April 2003
Dear Backroomers,
I'm after a new car and I'm tempted to pick one up at auction,
so I'm hoping to pick the collective brains of auction going
backroomers.
I'm aware that alot of cars at auction are 'direct' end of
lease company cars and these are normally upto 3 years old.
I read a book on this topic some time ago and its recommendation
was for direct from fleet as the servicing will have been done
by the book. However as I am a bit tight I'm more interested in
5/6 year old cars. I assume that most of these will not be
'direct' from fleets but trade ins and stock moved around the
trade, and so their history might be less that 100%. Other than
looking the car and its details over is there anyway to gleen
more info about it? At BCA blackbushe there are lots of named
sales (Nissan Finance, Black Horse finance and so on) do these
give any indication of car origin and potential quality? Would
something like the BCA approved lots be a good bet? Also the
last time I stopped over on the way to work I noticed alot of
'bangers' grouped in an inchcape sale. Do inchcape specialise
in disposal of 80's cars as well as newer fleet stuff.
Thanks in advance for any comments and observations!
Regards,
Mat.
Read more
Just read that Autocar is launching a campaign this week to get speed limits changed - urban speed limits down, motorway speed limits up.
Their take is that it\'s in towns that most road accidents causing death or injury occur and that even 30mph is too high in many situations. Traffic calming is only part of the answer, they say, and limits should be lowered in certain circumstances, and certainly be more clearly signed everywhere.
On motorways, Autocar says it\'s commonplace to find people averaging 80mph so why not set that as the limit? The 70mph limit dates back to 1965, when cars had none of the electronic braking aids available today. Their own tests showed a modern Mondeo was able to stop 22 metres shorter than a 1960s Cortina.
Thie suggestion is that we follow France\'s lead and have an 80mph limit in dry, clear conditions, dropping to 65mph in rain, ice or fog.
All sounds like common sense to me. I\'ve said in a number of threads that the measures traffic planners use to slow people down in the urban environment are becoming so complex that they\'re almost self-defeating (too much signage, furniture and baffling traffic calming). Simply signed and thoroughly enforced speed limits are a much better solution.
Ditto on motorways. Why do we persist with a situation where the limit is largely ignored and enforced only above certain thresholds? Change the limit, enforce it strongly.
The floor is yours, guys. Read more
Interestingly, in France there is also a MINIMUM speed limit for
the outside lane of 3 lane motorways - it's 50 mph
(80 kph). Could we apply this to the M25, M1, M6,
M5 et al???
you could apply it but you would not often reach such speeds,tooo congested;)
chris
What do you think of these deals ?
S reg vauxhall gsi estate 120,000 miles full service history serviced by vauxhall twice a year every year , looks really nice condition £3995 3 months warranty
R reg vauxhall omega estate automatic cd 2 litre, full service,
87.000 MILES £5295 3 months warranty
S reg mondeo 2.0iglx 59.000 miles full service history, £4995 with years warranty
v reg laguna 1.8 rt alize , 71000 miles, £4995 full service, 3 months warranty
S reg passatt 1.8 se 20v, 85000 miles, full service, £5995, 3 months warranty
S reg 406 1.9tdlx, 96000 miles , full service , £5995 6 months warranty
S reg vectra sri 2litre, 68000 miles, full service ,£5995, 6 months warranty
Which of these would you go for as ive been looking and confused.Dont know whether to go for high mileage or low and older car?
THANKS Read more
In the South West Carfinders are great. Although they charged me £100, that was a full days work (I'm fussy) and I saved about £500. I've posted the number on a thread a few days ago.
Does anyone know how to get access to the footage from these cameras as i was knocked off my bike here on tuesday
thanks
Kev Read more
Kev, sorry to hear of the prang, glad you're not too badly dented.
I think you'll find Renault Family is probably on the right track, certainly on our traffic reports the reporter often mentions that Kent Police have told them of problems at that junction that they have seen on their camera.
As to whether they tape everything that would be the $64,000 question but I would think if they had spotted an accident then it wouldn't be the first bit of tape they would wipe.
Cockle
The spare tyre in the boot of my July 1999 Mondeo is unused. I have not checked but I would imagine the tyre is not much older than the car. The fronts are nearing replacement (again). The car covers about 25k miles a year, so the front tyres last about a year.
To help cash flow I am considering using the spare and only buying one (matching) replacement front tyre.
Does anyone know a recommended maximum age for tyres?
I realise that there is no point at which a tyre will suddenly become dangerously weakened and that we are talking about a gradual process, but I'd appreciate any wisdom from the BR on the subject.
Thanks in anticipation
Andy Read more
Missus has a nine year old, 19K miles, pug 306 that has spent most of it's life in the previous owner's garage, where of course the tyres didn't get degraded by UV light.
It is still on the original tyres, which have no cracks or other signs of deterioration, and which from the totally unmarked steel wheels (not even any surface rust, let alone dents in the rim or scrapes), have never been kerbed.
It passed the MOT last week with no comments other than "Blimey, this car's still new!" Take the wheel trims off, and even the drive shaft nuts are clean and golden.
