December 2001
A question for all you motorists out there:
You are driving along the road and in front of you is a bus signalling to pull out from a bus stop, should you:
a) Give way to the bus, as long as it is safe to do so?
b) Floor it and overtake the bus before it has the chance to pull out, after all, being stuck behind it will put an extra 30 seconds on your journey time?
c) Randomly speed up and slow down, so the bus driver has'nt a clue as to wether you are going to let him out, but then again neither have you, then screech to a halt as he pulls out in front you and shout "Bloody bus drivers!"?
I think 99.9% of you know the correct answer is a), but what percentage actually give way?, in my experience as a bus driver most choose to go down route b). I once counted 26, yes TWENTY SIX cars pass me while I was indicating and waiting to pull out from a stop. Small wonder some of us (not me) opt for the pull out regardless of what is coming no matter how close its proximity, and it gives us a bad name in general. Please let us out, thank you! Read more
Hi,
this is the gist of a Q I posed to HJ who suggested that I pose it in the Backroom :
I've had quotes from Warranty Wise and Drive Assured (Warranty Holdings, part of Ford), both found via links from autotrader.co.uk, for my May 1991 registered Audi 100 Avant 2.2L petrol Turbo (seems like a very rare combination of engine & body). These are the only ones prepared to quote on a vehicle of its age & mileage (112K).
The Warranty Wise looks how I'd expect it to with specified components (& covers what I need) but the Drive Assured (Warranty Holdings) seems too good to be true - only normal wear & tear items are excluded. However it does state "Mechanical breakdown is the failure of a component, causing sudden stoppage of its function, for a reason other than wear and tear, normal deterioration or negligence". On a 10+ year old car this could be weasel words in that all components are subject to wear which just gets more noticeable the older the vehicle.
The costs for 1 year are Warranty Wise about £273, Drive Assured (Warranty Holdings) £295; for 2 years WW £483, DA £395
HJ replied "I've just had a letter from a reader whose claim was rejected by Warranty Holdings because the part was deemed to have worn out"
Anybody else got any experiences or thoughts ? Read more
Thanks for all the feedback
the consensus seems to be that I should spend the money directly on the vehicle eg interim oil-change, use Audi specialist. I already use latter plus good local independent but will take up the interim oil change idea.
I guess that I should have added to the original note that I'd a failure of the ECU earlier this year which put paid to foreign holiday (loads of labour to confirm diagnosis then wait for 2nd hand part - well a new ECU is 4 figures I ask you !). So I'd thought that a warranty would cover ECU, ABS, etc which are £££ when they fail; the Warrantwise small print specifically states that these are covered.
Hey ho - any of you who are Audi enthusiasts may find a posting on the Audi owners club in a year or so for a 2.2 petrol turbo Avant needing a part or worse still needing a breaker. I hope not; man in love with machine - sad innit.
thanks again
I recently replaced the clutch in my vauxhall vectra as it was shuddering, it was fitted 1 year ago when I had a recon engine fitted. The company that fitted the clutch are denying liability.
Can anyone advise if I can get the clutch they fitted tested as I have retianed it when it was replaced, it appears to be OK but I dont really know what to look for.
Any advice would be appreicated
Thanks
Tony in Enfield Read more
Tony,
You're up a gum tree without a paddle here, I'm afraid....
1) It was juddering from Day 1
You'd lose since having waited so long you are effectively saying or at least implying, that it wasn't that important to you. Also, you have a duty for timely advice to the supplier
2) It just started
Probably oil, probably arrived recently. Difficult [impossible] to prove it was their fault.
Your only chance would be if it was the pressure plate and not the friction plate. If it was the pressure plate then you'd probably have to prove manufacturing fault since I would guess it wouldn't likely be fitting, unless the thing wasn't bolted on properly.
And you'd have to prove your style or amount of use didn't contribute to failure.
Even if you got through all of that you'd still only get a proportion of the value since what you would receive would be along the lines of..
clutch supposed to last 2 years
lasted 1 year
original cost 100 quid
compensation 50 quid.
