General catalytic converter stolen off our multi !!!!!

[Crazzi Neon Fizz]

GUTTED

our catalytic converter was stolen off our multi (oooggliieeee) in legoland car park at the weekend ........

no cctv in the overflow car park where she was parked ......

we went to pick her up after a fun day in the legoland park at 7 30 pm got to the car started her up .... sounder rough!! looked under and cat had been cleanly taken off !!!!!

we reported it to legoland the police and asked RAC for a tow ... as it wasnt a break down we werent covered .... they wanted £500 to tow us back from london to devon ....... couldnt afford that :bang:

repair we rang round on bank hol mon .... £275 plus couldnt do work til tue as bank hol and didnt have the parts in!

couldnt afford the £400 ish to fix her inc stay so found someone who would pay £150 to scrap her ..... gutted

we had no choice so in the middle of the car park there we were with our 5yr old in a car park with all our belongings on the floor awaitin a rescue from my dad in devon ......


awfulllll ...............................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i had to stroke her before i left and gave her a mazzive hug sad maybe but she was just amazing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! diesel 1.9 jtd:slayer:

 

[Davren]

Too late now, but the AA (and possibly the RAC) carry lengths of expandable metal tube for making temporary repairs to broken exhausts. Would have got you home at least where you'd have had more time to consider a permanent repair.

If you told them on the phone that it had been stolen, then as they said, it's not a breakdown so they wouldn't attend. Had you just told them it was making a noise or leaking, a patrol would have come and you could have "discussed" it with him/her.

 

[Crazzi Neon Fizz]

HI,

yeh prob could of handelled it a bit differently and got a better result

but at the time we were nackered worried peed off etc nothing like this has happened to us before nor did we expect it too....


in a turn it around kind of way it saves us forking out for 2 cars and we strongly believe everything happens for a reason just lost out on selling it for around 1K and added stress to the holiday

we dont know the london area at all nothing open on a bank hol appart from kwick fit and ATS in slough .....

we know about people using a pipe and gum gum to fix/bypass the cat

but where from at 8pm at night in the middle of no where OR on a bank hol when all is shut


any way multi owners beware cats are an easy reach under a multi .....

 

[citds]

Feel for you guys, Pikey's are getting more daring these days, I had a Coupe 20vt stolen from a layby on the A38 which had to be left for 30 minutes while I was borrowing a trailer, it was even attached to a badly broken A frame! So if any of you guys sees a red coupe 20vt with grey wheels about with minor nearside rear accident damage, let me know, there is a reward. Back to your problem, save yourself the problem, have it de-catted and sell it to your local scrap man, they pay good prices.

 

[widemouthfrog]

Does anyone do a decat kit for the diesel Multi?

 

[Crazzi Neon Fizz]

thanks finally someone (cidts) giving me a little sympathy lol however what type of coupe was it whats a 20vt?? and thanks for the sympathy and i am stunned about ur car !!!

and widemouthfrog ... most garages i think will do it for uu some peoples stories have used a scaffold pole and gum gum from a halfords or similar store

lots of pikeys with the know how of how to get em off cleanly lol .....

they use a battery opperated grinder / hack saw ???

defo worth taking off after what happened to us its on the rise and there worth around £120 + each however uu will fail an mot without a cat on soooo........

 

[Myles thomas]

You do not have a catalytic converter on Diesel engines do you ?

 

[Hellcat]

You do not have a catalytic converter on Diesel engines do you ?

Course we do! What do you think we are? Tractors?

 

[JTDman]

Cannot believe you did that , why didnt you just drive it? noisey ? so what , there is no way i would have done that in a million years.
I think any copper who pulled you in that scenario would have been understanding, scrapyard after a day in hotel?

 

[pete123]

ilive not that far away and always check the forum mobile internet is handy for little probs like that but to stop that happening the best thing to do is round the bolts as scrap on cats is along the lines of 130 pound and ya should of left her there who u sell it to post a number and a name

 

[Crazzi Neon Fizz]

yes well i can admit we have lots of regrets it needs an egr valve clean out and a new throttle position sensor + some one said probs some sort of fuel sensor if we drove it back ... we were torn from bugger it drive home .............or just bin it we had spent loads on her to keep her on the road at what point do uu say enuff is euff ??

we had borrowed from all angles to get all the work done on her previous we had no one to turn to

the best out come is to have known someone to tow it for free patch her up and sell her on, when u have little machanical knowledge and no mechanical friends until after the sistuation .... what are ya menna do tbh

n when ur worse then skint we had to save a year for that mini mini holiday......

