AIBU to not feel safe driving an unreliable car on a 'smart' motorway?

[whiteroseredrose]

Our current car is 15 years old. We bought it 2 years ago to replace an identical model that was written off when someone drove into it. It is a Honda FRV which is an ideal car for us in terms of space and flexibility but sadly they stopped being made in 2008.

Our original car we had from 4 years old and it had been serviced and taken care of properly. Even though it had done 120,000 miles it was still going strong. Current car has 80,000 on the clock but has clearly been hammered. It has been to and fro to the garage with one thing or another. We currently only have this one car as DH has been waiting for months for a new company salary sacrifice scheme to happen so that he can order a new car. This could be another 6 months or more.

Last week it had to go into the garage yet again because the engine sounded strained and it was knocking. As we then potentially had no car we started looking at buying a replacement.

It has been 'fixed' so DH sees no reason to look for a newer one, but I really don't trust it not to fail again.

We have a few long journeys coming up, one that will be DD and I alone, and quite frankly I am not happy driving an unreliable banger along a motorway with no hard shoulder.

DH thinks I am being overly emotional about it. Am I?

@Ohmygiddyauntie if something damages your tyre as you're driving along, this may cause a blowout. Doesn't matter how well maintained the vehicle is if it is damaged while driving. This is the primary cause - cuts and tears.

Most common is apparently under inflation but that has nothing to do with reliability of the car... and again equally happens with old and new cars dependant on the owner.

@FlamingYam

This thread is a bit alarmist. Old cars can be fine. Just maintain, service and MOT them.

Fully agree. Cars last an average of 13 years at the moment, and that's after accounting for the write offs and those written off earlier due to high mileage/poor driving/no maintenance. A well maintained, well driven car is perfectly capable of lasting 20 years - many do.

It's a bit of a myth that cars over a few years old are constantly breaking down and unreliable. Yes, some will, most won't.

We've always bought cars new or nearly new and run them into the ground. Highest mileage one hit 195,000 miles. Currently we have one at 15 years old and the other at 8 years old. In our 40+ years of driving, only once had to call out the breakdown service and that was my own stupid fault as I knew the car had a water leak and forgot to top up the water before a long motorway run - inevitably the engine blew!

Look after them, have them serviced properly to manufacturer's schedule, drive carefully, and "listen" to them, so pick up quickly any unusual noises, and you'll almost certainly be fine.

I don't believe that blow outs can happen at anytime. Likelihood is the car tyres were in poor condition. Tyre manufacturers wouldn't be able to sell a product that failed at any moment.

Anyone can end up with a damaged tyre - it doesn't take much and has nothing to do with how new the vehicle is.

Spot on! Catastrophic failure is usually caused by ignoring a sound or symptom for some time.

I also have a leak on mine. I just check it before every few trips. 5 second job. At some point it will see a garage but it will remain safe.

I service mine every 10k as it has heavy use. This is usually every 6 months. Manufacturer states 18k or 2 years. DP never services his cars but it never seems to matter somehow. He did 3k a year pre covid and probably 1k now.

Look after them, have them serviced properly to manufacturer's schedule, drive carefully, and "listen" to them, so pick up quickly any unusual noises, and you'll almost certainly be fine.

Exactly - this is way more important than having a new car.

YANBU.

Smart motorways is a misuse of the English language, they are anything but smart. They were a cheap way of adding lanes to motorways instead of increasing space by dealing with the avoidable causes of congestion (middle lane hoggers an example) and treating motoring crimes such that people are caught and banned.

Yes, last one we had the tyre was only two months old - something must have punctured it - fortunately we were only on a local road.

Yes, I've had this happen more than once. Our local roads are really poorly maintained which doesn't help!

Genuine question as we don’t have smart motorways where I am.

What is the evidence to suggest they are unsafe? From the highways agency -

‘The latest data shows that overall, in terms of serious or fatal injuries, smart motorways are our safest roads. We're continuing our work to make them our safest roads in every way. ‘

Same here. I think they're really bloody dangerous.

I believe they're put a hold on converting more motorways to "smart" ones, but I don't know whether that's because they don't want to spend the money or because they've decided they're not really safe.

YANBU. Smart motorways must have been designed by people with new cars and zero imagination/ empathy.

Hard shoulders were created for a reason 🤦‍♀️

I hate driving on smart motorways. What a monumentally stupid idea they are. The pull ins are far to far apart and the lane blocking cameras and screens are way to slow to react. Yes, of course people should keep their cars serviced and in good order, but even ifvthey did that won't prevent all break downs. And driving a car that you know is unreliable anywhere is madness. Your husband is a dick to suggest otherwise.

@LakieLady I think you are right that they have put them on hold, probably due to the safety, there have been so Many accidents on them.

Once a car let's me down once it's history. I appreciate I'm fortunate to be able to change a car like that, but I need to feel confident in it.

It's one thing if it's a "second" only used for local journeys, but I'd change this one (and it sounds like you could?)

How do you know you're not replacing it with someone else's problem car? I allow a car to let me down (I do get annoyed at it) and if it has a few things in a short time it's gone but all cars have something.

My current car for example, had a water pump leak. New cambelt and water pump paid for (£500 ish) and then it had a massive leak despite pressure tests. Towed to garage and fixed. Now it still leaks a small amount and the bottom of it has half fallen off. I'll keep it if I can fix it.

There is nowhere for you to go if your car breaks down . You are sitting in a stream of very fast cars that might need to swerve to avoid hitting you but causing an accident in another lane. The safety part is reliant on cctv crews seeing you broken down and changing the max speed and no lane signage on overhead gantries. Or worse still, relying on AI.

Be use I always buy a new one, for that exact reason. Buy a new car, look after it properly and drive until it let's me down. Usually between 8 & 12 years.

I wouldn’t do it. If it’s financially feasible to do so I’d hire a car for that journey.

I always thought Hondas were bullet proof

What your husband is really saying is that he is happy that you and your child are less safe for 6 months so he saves money. It's a unattractive proposition.

FWIW a senior manager in an Ambulance Service told me that more people get killed on non Smart motorways than smart ones, but that doesn't sell newspapers.

Have a fully charged phone with you, and you'll be fine. I've broken down twice in Smart motorways and been fine too!

Well they would. For the same reason white sheep eat more than black sheep - there are more of them.

How is that measured given there are more miles of non-smart motorways?

Is that just in basic numbers or as a proportion of miles travelled/journeys taken?

@PurpleSteak ah, ok that makes more sense. I think 8-12 years is very long to not be let down even once.