APJ

Yep - I'm all for paying that bit extra for 14/15 months membership - there must be plenty of us out here - and SIDC are losing the extra couple of months membership fees.

Andrew

boomer

Hey guys,

this is costing you (or your employer) more in Internet access fees that the amount of dosh that you are arguing about.

How much is your car insurance? Do you drive every hour of the day, just to get your money's worth? Gotta be worth it compared with the petrol that you will use, er, perhaps.

FWIW, i joined the SIDC in April, and it only cost £15. I think that the subscription may drop another fiver during the Summer, but don't quote me on that. Maybe you will get 13 months membership if you join a bit later, but maybe not. Send off your details and couple of SAEs to find out for sure - that's only going to cost half a quid, and you can make your decision then. If you are lucky then you may even get an old copy of True Grip thrown in, which will go towards your stamps!

Oh, and if you do get a discount - maybe you should only get one-third of an SIDC tax-disk holder (worth £2-00), and half of an SIDC sticker (2 times 50p), and a portion of your membership card (at £3-00).

Chill out, and enjoy your car.

mb

subverbal

Boomer,
Amen to that.

sickboy

Boomer you numpty,
have you heard of free dial up access?

Perhaps not.

Thanks for the helpful suggestions though.

sickboy

Oh and my insurance has just on up to £767.

That's why I'm not burning 20 quid notes for the sake of it.

That's what booze and gutters were invented for.

APJ

If its a choice of £20 for a months membership of SIDC or 100 miles worth of Scooby petrol - I know which I'd choose!

JohnS

iTrader: (1)

I can't believe people who pay £20k+ for a new car (or £8k+ for a 2nd hand one), which does 20mpg, and costs on average £700 per year for insurance are worried about missing out on a few months membership.

The SIDC is an organisation run by volunteers who don't get paid anything for all the hard work they put into the club.

Earlier this year, a pro-rate membership fee was trialled, but it proved to be too much admin work (people would wait until the next quarter before sending in their form to save £5, and then the membership secretary would get a hundred+ forms to deal with all at once, which meant delays, and more admin work as people chased up their membership...) Some people sent cheques for the wrong amount which had to be returned, and new ones re-sent etc. etc.

Most other car clubs have a one off joining fee (some of £50+), to cover the initial admin for setting up club membership. The SIDC doesn't have such a fee, but instead has a first year fee of £20, which includes your joining fee. This covers the cost of producing your membership card, membership rules, tax disc holder, car stickers and various other bits and pieces.

SIDC membership will gain you 10% discount off parts and labour at some Subaru UK dealers, and discounts on various performance parts from a number of suppliers. There is even an insurance scheme with preferred rates. You could recover the cost of your £20 outlay very quickly indeed!

If you joined now, you would get a copy of the last issue of the club magazine (True Grip), whereas joining in September, you would miss out on at least one issue.

I also know that there are a number of events at some of the Top circuits and motoring venues around the UK which are coming up over the next few months. These will be open only to Club members. Demand will be astronomical, and if you waited until September, I would say that all the places would have been snapped up. The flyers for these events will be sent out to members over the next week or two

At the end of the day though, the choice is yours. If you want to wait until September to join to get the best possible value out of a £20 investment, then that's fine, but arguing about it on this forum isn't going to change anything. If you do have strong feelings about the subject, and would like to stand up and talk about them, then join up now, and go along to the AGM and raise it there as a major issue. I'm sure the committee would be delighted to discuss it with you. You could even get someone to propose you for a place on the committee itself

The more "hassle" there is involved with the running of the club, the less fun and pleasurable it becomes for those running it, and that can only have a detrimental effect

Oh well, enough said for a Sunday morning, I'm away for for a nice drive

sickboy

John,
the reason I posted is because I could not contact the club unless I wrote a letter.

I've asked if anyone from the SIDC has any thoughts, so you have finally piped up!

Why didn't you mention the SIDC had trialled it and don't wish to persue it further at post 2 instead of 36 posts later??

It would have saved us all wasting our breath.

I don't agree with your specious logic about paying £20k for a car etc etc.

"Oh well, you've paid £20k for a car so you shouldn't grumble about us putting 10p on a litre of petrol and 15 quid on road fund..."

My point is not just the money. I was asking for feedback and seeing if life could be made easier for everyone.

Obviously some members aren't as progressive as others.

boomer

sickboy,

seeing as you first registered on this BBS in January 1999, why did you not join the SIDC several months ago? That way you could have maximized your subscription!

mb

sickboy

Sorry John,
I wasn't having a go at you- apologies if I came across that way. I can imagine it must be a nightmare keeping up with all the posts.

I should have joined ages a go but didn't get round to it. I think I will wait until the next season- £15 will buy a lot of baby food!

sickboy

Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

Ian Sutton

Sickboy, do you feel sick?

JohnS

iTrader: (1)

sickboy,

I'm not an SIDC committee member, however I do organise lots of events for the SIDC in Scotland

There is a telephone number for the club, however it is only given out to club members (it was printed in a previous True Grip).

I did reply to the thread earlier on, and supplied the info I thought you needed (e.g. how to join the club asap to get discount off an imminent service). I was very busy at work on Friday, I only "skimmed" through a few threads which were of interest. Gone are the days when you could read all the threads in 15 minutes or so. The next time I read the thread was from home on Sunday morning, and I replied again then.

It may help to think of things in a slightly different way. If you join now, then the club and all it's members (including yourself) will benefit from money coming into the club. No one individual will benefit from your "extra" payment, but the club as a whole. The club is run for benefit of all its members, not just for a select few.

But then again, this is my own viewpoint, and may not reflect that of the 1300 or so other paid up members of the club ?

JamesH

There is now an SIDC phone number & I believe it was announced in a recent edition of True Grip. Saying that, all my TGs are at home & I can't remember it. However, someone out there might have one to hand...

Alan

Just think if you want to buy something expensive from a dealer which offers discounts to SIDC members. £20 to get your membership is worth saving £100 when spending £1,000. A grand - bodywork repairs? new clutch? May be some new wheels?

APJ

Just a thought . . . how about newbies join SIDC for 12 months - ie scrap the fixed annual renewal date? Assuming on a database, easier to administer with only a trickle of reminders going out each month. And how about payment by annual dd mandate or continuous credit card debit authority - automates the subscription collection process.

As I said in an earlier post, I am keen to join the club, but I prob wouldnt take advantage of track days, and don't need the discount on services - I'm only after the tax disc holder so I'll hang on a tad.

Kevin Tree

I would go along with DD, however, credit card companies claim 3-4 % on CC transactions, so I don't think that that would work.