Citreon C3 Aircross - Advice on order of process - Michelle Hedley

Forgive me if this is the wrong place to post, and the upcoming long post, I will try and keep it as concise as I can.

Due to being hospitalised for three months almost 2 years ago and my recovery to "normality" has been long and slow, my car has been sat in my garage all that time and never moved and off the road for both tax and insurance, Ironically I bought it brand new just a few weeks before everything went to pot,

My recovery to my new normal state has meant that although now that I am in a better state to drive, I am unable to use the brake with my right foot as I cannot lift high enough from the accelerator. After a driving assessment a few weeks ago it was agreed that I could drive again with a push control in place of the brake. My driving licence is currently being coded to enable me to go ahead with the modification.

So now to the point of this post. I am struggling to work out what order I should do the following - tax, insurance, repair/service car and modification. I was under the impression you cannot insure car without it being taxed but also cannot tax car without insurance? I also know that you have to declare modification to insurance company, but if I insure car before getting the adaptation (which I would assume I would need to to keep it legal) then do I inform about modification at the beginning or a second time when the modification has been done? Every time I try to work this out I seem to go round in circles. And of course as I cannot drive my car even when insured and taxed until it has been modified I cant drive it to a garage.

I did contact a garage in a nearby town for advice to do the service and modification (which they specialise in in addition to services and repairs) but told me to seek advice from friends and family???? It doesnt help I am deaf and do everything online.

Sorry for the long post and I hope this all makes sense. Hoping someone can give me some starting points to help or guide me to somewhere else. Thank you for reading :)

Citreon C3 Aircross - Advice on order of process - elekie&a/c doctor
You don’t need road tax or mot to insure a vehicle. So best to get the insurance in place first to go forward.
Citreon C3 Aircross - Advice on order of process - Michelle Hedley

Thank you that is helpful :)

Citreon C3 Aircross - Advice on order of process - leaseman

Dreadfully sorry to hear about your experiences Michelle, and trust that your recovery continues to go well.

You need to speak to your chosen workshop, with whom, I presume, you will agree a price for all the work prior to entrusting them with the task. Can they collect the car from you on Trade Plates, which will cover the car for VED (Road Tax) and their Insurance whilst being taken to their premises, or they can use a low-loader or trailer for the task. Just make it part of the contract with them that the car is fully covered until it is returned to you.

That way you do not require Insurance or VED until the car is modified and back under your control on your premises.

Speak to a competent Insurance Broker (I'm sure that your local Social Services office or a Disability Society could, maybe, point you in the right direction) to obtain Insurance quotes, whilst the modification is being performed, so that you are ready to instigate cover upon return of the car. You can (indeed Must) do this before applying for VED and then will be ready to go.

I trust that this is helpful

Citreon C3 Aircross - Advice on order of process - Michelle Hedley

Thank you, that makes a lot of sense. I am wondering if the garage I contacted didnt want the job which seems silly as they do the motability in addition to the servicing and repairs as a dealership.

I will check out another garage and see what they say to do it all together as one package, that was a good idea about trade plates I hadnt realised that.

Will also find out if any insurance brokers are recommended as well to start that process off too.

Thank you for your help, its a minefield when I am forever relying on other people to do their job. I really do appreciate it.

Citreon C3 Aircross - Advice on order of process - leaseman

I don't know whether it will be of any help in this instance, but the Honest John Good Garage Guide (link at the top of this page) may be of interest. Insert your post code and check out any good (and note the bad) reviews. Just a thought!

Citreon C3 Aircross - Advice on order of process - Michelle Hedley

Hello everyone. After receiving good advice from you all and getting a clearer picture of what order to do things, I have come a cropper!

I contacted the service dept at my dealership by email on 30 November to discuss if they could help me etc and didnt hear from them. Over the following month I tried 6 different methods via emails, contact us on website, FB messenger and even on Linkedin with no success. I have just discovered this morning that they have sold their business to Arnold Clark and closed down on 16 December! Why they couldnt reply to my original email and say this I dont know! This is the story of my life, everything takes so long because of communications. Even the DVLAS has taken two months to do my new licence and I still dont have it yet.

Before I contact Arnold Clark whom I have never dealt with, I wondered if it would be ok to use a local mechanics instead? I have used them a few times and they have always gone out of their way to help me including communication. I only contacted the dealership because the car is still under warranty (8 months left!) but does this matter? Or would you recommend I do to a dealership because of the extreme amount of things that will be wrong? Thanks again.

Citreon C3 Aircross - Advice on order of process - leaseman

Hello again Michelle and we trust that the New Year will herald an improvement for you..

You haven't mentioned before that the car was under Warranty. If this is the Citroen Manufacturers Warranty, I would suggest that you submit an online enquiry to Citroen UK

citroen.my-customerportal.com/citroen/s/case-webfo...1

Explain your predicament in full, including Registration Number etc. together with your location and your disabilities. I would have thought that they would leap into action .....

If it is an extended warranty from some other source, then I would suggest that you contact your trusted independent repairer.

I trust that this helps.

Citreon C3 Aircross - Advice on order of process - Bromptonaut

Are these people likely to be any help?

www.disabledmotoring.org/

Citreon C3 Aircross - Advice on order of process - leaseman

That looks like a good shout Bromptonaut.

Citreon C3 Aircross - Advice on order of process - Michelle Hedley

Thank you, I shall take a look at that. Hoping 2025 goes better and I finally get some freedom :)

Citreon C3 Aircross - Advice on order of process - RichardW

Even though it hasn't moved, there is unlikely to be much wrong with a 2 year old car that hasn't been used much and has been stored in a garage. It might have a flat tyre or two, and will probably need a new battery, but other than that it should just fire right up. Brakes will be a bit graunchy, but should clean up OK in a few miles. I wouldn't worry too much about the warranty, it has probably lapsed since you have not had it serviced, and I imagine fitting hand controls will invalidate it anyway. You mention Arnold Clark, are you in Scotland?