New member from Dortmund

DasWiesel

DasWiesel

Member
Hello!

Just registered here and would like to introduce myself.

I simply had to sign up to this nice forum, even if i´m not from UK.
May i say, i got the impression, most british A2´s are very well cared for and if converted in a very tasteful way? That´s impressive!

As for me, i already drove a 90HP TDI for some time back in 2006. The last few years i was using a company car only, when a very scuffy A2 from a friends neighbour was up for sale.
Always liked my first A2 for being so trouble free. So when this one crossed my path, i could not resist thinking about, what an A2 fully equipped and converted to my needs would look like, so i bought it for fun.
I recently changed my job, so the A2 is my daily driver now.
It was in a terrible condition and signed out ("without license plate" - don´t know how to say?) for several months already. Their 5 year old son was using the car as his playground and you would´t belive how much a little child is able to destroy.
I bought the car last year and since then i do my best to bring it back to life bit by bit.

Please say hello to Ernie:

P1010130kl-vi.jpg
 
Hello to you and to Ernie !!!

Good to see our membership growing and spreading.

Welcome to a great forum, you are very welcome.

Please post some more pictures of Ernie!!!

You English seems pretty good already, we will try to be tactful of you make the odd error, but we will always be constructive!

Steve B
 
Hi,

As for the wording "and signed out ("without license plate" - don´t know how to say?) "

It is difficult to describe what you were trying to say in English, so it is not surprising that you struggled a little.

We might say that the car was "off the road for a while".

The official term here is SORN which is a "Statutory (legal) Off Road Notification"

But as I said we usually say a car is off the road if it is not in use and the "licence" has expired (over here we have a "Tax Disc" rather than a "licence").

I hope this helps?

Steve B
 
Birchall said:
Hi,

As for the wording "and signed out ("without license plate" - don´t know how to say?) "

It is difficult to describe what you were trying to say in English, so it is not surprising that you struggled a little.

We might say that the car was "off the road for a while".

The official term here is SORN which is a "Statutory (legal) Off Road Notification"

But as I said we usually say a car is off the road if it is not in use and the "licence" has expired (over here we have a "Tax Disc" rather than a "licence").

I hope this helps?

Steve B
Click to expand...

I think that about sums it up. From my little experience from back in 95 in KA I think the Germans have to pay for plates yearly and the TUV is a sticker on number plate. You also have to change plates if you move district IIRC.
 
Hello Ernie (and Julian) from a cold and wintery New Zealand.

Here in NZ cars are de-registered if you fail to pay the vehicle registration fee at renewal time and do not declare it off road. It then loses it's registration number and it is quite expensive/difficult to get a car re-registered if this happens. Unlike the UK, here you can renew your registration in chunks at the post office (from 3 months minimum up to 12 months in monthly increments), this helps with the budgeting if, like me, you have several cars and don't want all the registrations to fall due at the same time.

I love Dortmund! before moving to NZ I have been fortunate to visit there a few times for both the Christmas markets and also for trips to Techno Classica up the road at Essen.
 
Thanks everybody for the kind welcome!

@Steve
Thanks a lot for your explanation! It is constructive for sure!
I had to look up "statutory" but i think you got pretty well what i mean.
A comparison to your tax disc may be the best explanation. License plates here mean nothing, as long as they are not carrying a registration seal. Without it you´re not allowed to drive or even park your car on public roads. If you do not pay your taxes it will be removed by an official of your town or the police.

Yes, i will post more pictures soon, as i would like to start a rebuild thread like yours. Well, not exactly like yours, that one is incomparably.
Always glad to read something new there. Your car is one of a kind!
Is it true? You, your wife and your daughter are all driving A2´s? You must be some of the biggest fans ever.

@KekseKaempfer
Yes, you´re right. Every town has their own "code". All license plates in Dortmund for example are starting with "DO".
If i would move to Essen i would have to change my plates to different ones starting with "E".
The TÜV sticker is the second sticker you need, but it´s only a technical / safety test. In the UK it´s called MOT i think.

@Mike
So you still have to pay for all cars all year round, right? It´s not like paying for your car only for the month you´re using it?

You love Dortmund, really? Don´t hear that very often. It´s an old, industrial town without attractions after all. We even don´t have a nice river flowing through...
Hope to make it to New-Zealand one day. Seems to be much more interesting.

