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October car check
Nov. 7th, 2015 10:43 pmCar check time! And October was a new record at 871.1 miles, though in fairness not all of those are mine (the garage will have if nothing else driven it to the MoT bay and back).
Rears and spare were slightly down in pressure but I was running late and so left them for now as it was only 0.05 bar down. Oil is fine at just under full (it'd be worrying if it wasn't given the recent service!), and having changed the wiper blades a few months back I don't seem to be going through anywhere near as much screenwash.
I also got the annual service and MoT done a couple of weeks ago - in theory the book says this is only needed every 18k miles, but in practice you want at least a yearly service if you want the engine to last. The total cost for the service and MoT was around £300 including VAT at P&K Autos in Newick, and in addition to the usual round of replacement filters and pieces the car also got a new set of spark plugs. I'm not sure I've noticed any difference - there's possibly a bit less resonance at the 2100 rpm mark (it seems to run a bit rough around that area), but that comes and goes anyway.
Next up is fixing the bodywork. I emailed round a few bodyshops in Fareham - one said (paraphrasing) "repair & repaint for ~£700", the other gave me a 3-page itemised PDF that boiled down to "replacement quarter panel for >£2000", and the Alfa garage went "I'd have to see it in person but I reckon at least £1000". So while the car was at the Newick garage they also got their local bodyshop to look at it, who quoted <£1000 for a repair - well, that's 2 out of 3 quotes saying repair, so repair it is! So I drove up to Newick again today to drop the car off, and should get it back all shiny and dent-free next weekend.
Rears and spare were slightly down in pressure but I was running late and so left them for now as it was only 0.05 bar down. Oil is fine at just under full (it'd be worrying if it wasn't given the recent service!), and having changed the wiper blades a few months back I don't seem to be going through anywhere near as much screenwash.
I also got the annual service and MoT done a couple of weeks ago - in theory the book says this is only needed every 18k miles, but in practice you want at least a yearly service if you want the engine to last. The total cost for the service and MoT was around £300 including VAT at P&K Autos in Newick, and in addition to the usual round of replacement filters and pieces the car also got a new set of spark plugs. I'm not sure I've noticed any difference - there's possibly a bit less resonance at the 2100 rpm mark (it seems to run a bit rough around that area), but that comes and goes anyway.
Next up is fixing the bodywork. I emailed round a few bodyshops in Fareham - one said (paraphrasing) "repair & repaint for ~£700", the other gave me a 3-page itemised PDF that boiled down to "replacement quarter panel for >£2000", and the Alfa garage went "I'd have to see it in person but I reckon at least £1000". So while the car was at the Newick garage they also got their local bodyshop to look at it, who quoted <£1000 for a repair - well, that's 2 out of 3 quotes saying repair, so repair it is! So I drove up to Newick again today to drop the car off, and should get it back all shiny and dent-free next weekend.
