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Hi,
Embarassment all round. Only got the car on Thursday and tonight I rolled it backwards into the gates on the drive I keep the car on. Scratched and marked the rear bumper in several places and knocked the gates down. Hopefully the bumper is not dented but I won't know that until its daylight when I can survey the damage. The gate post is smashed for a start. Why does this only happen on newer cars? All my old bangers never got a mark on them. But this one and the Micra before got marked quickly. Still does not stop the embarassment of it all! I suppose these things happen, but why to me?!!!
John
Embarassment all round. Only got the car on Thursday and tonight I rolled it backwards into the gates on the drive I keep the car on. Scratched and marked the rear bumper in several places and knocked the gates down. Hopefully the bumper is not dented but I won't know that until its daylight when I can survey the damage. The gate post is smashed for a start. Why does this only happen on newer cars? All my old bangers never got a mark on them. But this one and the Micra before got marked quickly. Still does not stop the embarassment of it all! I suppose these things happen, but why to me?!!!
John
You're not alone, John. I'd had my Note a few weeks and was still getting used to it, when I ran into the back of a friend's car at about 5mph and did over £300-worth of damage to each car. He's still my friend! Compared to my old Favorits the brake pedal is to the right of the steering column and there's a big gap between the clutch pedal and the central "lump", so I managed to get both feet on the clutch pedal, thinking they were on the brake pedal and that the brakes had failed. Two weeks later, on an open road doing about 50mph, from a car coming the opposite way someone threw a 2 litre bottle of orange pop. It hit the bonnet at a collision speed of about 100mph, denting and chipping it, doing another £300 damage. "It all makes work for the working man to do" as sung by Flanders & Swan and is part of life's rich tapestry.
Cheer up. We haven't had an earthquake recently.
Frank
Cheer up. We haven't had an earthquake recently.
Frank
Thanks for that! At least I am not alone - I think I am lucky in that apart from a scratch on the lower rear scuttle all seems well. apart from the gate post that is, that and the fact I shall be paying to have the post replaced and the gates remounted. Still, could have been a lot worse it could have been a person walking behind at the time. I think you had very bad luck with the bottle.
I too had a Favorit and I wish I had not parted with that car, my wife and I both loved it, it was the estate version. Now I am retired I drive very little really, around 4000 miles a year, most of that is for holidays. But being in a small town we really do need a car to get anywhere as public transport is not very good at all.
Still as you say "We haven't had an earthquake recently" - not yet anyway!
best regards
john
I too had a Favorit and I wish I had not parted with that car, my wife and I both loved it, it was the estate version. Now I am retired I drive very little really, around 4000 miles a year, most of that is for holidays. But being in a small town we really do need a car to get anywhere as public transport is not very good at all.
Still as you say "We haven't had an earthquake recently" - not yet anyway!
best regards
john
Good morning, John.
We had 3 Maxis over 20 yrs then 3 Favorits over 15 yrs. Our best Favorit was an estate - the boot was so big that the first time I tried to reach the front of it I fell in. Its head gasket was blowing for about 2 months before it really affected performance and even then it would happily climb the 1 in 4 hill behind Prestatyn in 2nd. I had to have the job done when it was pumping water down the exhaust pipe faster than I could top it up.
We towed a 12'6" caravan with our Maxis and enjoyed Northumberland, especially Alnwick. [Uxbridge English Dictionary entry: "anecdote" - to be very fond of Alnwick, which I am.] Happy memories.I had to fit a new clutch outside Gateshead on one trip, but it didn't seem as much of a disaster as it would today - I'm past it! I hope your winter weather isn't as bad as the "experts" are forecasting. Having lived in (shh) Sunderland for a few years I know that you get real winters up there.
Glad the car's not as bad as it first seemed and hope the gate job wasn't too expensive.
We had 3 Maxis over 20 yrs then 3 Favorits over 15 yrs. Our best Favorit was an estate - the boot was so big that the first time I tried to reach the front of it I fell in. Its head gasket was blowing for about 2 months before it really affected performance and even then it would happily climb the 1 in 4 hill behind Prestatyn in 2nd. I had to have the job done when it was pumping water down the exhaust pipe faster than I could top it up.
We towed a 12'6" caravan with our Maxis and enjoyed Northumberland, especially Alnwick. [Uxbridge English Dictionary entry: "anecdote" - to be very fond of Alnwick, which I am.] Happy memories.I had to fit a new clutch outside Gateshead on one trip, but it didn't seem as much of a disaster as it would today - I'm past it! I hope your winter weather isn't as bad as the "experts" are forecasting. Having lived in (shh) Sunderland for a few years I know that you get real winters up there.
