DD20 car serious safety recall - left with no car?

[Doornon]

DD20 lives at home and drives a car to work that’s had a stop drive notice put on it urgently. You need to get a slot with a dealer to carry out the recall but some people are having to wait months for the repair. We couldn’t get through to anyone yesterday by phone so I will try again today. She won’t be insured to drive the car as it’s unsafe

DD is too young to hire a car as you need to be 21. I think the manufacturer will maybe give some compensation if there is a long wait, but we don’t know this for sure. They are NOT giving courtesy cars.

I am not sure what to do.

DD’s job is shifts, 10 miles away so I’m having to take and collect her as no direct public transport at all. I also have a FT job in the opposite direction! I’m already exhausted

She can’t work from home or change her shift times

Public transport doesn’t run at her shift times and isn’t direct (would involve 2 hours of changing/waiting)

She could get taxis but this will be very expensive there and back and not sure if she will be able to claim any costs back.

Insure her on my car at our cost and then I hire a car?

Ask my job to WFH so I can lend her my car?

WWYD? I am frazzled by this

I don't now in my 40s but did when I was 17 in my first job. Well it was 8 miles there, 8 miles back. Sometimes I took my bike on the bus if I could only do one way. It's life occasionally isn't it and there's tons of people who don't even drive or have cars. It'll get sorted eventually.

Anyway, like I said I need to walk the dogs, shower and head to bed. Night.

OP isn’t required to model controlling emotions on MN.

Your suggestion was daft (to be polite). OP had stated (rather politely) many times why a bike wasn’t a viable option. You still came in with your ‘helpful’ advice on why riding at 5am is no issue (despite not knowing anything about where OP lives). She needed to communicate in a way that got her message across.
Personally, I think it sounds like OP succeeded.

Night (avoiding arseholery right there) but yes 10 miles there and back After a 12 hour night shift isn’t quite what you said is it? But let’s not sweat the details eh? Make that girl cycle her arse off becsuse that’s what you did several decades ago and it never did you any harm eh? 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

Since you can't afford to run another car now this one has gone wrong, perhaps a cheaper vehicle?

A 125cc Japanese scooter is cheap and very reliable, will use much less fuel than the car and just needs a 1 day CBT to ride on L plates.

I had a stop-drive put on my BMW recently due to the ongoing diesel EGR cooler recall issue. In rare instances, these faulty parts (of which there are hundreds of thousands of affected cars across the world), are causing diesel BMWs to catch fire.

After the car going in for a routine service, my diligent dealer found soot in my EGR cooler. On finding this, they would not release MY OWN CAR to me, told me they were only getting 1 part in sporadically, other cars were in the queue and they had no idea how long it would be impounded. And they did not have a courtesy car available. Oh how I beamed with joy.

I spoke to BMW UK, who said they couldn't help with a courtesy car - that was up to dealer discretion/availability - neither could they speed up delivery of the part. I wasn't offered anything, let alone £22 a day. I was reminded that so many people are affected, and basically it's tough. They are overwhelmed.

After some moaning, some days later, my dealer (who are excellent to be fair), did get me a courtesy car - but smaller than the car they impounded and I couldn't fit all my kids into it.

Basically what I am saying is OP, I had to suck it up. So no useful advice then from me, other than some sympathy. In the end I got my car back about a month later.

It did focus my mind to make sure the child locks were OFF in the back of my car, so my kids could get out quickly in the event it did catch fire. I also made sure they all know how to open the doors and exit the car quickly and safely if we have to emergency stop.

It's worth everyone checking their car (whatever make/model/age) for recalls here:

https://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-recall

Someone reported one of my posts where I am getting pissed off

I AM NOT INTERESTED IN A BIKE THANK YOU

NO ONE WILL BE RIDING A BIKE TO WORK IN OUR CIRCUMSTANCES

STOP SUGGESTING BIKES

THANKS

Projecting what exactly

Not everything has to be compared to third world conditions or war to be pissed off

And sometimes if someone is angry at you, you might want to look at why, do some self reflection there instead of doubling down as you have

You wouldnt survive in a myriad of other countries if you think someone telling you they're pissed is dreadful. In the UK we are too meek too often to tell someone idiotic that they need to wind their neck in.

