Countdown to Christmas 2021 (Thread 3): Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the wee donkey, isn't it Christmas yet?!

[WeeDonkey]

Here we go. The LoD season finale tribute thread!

Puss I get the opposite of that - when DH hoovers, he picks up everything and moves it randomly. When he does the bedroom, absolutely anything on the floor ends up on the bed, in the living room it all goes on sofas, but he doesn't put any of it back. He's very thorough but it drives me nuts.

No word on the MOT but it isn't going to pass. It's old and rickety (and worth almost nothing). As much as I love it (and we can't afford a new car) I am wondering if we need to get rid and replace it.
I am this close > < to looking at financing a car, even though I've never wanted to do that, in anticipation of a very expensive mot fail.

Well Fluffy we have been together over 27 years and there is still a way to go. Not sure you will want to know that mind you 🤣

Ooh Woolly how exciting. It is great going out out isn't it. Glad you had a good time.

My car is dead. I'm actually quite upset, I love that car. Apparently the part it needs is cheap but the labour for the job is ££££££ and way way more than it's worth (in monetary terms anyway).
I really don't want to see it go and even more than that, I don't want to be shopping for something new (to me)...

Crazy 💐
Can you see if someone else can fix it?
Does your Dad know someone who knows someone with some spanners? Can he ask around? 🤞🏻
If it means that much, I'd fix it.

crazy you could look around and ask at another garage. My dh works in car repairs and he always says that a second opinion never harms. I imagine if the Labour is ultra high it must be something that is involves taking large parts out etc hence the increased cost. Some jobs can take hours sadly.

Oh no, Crazy. 😢

Surely your dad knows somebody who can fix it? What part is it?

It's a big important part - the subframe apparently.
My dad has a few mechanic friends so I'll be asking him to get one of them to look at it but the garage I took it to is a schoolfriend of DHs who generally gives great service and doesn't overcharge so I trust him.
Realistically it's just a car, and an old one that isn't worth much at that, I just love it.

If you did the repairs, is there anything else that you've been told is likely to be a big bill in the next year?

For the car? There are some advisories that we'd probably have to sort ready for the next mot. £300-400 ish I would have thought. Logically it isn't worth it, it's sentimental which is silly for a car!
I've had a little look at cars for sale cheaply around here and stumbled upon a Beetle so I'll mention that to DH.

Does everyone get cars on finance these days? I've never done it (didn't want it considered on a mortgage) and always resisted but will have to give it some consideration I think.

We get cars on finance but that's mainly cause dh gets them through his work and he is always wanting to upgrade, I just go along with it haha.

If you do, get a bank loan as then you own the car. Don't get it in finance through the garage as it's a ball ache if you crash and it's written off, unless you also buy gap insurance (pays the difference in value between what's paid out and the value left to pay to the finance co).

We've never had finance. DH had lease cars through work, then we scraped some cash together to buy a decent car when he got a new job. Dad also gave me his astra. I would have been happy with just a £400 bill after an MOT for that!!

I really don't want to do finance Fluffy. I worked in car claims previously and I know how much of a nightmare it can be, even with gap insurance.

Plan at the moment is to get a second opinion from my dads friend. If he confirms what I've been told then the car will have to go and we will have to decide whether to replace it with something or wait / save.

I don't really go far to justify a car of my own but I have insurance running, there are times I'd like to have the freedom to go if I want to and I hate his car.
We're going to have a chat about it all tonight.

What a rubbish day!!

Sorry to hear about your car @CrazyBaubles. I totally get the sentimental aspect of it as I've felt the same about a couple of my cars including my current one. I've never had finance either. DH is a mechanic and has always found me a good car for cheap then done any repairs so we just pay for parts. My car is actually in the garage right now getting lots of work done. Only disadvantage is I'm the lowest priority as I'm not a customer so it's taking a long time. I think the bank loan is a better idea than finance so you own the car and hopefully you'll be able to find something for a good price. The loan will also give you more flexibility on where you buy from.

Oh god, I'm on another irritating legal thread. So many idiots around!

Fluffy have they logged it with 101 and got a Free 30 Minute Solicitor ?

I had a quickly look on that one but bailed out of reading all of it .

Hope you can get your car sorted Crazy

I bet your car has a name ....all the best cars do .
We all refer to our cars ( I only have one at a time ) by name , not The Car .
I'm not really bonkers honest

Fluffy have they logged it with 101 and got a Free 30 Minute Solicitor ?

🤣😂🤣😂

Our car is called Ken. Named by the children. Obvs.

My car is called Dave. My last one was called Connie.

Current cars are called Martina Astra (like Martini Asti ), and Betsy. DS went through a phase of calling everything Betsy.

The robot vacuum cleaner was also called Betsy, but has recently been upgraded and the new one is Hypnodisc (Robot Wars, anyone?).

If you won't use it much, would it be worth getting a loan to help buy a cheap runaround, rather than taking out finance Crazy?

Fluffy I avoid those topics. I get too frustrated with all the Google-trained lawyers

Firefly our female cat was called Betsy when we got her .
I always re-name our animals . Some I know the names of , some I don't .
But they have a new name to start their new lives with us .

She didn't look like a Betsy !

Oooh I can do the Countdown
196

Fluffy I ventured over. Now I see they don't even bother with Google.

70 ours were kittens called Magic and Merlin by the rescue centre. We renamed them! Although technically R-Cat was called R by the volunteers because of an attribute, and we kept it because it suited him

@FireflyGirl I love the name of the vacuum cleaner! I'm considering getting a robot one but DH thinks it's a waste of money. Probably because I'm the one who spends more time hoovering!

@NoWordForFluffy I'm actually studying law at the moment (next year I'll be done ) but I wouldn't post on most of those threads either. Got enough family members asking me for advice about all sorts of areas I don't actually know about .

196 (Just repeating so it's at the top of a post so easy to find!)

Morning. Sunny, but breezy, here. Our washing is definitely dry from last night!

@Burnt0utMum, yep, I get asked about things I don't know too! If it's about some form of litigation, I can assist with documents and the process, but otherwise I haven't a sodding scooby, frankly.

@FireflyGirl, even better was the litigation lawyer tipping up to give generalised, unhelpful, advice! I know her from my antenatal group on here and she was horrible to one of the mums I actually liked in the group; I'm not a fan of hers!

Oh, it's actually funny how little you know after an LLB. Even after the LPC, even an exciting year of form-filling. But you don't really know you don't know til you know more.

In this job you never stop learning. Ever. If anybody thinks they know enough and can stop, they're in the wrong job!

I'm known / valued for my technical ability at work. It's nice to be appreciated (by those who value it!).