Car (or bike) Chat!

[Pigmy Pony]

More car-related drama:

A couple of years ago, a landscape gardener we'd took on to sort the back garden and patio told Anita about his hitherto successful business being ruined by a company he'd done a big job for going bust, owing him thousands. On top of his diagnosed Crohn's disease. Also his house was two weeks from repossession, so Anita went to court with him to plead his case, and got a stay of execution, and some benefits he didn't know he was entitled to.

We had a spare van doing nothing, so we put him on the insurance and lent it to him while he got back on his feet. That was over two years ago.

Then last week he sent a message on his family group chat saying he loved them, then disappeared. Later that day the van was found on Tesco's car park locked up. His brother could see through the window three empty boxes of paracetamol, so then someone (we haven't been able to find out who) smashed the window, then took a crow bar to the sliding door to check he wasn't in the back. He wasn't.

The police could see from Tesco's CCTV that he had left the van and headed towards the train station. Further enquiries revealed he had taken a train to Preston, and from there the trail went cold. Until they found he had taken himself to Royal Preston hospital feeling unwell.

He's recovered now, but his head isn't in a good place. And there's still the Crohn's.

We got the van back to our house, and sorting through all the papers in there, found countless final demands and a repossession notice from his mortgage lender. While we feel sorry for him, it's his family (wife and kiddies) who have our sympathy. They had no idea, he'd kept it from them.

Meantime we have a claim going through with the van insurers, no idea how that will go. But small potatoes compared to what that bloke and his family have ahead of them.

[Barry]

However bad you think things are, there is always someone worse off than you

You are to be commended for being willing to deal with the insurance company. Well done.

[Roy S]

I’m saving up for the second roller skate

[Pigmy Pony]

However bad you think things are, there is always someone worse off than you

You are to be commended for being willing to deal with the insurance company. Well done.

An update on the events of earlier this month:

Our landscape gardener who went off the rails is back home and being looked after by his family. Mine and Anita's first thought when the drama unfolded and his family rallied to find him (and trash our van) was, where were they while all this crap was going on? Turns out he was very good at hiding the problems and no one had a clue... while we sympathise with his health issues, his family who now have to pick up the pieces, including reimbursing customers who shelled out deposits for work that never materialised deserve our sympathy more.

As for the van, well, the insurance wrote it off (not by inspecting it, but just by looking at photos we supplied). And they've written it off. We had the options to give up the van, or 'buy it back'. The difference was only 200 quid, so we chose option b and will get the repairs done and then sell it. The insurer's lazy reluctance to collect and deal with the van is very very much to our advantage financially, as they paid out more than we were originally going to sell it for pre-damage, which is nice. Future premiums will go up a bit though.

[walpurgis]

Just spent a couple of hours under the car 'winterproofing' everything with oil and wax spray. I do this every year.

My car is a seventeen year old, but low mileage, Citroen Nemo, with the 1.4 HDi engine from Peugeot. Drives excellently!

[Pigmy Pony]

Just spent a couple of hours under the car 'winterproofing' everything with oil and wax spray. I do this every year.

My car is a seventeen year old, but low mileage, Citroen Nemo, with the 1.4 HDi engine from Peugeot. Drives excellently!

Some cars respond well to loving care, then some cars, despite your best efforts, never stop suffering. Luckily you've got the former.

I've just bought a 2012 Volvo S40 for a second car - FSH and just 54k miles, for a good price. £20 a year road tax! The owner's son worked for Volvo and it's been well kept, but lets see what happens now I've got it