Please help disabled driver choose a car

Mental Mickey

Fey! wrote: »

Is there any chance that the more relevant facts, like the ones from Shifty, along with relevant contact details for the likes of Disabled Drivers and Irish Wheelchair Association could be stickified either here or in a disability forum for future use by others to make their lives a bit easier?

+1.
Very good point.

Mental Mickey

My car's on order. I just have to give the dealer a deposit of 500 euros. He also told me that my car will be the first model of its kind in Ireland!!?? By that, I think he must mean in automatic transmission.......?

colm_mcm

Seeing as the salesman told you that Ghia spec wasn't available in automatic, thst's not a huge surprise (presume you went Ghia?)

unkel

Fey! wrote: »

Is there any chance that the more relevant facts, like the ones from Shifty, along with relevant contact details for the likes of Disabled Drivers and Irish Wheelchair Association could be stickified either here or in a disability forum for future use by others to make their lives a bit easier?

Great idea. More relevant in the Accessibility / Mobility / Disability forum than on Motors though. Anyone feel free to request this over there pointing to this thread

Mental Mickey

colm_mcm wrote: »

Seeing as the salesman told you that Ghia spec wasn't available in automatic, thst's not a huge surprise (presume you went Ghia?)

Hi Colm

I actually went for the Fiesta Steel II.

colm_mcm

Why not the Ghia? it has the auto wipers

Mental Mickey

colm_mcm wrote: »

Why not the Ghia? it has the auto wipers

Cos its only available as a 5 door. I need a 3 door car cos the doors are wider, which is crucial if you have to haul a wheelchair in/out on a regular basis.

colm_mcm

I see they've dropped all specs bar the Steel from the 3 door. suppose there's not too much demand for different specs.

Mental Mickey

colm_mcm wrote: »

I see they've dropped all specs bar the Steel from the 3 door. suppose there's not too much demand for different specs.

I also heard it's really difficult to get cars with automatic transmission too these days??

colm_mcm

it's actually generally getting easier to pick up automatic cars, manufacturers are offering more types of auto boxes, with a good spread of engine sizes and fuel types.
They still haven't gained as much populatity as they deserve in Ireland.

Here is some of a phone conversation I had today: (happens quite a lot!)

Me: Yes it only has one owner
Him: And the mileage is right?
Me: Yes, we have a full main dealer history with it
Him: And it's the GX spec
Me: Yeah, it's a GX with the 5 speed automatic box
Him: Oh jesus, I wouldn't be interested in that
Me: Because it's automatic?
Him: I wouldn't drive it if you gave it to me for free
Me: Have you driven many automatics?
Him: No, I wouldn't drive one

Ususally I'll persuade someone who's skeptical to drive one, and some of the time I'll convert them!

Anyway, because of this irational Irish anti-automatic attutude, dealers won't stock them for fear they'll be stuck looking at them for 6 months.

Mental Mickey

LOL:D

Deposit sent off this morning for me car!!!

MM

Mental Mickey

Car is up in Motability in Ashbourne getting sorted out as we speak. I'm getting a new electric seat raiser as the original one has packed in. I'm also getting "infra-red" controls fitted, which will make it easier for me to operate the secondary controls, such as wipers, indicators etc........

EDIT: Time for an embarrassing admission! I have a picture saved on my desktop which I took with my mobile phone today, but I don't know how to attach it to a posting on here.......?

colm_mcm

woohoo, nice one, be sure to post some pics, these conversions interest me greatly, I love some of the brilliant solutions Motability (and other conversion companies) come up with.

TIme to say your goodbyes to the Micra!

Mental Mickey

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/594/mmfiestays4.jpg

There's my new car guys!!!!!!!

I think its a really nice car.....!? It's actually a lot bigger than I thought it would be.....?

colm_mcm

they look pretty slick in 3 door with all that colour coding

Mental Mickey

colm_mcm wrote: »

they look pretty slick in 3 door with all that colour coding

Agreed. It's a lot more streamlined than I thought it would be when I saw it up close.

unkel

Thanks for the update, Mickey. And well wear!

Mental Mickey

As of 3.45pm today, the car is still up in Motability in Ashbourne getting fitted out!? I thought I would have it in my grubby little hands by now....? Looks like I'll have to wait until Saturday to finalise the deal!?