@johnmed
Thanks to you, too. If you visit your friends give me a call, maybe we can fix your BrokenSky (love that name - hilarious but so true :D)
 
Hi
Not only one daughter but two and now my son, so that is FIVE A2s
It sometimes looks like an A2 Parade when we all leave home at the same time.

I am very impressed by your English again, especially on a long response like that.

Steve B
 
DasWiesel said:
@Mike
So you still have to pay for all cars all year round, right? It´s not like paying for your car only for the month you´re using it?
Click to expand...

Yes and no. The minimum period you can declare a car off road (and so not pay registration for it) is 3 months. In NZ, the term Registration = Road Fund Licence in UK . So if you were just not using it for 8 or 10 weeks (say because of a trip back to europe, or because it's a car you don't use in the depths of winter) then you will still be paying registration for it all year round even if you're not using it. If you declare it off-road, and then try to buy a new registration label before the 3 months is up, you will be charged back to the date the last registration ran out. If however you have a car you only use in the summer (there are a lot of classic cars in NZ that only come out of their garages for the car shows), then you can pay 3 months registration at the start of every summer season and then declare it off road at the end of summer, so no cost for the nine months it will be in the garage. If you get caught on the road with an unregistered car, the fine is at least 12 months registration fee. Hope that makes sense :)

I think maybe I like Dortmund so much because for me it's associated with good things (Xmas markets and Techno Classica), plus decent beer! maybe if I lived there all year around it would be less delightful :)
 
Hi Julian. Welcome :) and your English is excellent - non native speakers often speak better English than the English as they learn correct grammar and don't speak in slang and short-hand or in a local dialect ;)

DasWiesel said:
Yes, you´re right. Every town has their own "code". All license plates in Dortmund for example are starting with "DO".
Click to expand...

Initially Vehicle registration and yearly licensing was the responsibility of County Councils (communes) from 1903 to 1974. I was born in Southampton and the code was TR. The Mayor's car was TR1.

Since 1974 it has been the responsibility of the DVLA office where the car was originally registered and the letters indicate which office but most people don't know this. They are more concerned with the digits which indicate which year & 6 month period the car was originally registered, so it's a form of status to show how new your vehicle is. Except for A2 owners who like to show how old AND yet how modern their A2 looks ;)

Enjoy your A2!

PS Just discovered that the mayor of Southampton still (in 2013) has the TR1 plate (on his merc) but the council were looking to sell it to raise money (maybe worth over £150,000).
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/103...er_plate/?action=complain&cid=11462840&ref=rc - page down
In the UK you can buy old number plates (e.g. the initials of your name) and re-register them for a fee.

PPS The local Jaguar dealership lent the Mayor a new jag and the Mayor's merc was sold but the TR1 plate was transferred to a Ford Transit minibus donated by Ford and to be used for community transport.
 
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welcome to the audi a2 experience again :) you wont find a better forum on the planet that helps out as much as these guys do!

i always seem to forget and welcome new arrivals doh!

cammy
 
@Louis
Yes, i am registered at A2-freun.de since 2006, when I had my first A2.

@Steve
Oh, promise to take a picture of that bunch next time for me, please! Must be a great sight.

Don´t make me blush! As I said, dictionary is my best friend right now.
If I really want to do that bike trip through Scotland next year, I should be able to communicate, even if your "th" is still breaking my tongue.:p
 
@Mike
I think I understood. We have a somehow similar thing here called "Saison-Kennzeichen". If you want to drive your convertible only at summer for example, you can get special plates for which you can choose the period in which they are valid, for example from May to October. You´ll be allowed to drive your car every year in that period without declaring it on or off the road all the time, plus it is insured all year round.

Yes, that´s true. It´s a big difference, if you are just on holiday or, if you are living somewhere. Beer is very good indeed here. I should send you a bottle of "Bergmann-Bier" which for my taste is the best right now!

@Alan
Thanks to you, too, Alan! Be careful, you haven´t heard me speaking, yet! Writing is much easier.:p

Didn´t knew number plates ever had a relation to cities or regions in the UK, very interesting!
Most famous British number plate I know is "AML 1". "TR 1" on a Transit - what a waste...:cool:

@Cammy
Well, this time you did not, Homer.;) Thanks to you, too!
 
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