The future of electric vehicle maintenance

[Dapph2]

I wonder if "renting" a car is treated differently ?

While I've never rented a car, many around me have.
Go to Florida by plane, pick up a rental in Orlando for the week, etc.

I do know that when they have a problem, broke down, etc. a simple
call will bring a replacement quickly.

We had a Flydrive for Canada . Got an above normal spec a Ford Explore at Toronto and drove to MIL's close to Niagara Falls .
Stayed there two days then started our journey east along the St Lawrence to Quebec. In Montreal the headlight would not switch off . Rang the help number and within an hour they delivered a top of the range real leather upholstery Explorer with a full tank of juice . Asked when we could get the original car back as we were booked in several with B&B's & hotels for the next 4 weeks ..
" Not a problem , you keep this replacement car for your trip and return it to The Toronto hire place when you fly home .

One hell of a difference when my KIA Sedonna Motability car died due to an alternator failure or when Kwikfit refitted a repaired wheel to it incorrectly causing it to rip off the LHF hub . I lost 10 days in total off the two holidays as none would hire me in an automatic with full power steering for me even though I cannot drive a manual car due to shoulder and left leg problems . To add insult to injury When I got the KIA back from the KIA shop it had 150 miles extra on the clolk and almost half a tank of fuel less . " We had to take it on several extended test runs to ensure everything was OK " ...Yeah and my c**ks a bloater, there was bits of pin punch shiny plastic confetti in it .

 

[Dapph2]

In 1983 a new entry level Ford Sierra was about £4500 (ish). Google suggests average wages in 1983 were £8k (ish) a year.

Google suggests average UK wage in 2026 is over £30k up to £36k a year (depending which source you use) and an entry level Ford Focus starts at £29995 OTR - rising to £34.000 for higher spec models.

@daleyd If you working with percentages of income - the only conclusion you can come to is - either cars are more expensive or wages are lower now...

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What I think we all can agree on is: Housing costs be it either rent or purchase price - have gone up worse than the price of cars.

Robotic automation & computerisation in the car industry has kept prices down . Look how fewer car plant employees and design staff there are in the industry . Also internet buying is starting to take off so less dealerships adding cost but no extra value to the car ..

If the car industry weren't so dumb and myopic in their actions it's likely we could be closer to the prices of good Chinese cars then we are .

 

[Dapph2]

"conflict in the Middle East" always has that effect...

So glad I have an EV .

 

[Bornfree]

"Bring back the YUGO !".......

My dad bought a brand new Yugo late 80s they were awful. There was so much movement in the engine mounts that if you went hard on and off the throttle 2 gear it would take the gear lever out of your hand.

 

[voipio]

"Bring back the YUGO !".......

You can do it in a Yugo......apparently ;-)

 

[bricol]

My dad bought a brand new Yugo late 80s they were awful. There was so much movement in the engine mounts that if you went hard on and off the throttle 2 gear it would take the gear lever out of your hand.

Friend of my mums bought one - the RHD version used bell-cranks under a thin metal plate to operate the brake master cylinder which was on the K passenger side . . . so the passenger could really panic brake - the cover flexed and you could put the brakes on!

I couldn't believe it when I heard they sold them in the USA - I wonder how many they actually sold?

 

[Erie Fred]

My dad bought a brand new Yugo late 80s they were awful. There was so much movement in the engine mounts that if you went hard on and off the throttle 2 gear it would take the gear lever out of your hand.

we had them over here as well. they were well represented, and I've heard many stories.