What did you do to your VW today?

I braved the wind, rain, floods and diversions to take Eddie for a service at Brand Autos. He’ll appreciate it afterwards!

Insurance renewed.

Tallulah is enjoying a well earned rest since she joined the 100k (km) club last year. She was used around the site, but only ventured out and about a few times, doing just a little over 1000 miles, so we have reduced the mileage allowance down to the lowest level of just 1500 miles pa!

As a matter of interest did it reduce the premium by much?

harryhornet wrote:

As a matter of interest did it reduce the premium by much?

by around £30 but we were only on 4k miles last year.

Took Tallulah out for a blast deeper into the West country to Start Point Lighthouse near Kingsbridge in Deveon, where she was used as the support vehicle for Oli's sponsored coastal walk - Blatant plug: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/olis-sponsored-coastal-walk.

She hasn't been out for a proper run in a while but blasted up and down some seriously steep hills in south Devon without complaining once. Some of the scenery down there is simply stunning so we have a few pics for you (Scooby) as well as one or two with 2021 calendar potential!

Pics to follow shortly...

Drove Tango back to Brighton from Alpine Groove. Flawless journey.

Replaced Bumble's starter battery, reconnected the solar panels and booked up for a service and MOT at Paul Brand.

P.

Washed and polished Voyager and T-cut where required, cleaned accumulated moss out of side and rear lamp units, swept and vacuumed cab carpet, swept and washed floor, cleaned cupboards, cleaned hob, grill and grill pan, cleaned and disinfected fridge, refilled water bottle and porta potti, charged leisure battery, safety checked new gas hose that I fitted last season. This self-isolation is hard work!

We're cleaned up too and ready for the road soon.
Very sad about the impact of Coronavirus in so many ways, and hope things soon improve.
However for BraziBay owners 'Self-isolation is where you park it'
osg

osg wrote:

However for BraziBay owners 'Self-isolation is where you park it'
osg

Love it!

P.

Washed and polished Bumble ready for her (overdue) service and MOT.

I also removed the roof rack to get to the cab roof and, while it was off, sanded and varnished the wooden slats.

P.

Rebooked MOT, service, and other bits with Tim and Ian for 5 months time when I hope this is all a distant memory.
Nice of Boris to extend the MOT's ... Shame we can't go out

First proper clean of the year otherwise.

Drove Bumble back after having service and MOT (passed with no advisories )

Put up the pop top and cleaned the areas I hadn't got to with the wash and polish before the servicing to complete the wash and polish.

P.

Bumble wrote:

Drove Bumble back after having service and MOT (passed with no advisories
P.

I don't mean to cause and offence..... is it just me, but what part of this journey out today was necessary?

The government guidelines state "To travel to and from work, “but only where this is absolutely necessary and cannot be done from home”."

I totally understand if you are a key worker and you need your van for a daily driver.

Please stay home and save lives!

Agree !

sparkysteve wrote:

Bumble wrote:

Drove Bumble back after having service and MOT (passed with no advisories
P.

I don't mean to cause and offence.....  is it just me, but what part of this journey out today was necessary?

The government guidelines state "To travel to and from work, “but only where this is absolutely necessary and cannot be done from home”."

I totally understand if you are a key worker and you need your van for a daily driver.

Please stay home and save lives!

I'm sure as you've said it and others are probably thinking it, here's our reasoning.

So this was a pre-booked service and MOT and I talked to Paul Brand earlier in the week about not going ahead with the service etc. before making the joint decision to go ahead.  Bumble's MOT had already run out, so couldn't take the option of the extra six months delay (available from the end of March).  We also had no interaction with anyone else - see Paul's facebook page for how he's doing business and keeping going.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/03/drivers-given-temporary-mot-extension-due-to-coronavirus/

"What if my MOT is due to run out before Monday 30 March?

The extension only applies to MOTs expiring on or after Monday 30 March, so if your MOT runs out before then, you do still need to get your vehicle tested as normal. The Government is allowing MOT centres and garages to remain open during the lockdown, so this should still be possible".

My work can take me all over the country and some of the time I live in Bumble to keep down costs (as I run my own business) and would intend to do so, wherever possible, particularly as work (and therefore income) has ceased.  We are not 'self-employed', nor employees, so cannot access any external support of the sort paraded over the past few weeks; as I understand it, we are on our own.

I guess it depends on your definition of 'key worker'; my work includes working extensively within health and social care settings, particularly on implementing improvements to clinical pathways so that people can get quicker and easier access to, say, cancer diagnosis and treatment.  Key worker? - depends on your point of view.  Compare and contrast with the seven guys with four vans laying new broadband cable outside my house for the last week with no social distancing (as well as two of them urinating on the verge just before they went); or the four guys with three vehicles building an extension on the house two doors away from me.  Are they key workers?  Are they exercising social distancing?

We're also going through the process of moving house, as part of a chain, with an anticipated move date of the end of April.  This has now been put on hold and we're hoping the whole chain remains intact.  At the point at which our house move takes off, I'm anticipating things moving quickly, so won't have time to book a short notice service and MOT with Paul Brand.  I would then be left with either driving on the road with no MOT (to the new house), or trying to book a short notice MOT at a local garage (and we all know how that can go).

This wasn't a 'oh wouldn't it be nice to get Bumble serviced and MOTed' sort of decision, so we're ready to go off gallivanting into the countryside when this is over, but a calculated set of decisions that we didn't take lightly, nor without consultation with Paul Brand, who also needs to maintain an income.

P.

Only problem is if any P Brand staff are confirmed in near future you also will have to isolate. Stay safe and well. Tim

Dennis wrote:

Only problem is if any P Brand staff are confirmed in near future you also will have to isolate. Stay safe and well. Tim

How would that happen, Tim?

We had no physical contact with Paul, except over the phone during the week.

P.

GOV.UK CORONAVIRUS ALERT
New rules in force now: you must stay at home. More info & exemptions at gov.uk/coronavirus Stay at home. Protect the NHS. Save lives.

Dennis wrote:

GOV.UK CORONAVIRUS ALERT
New rules in force now: you must stay at home. More info & exemptions at gov.uk/coronavirus Stay at home. Protect the NHS. Save lives.

That would be the overall guidance that has changed since 25th March.

The guidance about MOTs - still on gov.uk - is:-

"The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has published guidance for vehicle owners that says:

they should still get an MOT if it expires before 30 March 2020
if their MOT due date expires from 30 March 2020 it will be extended by 6 months

Your MOT centre can stay open after 30 March 2020 to carry out MOTs if you need to. This could include retests or tests of a vehicle that had an MOT due before 30 March.

Garages can also stay open to carry out essential repairs or services as well."

Yes, the general guidance (not rules, an important distinction) is to stay at home, except in certain circumstances; that is what has changed this weekend. Bumble's MOT was done on Thursday.

Can we draw a line under this now, please?

P.

SORNed Bumble.

Tax runs out at the end of April, but as this could last longer than then, we might as well get a months road tax back.

I suggest others might want to do the same.

If you do it before 31st March, you'll get a refund for the whole of April and any subsequent months.

P.

Thought we had. !

Thank you chaps.

Treated a bit of rust behind the front number plate with Jenolite and re-painted with smooth white hammerite. This area is not really visible when the plate is attached so trying to decide whether to over coat with VW candy white or to use some Dinitrol metallic spray. Or both?
Best to keep up with any rust patches that are found.
osg