February 2002
My trade motor insurance renewal arrived today, 18% up on last year. In fact over the past five years, despite having gone from nil to max trade no claims, the cost has doubled.
My company comment....
"Unfortunately, due to changing market conditions, caused by the increasingly litigious nature of the general public, higher court awards for personal injury claims and hardening reinsurance premiums, insurers have carried out extensive reviews of their underwriting. As a result renewal premiums in 2002 have inevitably increased"
Simple choice guys, only claim where essential because I *will* put it on you bills!
David Read more
Have any of you with an interest in two wheeled things any information on the current whereabouts of
1935, 998CC Brough Superior ss100, Reg No GW2275.
My information is that it was last up for auction in 1999 but withdrawn.
Once owned by Aircraftsman SHAW and you know who he was.
Thanks in anticipation.
DVD Read more
Safer on a camel!
From the Telegraph today, for those who haven't seen it.
What a tw*t!
A MOTORIST was starting a life sentence yesterday for murdering a pedestrian by mowing him down in a petty row over a broken wing mirror.
Dale Baysting, 21, sped on to a pavement and ploughed into the back of Robert McDowall, hurling him into the air and killing him.
The driver became "enraged" after his mirror was accidentally damaged when it clipped the victim's friend as Baysting reversed the wrong way down a one-way street.
He revved his "pride and joy" Vauxhall Cavalier before hurtling the wrong way up another one-way street to come up behind Mr McDowall and two friends.
He then sped away, leaving the unconscious Mr McDowall, 59, to die in the street from a severe head injury.
Baysting abandoned his car on a beach after smashing the windows before claiming it had been stolen. But he was arrested after his girlfriend and two other passengers in the car told police what had happened.
A jury at Lewes Crown Court convicted him of murder after a three-day trial in which he claimed that he only meant to scare the men.
Anthony Niblett, prosecuting, told how Baysting used his car as "a weapon" in the early hours of one Sunday last July in Bexhill, East Sussex.
Baysting had spent the previous evening drinking strong lager at a nightclub in Eastbourne before racing home at speeds of up to 120mph.
Sentencing, Judge Richard Brown told him: "In your drunken and angry state that night you deliberately took the life of Mr McDowall."
Baysting, of Hastings, admitted manslaughter. Read more
Agreed, Bogush. Recall all the "calming" effects in places like Blackbird Leys (sp?) after the spate of joy-riding?
It seems the principle of "punishing the innocent as well as the guilty" has taken over from "finding the guilty"!
my mother is selling her citroen bx, and i was wondering how much she should charge, its a 1987 E, 16TRS, metallic silver, 111,000 miles, some history, automatic, long tax and test, and has had in the past 6 months - rear spheres, new battery, alternator, HT leads, plugs, full service, ignition coil, starter motor, ignition lock, and in the past year has had tons more done (including the timing belt), the interior is in mint condition, very slight rust on one of the rear doors, but no other rust, she was thinking about £325, but put it up for £450.
what do you think, will she get £450 ??
(its also unleaded)
(personally i think about £250, as nobody wants these cars) Read more
hopefully we will be able to get rid of the car, we have spent alot on it, but my mother needs a smaller runabout (something like a toyota corolla auto)
Does anyone have the website address for German & Swedish? Sorry, but I haven't got the nerve to search for this on my office PC! Thanks alot
Phil Read more
Phil,
You needn't have worried, my search engine had a full page of sensible sites!
www.gsfcarparts.com/
David
On sunday I came up behind a Tesco lorry on the slow bendy section of the A303 and he pulled into the first layby to let the half dozen cars behind him get passed and then he joined the road again.
Contrast that with the horse box traveling at half the speed that held me up in an enormous queue for over 20 miles on the A433.It took nearly an hour at an average of about 25mph. We only managed to get passed when we reached the duel carriageway Cirencester bypass. To make things worse he was in convoy with the car behind so anyone wanting to overtake had to get passed both at once. Not easy on a busy narrow road with lots of bends. Read more
Have you ever noticed, when having cursed a slow lorry for several miles, you eventually get past only to discover the problem wasn't the lorry at all. The lorry being held up by an octogenarian driving a Morris Minor or similiar.
Nobody has said anything about the "special" Driven last night.
David Read more
I agree the styling is terrible , why do we always have to have the trade mark grill? come on BMW show some imagination , copy Jag
I got this from a mate:
"Mind you if you decide
to chip you will run the risk of voiding your warranty...
unless.... you got for the Oettinger chip upgrade which
agrees covers your warranty...but that costs £800 tho..."
could he be right? Read more
Oettinger are the only VW APPROVED performance specialist in the same line as Alpine for BMW's and AMG for Merc's. Many factory specials from VW are, in fact, Oettinger models - e.g. Golf 16S (a rare French 16V MkI Golf) and the incredibly expensive 2Ltr MkII GTI from VW with mota from Oettinger on sale around 1989 methinks.
I would say it is possible the Oettinger chip could be covered by the warranty but only if done through a VAG dealer.
Thanks to A.M. and D.W. for their responses. Rang the supplying dealer, who suggested taking it to the local dealer, which I did. Their mechanic said that, in his opinion, on or more of the discs were warped/excessively corroded. He did a visual inspection of the discs and said that there was signs of, for example, the car being idle for a time as the shape of the pads was evident on the rear discs; it was this that could be causing the 'jerky brakes.' He then went on to say that a VW memo had said that corroded brake discs weren't covered under VW's warranty!! Have now written a letter back to the supplying dealer with the situation. Haven't had the car two weeks yet, it has only done 5000 miles, so watch this space with their reply!! Read more
If anyone still reads this far back, they're now fixed. Turned out to be one or more of the front discs that were warped. Replaced under warranty but not too good after only 5000 miles!!
Alvin, www.eurotunnel.com currently advertising £24 day return for shopping in France. Pick up your cheap French or other foreign car parts at the same time. Did it last summer for £15 return. Must have gone up. Read more
Andrew
i have done this with EuroTunnel three times, and they have never charged my credit card for the up-grade amount. Who's to say that they won't start though!
Browse
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My broker used to be quite good, but they now do this last minute thing; so does the classic lot and it would appear to be general practice.
Another bad thing about this is now, having got the indent for the amount and sent off the cheque ASAP, I don't get the new certificate till about a week after the old one has run out, and dread going out at all - just the time one would be stopped.