing onto a new estate, with big signs advertising the erection of several thousand brand new houses. I dread to think of the increase of commuter traffic into Milton Keynes, when that development is completed. Milton Keynes, of course, has now achieved CITY STATUS. Our little village is chaos at school release time ... kids no longer walk to school, so double parking, in a narrow one way street is the order of the hour.

Our Surgery fronts a huge car park. It was some time before I realised why the car park was full, when the waiting room was half full??? Then I realised that the parking was available, free, for commuters to transfer to busses (I still haven't seen a bus). There are three DISABLED spaces, also usually full. My legs are not condusive to wriggling out of my car, with minimum space between my car and its neighbour.

There, I feel better now!

602