I have an audi A3 which I bought new in July ´01 and so far it has just 15000km on the clock. I use my faithfull and hardworking MkII Golf for the city and the Audi rests most of the time inside the garage for small weekend trips. Last month I noticed that the leather around the gear shift is falling apart. It has already two holes, one on the front and another on the back of the shift where the leather folds. I personaly think that such quality is simply unacceptable in a car which costs that amount of money or for any car for that matter. I have this car less than 2 years and I always used the official audi garage for the service. I believe that the guarantee (which would cover such cases) is only value for the first year however I do think that they should replace it for free as such wear in such a short time and use is simply a big fat joke!
Please do tell me if you had similar experiences or mine is one off (a sick cow maybe?). Do you think I should go back to the audi dealer for a reclaim or I just have to live with it?
(I bet the replacment must costs a hand and a leg as it´s an audi thing and therefore synonimous to quality HA!)
Thank you for your patience, Stavros. Read more
Jud said :
?Can't understand why you've bothered to post this unless its a dig at Audi, simply take it to the dealer and have it replaced under the three year warranty,?
Well Jud for a start the warranty in most south european countries is valid for one year (may be we are getting the good ones and the bad ones are dumped up north!) therefore things are getting a bit more complex after that period.
Then again I have a quite different story(ies) to tell about how dealers in general (and not just Audi) work in this part of the world.
I have been on the move for the last 15 years around europe and what might seem to be normal or logical in one place doesn´t necessary apply to the rest of the world. I can tell you for a bright new A3(mine) going for its first service and coming home with the oil puring out of the engine because somebody forggot to screw the cap in place (Oops!).We are all humans-indeed we are, but how about the cooling liquid tank almost empty and the headlights completely out of balance?
You think this is a joke? I ´ll say I am glad I was not driving abroad that weekend.
Well even the service book was not stamped but that´s small insignificant details!
It seems to me yesterday, when I was still looking for a new car and I asked to do a test drive to the VW Golf 1.6 . The big breast lady said to me that they sell soooo many that it wouldn´t be that hard for ME to find someone with this car and ask him to drive it. ARE YOU REAL????
What is the conclusion? My impression is that in this part of the world the delears sell (and I mean they sell a lot) an expensive product (which generally speaking has good build quality) but then they don´t realy want to know about it. What I am not sure about is if from now and on is meant to be like this. You get 2-3 years to pay the car in the bank (joined with a big fat isurance bill) and then by the time is yours you should get a new one and start all over again.
When we bought this car we thought about it as a kind of long term investment for a vechile that with the proper maintance and with no extras come go to garages will get us there safe and sound for the years to come. Just like the self-maintaned MkII ´85 Golf has done so far (still a member of the family) and the ´79 BMW R65.
Jud and the rest of the forum thank you once more for your replies. Just for the sake of it I´ll send a feedback note when I´ll get some time to resolve this,
Stavros.
The tyres thread got me thinking about the tyre rotation issue. I've never owned a car long enough to have to buy sets of tyres but this time maybe...
The point is, is rotation a good idea? I can see that by rotating the wheels that you should get even wear all round but surely this also means that instead of having to replace 2 tyres you have to replace all 4 at once. I guess it would even out the effects of uneven wear due to steering geometry, etc and would mean you get a matching set of tyres (not important to me so long as they're legal and safe!).
What do others think?
Steve. Read more
Volvo do not recommend rotating tyres on the new V70. I've never done it anyway in 33years of motoring, cheaper to replace two tyres rather than four.
Having just passed its MOT I thought I thought it only fair to give my car a decent clean - something I hardly ever do. The paintwork is in very good nick however I've notice that in several areas (mainly in/near recesses or panel seams) the white paintwork has a sort of grimey, grey haze on it. Ordinary washing won't shift it and even 'colour back' polish doesn't really seem to deal with it properly. Can anyone offer any advice as to how best to get rid of these marks without damaging the paintwork. I'd really like to wax the car but want to get it really clean first. Many thanks. Read more
You been getting too much sun behind this wall Dave?;-)
You could be right. btw, who left the chocolate Hob Nobs out in the Sun. Grrrrr.
was thinking of buying a toyota carina e 1.6 petrol 1997,50,000 miles.would welcome any advise is it a good car, what to look foretc.thanx in advance. Read more
some day......................
Anyone see it last night.
That lucky bloke spent FIVE times more on a Ferrari than I spent on buying my house! Read more
Sounds like my lawnmower?
Well, I might be interested if it hovers...
Browse
The Inchcape section you mention, can throw up a few genuine buys.
The cars will be as seen, un warranted miles/condition.
If there is a log book, the actioneer will anounce if it's 1 or 2 owners, if he doesn't, chances are it's had more!
These branded sales offer the nearest thing to a potential good opportunity to buy a car that hasn't been tarted up, for sale.
The other 'approved' stock, you mention, has probably been valeted & traded several times.Each trader trying to turn a profit.All that glitters......, as they say!
VB