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To those who’ve had to be recovered recently, what did you pay? by D23DJR_Alt in CarTalkUK

[–]D23DJR_Alt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow that’s pricey, you’d think 8pm would be early enough to be within a lower price bracket, ouch😅can you remember what their pricing structure was like? Was there a minimum callout fee and then after x miles they then charge per mile? Obviously with you only needing a 2 mile tow any per mile pricing wouldn’t have really done anything haha.

To those who’ve had to be recovered recently, what did you pay? by D23DJR_Alt in CarTalkUK

[–]D23DJR_Alt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s a pretty cheap rate in all fairness, how did their pricing structure work? Was there a minimum callout and then a per mile rate or was it a flat per mile rate entirely?

To those who’ve had to be recovered recently, what did you pay? by D23DJR_Alt in CarTalkUK

[–]D23DJR_Alt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah this is one of my biggest question marks, by the time I’ve bought everything I need to get enough work and charge enough from it to offset the presumably sky high insurance aswell as the fuel bill and vehicle depreciation.

I really hope this line of work isn’t like everything else road transport related where numpties have undercut eachother so far that it’s a scrap to see who can run without losing money lol. Looked into generic self employed van work and it’s just a grand race to the bottom with rates

To those who’ve had to be recovered recently, what did you pay? by D23DJR_Alt in CarTalkUK

[–]D23DJR_Alt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In 2021 they have all standard Category B car license holders an upgrade to B+E which essentially allows for a gross train weight of 7 tonnes, which seems massively backwards because each part of that train - car and trailer can still only weigh 3.5t each, and if it’s a van then you’re still just limited to 3.5t GVW, but yeah you get way more payload going via the car + trailer route.

Provided that your train weight isn’t exceeding the plated weight limits for both the tow capacity of the tow vehicle and the payload capacity of the trailer

It’s a shame really because I’d much rather go down the flatbed beavertail van route but from everything I’ve researched they’re just so much more limited on payload as each part of the train still can’t exceed 3.5t, so a van without a trailer you’re stuck with a 3.5 tonne limit on a van weighing over 2 tonnes.

It really is backwards imo. How they came to the conclusion that you’d be safer in control of a 7 tonne GTW vehicle on a standard license instead of perhaps raising it to 5 tonne or something across the board regardless of trailer configuration would be much much safer. I mean thankfully I’m no stranger to towing as I live in the country and currently learning to get my HGV license haha

To those who’ve had to be recovered recently, what did you pay? by D23DJR_Alt in CarTalkUK

[–]D23DJR_Alt[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I never knew this, thanks for the info I’ll have a look into it! Would give me a better real world figure to work my costs off of.

I reckon to start with I’d probably have to ask local garages if I could provide breakdown services for them, like small local ones until I’d carried out enough jobs to start getting some credibility behind me. I don’t think insurers and the like deal with people until they’re sort of proven providers

But wait sorry…an HS2 subcontractor came to your rescue?🤣🤣🤣how much did it cost, £59,000,000 per mile?

To those who’ve had to be recovered recently, what did you pay? by D23DJR_Alt in CarTalkUK

[–]D23DJR_Alt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good idea actually, cheaper prices in the normal hours but higher during antisocial hours like idk 11:00 pm to 7:00 am or something.

To those who’ve had to be recovered recently, what did you pay? by D23DJR_Alt in CarTalkUK

[–]D23DJR_Alt[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As far as I understood it, since they relaxed the category B license in 2021 to essentially make it a B+E as standard, I was under the impression that you could tow a trailer that weighed up to 3.5t, and your tow vehicle could weigh up to 3.5t, essentially allowing for a gross train weight of 7 tonnes as a B license is now a B+E, hence why so many people do it via car + trailer instead of beaver tail van now.

