March 2003
This is a question about a general principle, I dont have full details as the incident happened 200 miles from here, so I can't look at the policy.
My daughter's car (a J reg Nova) was stolen at the weekend. It's since been found,having crashed into another car. The culprit got away. My daughter's coverage is TPFT only and my questions are: Is she covered for the damage?
The car has been towed to a local garage for inspection by the police and she's concerned that she'll have to pay the towing charges. Is this correct?
Thanks in advance Read more
I would appreciate if any B.R.`s could inform me of the final drive ratio of the BMW E46 320d saloon. I have a Touring, which is 80kg heavier than the saloon, with a F.D. ratio of 2.35, and was wondering if this is lower than the saloon, and help explain the lower fuel consumption (39 mpg average) that I am getting. - BMW claim aggregate consumption of 51 mpg. Read more
Thanks keithb for your info, which does indicate that the saloon has a slightly higher final drive ratio than the Touring, and would help partly to explain my lower fuel consumption.
My father in law has rather stupidly been caught drink driving on saturday night. he has a date in court for wednesday. I've already told him to expect a 12 mth ban and a hefty fine (aprox £300-500?? he only earns about £10k).
My questions are....
Is it worth him getting a solicitor or should he just plead guilty. He was 63 vs 35 limit on the breathlyser.
Will he be banned on wednesday or just given another date for court and told to expect a ban?
As I understand it there are few practical grounds for mitigation no matter what the consequences of the ban will be. As such it must be one of the few crimes in the uk where the severity of the punishment has a genuine detterence affect...shame we can't have more of this for violence and other anti-social behaviour.
I understand there are education courses where they cut the sentence by three month if completed. He said 9mth or 12mths is no difference and he'd rather not do the course, shall I tell him not to share this view with the court if they offer an education course to him!?
Thanks in advance for any help. Ian
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1. 3 out of 4 fatalaties WERE wearing a seatbelt...
2. 2 out of 3 fatalaties DIDN'T involve alcohol...
3. 3 out of 5 fatalaties DIDN't speed...
You can't imply anything from this as it takes no account of the incidence of the above in the normalised driving population.
To get a useful statistical measure you would need to look at the above "attributes" as a proportion of a representative sample group. You'd then need to compare the variance in terms of accident rate and fatality rate between the overall sample group and the people doing 1,2 or 3.
If 5 people in the group had been drinking and all died, against perhaps 15 deaths overall, you'd see that the drinkers were involved in only one third of fatalities, but nonetheless had a 100% mortality rate.
Statisitcs are a very useful way of measuring risk but they must be interpreted properly and challenged where wrong.
There was an interesting report a few months back that does prove a link between speeding and accidents - drivers with 4 or more points on their licence for speeding offences are almost twice as likely to have been involved in an accident than those that have no points. The difficulty is then understanding the root causes - was the driver's typical speed profile the problem that led to increased accident incidence, or is it a driving attitude problem that is expressed in drivers speeding amongst other poor behaviours?
Terry...
needs a button for 'all the above'
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Dave - may I suggest that the Back Room Poll is listed above Discussion? More people would see it, and even though all you have to do is scroll down and you'll find it, I think that the poll should be displayed prominently if it is to succeed. Hope you take this suggestion in the manner in which it is intended! ;-)
There's a new topic for this week's Back Room Poll.
Martyn [Back Room moderator]
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mailto:webmaster@honestjohn.co.uk Read more
Been losing fluid from the combined brake / clutch fluid reservoir on my '96 vectra and have tracked it down to the clutch slave cylinder, according to Haynes workshop manual this looks a massive job involving removing the front subframe and gearbox. Has anyone had this job done? What sort of money would I be looking at to get it done and roughly what would the timescale be? Any advice appreciated so I can decide what course of action to take next. Read more
nope, trust me on this, the clutch is hydraulically operated, I had a SRI cav and that had a cable cluch so when this problem first started to manifest itself (losing clutch pressure on a long run)I susupected the auto adjusters on the clutch cable had failed in some way, no cable though, just a master cylinder BEHIND the brake servo and on top of the gearbox, a pipe and a b***** bleed nipple. Sort of wish mine was an auto at the mo!
