Member Since: 07 Dec 2004
Location: Bramhall
Posts: 26774
Rough with the smooth 👍
It sounds like your enjoying the experience.
17th Aug 2021 10:11 am
astonbuilder
Member Since: 29 Sep 2006
Location: MIDLANDS
Posts: 8135
I do enjoy the ‘vans’ and another benefit is the people receiving them are generally ‘tradespeople’ who mostly offer advice how to get to next job/transport, etc. and very often will give you a lift. The drops/collections I dislike are like the Merc’ - a house ‘name’ on some remote random country lane who (as per yesterday) get the ‘staff’ to bring the key out to the oink in the car and watch from the window to make sure you’ve left their electric gated premises
17th Aug 2021 10:56 am
astonbuilder
Member Since: 29 Sep 2006
Location: MIDLANDS
Posts: 8135
Been doing the 'seaside tour' this week with Bournemouth, Brighton and Skegness on the itinerary....
The depot is starting to look chock-a-block with Rangers so expecting they will make up quite a few of the 'out' jobs in next couple of weeks.
Mostly train journeys home this week, am getting pretty good at planning the trains that work best for my homeward destination. The 'office' basically just put closest station to the customer and go from there which can often be a couple of unnecessary switches rather than going direct to a 'big station' often similar distance away. My most visited stations seem to be Reading (platform 9 specifically ) and Clapham Junction or Brum
Not a cheap way to travel, don't think I ever get a one-way ticket that costs less than forty quid and quite a few of the coastal places in middle of the day are knocking on a ton
Brought a Toyota Hilux Invincible back to depot from Skegness and was thinking it was a pretty decent 'car' until I got a blow-out (not so invincible then was it..... ). Picked up a bloody great screw/bolt right in middle of tread. Handling as it deflated rapidly was fine, just pulled to the left and then thunk-a-thunk-a-thunk.
Thought about changing the wheel myself for all of ten seconds. An 18" rim with huge off-road tyre on was not gonna be fun. The spare is slung under the rear bed but right up behind the cab, you have to use a four foot rod through rear bumper to reach the bolt to wind it down to the floor then get underneath to hook it out. Sod that for a game of soldiers on a busy main road.....
Checked the car for AA card or such-like and nothing, rang back to office and they uuuhmed and aahed and said "we'll call you back". Found a local garage 0.8 miles away so limped it there but they were 'too busy' (doing all as far as I could see.... ) to change the wheel for me 'for cash'
I'm thinking I'm not sitting here for ages waiting on office to call back with probably no real help so checked all the paperwork in the glovebox. Turns out it was a Toyota press car so I rang them and they had the AA with me in fifteen minutes and wheel done in 10 minutes, job done
26th Aug 2021 9:02 am
RRSTDV8
Member Since: 07 Apr 2014
Location: Here
Posts: 13541
Do you buy the rail ticket and then claim it back each week/month or do you have a company credit card to buy them with? I could see the monthly rail fare claims being as big as the wage if you got a few expensive trips in. Visiting from rrsport.co.uk
2012 RRS SDV6
2008 RRS TDV8
"When you fire that first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who's going to die! You don't know who's children are going to scream and burn. How many hearts will be broken. How many lives shattered. How much blood will spill, until everybody does what they were always going to have to do from the very beginning: SIT DOWN AND TALK!"
26th Aug 2021 9:12 am
astonbuilder
Member Since: 29 Sep 2006
Location: MIDLANDS
Posts: 8135
You get a fuel card for diesel/petrol and it works on some, but not all, EV charge points but everything else is then paid by driver and claimed back. Some specific toll/congestion charges (M6 toll, Merseyflow aren't for example) are just logged to the car and sorted out by the office accounts directly, as long as you book the car on the app as needing a charge paying it is not your liability.
You are right that it could cause some people cash-flow issues, certainly in first couple of weeks when things are 'being set up'. I did have to chase in my second week in the job that I had spent more in expenses (and I didn't have a fuel card then either) I was waiting back than I had actually earned (and not yet been paid)!!!
You have to get into a set rhythm of 'finishing' the job on the apps and booking your expenses to the job straight away. This is where the train journeys home become 'productive' as if you book the expenses before 5.00pm they are in your bank account 'next day' - come homeward bound to drop another car off and you are invariably booking your expenses when you get home so it is the 'day after next' you get the cash in your bank.
26th Aug 2021 9:22 am
astonbuilder
Member Since: 29 Sep 2006
Location: MIDLANDS
Posts: 8135
Had a mix of cars this week, a Ford Puma was a 'new one' to me. Seemed a bit of a 'pointless' car to me (from drivers seat anyway), felt very Fiesta'ish, maybe a little bit bigger but then only a little bit smaller than a Focus
My guess is that it being a new platform it will 'replace' both the current Fiesta and Focus platforms, possibly seeing the Focus go the way of the Mondeo?
