December 2002
Hi
Further to the post in Technical Section -"Ka problem-what to do next", the following should be of interest to most people (concerning repairs, car hire costs), and people should read that post first.
If your vehicle has a low mileage on it,(or indeed any mileage) and sent in for service/MOT, it is difficult to see how the repair work stated in that post needed doing. Possibly a fast one by the garage to pay staff wages, possibly not, it is not up to me to state how garages operate. Remember that the customer is only obliged to pay "reasonable costs" where servicing is concerned, especially after the customer has insinuated what he/she wants for the vehicle (in this case a service).
Under the Supply of Goods and Services Act, a garage has a legal " duty of care" in the servicing of your vehicle whilst in their care. As suggested, the car was going fine before the service and until the plug was snapped by their mechanics, then apparently needed a new cylinder head - at 6,000 miles! But remember they still mitigated their mistake by repairing it up to 75% of cost after the customer complained. They had no choice under consumer law!!
As for the courtesy car, normal procedure is to ask before car handed in whether a replacement one will be supplied for the duration of service. Before the next service, find a garage that will agree to this.
Regardless, if the garage did not have your vehicle ready in time,(after they said it would be),and you had pre-booked events (wedding,long trips, etc) where you hastily needed to hire a car to carry out your duties, you would be in a strong position to claim compensation (costs)from the garage for their lack of care in not having your vehicle ready.If the garage started squealing when you hand them your claim,issue a Small Claims Writ in your local County Court, (no costs if you lose) and the Judge would decide on the balance of probabilities who was right!!
In this case, most likely in the customer's favour!
Hope this helps.
R.A
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Can someone please tell me the difference between a Peugeout 806, a Citroen Synergie and the Fiat one, all look identical but all are from competitive companies. Are there any differences? Which is best, how do they compare in price, performance and which has the best resale value?
Thanking you in advance for any information. Read more
no, not optimax but bp super unleaded
having just inadvertantly filled up with 97ron super unleaded rather than 95ron cleaner unleaded, and being unable to access the BP web site at the moment, can anybody tell me what justifies the 13p per litre price difference ?
will I suddenly
a) go faster
b) get more miles to the gallon
c) or simply be £6.20 worse off ?
I have to grow old - but I don't have to grow up Read more
I dont mind paying an additional 6p per litre for Optimax
as I believe there is an improvement, but BP's Super must
be quite something to justify 13p!
my mistake - it was only 12p !
95ron - 71.9, 97ron, 83.9
of course, the price of the 97 ron was not on the illuminated sign at the roadside, and only comes up on the digital display on the pump whn you start pumping !
I have to grow old - but I don't have to grow up
There have been a lot of posts in the Backroom extolling the virtues of Skodas - how they are much better value etc than the VW equivalent model etc.
Well in the Sunday Times today Clarkson did a real demolition job on Skodas in general and the Superb in particular. Even allowing for his tongue in cheek comments, he was mightily unimpressed. He assessed the build quality as on a par with a Fiat and the quality of the materials as a "notch or two down on VW or Audi"
He summed up "But no matter how many times we're told differently. Skoda is still the crappiest badge that money can buy. Telling people you have one marks you out as someone with no style at all"
Fair comment?
Rubbish?
Has Clarkson gone too far?
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I think people should believe a little less of what they read ;)
It's the old 'engage brain before putting mouth into gear situation' - I doubt any of the critics OR advocates have actually driven both cars enough to form a sound opinion.
Personally I think the Leon and the Octavia and both fantastic cars for the money - I haven't had a great deal of personal experience of either, but I think the Leon is far better looking than the Mk4 Golf (and infinitely nicer that the shots I've seen of the Mk5) and the Octavia packs a surprising amount of quality kit in and offers a shedload of space for not very much money at all.
Then again, I approach cars the same as I approach guitars - you play with it for a while, see how it fits, work out where the sweet spots are and see if you click with it - at no point do you give a toss about the name printed on it, or you may miss out on a little gem.
