Motors chat

Steve

Do you think there should be a more social side to motors?

Lately, with all the complaining that is going on, I think there should be a laid back thread that we can all be friendly in and chat about trivial stuff and in general just get along better.
Other forums have this, why not here?

I'd love motors to be more personal and get to know everyone better rather than just bicker about random stuff on every thread.

So, I propose that we have a 'chat' sticky that we can all just post *whatever* in and have some semi motoring related banter in.

What do you think, am I barking? would it work?

De Hipster

must be the drink typing! ;p

Good idea, I tend to not bother commenting on threads rather than defend against the P.C. Mob...lighter social motoring chat would make for light relief.

Mr Magnolia

Just start a thread and call it 'Off topic'. Can't see anyone having a problem with it.

Darragh29

Yeah, we'll bring Gerry Springer along to open the beers! I think this forum will always be contentious because you'll always have vehicle owners who want to save money by coming on here looking for free advice and you'll always have professionals on here who need those people to spend money to keep them in a job!

Alanstrainor

How's it goin lads? What's the craic?
*cracks open a beer*
oh wait, this is just a proposal. Here here!

Steve

Alanstrainor wrote: »

How's it goin lads? What's the craic?
*cracks open a beer*
oh wait, this is just a proposal. Here here!

That's exactly what I'm on about

/opens beer and salutes Alan...:D

Darragh29

Alanstrainor wrote: »

How's it goin lads? What's the craic?
*cracks open a beer*
oh wait, this is just a proposal. Here here!

Rerra, *Darragh cracks open the bottle of Jack Daniels*...**Seriously, he does**!!! *Me thinks: can we mix this with petrol*...! :eek::eek::eek:

Gary ITR

Start the thread stevec, before i do and take credit for it

Steve

De Hipster wrote: »

must be the drink typing! ;p

heheh - sorry, I fixed the typos.

Alanstrainor

Darragh29 wrote: »

Rerra, *Darragh cracks open the bottle of Jack Daniels*...**Seriously, he does**!!! *Me thinks: can we mix this with petrol*...! :eek::eek::eek:

SteveC wrote: »

That's exactly what I'm on about

/opens beer and salutes Alan...:D

I think we all deserve a beer after that motors mods discussion. Cheers lads *clink* no foolin either, i'm drinkin staropramen! Man i love that stuff.

Steve

Onkle wrote: »

Start the thread stevec, before i do and take credit for it

Well this can be it if we get the green light from teh mods.

Gary ITR

On the cans of Bulmers myself, not a usual tipple for me but the nearest off license to me is a kip and I had to run when I saw it was 9.55/ This 10pm rule is playing havoc with my drinking

Steve

Alanstrainor wrote: »

I think we all deserve a beer after that motors mods discussion. Cheers lads *clink* no foolin either, i'm drinkin staropramen! Man i love that stuff.

I'm on e85, mad stuff

alcolol

-Chris-

Mr Magnolia wrote: »

Just start a thread and call it 'Off topic'. Can't see anyone having a problem with it.

Good solution, I've seen it in other forums (fora?) - start a thread called "OT - can you believe Obama got the nomination?" or "OT - what you drinkin'?" and let it run.

That being said, in the other forums (fora?) that this happens, you end up with a load of overlap between forums (yeah, yeah, whatever...) and a load of duplication. A policy of moving a thread to its correct home means it's more likely to be answered by the experts.

Mr Magnolia

AudiChris wrote: »

Good solution, I've seen it in other forums (fora?) - start a thread called "OT - can you believe Obama got the nomination?" or "OT - what you drinkin'?" and let it run.

That being said, in the other forums (fora?) that this happens, you end up with a load of overlap between forums (yeah, yeah, whatever...) and a load of duplication. A policy of moving a thread to its correct home means it's more likely to be answered by the experts.

Generally any off-topic threads I've read are just general inane banter about nothing in particular.


forums (fora?) - Either is correct/fine

Steve

Mr Magnolia wrote: »

Generally any off-topic threads I've read are just general inane banter about nothing in particular.


forums (fora?) - Either is correct/fine

That would be a good name for it.