All in all, I think you'll have to write this one off. Sorry, I'd be more positive if I could.
Mark.
I am looking for one of these. Honest John prefers the Merc C220CDI auto for under £20,000 category according to the archives.
How would I go about getting one ?
Main Merc dealer. supersite, from adverts......?
Has anyone other preferences ?
Most grateful for your comments. Read more
have a look at the motoring part of the telegraph tomorrow (saturday), as you often find car supermarkets that have mercedes estates for sale, plus i would go for a nearly new car, but its up to you :-)
Only because one of you guys asked for an update, I have to report that the mission has been accomplished.
I read with fear this morning some of the advice and tips posted by the on line experts. Fortunately nothing more was required than a bit of brute force. Once loosened, the high street tyre chain were able to complete the filter and Duckhams change for £10. Incredible value.
Thanks though for the interest. Read more
national garages have an offer on, if you take the coupon thats in the daily mail newspaper (sorry about telling people about a rival newspaper), you only have to pay £10, and that includes duckhams QXL oil.
My daughter has had a 2nd hand 1998 Fiesta Finess for 4 months that had what her boyfriend considered to be "a lot" of condensation dripping from the sunroof & rear screen (when compared to the new car, same model he had). Any suggestions how she can cure / prevent this ?
Also, she has a cut in the drivers seat, near the seat adjuster that he also had in his (which Ford's repaired for him under warrenty). Hers is outside dealer's 3 month warrenty, could we get them to repair the seat, by claiming it is a "known" problem area ? Read more
Many materials will absorb moisture, including silica, activated alumina, XH9 etc.
As a 'cheap' way of checking my suspension I thought I'd put it in for MOT.
37 quid. I'm sure I only paid 26 last January?
I still have 2 months to go. I take it if it fails on lights or something I still keep the 2 months in the bag. Read more
The spare wheel isn't a testable item, unless it's a space saver fitted as a road wheel at the time of the test. Then it becomes testable - and probably a failure.
Construction and use Regs. aren't neccessarily part of the MOT. Neither are manufacturers recommendations. When I did the testers course (few years ago), there were three police traffic car drivers there, they did a short version, lights, tyres wipers and so on. As for the police checking the spare, it's happened to me as well, I think they were looking for something else, and checking the spare gave access to the boot.
Hi
I have a 1994 Renault Clio RT and have been experiencing a few problems with the heaters. Whenever the heater is put to "hot" it will only blow luke warm air out of the vents - no matter how hot the engine is.
The pipes going into the heater are hot and I have flushed the system out and replaced the coolant, but to no avail. The only thing I can think of is that the flap is not opening properly or that the matrix is broken.
According to the Haynes manual to check that the flap is opening properly I will need to take the whole dashboard out! Has anyone done this - if so how long and how easy was it?
Any other suggestions welome!
Ta
Matt Read more
Any news from the auctions on this subject? Read more
The dealer is still liable under the sale of goods act, regardless of what is said or signed.
anyone used the new service provided by renault, called "renault minute" (pronounced "min-newt" by staff). i had an interim service carried out on my clio which cost over £160. apparently renault plan to introduce "minute" to 100+ dealers across the country over the next year or so. the good thing about "minute" is the required work is carried out while you wait, no booking required. i have had my car serviced by renault dealers from new and the main reason i continue to do so is because i think a full renault service history should help when i sell it. Read more
Does a full Renault Service record help?
Browse
Hear, hear Bob H,
I've also seen the results of several accidents when someone has turned right through a line of traffic in the outer lane, gone across the bus lane on the assumption that if they can't see a bus over the tops of the cars then the lane is empty, only to find themselves side-swiped by a car doing 40 mph.
However, taxis are also entitled to use bus lanes (goodness knows why?) and on one occasion a milk float trying to turn into a customer's yard got hit by a London cab in the bus lane.
It's a jungle out there!