The 'box' under the boot floor is HUGE but I guess many people would still like the option of a spare wheel instead.....
I had one major gripe with it though that potentially could be a deal-breaker for me. The drivers door pocket sticks out a long way and dug into my calf however I positioned my leg, other than on cruise and leg moved out the way (and this not great for an emergency breaking necessity!).
Am starting to become something of an 'expert' on London tube with four or five journeys memorised and alternatives available if needs be off the top of my head!
4th Sep 2021 2:50 pm
astonbuilder
Member Since: 29 Sep 2006
Location: MIDLANDS
Posts: 8135
Had a couple of Merc’ GLE’s. Nice feature on sat-nav (once used to it) is when you approach a junction the map goes off, the camera comes on and arrows imposed over the image
7th Sep 2021 11:42 am
astonbuilder
Member Since: 29 Sep 2006
Location: MIDLANDS
Posts: 8135
Is this a problem looming? Few private leaser’s telling me their current car insurers won’t insure their new hybrid’s replacing ICE vehicles.
The worst one was a woman in Liverpool replacing her Merc’ GLA with a Ford Kuga hybrid. Her insurer wouldn’t swap insurance to the Kuga due to risk, Merc’ failed to pick up her car so she had to extend the Merc’ insurance, take new cover on the Kuga AND the Merc’ hit a date/mile threshold due to the delay meaning she had a £600 service to fork out on….
12th Sep 2021 6:34 am
Dondiddy
Member Since: 26 Dec 2019
Location: Hamilton
Posts: 309
Not leased but bought outright I had no issues whatsoever when I changed my D4 for a XC60 hydrid a few weeks ago. Insurance (Admiral) still has a few months to run and I had to pay an extra £18 to do the changover half of which was an admin fee. Volvo was newer and more expensive,the only thing I was asked was to include the price of the batteries in the valuation estimate.
12th Sep 2021 7:01 am
astonbuilder
Member Since: 29 Sep 2006
Location: MIDLANDS
Posts: 8135
Starting to get more EV's on the rota, mostly coming back to base after a trial, end-of-lease, etc.
Have to say the Renault Zoe and the Hyundai Ioniq (the 'old' model) make a good show of convincing you that EV's can 'work' and be part of your life without too much hassle at the 'budget' end of the market - still the wrong side of £20k for me to be convinced though....
The Zoe I had was actually a van derivative with solid rear 'windows', a mesh bulkhead and a folding rigid 'parcel tray' to give two levels for goods, would make sense for inner-city deliveries and/or small cargo. Was well equipped too so very much car-like in the necessary kit also.
I did 164 miles in it from over on the East coast and it used pretty much a mile for every mile charge depleted. I am tending to see that if you keep an EV on a gentle'ish run or 65'ish mph on cruise on motorway the range is pretty much achieved to what is indicated. That fast, cross-country, type journey seems to suit them better for range and regen' opportunity.
The Ioniq is a Focus-sized family car but is extremely bland in that old Toyota Corolla way of cars
I managed to self-generate a few extra miles meaning I didn't have to stop and recharge it en-route so arrived back at base with 7 miles range showing, phew
16th Sep 2021 4:17 pm
astonbuilder
Member Since: 29 Sep 2006
Location: MIDLANDS
Posts: 8135
Saw the 'issue's with EV first hand this week. Was being 'chased' by another driver in a Merc EQC (a few drivers in similar geographical area so a 'chaser' will follow us around moving us between jobs, quicker and easier than trains etc. if a few guys in same area).
He dropped a car off at a customer and picked up the Merc' but it was pretty much on zero charge so he had to head to closest station for electric equivalent of 'splash'n'dash' to ensure we all got to our drops/pick-ups, etc. No idea what charger it was but took him 40 minutes to get some juice in. After chasing us he was then heading back to the Banbury depot but didn't have enough charge so again did another hour's worth of waiting while it took charge on-board.
Back at Banbury he was scheduled to then drop a couple of us back to Stratford depot using the same Merc'. Just before dropping us he realised he had about 20 miles range to get back the 45 miles to Banbury so third charge of the day.
Extreme example maybe but he 'only' did around 250 or so miles and due to time constraints and 'perfect storm' scenario of charge status at various times/locations during the day it needed three charges totalling at least 2 hours and ten minutes.
More and more we're finding chargers showing as available and working often aren't or teh 'app' has an issue, etc. Sure long term will be 'better' and network will grow but I think the next 1-2 years will be painful as EV's take off and infrastructure can't keep up.....
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
) and Clapham Junction or Brum
). Picked up a bloody great screw/bolt right in middle of tread. Handling as it deflated rapidly was fine, just pulled to the left and then thunk-a-thunk-a-thunk.