Luckily my eyesight is so bad it looks like thumbs ups

@Doornon@soupyspoonwas sticking up for you!
Nothing helpful to add (to the ones that actually have been helpful) but I sympathise and hope it is sorted soon for your poor daughter.

I think the bike stuff is coming up persistently because you straight away said rather contemptuously that it was a "stupid" idea, not just that it didn't work specifically for you/ your daughter as you subsequently clarified. I ride an e-bike 10 miles each way to work, including being on the road at dawn sometimes, though I agree that late shifts and country roads would make it less practical. That it doesn't work for everyone doesn't make it stupid though, and your initial contempt wasn't warranted.

This sounds very stressful. I hope you find a solution that works ok.

I really don’t care I didn’t ask why or how people are getting annoyed, I have asked repeatedly people to stop talking about or suggesting bikes.

it’s so pointless, it isn’t for us, therefore it’s not on the table I don’t know how many more ways I can explain this, or justify this. Or why I need to.

You like bikes, you like to cycle. You do a small Tour de France every day. Great. We don’t. We will not be doing this. The entire circumstances of our household do make the suggestion stupid for us. DD has no access to a shower at work. She can’t get changed after the terrifying rural 10 mile cycle gauntlet - the last time she rode a bike she was about 14 at centre parks - does this seem like a safe option? She has no idea how to safely ride a road bike that far, neither do I! Would this not be something you practice and build up to? Please do not answer this, I honestly am not interested in the response at all, as like I said, we are a bike free household

So can you just please, stop

the constant virtue signalling is so grating and frustrating and I can exactly see why cyclists have a bad rep now because a lot of them seem to have a superiority complex that you are somehow better than everyone else.

There speaks somebody who lives in an area with abundant public transport. Many if not most areas of this country are not similarly blessed.

Why is it nuts? other than dog walking, nothing i do in my life is in walking distance and i live in a town 😂99% of it also isn't on a bus route

@Doornon have you had any luck getting through to anyone?
I actually spoke to a human today, I enquired about a loan car but they’ve said I need a date at an approved dealership first. Problem is, I can’t get through to anyone, or get my car there due to the insurance being invalid now. My situation is a little different as I have a disabled child and this is our only means of transport. He’ll be housebound until it’s sorted as he’s unable to use public transport and uses a special car seat that I can’t lug around.
I see people are saying ‘suck it up’ - I can’t get my younger child to childcare ( single parent older disabled child, no other help ) I could lose my job over this, as could your daughter.

How are you going to get the car to the garage? Tow truck?

I would contact your insurer anyway about driving to the garage usually it's up to the individual insurance company rather than a blanket thing. Also maybe if you have Home start with roadside assistance companies, could that be used.

If the poster has breakdown cover it might be worth checking if they will move it for her.

I read the OP and thought that cycling would be a good idea. But I can see Doornon is not keen on two wheels. I’m not sure why it is such a ludicrous suggestion. My 50 year old husband commutes to the station (4 miles away on country roads) on a bike and then does a train and tube commute on top. I’m a very nervous cyclist but sometimes needs must so I would get on my bike in these circumstances.

All other suggestions seem to have been angrily rubbished anyway. I get that this is a frustrating situation but you can’t magically fix the car so need to be a bit flexible to come up with a solution.

Omg this is ridiculous. You have to pay to get your car towed to the citroen garage when they've told you not to drive it? Madness
Hope you get something sorted
You sound like a lovely mum

Surely you can see that a lone female in the middle of the night cycling more than twice as far as your DH during hours when public transport runs is not the same?

You would be liable for a £2500 fine if caught too. Nothing to do with insurance.

You can be fined up to £2,500, be banned from driving and get 3 penalty points for driving a vehicle in a dangerous condition

https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-recalls-and-faults/recalled-vehicles-parts-accessories

On another thread about this, someone has said their insurer has agreed to cover them for the drive to the garage to get the car fixed. I guess that's similar to being allowed to drive a car without an MOT to its MOT appt. Obvs best check as they will all vary on this stance.

Maybe email your MP, this should not be pushed aside