Non Saab jobs - satisfaction

[Steve McF]

Number 1 son has been hassling me to do jobs on the 500 quid Ford Focus he bought in January, and which has been SORNed ever since, blocked in the garage because of a skip immediately outside, due to an extension being built on our house!!

He is also due to turn 18 this month so dying to get the car ready to MOT and insure!!

We located the cause of water leaks being various cracks in seam sealant, some of which were under the roof rails. To remove these required dropping the headliner to access fixing bolts. Plus one end cap was missing the bracket to the body above the windscreen.

We removed the roof rails a couple of weeks back, and I ordered an end cap bracket off Ebay as well as a brand new aerial.

After much prep, and a liberal dose of Tiger Seal, the bracket, roof rails and aerial were all fitted this evening, and we have made a start re-instating the headliner. Hopefully that will be done in the next couple of days, and then we need to fit the rear parking sensor kit I also got off Ebay, and sort the lacquer peel on the front bumper.

But edging closer to getting it taxed and MOTed, and back on the road.

[Steve McF]

Today my son fitted the last of the bits to complete the headliner re-installation. But, he said the interior lights weren't working.

So thought I'd have a look when I got home. After Googling the fuse box location and layout, I had a look, and the fusebox layout did not resemble what I'd found. Bit more digging and it turns out the later Mk2s had the Mk2.5 fusebox, so once I'd established that, I located the interior light fuse, and sure enough, it was blown.

The front cigar lighter had never worked either, and I traced that to another blown fuse. Quick trip to Halfords, and I fitted 2 new fuses, and hey presto, all working again😉😊😊😊

So another simple job done, but great to see broken stuff fixed.😉

So next job is those rear parking sensors........

[carrera]

Little victories are important

You don't need reversing sensors or snazzy paintwork for the MOT. I would be tempted to put it in to get the ticket, or at least so you know what other more significant jobs you need to do. I used to get cross with the local Saab dealer for doing a service on the car before they did the MOT. "what if it fails.... I have a freshly serviced car that I can't use?"

[Steve McF]

Yes, good point - he doesn't need the sensors on it before the MOT, but I am an on a roll and want to get that job out of the way. Also, it's the longest car he'll have ever driven so will make it easier for him to park when it's up and running.#

The car needs a service too, but priority is the MOT so we can get the car back on the road first.......and he can then spend £3500 on the insurance for a 500 quid car

[Audax]

I used to get cross with the local Saab dealer for doing a service on the car before they did the MOT. "what if it fails.... I have a freshly serviced car that I can't use?"

Christ, I always used to send them for MOT before even putting them up on our ramp to look at them. Of course there would then be the awkward times that it would pass the MOT and then we'd notice the thing that should have been an MOT failure when doing the service and having to have an awkward discussion with the customer who'd already looked up online and saw that it had passed...

and he can then spend £3500 on the insurance for a 500 quid car

Unfortunately you're not really insuring your car, you're insuring against the damage you can do to other cars... and as lots of companies have an inability to stock parts (I'm looking at you JLR) so that people end up in a loan car for 6-12 months.... and/or ramped up the prices on parts to an unsustainable level even a minor bump can run into several thousand quids worth of parts needed if it's a new model...

[Steve McF]

Unfortunately you're not really insuring your car, you're insuring against the damage you can do to other cars... and as lots of companies have an inability to stock parts (I'm looking at you JLR) so that people end up in a loan car for 6-12 months.... and/or ramped up the prices on parts to an unsustainable level even a minor bump can run into several thousand quids worth of parts needed if it's a new model...

Yes that is true (and yes, take the point about JLR - parts supply seems to be an issue for some reason. They do arrive eventually, but if you get told something is on back order with no ETA, it's a problem!!).

Luckily, my son is not expecting me to fork out £3500 to insure him on his own car. He's doing overtime, buying and selling things that makes him a bit more, and raiding his own savings!!! So in that sense, I don't mind spending a few quid here and there on his car to get things fixed/working again. And he's still insured on my 107, which only cost me an extra 300 quid or so to add him on.