Steve

AudiChris wrote: »

That being said, in the other forums (fora?) that this happens, you end up with a load of overlap between forums (yeah, yeah, whatever...) and a load of duplication. A policy of moving a thread to its correct home means it's more likely to be answered by the experts.

What?
I'm asking for a motors banter thread - why would it get moved?

ninty9er

SteveC wrote: »

I'm on e85, mad stuff

alcolol

And there I was thinking it was just me driving with a heavy right foot:pac::pac:.....give it back...and plug that hole in my tank!!!

&- Who's the bastard that disagreed....grumpy aul fart!!

-Chris-

SteveC wrote: »

What?
I'm asking for a motors banter thread - why would it get moved?

Sorry, what I mean by that is that where you allow OT threads you'll end up with a load of "learning to drive" threads here, and a load of "speed trap" threads in Emergency Services.
If you're creating a separate section for banter, then that's grand, but if you're just loosening the reigns to let people chat away you're going to end up answering a load of questions that are better suited somewhere else.

unkel

Temporarily stickied. Cheers all! Burbs. Will be unstickied when I am jober. Maybe.

Steve

AudiChris wrote: »

Sorry, what I mean by that is that where you allow OT threads you'll end up with a load of "learning to drive" threads here, and a load of "speed trap" threads in Emergency Services.
If you're creating a separate section for banter, then that's grand, but if you're just loosening the reigns to let people chat away you're going to end up answering a load of questions that are better suited somewhere else.

What I'm suggesting is a light hearted thread where we can all just have some craic.
There is way too much conflict (between users) in motors and I think it's partly because we just don't understand each other enough.
I'm not trying to create a clique - I'm just saying that maybe if we chatted more and were more friendly in general then maybe there would be less in-thread friction.

Darragh29

SteveC wrote: »

What I'm suggesting is a light hearted thread where we can all just have some craic.
There is way too much conflict (between users) in motors and I think it's partly because we just don't understand each other enough.
I'm not trying to create a clique - I'm just saying that maybe if we chatted more and were more friendly in general then maybe there would be less in-thread friction.

I see your point Steve, at the end of the day, I've formed the view that a lot of posters are here because they simply don't want to spend ANY money on their car, particularly when there is a problem with it. The same people think absolutely nothing about spending (and then bragging to everyone around them about how much they have spent!), stupid amounts of money on the car itself, on holidays, on home improvements, but all of a sudden when it comes to the car, all mechanics/dealerhips/indy garages are theiving robbing basta*ding sc*mbags who can do nothing right. You see it every single day on this forum, folks swanning around in 3 Series BM's and won't spend 40 Euro getting the problem properly diagnosed. As long as you see this type of miserly scrooge-like carry on, you're going to see people clashing...

-Chris-

SteveC wrote: »

What I'm suggesting is a light hearted thread where we can all just have some craic.
There is way too much conflict (between users) in motors and I think it's partly because we just don't understand each other enough.
I'm not trying to create a clique - I'm just saying that maybe if we chatted more and were more friendly in general then maybe there would be less in-thread friction.

That sounds like a fair idea, and hardly that hard to do.

I can see myself spending even more time here in the near future...

ninty9er

Darragh29 wrote: »

I see your point Steve, at the end of the day, I've formed the view that a lot of posters are here because they simply don't want to spend ANY money on their car, particularly when there is a problem with it. The same people think absolutely nothing about spending (and then bragging to everyone around them about how much they have spent!), stupid amounts of money on the car itself, on holidays, on home improvements, but all of a sudden when it comes to the car, all mechanics/dealerhips/indy garages are theiving robbing basta*ding sc*mbags who can do nothing right. You see it every single day on this forum, folks swanning around in 3 Series BM's and won't spend 40 Euro getting the problem properly diagnosed. As long as you see this type of miserly scrooge-like carry on, you're going to see people clashing...

We got your point the firs 500 times....people not wanting to spend money.....generally that's not true....they want a second unbiased opinion.

Darragh29

ninty9er wrote: »

We got your point the firs 500 times....people not wanting to spend money.....generally that's not true....they want a second unbiased opinion.

