A friend in the insurance industry tells me that his company insists that if a car is involved in a collision, damaged alloy wheels are replaced with new ones.
Apparently they had a host of 'comeback' claims when repaired wheels failed - especially on high-performance cars.
He also warned about epoxy-coated 'refurbs' (available in all colours, just to please the boy racers!) - apparently this process is used to cover a multitude of sins by unscrupulous fixers.

Hmmmmmmm......looked at my own car as an example.

1993 Xantia TD at just over 100K, say 12,500 annual miles.

Premium £600/yr! OK so this includes a service/MOT worth £100 and breakdown cover perhaps worth £50. $450 of the cost is to "insure".

Of course all wearing parts such as brakes and tyres are excluded so on my car the actual costs I've had that they might have covered over a two year period would have been about £120. Not brilliant deal for the £900 charge over that period for the insurance element.

I notice they only include a yearly service in the cost, so with something like a diesel that needs one at six months I guess the customer covers that.

Then what about the "big" services that come up...needing coolant, brake fluid and timing belt changes. I bet you pay extra for those too.

The claim total in any one year is £5K max or the value of your car. For mine a realistic trade value might be £800. That will hardly pay for an exchange head after overheating or timing belt failure.

The killer clause as I see it is that they can charge you a proportion of the cost for any new parts that improve the condition of the car. So you have an engine fail at 100K that otherwise should have outlasted the car. Cost of £3K to replace but they say well you're gaining an extra 100K of life out of a potential total of 200K. That'll be a contribution of £1500 please!

Lastly the work will only be allowed at their network of approved garages. From my experience of insurance based warranty claims an independent garage on your side is often all that will help push the claim through at a fair settlement.


David W

Is anything visible to a spectator? I wouldn't expect that sort of noise from a CV joint - it sounds more like fouling of some sort.

Jon,

If they started to judder and replacing them has cured that fault then the garage was acting in your best interests.

HJ often comments you ought to budget a set of brake discs and a battery if buying a car that has been long term stored.

My explanation would be.....

Anything that changes the physical state of a particular section around a brake disc can allow uneven wear. This will lead to the thickness variation that causes judder.

This problem can be caused when a vehicle is long term stored with the pads held in the same place on the disc for ages. It matters not if the disc rusts everywhere else and the bit behind the pads stays good, or that the rest stays good and the bit behind the pad rusts. In time (thousands of miles later) you will notice a judder due to the differential wear.

The same thing can happen if you are in the habit of braking very hard then leaving the vehicle with the pads in the same position. The heat soak from the pads will slightly affect the disc material and, in time, this will lead to judder.

Loads of cars I see have sort of "imprints" of the pad shape at various positions around the disc. This is due to the effects I describe above and often leads to judder.

David W

As long as it's actually working (as you say it is) there should be no need for replacement.

If the car's still under warranty (and I assume it is), why not pop along to your Ford garage and get them to re-direct it. You can also ask them what to do if it happens again. That's what they're there for (or at least that's the sort of stuff they would say in their mission statement!!).