I have cocked up I think. Damned great crack in the screen, maybe a foot long, happened in January. I was in no hurry to get it changed in the bad weather, so left it. It's harmless as far as I'm concerned, but not MoT passable.
MoT and VED both expire on 30 March.I can't renew the VED because the MoT does not cover 1 April when the VED would begin.
Called Autoglass to get the screen changed. No stock, will be ordered but no saying when it will arrive but it may well be after Monday week.
I'm not particularly anxious even it it goes over for a day or two, and I could manage without it if I have to. Fortunately it is not parked on the street so I suppose there are no legal issues provided I don't drive it after 30 March other than to the MoT appointment? Insurance runs until August.
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>> I have cocked up I think.
Yes In the same way I left a screen crack till a fortnight before the MOT, only to be told that Autoglass was so busy that they couldn't get here for three weeks.
Managed to convince them it was more urgent than that, but in truth the UK needs much more Windscreen competition, Autoglass has a near monopoly and it shows.
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Have you tried National Windscreens Manatee, they were very good when we needed one for the Fiesta before the MOT.
Pat
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>> I'm not particularly anxious even it it goes over for a day or two, and
>> I could manage without it if I have to. Fortunately it is not parked on
>> the street so I suppose there are no legal issues provided I don't drive it
>> after 30 March other than to the MoT appointment? Insurance runs until August.
>>
Strictly if you do not renew the VED you should SORN it if I understand it correctly/
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>> Fortunately it is not parked on the street so I suppose there are no legal issues provided I don't drive it after 30 March other than to the MoT appointment?
You'll still have to declare SORN.
www.gov.uk/sorn-statutory-off-road-notification/overview
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>> I can't renew the VED because the MoT does not cover 1 April when the VED would begin.
>>
Have you tried to do it online? I know they don't check the insurance now and had it in my head they didn't check MOT either.
My daughter had a car that was new 1st March a few years ago and it seemed almost random that some years online renewal would work (before the MOT was renewed) and some years it wouldn't. I've made a point since then of getting new cars registered on the 2nd of the month!
As others have said, if you don't tax it you must SORN it.
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>> Have you tried to do it online? I know they don't check the insurance now
>> and had it in my head they didn't check MOT either.
MOT is checked as part of buying VED
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I had this problem end of last year. Car was in the garage for repairs and MOT that took a lot longer than expected. MOT and tax expired while in the garage and not knowing exactly how much longer it would be there I Sorn'd it online.
In the end it was ready 2 days later and the garage kindly drove it back home on trade plates.
Re-taxing was the problem, as the website refused to allow it. So off to the Post Office with all documents I had. They initially believed they couldn't do it but actually rang up DVLA to check. DVLA talked them through what they had to do and the car was finally taxed.
Post Masters comment was if it was his car he wouldn't have bothered SORNing it as he didn't think DVLA would take any action for at least a month.
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I couldn't live with a crack in the windscreen. I'm not brilliant at keeping the outside of my car clean but the inside is OCD level tidy and if I could see a crack in the screen it would give me palpitations.
It'd need to be fixed straight away. Wouldn't be right otherwise.
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Got a little stone chip out of my car's windscreen, the pretty Renault 18. From the chip there grew a crack which with body flexing got longer and longer until it was an MoT fail.
Cusrses! Sapristi!
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There are other firms than Autoglass out there-try the phonebook.
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i Used a local firm about 7 years ago they were less than half the big names. They just laughed when I told them the price they wanted. All that advertising and marketing costs money.
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>There are other firms than Autoglass out there-try the phonebook.
Last time I needed a windscreen replacement my insurance company had a preferred supplier. They reserved the right to refuse payment if I used another supplier without prior approval.
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They are to revert on the delivery date next week and then it will have to be booked. If that turns out to be a problem I'll ask the insurance co (LV) if I can look elsewhere. The excess is £90, and the schedule/policy doc says they will pay a max of £100 if I do not use their preferred supplier, Autoglass.
Even if that means they will pay £100 above the excess I surmise it will not cover it - but I've really no idea. It has rain/light sensors which might be a cost/availability factor.
I'm hoping I can get away without SORNing as it will no doubt make taxing it more awkward
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>>It has rain/light sensors which might be a cost/availability factor.
Why? They won't be replaced. They are part of the car and probably 'attach' to (sit behind) the windscreen. Many are just sensors in the rear view mirror which is a better design IMO.
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Where is the crack?it may not be an Mot fail,if it does not impair the forward view of the driver.
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>> Where is the crack?it may not be an Mot fail,if it does not impair the
>> forward view of the driver.
Well it doesn't bother me from that point of view but I don't think that is the MoT criterion.
The crack is just a line, coming up from under the parked wiper blade where a stone hit, about 10cm and then running horizontally across to the passenger side for maybe 20cm.
I don't think any of it is in the 'A' zone but most of it is in the swept area, and if the ambiguous "more than 40mm across" means in length or width, then it is illegal?
www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/safety/windscreen-vision-safety.html
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>Why? They won't be replaced.
Because some aftermarket screens are not guaranteed to work as well as OEM screens with light/rain sensors.
Last edited by: Kevin on Fri 18 Mar 16 at 21:23
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>> >>It has rain/light sensors which might be a cost/availability factor.
>>
>> Why? They won't be replaced. They are part of the car and probably 'attach' to
>> (sit behind) the windscreen. Many are just sensors in the rear view mirror which is
>> a better design IMO.