As we get closer to getting the car in good condition for the MOT, I need to work out how to do it, as I have never SORNed a car before, and so never "recommissioned" a SORNed car and got it back on the road. Currently, the car has no tax, no MOT and no insurance. To get the tax, the car needs an MOT. But without the tax, it shouldn't be driven on the road to try and get an MOT......

So what to do? Do I need a transporter?

[Geoff1951]

Slightly off topic... the mention of the reversing sensors reminded me of the Triumph Herald my cousin had around the late 70s.  he knew reverse gear was U/S before the MOT.  When he went to collect the car after it passed he asked the garage about the reverse gear. "Not part of the test, mate."
"Well, since you've driven the car forward into a parking space, can you give me a push to reverse it out?"

[sgould]

As far as I'm aware, you can drive directly to (and from, if it fails) an MOT.  No stopping on the way to go shopping, but you could probablt get away with a stop for petrol.

Until it has an MOT, you may not want to pay £3500 for insurance. Would a "day insurance" be the way to go?

[Audax]

Ring round local garages and tell them that you're not insured and taxed and need an MOT and find one that will collect/drop the car, they'll be insured on their insurance then and there's no arguing that they're going for an MOT (as an aside the trade policy I was insured on explicitly said I was insured to drive cars without the owners permission, useful in the trade as you can find yourself driving cars that come from other garages). If necessary they can use trade plates but I believe you don't need to have VED if you're going too/from an MOT.

[ScarbSaab]

I was concerned about this after my car was SORNed for a year. I kept it insured (as stored on someone else's driveway) so that wasn't a problem for me - do you have third party cover for driving another vehicle with owner's consent?

From https://www.gov.uk/getting-an-mot

The only exceptions are to drive it:
to or from somewhere to be repaired
to a pre-arranged MOT test

I printed out the garage details for the MOT test booking in case I got stopped, but it was probably over the top.

[sgould]

I had an issue last autumn where I had to drive my sister-in-laws car back to London.  The insurers said I could drive it as a car "not owned by me, but driven with the owners consent".  But that only applied if the car itself was insured by the owner.  So it looks like you can't do that in your case.

[TomPaine]

As far as I'm aware, you can drive directly to (and from, if it fails) an MOT. 

You can drive it home after a test fail unless one of the Fail reasons was listed as 'dangerous':

https://www.gov.uk/getting-an-mot/after-the-test

'Driving a vehicle that’s failed

You can take your vehicle away if:

    your current MOT is still valid
    no ‘dangerous’ problems were listed in the MOT'

[Steve McF]

Well after rebuilding the interior trim following sealing up the panel joints and cracked body sealant under the roof rails, I made a start on the peeling lacquer. I have got it all smooth now, but unfortunately some of the base coat came off too in the process.

I went to the Ford dealer to get the paint code, and they wouldn't give it to me, although they confirmed the colour name. They also confirmed it was discontinued and they couldn't supply aerosols etc. So off I went to our local Paintstore, who have been very good in the past when I've used them. They said the tango metallic was a standard Ford colour they could supply, but there were two or three slightly different shades, and ideally it would be good to bring the car to them so they could determine which one to mix up.

With number 1 son turning 18 yesterday, he has been desperate to get the car back on the road. So fixing the paint isn't the highest priority at the moment, getting the MOT, and then sorting tax and insurance is the important thing. So today, the car is in for MOT - we are desperately hoping it will pass, or at least need very little to get it through. But watch this space......

Once the car is running legally, I'll be back to Paintstore with it . In the meantime, whilst I was at Paintstore, I got some Saab 170 black made up for my Aero to hopefully have a go at painting an new aerial cover I have, and a front bumper spoiler Got some plastic primer too for the aerial and bare bits of bumper we have on the Focus now 

[carrera]

Main Stealers can be quite uncooperative can't they... anyway, how did the MOT go ?

Drum roll.....

[sgould]

There was a time when some Vauxhall dealers would only supply parts against a model/VIN number.  If you asked by part number they would refuse to sell in case you were going to install it on a Saab.  The same part was probably twice the price, or more, from a Saab dealer.