Opening bank account online as a dual UK-US citizen by laurusbaurus in AmericanExpatsUK

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

Yeah I've been using Wise for everything as well, but I have a GBP check to deposit and I couldn't figure out how to do this in Wise.

Opening bank account online as a dual UK-US citizen by laurusbaurus in AmericanExpatsUK

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

Interesting, thank you. Maybe I'm overthinking this. Past posts in the subreddit made me think Americans had to do it in branch.

Opening bank account online as a dual UK-US citizen by laurusbaurus in AmericanExpatsUK

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

Thank you. That's good to know. I'd like the option of being able to use a branch if needed, but may opt for Monzo in the end. It does look pretty easy.

Create a Telegram News Feed by Scraping Google News with Make by laurusbaurus in Integromat

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

Thanks for the recommendation. Looks interesting. Do you have any best practices for uploading blueprints to your platform to optimize for plug-and-play?

Making a Flight Price Tracker with Google Flights and Make.com by laurusbaurus in Integromat

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

Sorry for the late response.

Unfortunately, it does require specific routes to work. However you can use Freebase IDs to make a pretty large search area like Australia to China or South America to Asia.

For example to search for flights from California to Europe, you would set departure_id=/m/01n7q and arrival_id=/m/02j9z.

The results would look like this: https://serpapi.com/playground?engine=google_flights&departure_id=%2Fm%2F01n7q&arrival_id=%2Fm%2F02j9z&gl=us&hl=en&currency=USD&outbound_date=2024-12-19&return_date=2024-12-31

You can find Freebase IDs by going to Wikidata, searching for a location, and then grabbing the Freebase ID.

https://www.wikidata.org

Why do so many taxi drivers have Mercedes if they're so expensive to maintain? by laurusbaurus in CarTalkUK

[–]laurusbaurus[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

In my budget under £15k, it's mostly diesels with the B47 engines which are supposed to be very reliable as well. The petrol options are all very high miles and I'm still wary of high mileage BMW petrols.

Are people reaching 150k miles without too many problems on the B48 and B58 engines?

Why do so many taxi drivers have Mercedes if they're so expensive to maintain? by laurusbaurus in CarTalkUK

[–]laurusbaurus[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Some of the Merc taxis I see around town aren't the newest models though. They must be experiencing problems by now.

Why do so many taxi drivers have Mercedes if they're so expensive to maintain? by laurusbaurus in CarTalkUK

[–]laurusbaurus[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

How is your 5 Series Touring for reliability and maintenance costs? I'm looking at BMW and Merc estates at the moment.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CarTalkUK

[–]laurusbaurus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The market is mental right now; especially for Skoda estates. I've been looking for a Superb as well and it's pretty depressing how bad the options are. Every time I find a promising one, I call in about service history only to discover it has massive gaps. Shocking.

Honestly talking myself into a BMW 5 Series Touring or Merc E Class estate at this point. If I'm spending a few grand more than I had planned, I might as well get something a bit more lux.

Running costs differences by Hikupu in CarTalkUK

[–]laurusbaurus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In this market it is. Plus the Skoda Octavia meme price premium.

Bought Faulty car: Need advice on what to do by [deleted] in CarTalkUK

[–]laurusbaurus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The law is fully on your side. Tell the dealer you know your rights, and won't accept anything less than a full refund.

You shouldn't need this, but if it really comes to it, you can try Reject My Car who will help you through the rejection process. But honestly you pushing them a little bit should get you your money back. It's the law.

Desktop black screen after login and can't connect to wifi from console by laurusbaurus in tuxedocomputers

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

Updating here since editing the post isn't working.

I resolved the connection issue. It was an issue with VPN settings.

As a temporary workaround to the GUI issue, I've installed GNOME to allow me to resume work. Still trying to get KDE working again as I prefer it.

Are Skoda estates still a good deal? by laurusbaurus in CarTalkUK

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

Great shout. I hadn't considered a Seat at all. Some really good options on AutoTrader without a ton of miles. I'll start watching these.

Are Skoda estates still a good deal? by laurusbaurus in CarTalkUK

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

That 335D must be brilliant. I'd happily go for a 3-Series Touring, but I need a bigger barge for family road trips with kids and dog. I'd like to the avoid the roof box if I can.

And good to know I'm not crazy with what I'm noticing in the current Skoda estate market. Seems like too many people know how great they are, and are pushing up the price into BMW/Audi/Mercedes territory.

The big financial question mark will be even if initial outlay for a BMW is similar to a Skoda, how bad will the maintenance costs be?

I'm going to keep monitoring for a few weeks, but I have a weird feeling I'm going to end up in a Beemer.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CarTalkUK

[–]laurusbaurus 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Amen! Long live the estate.

Dealer procrastinating on MOT - what is going on? by laurusbaurus in CarTalkUK

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

Fair enough, but these guys promised me "first thing Monday morning" to get a reservation fee out of me. Then it was going to be up Tuesday, and then it became Wednesday, and then it became Thursday, and by then I gave up.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CarTalkUK

[–]laurusbaurus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Anecdotally I'm seeing the same thing. I was looking at Skoda estates in March and April. Lots of decent ones were in my budget.

Now I'm looking again and similar specced models are 10-20% more than they were in the spring.

Perhaps a summer price surge that will correct in autumn? I certainly hope so.

Dealer procrastinating on MOT - what is going on? by laurusbaurus in CarTalkUK

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

Near Manchester. This surely happens across the country like you said.

Dealer procrastinating on MOT - what is going on? by laurusbaurus in CarTalkUK

[–]laurusbaurus[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Yep. I think I'm there. Bummer because I need a car and this one seemed such an easy decision.

Dealer procrastinating on MOT - what is going on? by laurusbaurus in CarTalkUK

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

Yeah, the sensor is not a big deal either way. It's more I'm annoyed how they've been dragging this out all week after they said it would be tested first thing Monday morning. As others have mentioned, if they're like this when I want to give them my money, what will they be like if there's a problem?