as we have another car at home a marea we looked on it differently if we hadnt then we prob would have just cried and dunno drove it ?? fix it who knows ........


and some company in north london pretty dodge i reakon 24hr scrap company they have since asked for all mot's service history and rest of the v5 suspicious ?????

all they have to do it patch her up do a vic test ? get a new v5 and there about 1k in proffit .....

i am fully awear but at the time we had no phone battery defo no internet acess .....no knowledge of whats best at all!!!!!!

ps why do uu wanna know where she is pete123???

any way its done now trying to forget about it all as was traumatic in all fairness ......n a HUGE learning curve ??? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

all the cars we buy in future will be for a couple hundred so if sommit happens like that then we wont worry about the out come !!!!!

i think the shock of the situation threw us a bit tbh !!!!!

 

[Davren]

some company in north london pretty dodge i reakon 24hr scrap company they have since asked for all mot's service history and rest of the v5 suspicious ?????

all they have to do it patch her up do a vic test ? get a new v5 and there about 1k in proffit

The only reason they'd want all the documents is to sell it on as a roadworthy vehicle. Having the past MOT's and service history means they can get a higher price for it.

Tell them it's obvious what they're going to do with the car so they can have them for another £100 or so.

 

[Crazzi Neon Fizz]

The only reason they'd want all the documents is to sell it on as a roadworthy vehicle. Having the past MOT's and service history means they can get a higher price for it.

Tell them it's obvious what they're going to do with the car so they can have them for another £100 or so.

that is a good idea see if we can get a bit more out of this situation mind uu we only have 1 yrs service history and 2 mot's and obs v5 appart from the scrap piece

 

[Reading Rich]

Sorry to hear your news Fizz.

I do not have a Fiat but have a Citroen C4 Picasso but I have joined this forum after seeing your note as the same thing happened to us at Legoland about a month ago so I know exactly how you feel.

We were in the far right hand side car park on a Sunday with our three young boys on a Sunday, having travelled down from North Wales to to Legoland. We got back to the car and it just sounded noisier and I naively thought it was something like the exhaust manifold loose or a box had blown.

All became apparent when we took the car to an indie citroen dealer my dad goes to, in the morning and put it up in the ramps

We reported the matter to Thames Valley Police who advised that they had four incidents now reported from that day.

We also reported the matter to Legoland, who gave the impression that this is something new. I know they have had incidents before ours but to see this is still happening makes me even more mad than I am already about it a month after it happened to us.

I received the usual fob off from Legoland's customer services about parking at your own risk, how they conduct patrols and have cctv etc but how hard would it be to have had someone stood in the car park for the day?

We were massively inconvenienced as you were, on top of the £350 excess we cannot afford. Like you this mini break was our summer holiday this year so I really feel for you.

Hope things are better for you now.

I would be interested to hear what Legoland's response to you was as I am so mad about this that I still want to take the matter up further. I realise I may be :bang: but nothing ventured, nothing gained!!

RR

 

[Yeti]

The only reason they'd want all the documents is to sell it on as a roadworthy vehicle. Having the past MOT's and service history means they can get a higher price for it.

Tell them it's obvious what they're going to do with the car so they can have them for another £100 or so.

They NEED the V5 to scrap the car.

Besides, having opted to sell it (I'd have drove it home), it's no business of yours what they do with it. (Like these ebay sellers that insist you trailer a car away because it's got no MOT - once I've bought it, it's up to me what I do with it!)

 

[Crazzi Neon Fizz]

They NEED the V5 to scrap the car.

Besides, having opted to sell it (I'd have drove it home), it's no business of yours what they do with it. (Like these ebay sellers that insist you trailer a car away because it's got no MOT - once I've bought it, it's up to me what I do with it!)

well i had sent off the correct part (v5c3) as advised ! i have scrapped 4 cars in the past and i have never EVER had to send them the rest of the V5 as long as dvla no its scrapped thats it!

i also now have some mechanic friends in the "know" and 3 people have said there is no need to have any other documents appart from the scrap section

also i know uu aimed this more at the bloke who wrote the other quote the only reason i am so interested is that i lost out on £1k of car and i obs dont want to make it easy for them to make £1k proffit !! esp as they cba to act speak the truth !!

they said they needed the history as they do parts my last scrapped car went for parts ...... they didnt even request any info off of me ... and tbh


it wouldnt surprise me if the cat was taken to them in london any way !!

but who knows and no i did say if he does get the car bk on the road them good for him we simply couldnt afford the repair in any form and realistically theres nowt wrong with the car once the cat has been sorted !!!!!

this is our mis fortune and perhaps their gain who knows were getting over it all now slolwly were not ur norm jack the lad kind of people and saftey comes 1st

the only reason above i wrote about good for him having proffit is i cant be nieve to think it will be a cube !!