My experience is that it is true. There is an obvious problem in the trade with trust. Your point doesn't make any sense. If someone goes to a garage and gets a problem properly diagnosed, they have the equipment to do that, nobody on here does. Also, there should be nothing biased about information you get from a good aftersales outlet, franschised or otherwise... Most people here looking for advice simply don't want to spend money getting it done professionally. If anyone can challenge me on this or explain it to me, please do. Why do people spend $$$$$$ on decking and brag about it in the pub, etc, but anything over 200 Euro on the car and your a robber...???

L-M

Annnnnnnnddd on that note the thread becomes like the rest.

crosstownk

Darragh29 wrote: »

My experience is that it is true. There is an obvious problem in the trade with trust. Your point doesn't make any sense. If someone goes to a garage and gets a problem properly diagnosed, they have the equipment to do that, nobody on here does. Also, there should be nothing biased about information you get from a good aftersales outlet, franschised or otherwise... Most people here looking for advice simply don't want to spend money getting it done professionally. If anyone can challenge me on this or explain it to me, please do. Why do people spend $$$$$$ on decking and brag about it in the pub, etc, but anything over 200 Euro on the car and your a robber...???

I agree with you in general but I think you're being slightly negative Darragh. Most people will brag about any new purchase, but will complain about the cost of it's upkeep repair whether it's decking, a central heating boiler, a car, a washing machine, etc, etc. Consumers expect reliability and when things go wrong they begrudge paying for repair because 'it should have lasted longer/better......'

The thing is, some people think they know everything about cars just because 'they have worked on their own car'. These people are simply amatures with an interest in cars - they are not professionals. Boards is full of this kind of poster but they are only trying to be helpful and are not representing themselves as professionals. Some of us here are professionals but the occasional poster has no way of knowing who is and who isn't a professional.

Basically, what I'm saying is that the content of all posts should be taken with 'a grain of salt' - don't take any comments to heart and don't think that a simple post will change the world!

Darragh29

crosstownk wrote: »

I agree with you in general but I think you're being slightly negative Darragh. Most people will brag about any new purchase, but will complain about the cost of it's upkeep repair whether it's decking, a central heating boiler, a car, a washing machine, etc, etc. Consumers expect reliability and when things go wrong they begrudge paying for repair because 'it should have lasted longer/better......'

The thing is, some people think they know everything about cars just because 'they have worked on their own car'. These people are simply amatures with an interest in cars - they are not professionals. Boards is full of this kind of poster but they are only trying to be helpful and are not representing themselves as professionals. Some of us here are professionals but the occasional poster has no way of knowing who is and who isn't a professional.

Basically, what I'm saying is that the content of all posts should be taken with 'a grain of salt' - don't take any comments to heart and don't think that a simple post will change the world!

I can't disagree with anything you've said there CTK. I'm going to put my cards on the table here for once, because it might give folks here an appreciation for why I'm negative on this forum much more than I'm positive. I've decided that I'm getting out of the motor trade for good and am in the middle of a career change.

I've made this decision, because I am sick of dealing with people who have it in their heads I and everyone in this industry are out to rob them. When I started encountering this, I thought that the problem was within my business, that the value of the service I was providing couldn't be seen by the customer, so I pulled everyone together who worked for me and without getting into the nuts and bolts of how this came about, we looked at what we offered in terms of servicing work, what our competitors offered and we decided that we were going to be a generation ahead of the folks we competed with locally. It was at the stage where we collect a car, service it to a pre-NCT standard with an NCT test lane, valet it, (for the avoidance of doubt, our valet included wet vac of seats & carpets, external wash & wax, glass clean, alloy clean, tyre gloss & dash shine). We issue a written report with every service, it was just like an NCT, showed emissions results, brake imbalance, suspension, sideslip, & loads of visuals, etc, etc, deliver the car back to the customer, all for under 200 Euro and we still couldn't seem to please people. We also gave each customer a free goodie bag with handy bits & pieces in it.

Don't get me wrong, many of our customers really appreciated what we do, but it always comes back to the 80/20 rule as I call it. 80% of your customers are decent genuine people, easy to deal with, pay an invoice, no problem. 20% of your customers will completely wreck your head, you give them professional advice that they are paying for (if your lucky) and they go off and get unprofessional advice elsewhere and come back and challenge you with it. As I've said before, 20% of your customers will take up 80% of your time.