Glad the car's not as bad as it first seemed and hope the gate job wasn't too expensive.
This was in our local paper this week;The Landrover Freelander destroyed the pump after veering out of control as it came onto the forecourt.Amazingly, no fuel leaked out and nobody was hurt in the incident. The repair bill has been estimated at anywhere between £15,000 and £20,000It is believed the driver, who is from the Manchester area, had only just bought the vehicle in Newcastle and was driving back home when the crash happened.
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Hi Old Frank,
The damage to my car has been fixed - only a scratch on the lower scuttle below the bumper. The gate post was rotten on inspection and that is probably what saved the car as the post snapped straight away and everything fell over. The post and the refitting of the gates was £80 -the worst job was getting the old bits of the post out.
However on Wednesday I was at the hospital at Newcastle taking my wife for a checkup and somebody scratched the wing, now repaired by me. Supermarkets and hospitals are bad places for getting your car marked I have been told since.
I loved my Favorit estate, as you say the boot was HUGE and with the seats down MASSIVE. i used to bring back all our luggage plus two bakers trays full of bread and cakes etc when I used to visit our friends in Norfolk who had a bakery then.
The Note boot is better than the Micra one though - next holiday will see just how much we can cram in!
As for the winter, last year was terrible here, we had around 2 feet of snow in the front garden. the weight of snow on the shed roof caused to to bow inwards and leak, fixed now though. Someone said to expect snow in October this year, I hope they are wrong.
Finally Northumberland is a lovely county, the roads are still fairly quiet even in summer and the beaches are excellent.
The damage to my car has been fixed - only a scratch on the lower scuttle below the bumper. The gate post was rotten on inspection and that is probably what saved the car as the post snapped straight away and everything fell over. The post and the refitting of the gates was £80 -the worst job was getting the old bits of the post out.
However on Wednesday I was at the hospital at Newcastle taking my wife for a checkup and somebody scratched the wing, now repaired by me. Supermarkets and hospitals are bad places for getting your car marked I have been told since.
I loved my Favorit estate, as you say the boot was HUGE and with the seats down MASSIVE. i used to bring back all our luggage plus two bakers trays full of bread and cakes etc when I used to visit our friends in Norfolk who had a bakery then.
The Note boot is better than the Micra one though - next holiday will see just how much we can cram in!
As for the winter, last year was terrible here, we had around 2 feet of snow in the front garden. the weight of snow on the shed roof caused to to bow inwards and leak, fixed now though. Someone said to expect snow in October this year, I hope they are wrong.
Finally Northumberland is a lovely county, the roads are still fairly quiet even in summer and the beaches are excellent.
Hello again, John. I agree with the comment about car parks. It's best to find an uninhabited area, well away from other cars. It involves a longer walk, but that's good for us oldies. Snag is, most hospital car parks are crammed by the time we arrive.
We have to remove a gate post, but it's square steel and is a good fitin a steel tube - intended for removal when we had the caravan. It used to come out easilybut it hasn't moved since 1990 when we sold the 'van.
My grandfather was a baker and just the mention of freshly baked bread brings back more happy memories.
Yes, your roads are quiet, but I suppose you have more sheep than people, rather like some parts of Wales. I remember one winter a village by-passed by the A1 became sanctuary for many drivers because of heavy snow - was it Belford? I agree about the beaches and particularly remember Bamburgh, but The Beasties had to paddle in wellies because there was a cold wind. We're soft here in the West.
[Sudden thought - Dan, are we breaking Forum Rules by nattering on like this?]
Best wishes John.
We have to remove a gate post, but it's square steel and is a good fitin a steel tube - intended for removal when we had the caravan. It used to come out easilybut it hasn't moved since 1990 when we sold the 'van.
My grandfather was a baker and just the mention of freshly baked bread brings back more happy memories.
Yes, your roads are quiet, but I suppose you have more sheep than people, rather like some parts of Wales. I remember one winter a village by-passed by the A1 became sanctuary for many drivers because of heavy snow - was it Belford? I agree about the beaches and particularly remember Bamburgh, but The Beasties had to paddle in wellies because there was a cold wind. We're soft here in the West.
[Sudden thought - Dan, are we breaking Forum Rules by nattering on like this?]
Best wishes John.
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