:rolleyes:

colm_mcm

relax! it'll still need to be registered in the VRO (they have to bring the car and show the mods to the officers) so unless Motability have it finished by tomorrow afternoon, you probably won't be driving it for the weekend.

E92

Well wear, and it looks great in that colour too!

Mental Mickey

colm_mcm wrote: »

relax! it'll still need to be registered in the VRO (they have to bring the car and show the mods to the officers) so unless Motability have it finished by tomorrow afternoon, you probably won't be driving it for the weekend.

The thing is, I've told the car dealer that I can't afford to take any more days off work, and I was under the impression that the fittings, registration etc, would only take a couple of days.....? I hope he has it sorted by Saturday, but I've been talking to him and he seems to be a bit lacksidasical(spelling?)about it....? Remember, I'm without ANY car now, and will have to rely on accessible taxis to get me around until further notice(and we - disabled people - know how hard it can be to rely on one of those things)!? :rolleyes:

Shifty

Hiya

Congrats on the new car, it looks fantastic, wishing you many years of happy & safe driving in it.

Have you called Motability yourself to check on the status of the adaptations and when they expect to have the car ready to go.

Motability closes at 3:30pm on a Friday and they are not open on a Saturday iirc.


Hope you get the car before the weekend!

Mental Mickey

Shifty wrote: »

Hiya

Congrats on the new car, it looks fantastic, wishing you many years of happy & safe driving in it.

Have you called Motability yourself to check on the status of the adaptations and when they expect to have the car ready to go.

Motability closes at 3:30pm on a Friday and they are not open on a Saturday iirc.


Hope you get the car before the weekend!

Thanks a million. They have the adaptations finished, and are waiting on the car dealer to go and collect it to bring it to get checked over and registered. The dealer doesn't seem that pushed to get it done.....? If he stalls much more, he can f**k off.

EDIT: I hope to GOD he ain't reading this thread!!!!!????????

Shifty

Glad to hear it is ready to go.

Annoyed to hear the dealer is messing you about and prepared to leave you with no car for the weekend unnecessarily.

Any chance you could discreetly ask Motability to ring the dealer and put some pressure on him to take the car of their (Motability) forecourt.

Mental Mickey

Shifty wrote: »

Glad to hear it is ready to go.

Annoyed to hear the dealer is messing you about and prepared to leave you with no car for the weekend unnecessarily.

Any chance you could discreetly ask Motability to ring the dealer and put some pressure on him to take the car of their (Motability) forecourt.

I'm gonna ring Motability first thing tomorrow morning to see what the story is. If he still hasn't collected it, I think I'll be having words.....?

Mental Mickey

Another question:rolleyes::

Should I have removed my tax disc from the window of the Micra and put it on my new car? Even though the details are completely different? I just thought of this, and it could mean that I wont be able to drive the car if I don't have the disks on display....?

Shifty

You need a new tax disc for the new car.

The only hassle you might have with not having a disc, is if you park onstreet, u could get a ticket for 'non display'

However as it is a new car, and adapted and will have a disable pass displayed, they shouldn't bother as the car is exempt anyway.

You won't be able to tax the car until you get your paperwork.

Mental Mickey

Shifty wrote: »

You need a new tax disc for the new car.

The only hassle you might have with not having a disc, is if you park onstreet, u could get a ticket for 'non display'

However as it is a new car, and adapted and will have a disable pass displayed, they shouldn't bother as the car is exempt anyway.

You won't be able to tax the car until you get your paperwork.

Thanks Shifty. I just spoke to my brother, and he said that the police give you a month's grace to sort stuff like this out....? I'll also give my insurance company a ring as soon as the registration details etc, get sorted. I should've left this until my holidays, when I would've had more time to get things done!? Ah well, ya live n learn.

colm_mcm

the garage need to get your car from Motability to the nearest VRO, where they can register it. it's usually done on the spot. I usually register exempt cars on the way back from the conversion company to the garage. just put a bit of pressure on them!

CtrlSource

One thing i learned with my last car purchase was patience. Was in the happy position of having sold my old car to my sister, who let me hold on to it until my new (2nd hand) van was adapted.

Problem was that the guy i bought from had to hold on to the van until his new one was delivered. i shook hands with him in April and didn't get the van until September! Then it took about another 3 weeks until i was actually driving it!

Turned out that the garage he bought off had forgotten to even order the van he wanted so in the end they had to pay for an accessible rental van to tide him over until the following January, so i could take possesion of my Bessie