I am driving my SUV. You are driving your Smallmobile. We espy each other amid the traffic, and each of us evaluates an identical scenario from different perspectives. I am thinking defensive: size gives me protection. You are thinking offensive: he's out to get me.
Reality is not a universal fixed point construct. Perception is all there is, leavened perhaps with a slight shot of paranoia on both our sides.
Well, I don?t think so??
Last week I found an ad in the AUTO TRADER for an S reg Omega 2.5 TD AUTO being sold by deleted, a bloke who apparently works from home and has about 40 cars for sale stored away in lock-ups. Went to view this car in Windsor (J13 off M25) and on arrival at the address he gave, went to where this car was being stored in a normal domestic garage and it failed to start, (but had only been in there 2 weeks) so was jump started, then we returned to the original location, and I continued to look around the vehicle, after a test-drive I asked to view the log-book V5 so as I could check the VIN etc, etc but was advised that ?he didn?t have it with him and that they are stored in a different location for security reasons and he wasn\'t prepared to make a special journey to get it? I advised that I need to see this before I even consider proceeding with the purchase and do an HPI check and AA Inspection, the reply I got was ?do you think this car is stolen?? and that he would make the details available to the AA.
Surely this is normal practice to view the log-book, what does that advert on telly say.. ?it?s not legite without it? or something like that?
I walked away, very large steps the other direction???
Your comments please!
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As a trader myself, I am at a loss to understand why some other traders have a problem with prospective customers doing HPI checks on cars; I remember (before I started trading) going to look at a Golf Gti at a used car dealer. When I said I wanted to HPI the car he got really shirty about it, many customers in my experince would have walked at this point, but as I was buying the car, not the personality selling it, I did the check and all was fine, as expected. (I would'nt have wasted £30 checking a car that I thought was 'dodgy' to begin with). Anyway I bought it and went on to cover 40,000 very enjoyable miles over the next 18 months. I think some of these guys are just useless at dealing with people, not bent or having something to hide...
Now I'm getting to know you Back Roomers a little better, I'd be intrigued to know what your number one wish is for motoring. What would be your idea of motoring heaven?
Mine would be simply being able to afford to buy a classic Triumph TR4 or similar and cruise around the beautiful country lanes with the top down (the car's top, not mine - that would not be a nice sight).
Over to you... Read more
Stopped thrice as I recall whether tank empty or not. Out there in the woop-woop you stop EVERY time you see a pump, cos they tend to be few and far between.
What's the lowest price for a N/P/R/S-reg Omega CDX with the 2.5 BMW TurboDiesel at the moment? (I am willing to travel over the country to find a right car, my QX was 160 miles away. I am willing to buy from any source)
Also, is manual or auto better with that engine? (If manual, I would budget for a clutch change. If auto, I would budget for a ... err, recon-box)
Lastly, what kind of mpg do you get from the BM Diesel? (Manual & auto)
I would like as many toys as my QX so I guess CD is out and CDX is my only option.
Cheers,
Garrison Read more
Well, I am looking for something more economical than the 27mpg I get from my 3.0 QX without losing much speed and refinement.
I get around 22mpg in town and 30mpg at 80mph cruise.
Browse
Looking at my insurance thread, I decided to see how much the premium would change if I went for third party only, instead of TPF&T. It went down by about £70, so I looked at the likely outcome if my car were stolen.
Basically, it would work as follows:
Value of car £400 - likely payout, plus any recovery charges (it'd be scrapped if it were damaged in any way)
Minus
Loss of no claims - £200 next year, who knows after that
Extra premium to pay - £70
Excess (compulsory) - £100
Net benefit to me - £30! Therefore I'm going to go for TP only, and she should probably consider whether or not to make a claim based on the likely value of the car. Depending on spec and condition, this will be £300 to £900 unless it's heavily modified (and she's told the insurers about the mods).