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Ah ha! Well that will deal with many of the sort of people that will hog a charge point. But not very affluent people who don't care about £10/hour overstay fee.

I very much have this on my radar. I remember when diesel was quite a bit cheaper than petrol. That when it was used almost exclusively by taxis, vans, buses etc. Then diesel cars started being used by the general public, and prices went up and up and up, to the present madness. I expect electricity to do much the same. One thing I don't think we've mentioned, is the possibility that if EVs drag the domestic price of electricity up as it's taxed more and more by the government, then the poorest among us who cannot afford a vehicle at all, never mind an EV, will find themselves paying a price for electricity that has been inflated through use of something they have no access to. (Sorry if someone's already mentioned this.) But they will still have to use electricity. However poor, I can't imagine any home in the UK does not use electricity. Perhaps solar panels could be subsidised by means-testing for the poorest people. I can foresee some people will find themselves in the squeezed middle: Too much money to receive means-tested subsidies, but too little money to live comfortably in an increasingly expensive world. Sounds like me, TBH. I think it's reasonable to say that EV prices will drop, perhaps substantially if there's a technological breakthrough or if old technologies are embraced. Perhaps lead-battery vehicles will make a comeback for the poor?

I did not know that...

I think there are a lot of factors that will cause the divide between the haves and have-nots. But clearly, the early adopters of EVs were wealthy people, and as prices dropped and infrastructure grew, more people bought EVs. You raise a lot of interesting points I hadn't considered, like company vehicles. Perhaps the government will apply a punitive tax to company vehicles that are not EVs, thus effectively forcing some company drivers into EVs. Some people can't afford to run an ICE car now, never mind an EV. Yet there are some affluent people in congested cities who opt out of car ownership in preference to public transport, so it's not all about finances. (That said, regular commuting on the rail network can be surprisingly pricey.)

Thinking about it, there's also a penalty in time. It'll be like an extra commuting journey for some people.

Thanks for the extra info, I am quite the EV newbie.

I was chatting with a friend about charging points, and how she was unable to have one at her house. I said to her "People don't have a petrol station at home, why should they have a charging point?". This got me thinking, that charging points at home will be a new delineator between the haves and have-nots. The "haves" will be able to charge at home. The "have-nots" will have to travel to charge their budget electric vehicles, that's if they can afford them. EDIT: Spelt the flipping title wrong. Could a mod correct, please?

This is a clever idea. A charger that comes to you! I wonder what the cost to charge is, though?

I have found a VAG specialist who says they can access the VAG network for service history. I've not used them yet, so I'll see how it goes.

May I make a suggestion? Would it be possible to take out a short term lease? If you sell your 2014 car now, you will be able to take advantage of the current inflated prices, and if you lease, you will have plenty of time to find out whether you are entirely happy with the MkIV Octavia. Then if you like it, you can buy a similar car (I've heard it's not easy to buy a car you've leased, for some reason) or you can modify your choice of vehicle accordingly. It might be that there was an option/spec you felt you wouldn't like, but on reflection feel it would actually be very desirable. Or perhaps you have a feature that you're not keen on. (Wheel size giving too hard a ride, for example.) Whatever, it would give you a 2nd chance to perfect your buying decision. (I'm assuming you normally keep your cars for a few years.) It wouldn't be the cheapest way to change cars, but it might not be a waste of money, either.

If the government are serious about getting people to switch to EVs, they could scrap charging VAT on car EV sales. This would more than compensate for the missing "grant" and act as a genuine incentive to buy an EV. I suppose that assumes the government believes that EVs will help stop the damage caused by climate change, and prioritises stopping climate change above raising tax revenue.

Nice! 50k miles means it's likely to be coming up towards some bills, specifically the cambelt should have been changed at 50K. Likewise the gearbox oil change should have been changed at 40K, with a Haldex service coming up at 60K, but I'd suggest negotiating that to be done as part of the sale. So check the £700 worth of cambelt & DSG servicing has been done, get the Haldex done, and I think you've got a good deal. (Assuming there are no horrors lurking in the car's history.) 👍

Hello!

£17K for an 8-year old car seems ridiculously over-priced to me. EDIT: That said, it is low-mileage for its age and vRS prices are greatly buoyed by low mileage, but it's still an 8 year-old car. I remember shopping around, and some of the questions I asked myself when looking at a car were: "Does this car give me <£cost-to-change> additional value over the car I already have?". "Where is the <£cost-to-change> value in this car? Is this car <£cost-to-change> better than my car?" In fairness, those questions damn near stopped me buying another car at all.

Oh yeah, that's been lowered. Also it looks like those wheels are larger than 19", though it says 18" in the advert. I'd also guess it's ben re-mapped/chipped too, but that's because it would seem weird to me to lower it and not remap it, but maybe that's just me.

Sorry to hear about your car. Has there been any sight of it more recently?

I'm glad you got it all sorted to your satisfaction and ended up with the car you wanted. Great result! Have fun over the weekend.

Any news on your new car, @Sheplobsters? Did you go for it?

I hope this is a useful and relevant addition to this thread. It's a tyre footprint calculator. (And quite a few other bits of information too!) http://bndtechsource.ucoz.com/index/tire_data_calculator/0-20

Firstly, I am a cynical old so and so, so bear that in mind. I also keep my cars for the best part of a decade normally, so I buy really cautiously. If anything is not quite right, I walk. From your initial posts, there are too many little niggling "Hmm, that's odd!" triggers for my liking. Maybe I'm wrong and it's all good, but I don't like unpleasant surprises when it comes to buying cars, and dents in the roof definitely come under that category. As I said, it's a Spidey-sense thing, not an opinion based on fact. If you're a bit twitchy about the purchase and are considering a refund, it might be just cold feet at the prospect of handing over a lot of cash (I get that), but it might be your subconscious trying to get you to notice something. As you tend to keep your cars for a long time too, I'd be twitchy about how good the repair to the roof is going to be. How's it going to look in 5 years? How long is the repair guaranteed for? I am hyper-cautious and am probably at the extreme end of the scale when it comes to nervous buyers, so bear that in mind when reading my concerns. Incidentally, my last car had a dent in the sill when I bought it. Never gave me a moment's trouble. The rear door which had been repaired before I bought it started rusting after about 10 years, though. That was a nuisance.

I agree with @roottoot. Demonstrators are normally four-digit mileage cars under 12 months old. I think mine was a demonstrator (about 7500 miles & sold after 6 months use) but it was sold as ex Skoda dealership car. I took that to mean one of the staff at the dealership had it as their car.

Have you run a vehicle check on this car? My Spidey-sense is tingling. Might be a waste of £20 or might be the best £20 you ever spent. https://www.carvertical.com/gb (You can get a 10% discount if you're interested. There are a few affiliate Youtubers with a 10% off link.)

The menu system for Google stuff on an Android phone is labyrinthine. Who could find that, even if they knew they needed to look for it?!

It's been a couple of years since I bought my Octavia, but based on my experience, I'd say don't paint yourself into a corner with a strict wish-list of exactly what you want. I know buying advice tells you to do the opposite, but I would look at as many cars as possible and get a feel for what a good Mk3 at the age/price you're aiming for looks like. Eventually you'll spot "the" car, and even if it doesn't have the exact spec you need, you'll know it's the right buy for you. I went out looking for a manual diesel vRS with the winter pack and ended up with a petrol automatic SE L without one.

That occurred to me too, as the Gen 3B still has port injection as well as direct injection.