To conclude, I've had enough of my time in the motor trade and have decided on a career change. I don't know what was going on before I was in the trade but it looks like there are a lot of seriously disenfranchised Joe Public's out there, who just simply don't trust people in the motor industry who fix their cars. The sad part of this is that I feel that the cause of this dissatisfaction has been main dealership aftersales departments, and not indy garages. I'd love to be challenged on what I've said above and hear comments for others, no matter how those comments might relate to mine.

If anyone is wondering why I'm using past tense above, as I said, I decided to change my career, I've stopped taking in work and have let staff go. This is not a convenient argument that just happens to coincide with a recession, I am literally sick to my back teeth of trying to just get paid the absolute minimum of what I need to do to run my business, because people have it in their heads that 40 Euro is too expensive for an engine diagnosis & written report, they want it for free, afterall, I am their mechanic and I "get all their servicing work" I'm sick of breastfeeding 20% of my customers, of tolerating them playing games when it comes to estimates and invoices, they just don't want to pay, full stop.

All comments welcome...

crosstownk

I know your pain. I've seen your previous posts and I honestly think (based on the content of your posts) that you probably provided a good service. But you have to realise that is never possible to keep all customers happy all of the time. To be truthful, some customers just don't want to be happy - they always want more. I used to cut those type of customers loose. My attitude was 'fcuk the begrudgers' <anticipates peasants <snip>>:D

I purposely moved jobs to avoid dealing with the 'all knowing' motorist and I'm happier now that I'm still in the motor trade but have no dealings with customers - it took quite a while to find such a job - it also meant a slight drop in pay but it was well worth it.

Chin up, Darragh and best of luck with the career change.

Darragh29

crosstownk wrote: »

I know your pain. I've seen your previous posts and I honestly think (based on the content of your posts) that you probably provided a good service. But you have to realise that is never possible to keep all customers happy all of the time. To be truthful, some customers just don't want to be happy - they always want more. I used to cut those type of customers loose. My attitude was 'fcuk the begrudgers' <anticipates peasants <snip>>:D

I purposely moved jobs to avoid dealing with the 'all knowing' motorist and I'm happier now that I'm still in the motor trade but have no dealings with customers - it took quite a while to find such a job - it also meant a slight drop in pay but it was well worth it.

Chin up, Darragh and best of luck with the career change.

Yeah, I came to a point where I couldn't take any more playing games or listening to tight arsed individuals who think that they can go throigh life without paying for anything. I've taken council from many friends and business contacts lately on how I was becomming increasingly disillusioned with certain situations in my business, all it would take would be one or two scabby customers a day who would set out to make me feel like there was a problem with me or my business when it fact the problem was that they would just be so miserable that they were manipulating me with a view to reducing their bill.

I know folks on here, particularly Mods, most likely see me as being overtly combative when I reply to someone here with a 318i, who's got an engine problem and starts this crap, "I don't want to go to a garage because they'll screw me". My first thought is that any decent indy garage with the proper equipment could reasonably be expected to accurately diagnose that problem, probable cost, 40 Euro-80 Euro, depending on the service provider in question, but here is this lad on here expecting people to give him ammo so when he eventually does have to go to a garage, he can play games with them and start challenging the poor technician in the garage who is not out to screw him as he thinks, but just wants to do the job accurately on the first occasion, resolve the root cause of the problem and get paid for it.

RubberMammy

I would have to agree with Darragh.

80,000 people chose to Import last year.

That figure is set to climb.

Why?

Because Irish cars from Irish dealers are too expensive........that's why.

And servicing?

What a con job that is.

Where do you find the Imports?

Auto Trader and Carzone that's where, best places to go to find Imports, both at dealerships in NI and UK and the side of the road selling.

Take my advice and use the guys that the Gubberment have under cut the consrtuction Industry with, the Immigrants, they will service your car for ten years ago money, just like they build our houses and roads for 2 Euro an hour ( on Government contracts ( Gama Construction))

I'd hate to be a Car dealer.