*looks over at the Sunn Mustang Strat, which looks and sounds the spitting image of a pre CBS Strat, and cost £30...* :)
It appears that tyre choice is critical on the handling of E46 3 series coupes. My son sold his 1991 320Ci (170 b.h.p.)last year becuse he was unhappy with the tram lining and wayward handling above approx 85 m.p.h. He has been running a 530d SE for 12 months, which has handled brilliantly, but not enough poke. Recently he has been test driving 330Ci coupes, (all with different tyres)
and discovered that they tram-lined on all tyres except Dunlop SP Sports, on which the handling was superb. (It appears that the Dunlops have stiffer sidewalls). It now appears he sold his last car(which was excellent in every other respect) purely because he was unaware that tyre choice for this model was so critical!! Read more
I have Dunlop SP9000 on my Audi TT and can endorse the recommendation.
A quick question to the knowledgeable HJ community: what is the best material to minimise the tendency of alloy wheels to stick to their hub? I recently removed all four from my BMW for cleaning. Some needed the help of a rubber mallet, which would not be a very user friendly situation if I scored a flat on a dark night on a motorway. Before re-fitting I gave all of them a light smear of grease - but perhaps there is a bespoke or better product for the purpose? Read more
Thanks for your input. I see that Copaslip has a competing 'clone' product: Copper Ease, which was offered to me when I asked for Copaslip. I bought it.
Last night some moron decided to take a swipe/kick at the nearside wing mirror of my 97 Pug 306 Meridian.
The wing mirror itself is intact, though one of the charcol-coloured mounts (washers? - not sure what function it performs) inside the mirror's mechanism (where the mirror is attached to the car) has been broken - meaning I can't reconnect the mirror properly and position it.
Thankfully my 306 Meridian does not have electric wing mirrors, which means I thinking about fixing the problem myself.
Two questions:
- Given that the problem is with a mount that is attached to the car and not the mirror itself, is this something I can fix myself, or will I still need to take the car into a garage?
- IF I have to take it into a garage, will they charge me for a whole new wing mirror?
Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks. Read more
Replaced mine from e-Bay. The plastic body-matched panel springs off - just lever it off carefully with a screwdriver.
I have a 1.8 RXE Laguna which has the following problem that occours only in Autum winter and spring! (It runs fine in the summer)
Sometimes the car starts without any problem at all, other times it wants to start but just does not get there. If i leave it to run and warm up once started this prevents it cutting out on me after travelling a short distance. Sometimes you cannot even jump it all. I have had the temperature switch replaced.
Another intermittant fault is when driving along you loose power so that it feels as though you are driving with only half of the engine power and it sounds really rough. If you stop turn off the engine and re start it then it runs as normal.
These are intermittant problems but very frustrating ones none the less as each time you go to get in it its anybodys guess as to whether it will start or not.
To add insult to injury i now have a high pitch whine when i turn corners.
Does anybody have any idea as to how i can go about investigating what the problems are, have already had a diagnostic check done and nothing has been stored on the computer memory as to any faults (so i am told!!)
I would be very greatful for any advice.
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Has anybody noticed that the new information signs on the M1 near Sheffield have a small light in the top left corner even when the sign is switched off. Is this some kind of speed camera or surveilance system?
Ben (who does about 75 so shouldn't have anything to worry about) Read more
Has anybody driven into Paris, the motorways there tell you in minutes how long it will take to get to destinations. Good idea.
Maybe they're not country-wide, but on many of the A-roads in Cambridgeshire/Lincolnshire I've noticed what I can only describe as barcode-like signs - maybe 2 feet x 10" - usually located at junctions on a convenient lamp-post.
Does anyone have any idea what they are (or were) for? Possibly handy if you're shopping for lamp-posts??! Read more
Oh my word. I think I actually remember reading this question the first time around. Or (hopefully) someone else had asked it more recently.
But, yes, where do the years go? And as someone else said, internet forums are so part of our lives nowadays, but back then, they were really quite novel....
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I'm pretty sure that basically they're the same vehicle (made by PSA Group - Citroen and Peugeot) with different front ends and different trim levels. The performance will be the same engine for engine. You'll probably find the Peugeot has the best resale but it may cost a bit more, the Citroen will be a bit less money. Not sure about the Fiat. The diesels are well regarded.