owner register...changes needed

[son of solo]

dont get me wrong but we need to do something about the owner register....
its great having the whole forurm thing where we can post questions about our car,but the free access to the owner register raises questions...
just say your car has some strange fault ...maybe it cuts out a few times at the lights 5 days on the trot then it stops,you post the question regarding the strange activity to see if any other owners have expierenced the same thing,then you take it to the dealers who cant sort it out either (nothing new there) and all the time you are posting this on the forum to help other owners...nothing wrong with that...
2 years down the line you decide to sell the car (face it you will one day) someone comes to look it over notes the production number on the drivers seat,goes home and logs on to this site, goes into the owner register, finds the car number and notes the users name,then searches on all posts posted by that owner....see where i'm going here?
then hes back on the phone asking if you ever got that igintion problem sorted out 2 years ago and any other problem you might have posted up...
i dont have the answer...but there is a problem..

 

[chiefsilverback]

dont get me wrong but we need to do something about the owner register....
its great having the whole forurm thing where we can post questions about our car,but the free access to the owner register raises questions...
just say your car has some strange fault ...maybe it cuts out a few times at the lights 5 days on the trot then it stops,you post the question regarding the strange activity to see if any other owners have expierenced the same thing,then you take it to the dealers who cant sort it out either (nothing new there) and all the time you are posting this on the forum to help other owners...nothing wrong with that...
2 years down the line you decide to sell the car (face it you will one day) someone comes to look it over notes the production number on the drivers seat,goes home and logs on to this site, goes into the owner register, finds the car number and notes the users name,then searches on all posts posted by that owner....see where i'm going here?
then hes back on the phone asking if you ever got that igintion problem sorted out 2 years ago and any other problem you might have posted up...
i dont have the answer...but there is a problem..

Obviously you have nothing more important to worry about!

Alternatively they buy the car, register on here as an owner, search through the archives and discover the problem, then they come back to you and say "why didn't you inform me of this, I want my money back...."

I think the odds on someone coming on here looking up the car and then trawling through every post made by the owners of the vehicle are quite low!

 

[Day]

Apart from making it a members only site and charging you guys a premium I can't see an answer myself.

If i was buying your car 2 years down the line it's nice to know the problems it's had as I can be damn sure the person selling it won't be honest enough to tell me.

It cuts both ways I guess.

 

[oliie]

It's an easily problem to solve. Everything hinges around the owner's disclosure. Don't disclose your problems on the site and you'll be fine.

That said; there will always be another buyer who does not care/sees it as a benefit/does not know about the site that will buy your car for every other person who has been on the site.

Don't worry about it

My concern (for others) is more around insurance and their public disclosure of having de-cats but still using their car every day on the road. You don't have another chance with an insurance company although you do then get onto burden of proof which is another can of worms with an internet forum...

O.

 

[Nik]

The Owners Register is now only visible to logged in users on the site. I didn't really want to have to do that, as i hoped it would encourage people to register when first discover the site, but I have changed it.

This doesn't really change things though, at the end of the day if you dont want people to know about a problem with your car, the only sure way is not to post about it on the public forum, but then the other owners miss out on what could be useful information.

I'm in the middle of making a decision on the future of the site at the moment. I need to generate money from the site to cover its costs (having just spent nearly £300 of my own money for TRAX) but I wanted to avoid going down the paid membership route and generate money from advertising. If having paid memberships and moving stuff like this to the members only area would help then maybe thats the way we will have to go.

 

[drexel]

Theres plently of people who will want to buy the trophy. If someone does refer you to the website and says did you get all these problems fixed, and you say no i learned to live with them and they get in a huff about it i will find another buyer.

Its good to talk about the problems you have with the car as its a lot more reliable information than renault gives!

 

[Steve]

I quite agree ^^^. I think an owner will be pleased to see documented evidence of a cars history and the problems that have been solved, and if they do check and take objection to your 'I ragged the Trophy around the Nurb for four days, got through 2 sets of discs and five engines' post, just sell it to one of the other 90% of buyers who know nothing of the site. Personally I would be thrilled to read the complete history of my car and where it's been and to see the great care that most Trophy owners go to to keep their cars in pristine order. Mine looks better than the day I got it, has got no stone chips and not a mark anywhere, I have driven it for 8000 miles, 10% of those enthusiastically. Anyone who buys a niche car like this thinking that it won't have been driven properly is living in cloud-cuckoo land.

