IVA and Registration

Not much to write about this one other than how long it has taken and the frustration that it can cause. Having sailed through the PBC I got a bit excited that the IVA would be just as easy. Caterham are very clear in stating that it may not pass first time so ensure you expect this. My test was booked in for 3 weeks after the PBC, it failed on one issue, the brake bias. Apparently the rear brakes were not locking up at the right time, and this is usually caused by the brakes not being bed in correctly. The cost of the IVA is £450, and a retest is £90 but as I had Caterham present the car, they also pick up the cost for the re test should it need it. The only down side is that the re test was another 4 weeks from my first IVA test. So all in all the car has been away from my garage for 2 months to get it legally ready for the road.

Now the IVA has passed, it is time to get it registered, this can also take up to 4 weeks so I still can't take the car out on the road until the registration has been completed. This also costs £400, that is £55 for the fee, and £345 for the road tax! So as you can see make sure you budget for these costs at the end as the costs do mount up.

I've decided to go and pick up the car on a transporter in the week so I can then fit the numerous upgrades that I have sitting around in my garage ready to go on post IVA.

Whilst it has been away, they have fixed the crack in the nose and also applied PPF on the nose and wings. Crack shown below left.

In the end they applied PPF on top of the stripes, which was not ideal given they had spare stripes for me as part of the crack fix. This means it is slightly noticeable(esp. in the photo they sent me) but I'll know more when I pick it up. See the images below, far right shows how the light is picking up the PPF on the stripes. This was after the first pass, I've been told that they re visited it a week later and went over it all again once the PPF had "moulded" to the shape. Images show full wrap of nose and impact areas of wings. Given how delicate the paint was when building it, this can only be a good thing anyway, and Caterham have given me the spare stripes for potential use in the future.