 

[Crazzi Neon Fizz]

Sorry to hear your news Fizz.

I do not have a Fiat but have a Citroen C4 Picasso but I have joined this forum after seeing your note as the same thing happened to us at Legoland about a month ago so I know exactly how you feel.

I received the usual fob off from Legoland's customer services about parking at your own risk, how they conduct patrols and have cctv etc but how hard would it be to have had someone stood in the car park for the day?


RR

hi there RR

hidious isnt it they know full well this is a regular occourance and the man in the fiat tent near entrance said it always seems too happen on a sunday!!!!!!!! this just pees me off as they know there is a problem esp on a sunday !!!! in the £6 car park there is a man there til 130pm uu would of thought all day tbh!! uu pay extra for a reason right?

were uu in the grassed car park?? as thats we were in the overflow! that field should of had full time patrol as they new it wasnt covered by their cctv

its hard for me as they were very good to us in the way that they put us up for a night in a near by hotel and let us wait in the park the next day for the hidiouse recovery truck as free collections as we were literally stranded !!

however they are obviously being very nieve about the sunday situation even a member of staff was saying yeh it seems to happen alot here.... but it obviously hasnt sunk into them that they actually need to act on the situation ...... perhaps we could write a letter to them saying we want proof of a "secure site" plan for next year and quote each others incidences as a bit of meat to the letter

they HAVE to do something as this is hidious ! it hasnt put us off going next year if we can afford it as the park its self was amazing however we will defo not go on a sunday !!! !!! !!!! !!!! its gutting as origionally we were ment to have gone mon/tue 8th n 9th aug for my sons act 5th b day the next slot we were all free was the bank hol wknd end aug

we had a rubbish night sleep in the premier inn the night before (sat night)and we complained and were in the process of getting out money back for the hotel part ... i had to do it thro the legoland site i explained everything as to what had happened as regards to the car etc as i had to email the refund enquiry

all the lady said was ... this is a email to say we are now dealing with your hotel refund ............ im thinking not being funny but what about the rest of the email no oppologies ......oh sorry what had happened to you ......or any acknolodgement..... im like geee THANKS !!!!!!! NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so we are slowly getting over it all it really got us tbh completely gutting

some have said its a bit over the top what we did OR what a massive mistake it was but when ur litterally skint have no access to borrow that amount of money in the middle of no where little phone battery no internet access no known mechanic friends at the time what the hell are uu really ment to do in all truths ?????

we were told by lots to drive it back to devon and as many not to drive it ...... like a tug of war do we, dont we BUT do we or dont we ....... crazii

we were also told that we would / could need a fuel sensor as it would have confused the fuel amount going through not sure how much that would have been and we new it needed a £200 pedal positiopn sensor and a clean of the EGR valve at £100 so £300 plus £275 to fix it up there + an extra night stay say £100 til the tue when the garage for parts was open
thats a heck of a lot £575 ish at what point do uu say act enough is enough!!!!!!!!!!

we had already gave her a new clutch £400, air flow mass sensor £200, new hadbrake cable £112 etc etc etc

when we got home a new mechanic friend who i only new name of before not a "friend" said why didnt uu say i would of towed uu home for free ....... steam out my ears job like how on earth would i have known that AND why on earth would i assume uu would even think about driving up on a bank hol to fetch 3 peeps he doesnt even know! very kind offer extreamly kind infact but a little toooooo late !!


i obviously forgot to look into my crystal ball that day lol and on the day before the sunday !!!


thanks for actually appriciating my story as not many on here have thought about the pain it had caused!!!
we were totally gutted at the thought but well you know the story .... im glad uu had the courage to drive urs home even thought uu were unawear of the stolen situation at the time
and at least you were on home turf when uu found out as things are more familiar then,
i feel for uu for urs getting stolen too as they dont give a monkeys of how it may affect someone and the no guilt as to knowing full well kids are in tow ... i mean a family theame park ..... and of course the car seats in the back ........ i hope these people get there comuppence (soz about spelling) soon !!!!!!

please let me know if uu have gone any further with the matter or what plan we can come up with to prevent other people having such car trauma


many thanks for getting in contact its interesting to hear other people stories just wish they were happy memories .... and out of interest would uu go back to legoland ever again????

thanks again Debs xx