Nik - I'll pay. £20 a year wouldn't bother me at all for the wealth of specialized information on my car that's available, not too mention the funny stories and occasional atagonism (what happened to Stromb again?). I mean, how much would a Trophy magazine cost a year? Seriously though, get some T-shirts and Key-rings made up, you could make a killing on those, I would buy them!

 

[jezza l]

Nik - setup a paypal account or something. I'll give you a tenner or something to help with the running.

 

[FunkyMunky]

i'd agree that the site has reached a point where it's grown and I think there's very few people who would have a problem paying to help keep the site running and also help it to grow in the future.

I pay my £5 a year cliosport membership and find this forum to be twice as useful so have no qualms in putting my hand in my pocket to pay a membership fee

 

[g40steve]

Problem comes when you also put the same posts on other forums.
Then realising what you did, trying to delete posts & even change user name etc.
As i have seen whilst looking for mine.
Just looks very suspicious.

At the end of the day all cars get problems, it's good to have a site like this one to get quick simple answers.
So if you need to go to the dealer :evil: at least you can point them in the right direction.

On the selling front, any owner should have no problem shifting a Trophy. :lol:
As few car & many wanting will ensure prices stay high.

 

[hoolio]

I think this must be in the back of most owners minds when they post up a problem with their car but i think the benefits far outwiegh any downside, sod them if they are unhappy about that dink that they cant see cus you've spent a fortune getting it returned to pristine, but they "know" is there because they have read a post. IT's like steve says the fact that we are posting these things and want to get them sorted proves that most of us really care about our cars.
Nik: totally agree with steve and his suggestions, think you'll have most of our support whatever you decide to do.
Steve: the Stromb, kinda remember seeing seeing a photo somewhere and seeing somebody very similar in a red honda jacket (i think) walking around the trophy stand at trax when nobody else was there, probably wrong. :wink:

 

[fazedesign]

I don't think a charge would be a good idea for the forum. I'd be more than happy to pay a small contribution now but if I was new to the site it would really put me off. I think you would be left with a group of hardcore regulars but fewer irregular visitors. I think Cliosport could support this better due to the more varied membership it can attract.

If you can produce more in the way of merchandising that may be the best way to recover your costs although I appreciate this would require more outlay.... If I could get a Trophy keyring for reasonable cost I would as I still have the crappy dealer one!

 

[nig63]

It happened to me people phoned about my car gave them my cars number they looked it up on here never sold the car . All the probs i had have been sorted but i would still like to get all old posts deleted and start a fresh . as you can see below .


.I looked at your car and would have had a look but the main reasons were.

looked at your history on here and it put me off.

1: stone chiped bonnet
2: scratched windscreen
3: dealer chiped wheels
4: faulty starting with no resolve from renault.


so I looked else where as a few for sale.

some times its best not to post on forums about faults on your own car

 

[Carnut]

Firstly......For some time in the future......... (zzz) (zzz)

To the Owner or Potential Owner of my Beautiful Trophy, searching this site

I have obviously passed away for you to be in the position to buy my car :-({|= as that would be the only reason it's for sale. I am suprised it's for sale as all the petrol in the world has run out!! You must want to put it in a museum as the best example of a Hot Hatch car available . Yes, I did have one or to problems with the car during the time I owned it but being a member of this website should confirm to you I cared about my Trophy and no expense was spared in sorting the problems out and it's maintainence.
Don't forget all cars have problems at some time in their lives.....
Anyway hope you decide to buy my car and give it pride of place in your museum.

Regards
Carnut (T22PHY)

Secondly, The present.........Top Tip

DON'T sell your Trophy :evil: :evil: It is a present and future classic. Coz if you do, I promise one day you WILL say " if only I still had that Trophy" ............

 

[nig63]

Nice carnut . It was a moment of madness on my part .