Dead alternator
Posted: Mon Feb 24, 2014 8:28 pm
So, Darth died a death on Saturday, leaving me, lady_bam and baby_bam on the soft shoulder of the A3/Ripley bypass. Lucky it wasn't raining but we still had to wait 2hrs before the car was recovered to Guildford Audi. I left it there with the key and a note at the front desk to call me on Monday. We decamped into Lady_bam's father's new car where I was dropped at the station for a 2.5hr journey back to Luuuundun, where I collected "The Emperor", while Lady_bam and baby_bam were buzzed back onward to Horndean.
I then started round 2 and drove very briskly around the M25 then joined the A3 at Junction 10, where apparently, I picked up a tail. The tail didn't catch up for 9miles where I was passing through Guildford at about 20h15ish. I'd slowed to 50 and dialed in cruise control to rumble through Guildford, as I always do. This is when I saw a small dark Ford rush up behind me, I'd not seen a car in the rear vision mirror since junction 10 as I was "making progress", so I thought it a bit odd but ignored it. After about 2mins of ignoring it while it sat a vagina hair from the rear bumper it finally got angry and lit up like a disco.
I pulled off and found a quiet place to sit until Monsieur Plod bent down to say "please switch off the vehicle and step out, sir".
I was then asked what the speed limit was on the A3 (he followed me for 9miles just to ask that, you'd think these coppers would know any given speed limit?!), to which I replied "it's the national speed limit, sir", Monsieur Plod then proceeded to tell me they had tired to catch me up from junction 10 after I took off very quickly from the roundabout. Monsieur Plod then said that their speed did not drop below 90MPH in trying to catching me. I said nothing in anticipation of soon requesting a copy of PACE be made available to me.
They then checked my licence, insurance, address and how many points I had on my licence, everything was clean and up-to-date and as I carry all of my paperword with me so this didn't take long at all, they also asked where I was born and what I do for a living, which I found odd. After all the paperwork was checked, they then told me that there had been a number of burglaries in the area with a vehicle matching my car's description and then politely asked if they could search said car, there were three of them in total, two dudes and a 'ho. I opened the tailgate and away they went, there is literally NOTHING in the car as I don't drive it. One of them lifted the boot floor to reveal the battery and the massive methanol tank, this then became a focus of questions to which I remained calm about while still trying to check out female plod's derrière, it was an 7.5 if y'all were wondering.
After the search was complete, Monsieur Plod then gave me a bollocking and commented that their car speedo was outside of its calibration period and as such they could not issue me a ticket or add 3 points to my licence. I literally turned on my heels and said "thanks, I hope you catch the burglars", to which he said "we've not been able to yet, it's a very fast and capable car". Oh if he only knew...
IMO I don't think they had anything on me and the search was just further reaching, if I dropped them at the roundabout they'd not had clear sight to speed check me, nor catch the plate properly on camera. From there I'd just have been a dot in their windscreen as I'd ripped through the first 5 gears to redline leaving the roundabout and joining the A3. I didn't see anything in the rear vision mirror until I'd slowed for the 50MPH section.
I finally bowled into Chez lady_bam's parents at 21h15, it'd been a very long day, considering we left at 11h30 and it should've only been a 2hr trip, tops.
Now, to the stealer bit:
Guildford Audi called me this afternoon and said; alternator is defective and the earth strap to chassis needs replacing asap (didn't tell me why it was so urgent, just that it needs urgent replacin', like). How much I hear you say?
Everything else on the car is tiptop but I'm very reluctant to give Audi £1400+VAT to get this done, I think I'll be flatbedding the car back home where I'll hire a lift or do it on the driveway.
Any thoughts or feedback welcomed, innit.
In before the tl;dr.
I then started round 2 and drove very briskly around the M25 then joined the A3 at Junction 10, where apparently, I picked up a tail. The tail didn't catch up for 9miles where I was passing through Guildford at about 20h15ish. I'd slowed to 50 and dialed in cruise control to rumble through Guildford, as I always do. This is when I saw a small dark Ford rush up behind me, I'd not seen a car in the rear vision mirror since junction 10 as I was "making progress", so I thought it a bit odd but ignored it. After about 2mins of ignoring it while it sat a vagina hair from the rear bumper it finally got angry and lit up like a disco.
I pulled off and found a quiet place to sit until Monsieur Plod bent down to say "please switch off the vehicle and step out, sir".
I was then asked what the speed limit was on the A3 (he followed me for 9miles just to ask that, you'd think these coppers would know any given speed limit?!), to which I replied "it's the national speed limit, sir", Monsieur Plod then proceeded to tell me they had tired to catch me up from junction 10 after I took off very quickly from the roundabout. Monsieur Plod then said that their speed did not drop below 90MPH in trying to catching me. I said nothing in anticipation of soon requesting a copy of PACE be made available to me.
They then checked my licence, insurance, address and how many points I had on my licence, everything was clean and up-to-date and as I carry all of my paperword with me so this didn't take long at all, they also asked where I was born and what I do for a living, which I found odd. After all the paperwork was checked, they then told me that there had been a number of burglaries in the area with a vehicle matching my car's description and then politely asked if they could search said car, there were three of them in total, two dudes and a 'ho. I opened the tailgate and away they went, there is literally NOTHING in the car as I don't drive it. One of them lifted the boot floor to reveal the battery and the massive methanol tank, this then became a focus of questions to which I remained calm about while still trying to check out female plod's derrière, it was an 7.5 if y'all were wondering.
After the search was complete, Monsieur Plod then gave me a bollocking and commented that their car speedo was outside of its calibration period and as such they could not issue me a ticket or add 3 points to my licence. I literally turned on my heels and said "thanks, I hope you catch the burglars", to which he said "we've not been able to yet, it's a very fast and capable car". Oh if he only knew...
IMO I don't think they had anything on me and the search was just further reaching, if I dropped them at the roundabout they'd not had clear sight to speed check me, nor catch the plate properly on camera. From there I'd just have been a dot in their windscreen as I'd ripped through the first 5 gears to redline leaving the roundabout and joining the A3. I didn't see anything in the rear vision mirror until I'd slowed for the 50MPH section.
I finally bowled into Chez lady_bam's parents at 21h15, it'd been a very long day, considering we left at 11h30 and it should've only been a 2hr trip, tops.
Now, to the stealer bit:
Guildford Audi called me this afternoon and said; alternator is defective and the earth strap to chassis needs replacing asap (didn't tell me why it was so urgent, just that it needs urgent replacin', like). How much I hear you say?
- Exclusive of VAT
- Initial inspection £70.83
- Booktime to replace alternator 3.5 @ £104 = £364 (apparently cars over 10yrs old get a 20% discount!)
- Alternator £336
- Earth strap £345.91!!!!!
Everything else on the car is tiptop but I'm very reluctant to give Audi £1400+VAT to get this done, I think I'll be flatbedding the car back home where I'll hire a lift or do it on the driveway.
Any thoughts or feedback welcomed, innit.
In before the tl;dr.