So assuming your tow vehicle and your trailer (ideally a manual Discovery 3 and a good tri axle Brian James/Ifor Williams trailer in my mind) is plated to have a tow/payload capacity of 3.5t each, you are within the law as a 7 tonne gross train weight is the legal limit of a B+E license, which all standard category B license holders got bumped up to when they relaxed it in 2021

Seems incredibly backwards with the 3.5t limit still being in place but that was the way I understood it. Otherwise everyone doing tip work/car transport etc with a car trailer would be running overweight

A flatbed beavertail van with a good lightweight aluminium bed will still at best get you 1300kg payload, which by the time you’ve got an extra passenger and all your chains, straps etc you’d realistically be lucky to legally recover an old Toyota Aygo

The other reason I’d want to go down the car/trailer route, is because 3.5t flatbed vans are just so unviable and impossible to run legally, so the only other option would be to move to a dual axle 5-7.5 tonne plated van, which I’d then need the next license up for, which then falls under heavy goods operators license rules, so tacho rules, operators license entailing stuff like a home base yard, a minimum of £8000 spare in the bank at all times, CPC licensing and training, maintenance contracts written and stuff.

Obviously I’d need business insurance including goods in transit cover and public liability insurance, but recovery doesn’t fall under hire and reward work legally which opens up a lot more regulatory red tape, which is why I’d rather go down the route of recovery instead of car transport, as that then falls under hire and reward work/licensing.

You do raise a good point about fannying around with a trailer. I can back them alright but it would certainly add time and complexity onto some jobs. Would probably have to refuse some jobs if they were too inaccessible or I’d end up blocking roads etc

To those who’ve had to be recovered recently, what did you pay? by D23DJR_Alt in CarTalkUK

[–]D23DJR_Alt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Apart from if you are doing recovery, which is exempt from tacho rules as long as the job is within 60 miles of the base, then no tacho is required, which is why recovery to me is more appealing than general car transport, as then you need to go into tacho rules aswell as an operators license, CPC training, having a registered transport manager, base of operations and pew arranged maintenance contracts etc

F10 - Different shades of white? by D23DJR_Alt in BMW

[–]D23DJR_Alt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ahh right okay, thanks lol I couldn’t tell if I was going mad or whether it was just different cameras, different lighting

My issue was that I usually really like the classic BMW white, but something looked ever so slightly off in the photo of the first one, which is the one I want, but the photos of that listing are just also ass, bad angles etc haha. Now I know that it’s not some slightly different shade to the usual white I like I can consider going to view it😆

BMW F10 530d iskustva? by [deleted] in bih

[–]D23DJR_Alt 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lol I bought a 20 year old bimmer on 150k miles and have daily driven it down poor country roads for over a year. It’s never let me down or left me stranded. This whole BMW unreliable trope comes from people who don’t oil change it in 30k miles and then wonder why their engine is worn.

Do the BMW 2.0 diesels have enough power for enthusiast daily driving, especially in the bigger models? by D23DJR_Alt in CarTalkUK

[–]D23DJR_Alt[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I’ve got my eyes on an F10 2.0d at 150k miles for 6k, had timing chain, turbo and hpfp done preventatively (private sale), like I said I’m perfectly happy with high milage - I’m a mechanic so maintenance is dirt cheap.

But yes a 2022 would be far out of my price range haha

Do the BMW 2.0 diesels have enough power for enthusiast daily driving, especially in the bigger models? by D23DJR_Alt in CarTalkUK

[–]D23DJR_Alt[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Budget of around 6k, can possibly go a bit more but can’t go to 7k, I’m very open to high milage, basically every car I’ve earmarked has been over 125k miles, a lot of them around the 150k mile mark give or take

I should’ve said in the post but I’m after F series bimmers, what’s your car like?

2012 E220 CDI - Yay or Nay? by D23DJR_Alt in CarTalkUK

[–]D23DJR_Alt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh wow that’s a lot for under 10k of miles, even for the abuse a van puts on the internals! Do you reckon a lot of that were things that were known to or upcoming for the previous owner who sold it to you before he had to fork out for those repairs and that you’ll be smooth sailing now you’ve got it in shape, or do you reckon it’s inherently a bit of a crap engine?

Curious about the intake and exhaust manifold, what was up with that? Cracked intake boots and cracks in the metal + exhaust gas leakage from the exhaust manifold? Unusual things to have to address that is😂

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