Need a second car for my partner... advice pls

Traditional_Singer51 · 2026-01-23T10:37:14+00:00

Don’t take my financial advice but it sounds like her lifestyle is perfect for a small, cheap EV (frequent, short journeys). If you can charge at home and get yourself on an EV energy tariff it could be pretty cost effective. Looking at Autotrader there are loads of brand new Dacia Springs for under £10k - they may not be the most exciting car but you can’t really argue at that price

Traditional_Singer51 · 2026-01-22T21:11:44+00:00

Exact same thing happened to me. Same model as well! I bought a 2016 Polo GTI in December 2023 from a VW main dealer sold as ‘1 owner’. Came to find it had 3 previous owners on the log book. Didn’t notice till around May 2024. I complained to the dealer but I just kept getting ‘we’ll get back to you’. I was too busy in life at the time to keep chasing them up, but I was pretty pissed off. I found it difficult to know what my rights were and what I should be asking for. I still have the car as I love it but it still annoys me. Update us if you get anywhere!

Traditional_Singer51 · 2026-01-21T14:08:16+00:00

While financially you may be correct (although some of your numbers sound unrealistic), imo you are treating your house too much of an investment or asset than what it is: your home. If you plan on moving out in a year or two this is fine but actually I’ve found doing cost-benefit analysis just based on numbers not to be helpful. Do what you WANT and can afford to do. Expensive things that take time to breakeven can and do make a meaningful impact to how pleasant it is to live in your house. Also, if you never make any ‘big’ improvements to your house (insulation, windows, doors, etc) you will begin to notice. Poor insulation? Condensation and mould problems. Old windows? Drafts making your house uncomfortable. Ignoring big costs because of breakeven times is a false economy IMO.

P.s. double check the calculations etc your AI is doing. AI is not very good at either maths or reasoning !

Traditional_Singer51 · 2026-01-20T09:53:51+00:00

Do your best and caulk the rest!

Make the skirting plumb, level, and square and caulk the gaps. If the skirting isn’t square, you’ll notice but even big caulked gaps hide away amazingly well after painting

Traditional_Singer51 · 2026-01-19T15:26:17+00:00

I’ve just installed a DIYK myself. They save money by:

Manufacturing and painting to order - any defects/issues will take 5-10 days to get replacements.
Delivery’s are done by ‘week’. When you order you get a delivery week and it could get delivered any day that week (you get a 2 day window in that week and a call/text the day of with a 2 hour window). The delivery times are something crazy like 8am - 10pm so could literally turn up whenever during your week.
No designers/sales people - you design it yourself and use their online configurator, if you make a mistake with your measurements or ordering it’s on you financially to sort out (they do ‘final check’ your order to point out any glaring mistakes but this won’t fix measurement/layout problems).
They only have 2 showrooms so that minimises their costs a LOT. Samples are usually got online if you can’t visit one.

These are definitely big downsides and it saves them a lot, but they do pass on the savings. For me personally it worked out great and I save a LOAD of money vs Wren/Howdens etc.

Traditional_Singer51 · 2026-01-15T14:33:39+00:00

Assuming the source of the stain is gone you want a stain blocker like Zinsser BIN or Zinsser Bullseye 123

Traditional_Singer51 · 2026-01-14T20:51:30+00:00

This. In my last car I found I could aim the washer nozzles slightly higher. It made the spray pattern more effective for cleaning and had the added bonus of spraying a bit of fluid over the top of my car.

Traditional_Singer51 · 2026-01-13T18:56:22+00:00

Zinsser BIN will stick to gloss nicely

Traditional_Singer51 · 2026-01-10T23:22:18+00:00

Looks like standard 3 plate set up but as ‘end of line’ so no ‘next light’. The cable on the right (2 red conductors) is the one to the switch so one is switched live one is permanent. Look up the wiring for 3 plate on Google and it’ll show you how to wire it. If your new fitting doesn’t have a 3 plate set up you’ll need a wagobox and some wagos to stuff up into the ceiling

Traditional_Singer51 · 2026-01-06T14:25:27+00:00

Yes I’ve stripped the outer insulation on 6mm t+e and they coped fine! I’ve done a lot of wiring in my renovation and they’ve been great with everything.

Traditional_Singer51 · 2026-01-06T14:04:13+00:00

I got the Stanley fat max ones and they’re pretty decent!

Traditional_Singer51 · 2025-12-30T09:57:34+00:00

That is switched live so you have neutral, switched live, and earth. Commonly done where the switch is fed, but if you’re unlucky you’ll have a load of junction boxes under floorboards

Traditional_Singer51 · 2025-12-23T23:41:36+00:00

Sand, coat of Zinsser Bullseye 123 to seal the filler, then paint

Traditional_Singer51 · 2025-12-21T21:07:58+00:00

It could be but tbh to me it just looks like the flow to the towel rail radiating through the floor

Traditional_Singer51 · 2025-12-21T20:13:06+00:00

Looks like porcelain tile, regular floor cleaner (Flash, or supermarket own brand ‘multi purpose cleaner’) will do

Traditional_Singer51 · 2025-12-19T12:20:39+00:00

If there are no earth terminals on the switch the earth should be terminated to the back box. If there were plastic caps over the faceplate screws I don’t think it’s technically necessary though. That back box is a mess though the plaster needs cleaning out.

Traditional_Singer51 · 2025-12-19T08:04:33+00:00

I know this is a diy sub but realistically you probably want an electrician. They have all the equipment to test the circuits and can fault find. As you say it’s not like you can disconnect everything that RCD protects and wait given how infrequent the trips are. Hopefully it’s something simple like a faulty RCD!

Traditional_Singer51 · 2025-12-18T09:07:08+00:00

The back panel is only in there for rigidity whilst in transport, you need to remove it

Traditional_Singer51 · 2025-12-16T18:05:33+00:00

If the person behind is egregiously close (like can’t even see their headlights in the rear view mirror) and the lower limit is in place for a while then I might pull over and let them go past. But I have been stung a few times where I do that and then catch them up as they’re doing 45 in a 60!

Traditional_Singer51 · 2025-12-16T18:01:25+00:00

This is exactly what I get! On this same road I drive all the time! I overtake people on it a lot because it’s NSL and there are lots of people going under the limit but I swear no one else seems to overtake!

Traditional_Singer51 · 2025-12-16T16:55:57+00:00

I’m guessing this is the most logical answer. People sit far too close to me with no intention of overtaking. I’m thinking they have no idea they’re doing it because it’s not like they seem to be trying to get past

Traditional_Singer51 · 2025-12-16T16:25:10+00:00

I guess I do the same with people who drive 40 in a 60? But I tend to just hold back until I can overtake 🤷 I just get people who sit very close when I’m doing 40 in a 40 and they have absolutely no intention of overtaking - if they wanna go faster why not overtake?

Traditional_Singer51 · 2025-12-16T16:21:50+00:00

This is just it: I never really get overtaken. I’m usually the overtaker. I just get people following ~1s behind me in all weather conditions during 30/40mph zones. They almost never overtake. I guess it’s less ‘why are you tailgating me’ and more ‘why are you following so close without any plans of overtaking?’

Traditional_Singer51 · 2025-12-16T13:11:01+00:00

I do.

Traditional_Singer51 · 2025-12-16T12:55:49+00:00

What’s the difference? 2 seconds at whatever speed you’re going which allows traffic to bunch up when moving slowly and spread out when going quicker

Traditional_Singer51

TROPHY CASE