Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
#1
I got a new car last year it is great never lets me down and very good to drive,I done a good clean of it today got the lot out and was cleaning out the boot and found out there was no s/wheel.so I phoned up about it only to find out that most new cars now come without a s/wheel but have a do it yourself repair kit. I was not happy about it been driving around parts of the UK not knowing I did not have one in the back if I had a flat late at night and raining and it was dark the last thing I would need is a repair kit.So I have had to buy a new wheel at the cost of£150 .New cars coming without a s/wheel never heard of it before si I done some ring around only to find out that it is true.
Guest 1033- Registered: 23 Aug 2013
- Posts: 509
#2
..and what's even worse Vic, is they don't tell you that the repair kit has a 'use by' date, and may not work if you've had it a while. Don't forget to check your wheel nuts aren't on too tight, and don't forget a jack and wheelbrace !
Guest 725- Registered: 7 Oct 2011
- Posts: 1,418
#3
Once again the finger of blame can be pointed at environmentalism.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
#4
Thank you for the points you have made I have my own power jack with me and must say I will still look for the jack now you have said it. But as I said I will be doing well over 500miles soon and would not feel safe at my age if I had gone not knowing I had no s/wheel I can not get up and down like I did when a young man.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#5
not sure what philip means by environmentalism being involved, if there is no spare wheel with the new car then the owner buys one.
to me it just seems a way for the manufacturer to keep the selling price down.
DT1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 15 Apr 2008
- Posts: 1,116
#6
So true Phillip.
If only Vic had remained ignorant to his potential problem, there would have been no need for him to do anything about it...until he actually had a flat tyre, perhaps in the dark?
I mean, I've never had a problem with tyres, but still I was made to buy some last time I went to the garage. I know nothing about cars, but my car was still working despite what they said!
It's a bloody conspiracy I tell you.
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#7
This ups the miles per gallon rating, 'increases' the boot capacity AND saves on cost.
The lack of information seems counter-productive though. A quick run through, and maybe even a free replacement aerosol if unused by the first service/near the sell-by-date, could improve matters at very little cost compared to the current dissatisfaction level.
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
#8
I will be talking to the showroom about how unhappy I am about it,I have had 3 cars from there before but all had a /s/wheel up till now,I will let you know how I get on after I have talked to them on Friday.
Guest 1033- Registered: 23 Aug 2013
- Posts: 509
#9
You won't get on very well Vic, they will tell you that they explained it all when you went to collect the car, and anyway it says so quite clearly in the owners handbook, or something along those lines.
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#10
Well Victor, I for one would be happy to hear how you get on.
Barrie, I trust you are open to new experiences.
Customers, when all is said and done, are NOT that easy to come by.
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Andy B
- Location: dover
- Registered: 10 Nov 2012
- Posts: 1,829
#11
An aerosol would be a lot of good if you get a large hole in the tyre.I know that a lot of company vehicles,light vans etc dont come with any spare wheel.Supposedly something to do with good old elf n safety and the driver being unqualified to change a wheel.I ,ve also been told that when using the aerosol for repair the tyre then becomes unusable,you cant have it properly repaired after.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
#12
I think we all agree that new cars should come with a s/wheel, when you are young and fit then it is not to bad but even then take lady out with two young ones in a car coming home late at night it might be raining etc and she gets a tyre puncher no s/wheel .Or even myself now over 70 can not get down for very long . I think all cars should have a s/wheel with jack etc.And years ago I have to use a aerosol true it got me home but as Mr Andy B the tre was no good any more.
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
#13
I have been driving for 44 years and in that time I have had two punctures. One on my trailer on a French motorway in 1990 and the other caused by a pothole in Coldred in 2009. With membership of a breakdown organisation and/or a squirty can in the boot I see no reason to lug a big spare wheel around if the car isn't designed for it.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
#14
The car is designed for it still has the setout of the s/wheel and the s/hole to, in the floor of the boot yes it even has the bold for it. And Mr Garstin going all the years in your car without geting a punctures is by luck I have not had that luck and you talk about potholes never have we had so many and so deep as we have in the roads today.
Guest 977- Registered: 27 Jun 2013
- Posts: 1,031
#15
I was fairly confident my car had a spare when I bought it, but it did take me 5 years to work out how to get the security bolts off.
The trend for no spare is due to weight saving for economy, cost reduction, and an assumption that everyone has a mobile phone and a rescue service membership. It's certainly no longer recommended that you change a tyre yourself on a motorway.
My wife's car has a slimline spare limited to 50mph. When we had a puncture I knew where it was, could get it out and would have been able to change it, except I couldn't figure out how to get the jack fitted. In the end called the RAC and they said don't try, call us every time.
We had a Ford Ka that had a spare that was so inaccessible it took 15 minutes to get it free, but the headlight bulb was worse - so inaccessible it had to go in to a garage to be changed.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
#16
Well this has made a good talking point on the forum,but I must say if I had know that the car did not come with a s/wheel I woukld not have got it unless the dealer put one in with no ex cost to myself so an yway we will see what happens after I have had a talk to them on Friday they have always been very good to me so just maybe I will not have to pay the full cost of £150 for geting one but having one is a must for myself. Thank you again for your views about it.
Bob Whysman
- Registered: 23 Aug 2013
- Posts: 1,948
#17
I think BMW were just as bad when they started to fit run flat tyres, their selling point was that it would take you 50km on a punctured tyre to enable you to reach a garage. The test drive was hard and no comparison with my existing model. It wasn't until I pressed the salesman that he told me that the tyre would then have to be replaced! The cost of a new tyre was over £200 at that time.
It was then that I went to a dealer in another brand and like many others came up against the no spare wheel problem, with a valiant attempt by the salesman to explain "by the law of averages your chance of getting a puncture nowadays is............."
Later on after agreeing a purchase price we were about to finalise the deal when I threw my spare wheel concerns into the equation with the comment "by the law of averages another dealer would....................." He supplied a free spare wheel!
My point? You buy a product, go for what
you need.
.
Do nothing and nothing happens.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
#18
Thank you Mr Whysman I will know next time and you have hit the nail on the head.
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
#19
Henry Ford once said: If I'd asked my customers what they needed, they'd have said: 'faster horses'.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
#20
Off out now to see about this issue over a s/wheel.