>>
I've had a couple of new screens in the Merc in the last 4.5 years. The cars has auto lights and wipers (of course...) but also a camera in front of the rear view mirror that, among other things I'm sure, reads the road signs and flashes them up on the sat nav screen.
The first was replaced by Autoglass without question. Second time round they were happy to replace the screen but insisted that the camera be recalibrated at my expense... They soon caved in when asked to put in writing why it was acceptable to return the car in a different condition to of that it was in pre broken screen... MB Chichester charged LV £110 + vat to recalibrate the camera... Whatever that means... ;)
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"No stock, will be ordered but no saying when it will arrive but it may well be after Monday week."
Is that on the MX5? I ask because when Autoglass came out to repair a chip in my windscreen, the technician noticed a chip in my son's MX5 screen alongside. She remarked at the time that they can be more difficult to procure as (IIRC) some models have gold tinted glass.
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No Haywain, it's the 2011 Outlander. No sensors on the 1999 MX5!
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Car is off the road for a few days now as the MoT expired on Wednesday 30th. Autoglass are fitting the screen tomorrow afternoon so I will be about a week without. I'm hoping I can just renew the tax when I get the MoT and that will be that, I'm not SORNing it for a few days.
Meanwhile, the boiler packed up on Monday (new gas valve needed probably, about £300) and I had to rod the drains this morning.
I'm hoping that's my three doses of bad luck.
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I'm not SORNing it for a few days.
Why not? Quick and painless on-line and makes no difference to taxing on-line. However, I saw somewhere that one is 'safe' for at least 14 days before they trawl for victims folk who have forgotten etc.
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>> I'm not SORNing it for a few days.
>>
>> Why not?
Only because I fear that it will somehow bog up the re-taxing, and because (as you suggest) I don't think I will be penalised provided I get it taxed next week, which shouldn't be a problem provided that Autoglass turn up with the right screen tomorrow.
Didn't somebody here say recently that after SORNing they had problems taxing it online and it came close to baffling the man at the post office?
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>Didn't somebody here say recently that after SORNing they had problems taxing it online and it >came close to baffling the man at the post office?
Yes was me. about 8 posts from top of thread.
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I drove a SORNed car to/from a prebooked MOT with just £25 day insurance, just so I could get a fresh ticket on it before I sold it.
No issues, just saying.
The guy who bought it, just drove it away - no idea if he had any insurance.
This was 2013 so none of that new fangled tax rules.
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This year, SWM's Note came up for re-taxing. I checked the MOT and insurance well in advance and they were valid way past the date.
I never heard another thing from them, no renewal form, nuffink. When I checked status on-line on the 1st of the month, I was surprised to see that the tax was valid for another 12 months. I assume this was because I had put the car on monthly direct debit payments during 2014.
I hadn't assumed they'd gone 'modern '....like the TV licence people ! Saved forking out over £200 though !
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>> Yes was me. about 8 posts from top of thread.
Thanks:)
Screen fitted today on the drive, tidy job by an obviously very experienced Autoglass guy.
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Finally legal. MoT'd today and taxed online.
The tester used a Tapley meter instead of putting it on the rollers for the brake test, owing to the electronically controlled four wheel drive, "to be on the safe side".
He conducted the test by driving at the car park fence and stopping smartly about a car length away. Presumably had it failed it would have gone through the fence.
The deceleration %ages looked low to me, but I believe the tester only has to try to achieve the minimum requirement, rather than the best stop, and the fact that the car park is covered in loose grit might have something to do with it.
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>>The tester used a Tapley meter instead of putting it on the rollers for the brake test, owing to the electronically controlled four wheel drive, "to be on the safe side".
>>
My AWD X type is tested that way by my usual MoT station.
I had it tested by my local "original" Guy Salmon main dealer so no idea what they did.
( Guy Salmon lived in the next street to us. )
I needed a major service etc in a super hurry this year hence the MoT too.
It all seems a bit crude re brake balance across an axle etc.
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>> It all seems a bit crude re brake balance across an axle etc
It is a bit crude... nothing like as awful as it used to be though. Disc brakes now universal on front wheels at least are self-adjusting if in proper condition though, without sticking pads or worse.
Some here will be acquainted with front drum brakes. They could be pretty nightmarish. Only the most meticulous and intelligent owners could keep them in proper fettle. I wasn't one of those.
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>> >>
>> Some here will be acquainted with front drum brakes. They could be pretty nightmarish. Only the most meticulous and intelligent owners could keep them in proper fettle. I wasn't one
>> of those.
>>
Those things bring back horrific memories. The last time I drove one was on some old banger a back street garage lent me when whatever it was I had at the time was in for repair to something or other. I hadn't driven drums for years and approaching the lights at Dagenham Heathway on the A13, braking in what I considered to be in good time, I nearly ended up in Ford's engine plant. The harder my foot went down the faster the car seemed to go.
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If you want brown trousers, you want to try the front brakes of the Morgan. I'll not say they are useless, but the lever only just holds on a 1 in 7. Back brake though is ok, except you really don't want to lock the back wheel as the thing is close to uncontrollable.
My first car was drums all round, twin leading shoe on the front, and one leading and one trailing shoe on the back. As is the way of such things, properly set up, the car stopped pretty well going forwards, but backwards - oh dear! Yes, I did put it in the hedge trying to turn quickly in a country road. No excuse, I know the brakes were poor going backwards, but with a car that stops ok going forwards, one does tend to forget about backwards.
Last edited by: Slidingpillar on Tue 5 Apr 16 at 20:22
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Windscreen, VED and MoT - Zero
