MOT Failure

This any good to you Barry?


Cheers Kev

No. Too old and dont want a fixed bed. Rear lounge and front dinette preferred. I think those models were touch on go on payload for the scooter rack also. Right chassis though, extended Alko. Bailey SE 760 approach fits the bill or Swift Esprit 496 (The one with the Luton) but try finding either and at a sensible price right now. Im not in a hurry to buy now anyway.

Van goes into the new garage tomorrow so will see what they say.
 
Bit of an Update.

Took the van into the new place in Aycliffe north of Darlington this morning. The owner there had it up on the ramp for about half an hour and then spent another half an hour going over everything that is wrong with it under the ramp with me. Showed me all the good and bad bits and what needed doing. I was quite impressed with that. What he did say is that yes the bad bits are bad but overall underneath its pretty good and a lot better than some vans he as has seen ten years younger but its still a lot of work. He reckons two to three days for the welding and then whatever for the mechanical bits assuming he can get the parts. As far as costs are concerned he says £1000 tops for the welding and it wont be more than that. he will cap it at that (not go that in writing). Doesn't know about the rest yet. I thought that sounded reasonable.

However. (there is always an however). On inspection he found the wooden floor under the cooker was completely knackered. Big hole in it (photo below). He reckoned that would be an easy fix though and I called my motorhome guy round the corner who will come and have a look at it when its on the ramps next week. Photo of the floor below. I was horrified as the whole of that side (Kitchen) was ripped out a few years ago (actually about 8 or 9 years ago) and a damp problem fixed but I suspect the wooden floor was not replaced as part of that.

Anyway the MOT guy over the road is going to retest it today and store it until next week when they can start the work.

screenshot-1422.jpg
 
How or why retest to the work is done. 🤔
Well originally he officially booked it into test this morning so I could legally drive it there. Im not sure why he was on about actually doing the test again over the road this morning. maybe it will fail on less now the brakes have been freed up a bit I dunno. He did show me the rear drivers side wheel was binding though on the ramp.

Im just glad I never had to drive it the 22 miles home as I was worried about getting a pull by plod.
 
Barry, having read all about your woes here and the places, if I were you, I would sell as soon as it is fixed and you have the new MOT
I would be worried of something else going wrong if you went on a last trip!
And at the moment buyers are hungry, so strike while the iron is hot!
I know it is difficult and if you are anything like me, you will be sentimentally attached, but you need to detach yourself and look forward
For our part, we just don't know where we go from here, MH, caravan, apartments or a mix!
Good luck
Stick with a Motorhome you know it makes sense g you will be like a bear wi a sare heid wioot it🤤
 
Good your getting it fixed. Wait till June July comes around and your off somewhere nice wae yer van parked up beside some poor soul wae a tent whos using a wee stove trying to cook a tin of beans then you’ll look at your van and say thank god I kept my van with a bead of sweat on yer forehead. Just remember if you sell it you could be that man heating his beans on a stove. Too much like a bad dream .
 
A further update. The guy thats doing the repairs wants to buy the van or at least his wife does. I have said I would part with it as is for maybe £7500 as I reckon I would get £10k for it when the works done, maybe more. He has said £7000 so maybe we could meet in the middle at £7250. Not discussed it with Michelle yet. I do know they are struggling to get bits for it, there is the floor to sort out with the motorhome bloke when they finish the other work, the Fridge is knackered and probably needs replacing and the gear box has that sync issue on 1st and 3rd. It would save a lot of hassle selling it myself after we have used it but I just dont know what to do. What do you guys reckon?
 
It's a decision that only you and Michelle can make.

We all become very attached to our vans, and change can be be hard to make. You've both owned it a long time and created many memories with it, but it's starting to show increasingly expensive problems.

You know that whatever we say, the right thing to do is to sit down with the boss, examine your finances, think about the future, and decide how to plan new adventures.

It hurt to trade in our previous van, but looking back, it was the right thing to do for us.
 
So we have estimates between £1000 and £1800 so far then. Gearbox sync if I get it done somewhere between £250 and £850 on top. I knew I should have bought a bloody motorbike last year!! Now the "chancellor" is not going to be happy if I spaff £3-4k on a bike as well. Im not sure she knows about the secret bike fund though. Mwhahahahaaa :LOL: Except she will probably :(

Ive been trying to replace that van for nearly a decade now. 😬 Never found one that ticked all the boxes. Now you just cant find one, period. I guess it owes me very little. Bought in 2008 our first van. Its been all over Europe many times and clocked up a fair few miles. I think its days of tackling the Alps and Pyrenees are over though. Possibly. :cool:
Well done for relating to the good times it has brought you. You would have more of a reason to be pee'd off if it had sat on the drive deteriorating for 50 weeks of the year.
 
A further update. The guy thats doing the repairs wants to buy the van or at least his wife does. I have said I would part with it as is for maybe £7500 as I reckon I would get £10k for it when the works done, maybe more. He has said £7000 so maybe we could meet in the middle at £7250. Not discussed it with Michelle yet. I do know they are struggling to get bits for it, there is the floor to sort out with the motorhome bloke when they finish the other work, the Fridge is knackered and probably needs replacing and the gear box has that sync issue on 1st and 3rd. It would save a lot of hassle selling it myself after we have used it but I just dont know what to do. What do you guys reckon?

It must be very tempting because you will know the guy whos buying it knows all its problem with no comebacks. SELL. :)
 
Thanks

The plot thickens.

The work is completed on the van and its through its test! I got a call about an hour ago from the owner of the garage. I dont know whether to believe this or not but he spoke to my motorhome repair man over the road from him and asked him how much it was worth fixed up and he reckoned £14000. Now that seems ridiculous but the same model on Ebay as mentioned earlier has gone for that kind of money. The guy now says he wouldnt feel right only giving me £7k as I could get much more. I think he has maybe talked himself out of it for some reason. I think it was his wife that was more keen than him. We are both going to think about it over the weekend but it looks to me like its coming home next week. The bill I am quite pleased with. £1425. £1000 for all the welding work, £375 for the mechanicals (my usual garage reckoned £600) and £50 for the test. I still need to get the floor and inner arches repaired by mr Motorhome fixit and the Fridge sorted of course.

Now I dont know what to do if he doesn't want it. I guess we could naff off in it as originally we thought we might and then stick it on ebay but for one small other problem. The scooter is in bits in my neighbours garage! Cant go without that.

We had both kind of come around to letting him have it for £7500 this afternoon. So what to do now?
 
As you said, have a long, hard think about it over the weekend. (y)

Go through all the pros and cons of keeping or selling, and if you're still unsure go with your heart or just toss a coin.
The tossing of the coin will probably tell you what your heart really wants to do anyway! :ROFLMAO::cool:
 
Ill definitely be selling it. Just not sure to who now or for how much. There is money set aside for a new one but I am in no hurry for that. As tempting as it is to keep it, thats kind of what I have done year after year and whilst the guy who has fixed it reckons its now good for many more years eventually I want to take off into the wilds and mountains of Europe (possibly next year) and I dont want to be fretting about needing parts or something going wrong. Time for us at least for "Hank" to retire.

What I might do though if this guy doesnt buy it is have a few weeks away in it if I can get the scooter going and then sell it. Dreading the thought of that though having read all the problems people have flogging vans privately.
 

Users who viewed this discussion (Total:0)

Back
Top