What they do is smash the dpf out of the exhaust pipe and then refit it. The loss adjuster may never know it's been removed.
General Would you swap?
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General Would you swap?
What they do is smash the dpf out of the exhaust pipe and then refit it. The loss adjuster may never know it's been removed.
That's effectively what has happened in the London Low Emission Zone. Whilst most older diesel vans aren't worth enough to justify modifying and certifying, the legislation has caught some older motorhomes which still have sufficient residual value to make the conversion worthwhile.
The penalties for continuing to operate an uncertified vehicle in the LEZ are eye-watering.
The LEZ regulations don't as yet extend to diesel cars or car-derived vans, but until recently smaller goods vehicles were exempt.... not any more
At present, the regulations regarding DPF removal aren't seemingly being enforced for cars. But I wouldn't bet money on being able to get away with operating a car on which the DPF has been illegally removed for ever, and from April next year, you won't get an MOT if the tester notices that a DPF which you should have isn't working anymore.
It's a relatively simple matter for them to check, should they be so inclined. The state of the back of the exhaust pipe would likely indicate the possibility that it had been tampered with.
I'd agree the regulations do not seem to be being enforced at present, but I wouldn't bet the farm on this situation continuing indefinitely.
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Trust me, I know exactly what they do. The really sad thing is, allegedly, VOSA are of the opinion that it is the job of the police to catch the people who are driving vehicles that have had the DPF removed because that falls into the 'making the vehicle unroadworthy' category, which is the excuse allegedly used to fall back on that it's the police's job to police it (and breathe!). I'm just wondering, what exactly is VOSA's purpose?
The insurance assessors would find out if they made a point of having any visible DPF removed and having it busted open to see if it complies with the law. However, I just can't see that happening, which is kind of odd really because you would think that they would really want to go out of their way to save the insurance provider from paying out.
To be fair I don't think dpf deletion is a big problem .As long as mot testers do their jobs properly come next year both vosa and the police will have the job of catching people done for them.
There will be a few with big bills come mot time.
There will be a few with big bills come mot time.
Who knows how many un-DPF-ed cars there are out there on the roads. Ditto de-catalysed boy-racer cars. A compulsory gas test on an accident damaged car, or "post mortem" on the exhaust of a write-off, wouldn't be a bad idea at all with failure due to illegal interference automatically notified to the police. An engine "breath test", if you will.
BJM
BJM
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Any legal advice please!!!
The dealer I swapping my car with tomorrow is at the moment 6 feet underwater. Can't sum how fed up I am tonight. But I did pay a £300 deposit for the car. Will the dealer have / want to honour the deal after he gets back on his feet or am I stuck in diesel land?
The dealer I swapping my car with tomorrow is at the moment 6 feet underwater. Can't sum how fed up I am tonight. But I did pay a £300 deposit for the car. Will the dealer have / want to honour the deal after he gets back on his feet or am I stuck in diesel land?
So is your car submerged too?
Oh dear, can I just suggest that the first thing you do is have some sympathy with the dealer, these people have lost their workplace and some could lose jobs.
That aside, if the car you were having is under water then you seriously don't want it! Come to some agreement with them. At the end of the day it's an act of god and they'll need some time to sort things out. What sort of journeys are you doing daily? You might be alright for a bit
That aside, if the car you were having is under water then you seriously don't want it! Come to some agreement with them. At the end of the day it's an act of god and they'll need some time to sort things out. What sort of journeys are you doing daily? You might be alright for a bit
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Oh i do have loads of sympathy for the. I doubt they even know either. All the villages / cities on flood alert on the humber have suffered and goodness knows if its coming back just as bad in the morning. I went to the local harbour and the water was about 6 foot higher than i have ever seen it. Went to the dealership as everywhere is so quiet and the police where there. The entire stock of about 400 cars submerged. Feel physically sick by the sight of it.
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Oh forgot to mention. We did a long motorway trip of 150 miles there and back. Hardly used the car since then i borrowed it for a 8 mile back road trip to another village. Stopped did what i needed to do then boom the light came on. Nrvermind it will come good eventually.
I wonder if the previous owner traded it in because the light was coming on.
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Sounds plausible. They have done a full check and found no issues. Just gutted about the new one. Was such a good car with lots of extras. Best be off now as hightide is at 6 in the morning so i could back tomorrow asking for flood damage advice. sad times
sad times
Take care, it's moments like this that hammer home how unimportant cars are compared to lives, jobs and homes. Take care and I'm sure it'll be sorted soon
ahmett
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Guys lets be serious here. Car accidents are not caused because the car doesn't have a DPF or a cat!
We are being serious, Ahmett.
We're not talking about car accidents - we're talking about slow, painful lingering death from dreadful, incurable diseases caused by the pollutants in vehicle exhaust.
A few folk seem to think it's OK to remove equipment mandated by legislation and installed by the manufacturer to mitigate the risk of inflicting this pollution on the poulation at large.
The rest of us are speaking out against this selfish and irresponsible behaviour.
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ahmett
Prominent member
I agree completely. All the taxis in Athens have removed their dpfs as you see a trail of smoke so I always drive with ac recirc in town!
My argument was there is no reason for insurance to be invalid in cars with a removed dpf as it is a green issue not a safety issue.
If you frequently drive in dirty, urban environments, you might consider changing your pollen filter more often.
Those most at risk are cyclists, since they're in the road with all the polluting vehicles and also have increased respiration owing to the energy expended in cycling.
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ahmett
Prominent member
I do so every 9 months or so
Wow, that's really bad news for all involved. As Maxi says, I guess the dealership will be pretty gutted, just like any other business clearing up after the floods (seems to me like these things always happen just before Christmas, which is pretty much the worst possible time of the year
).I think all you can do is try and keep in touch with the dealer and see what they say. I'd imagine as well that Fiat will have some sort of central involvement too, although obviously I have no idea to what extent.
In the meantime, I suppose you could give Fiat Customer Services a call and explain the situation to them. At least then it's logged centrally and if Fiat HQ are involved then at least you are "on the radar" so to speak.
Wish you all the very best though, and stay safe.
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Turns out they lost about 900 cars in total and obviously all equipment and computers. Must be a nightmare. The salesman rang my wife almost in tears. To be fair to them they have tried to swap it and they can't help it the flood. They said they'd `look` after us when they get sorted.
