April 2003
Hi All,
I have recently opted out of my company are seem, and been thinking what car should I get, since I do around 25-35k miles PA.
I have been playing with the idea of a 3 year old Volvo, but looked at my local Auto Trader and found some really good salvage cars - stolen and recovered or cat D classification insurance Wight off's.
I can see there are massive saving to be had purchasing such a car, but I would like to know the pitfalls.
Is there any trade associations that I should look for, so I know am not buying a cut and shove.
Also if I wanted to get the car inspected who could I use?
Buying this type of car seems to be a really cheep way to buy a decent car, and hopefully I will not lose too much on depreciation.
Many thanks
Q
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According to the letters page of Motoring and Leisure, if a specific bulb blows in the rear view mirror housing the car will be immobilised, as the return for the immobiliser is routed through this bulb.
The writer was adamant, having paid £124 for the breakdown (I assume including the callout)
Correct, or another urban myth?? Read more
Amazingly, this is true. It affects the older C Class Mercs with the green/red locking/immobiliser lamps fitted to the interior mirror. The story goes that for UK market cars the immobiliser had to be reprogrammed to flash the red lamp continuously, for which it was not designed, therefore causing it to fail prematurely. Try the Mercedes forums for more details such as forums.mercedesclub.org.uk and search under "immobiliser".
Could get into the original WDPDT thread so have started another - hope that's OK.
Went out with wifey for dinner etc. on Friday at about 7.30 and saw a guy (25 ish) in a BMW Z3 (top down & baseball cap on) scream up the high street, music blaring, tyres spinning. Ahh well, just another poser I thought. However, this was no ordinary poser. As we went on our way, this guy continued doing the same thing again and again, up and down the high street - rapid acceleration, screech of tyres
followed by sharp braking each time he caught up with the cars in front or had to stop at a crossing. This went on for over half an hourand yesterday morning I saw the same guy do the same thing in an even more packed high street.
What sort of pleasure do people derive from this strange behaviour I wonder. Even my wife (who's only in her mid-twenties) laughed at this idiot's antics. "Does he think he's cool or something ?" she asked.
Also, last week in right hand lane of Dartford tunnel I saw a guy in a BMW compact screaming towards me in the inside lane. He quickly caught me up, undertook, veered sharply across in front of me (despite the no changing lanes rule) and then proceeded to sit on the tail pipe of the vehicle in front of me which I had remained a reasonable distance from. The traffic was quite heavy and he was still up this guy's backside as I turned off at the Thurrock junction. I really can't understand why people do this sort of thing. What did he gain from this dangerous driving ? Read more
If I confess to being repeatedly told off for trying to change up prematurely whilst driving an RS200 on a rally course at Brands Hatch you'll understand that I don't indulge in or approve of such antics either Rob :-)
I can still hear the instructor shouting:
"For God's sake you don't need 3rd or 4th bl&%dy gears round here you £$%&*$@ idiot ......"
I am not sure if I should be concerned or not so would appreciate any advice that you might have.
My wife\'s Golf Mk3 1.6 is to my untechnical mind being a bit funny. When you turn the ignition, everything seems a bit asmatic and doesn\'t seem to know whether it wants to fire up (or rather turn over)or not. There seems to be a second or so before anything happens.
However it has started up everytime so far Read more
A problem we see often is the earth wire from the battery where it bolts onto the gearbox corrodes.It looks ok visually but may not be making good contact.If it is suspect unbolt it and clean everything up, cover in Vaseline and bolt up tight, however, be warned that if the terminal bolt is badly corroded it may shear and the earth wire will have to be extended to an adjacent point. You do not say if the car is fuel injected but if so we have seen several ECUs destroyed by this earth failure.
Andrew
Happiness is a T70 at full chat!
Garrison's comment about being taught to apply the brake progressively when doing an emergency stop made me think about my driving instructor...
Even as a beginner, he stressed the importance of watching far ahead and anticipating threats in the distance as well as up close. That's not really in the driving test, and a lot of people don't seem to grasp that until they become more experienced.
So, what special skills did your driving instructor, or whoever taught you to drive (father, drill sergeant, etc.) try to teach you that you don't think other learners got? And does it still have an effect on your driving? Read more
Hi PeterD,
The thread is "ABS - boon or liability?"
It was not about emergency braking. It was about braking distance and shifting CoG to the front-axle to give more grip for retardation.
Best regards,
Garrison
I know that the BR is full of people asking advice on which cars to buy, and I'm as guilty as the next man (or indeed woman).
But my brother is seriously thinking about a 00 'W' Peugeot 406 2.0HDi Rapier. It's got 45k on it and the garage wants £7k for it.
Apart from the usual 'did it used to be a taxi' etc checks, is there anything that he should be wary of? I've checked in the C-B-C breakdown and it's the 2.1td that seems to be problematic. Any of you BRers have any experience (good or bad) of these motors?
Many thanks for your help. Read more
One thing also to remember is that Rob the Bus said the Laguna was an import - something else that would bring down the part-ex offer. I personally think £4000 is an outstanding offer for a 60k imported, underpowered 1.6 with missing service history.
Your chance to make amusing comments is here as I have a wind problem!
I have a 406 V6 Coupe '98 model which has been satisfactory apart from transmission whine from the differential which is another story.
The vehicle has a wind noise problem which comes in at about 40 mph and sounds like wind blowing across a large drain pipe and is easily the loudest sound inside the car at that speed. I have spent much time under the car blanking off likely sources but without success to date. If any readers have experienced this problem with this car and know the cure, I would of course appreciate hearing from you.
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Weird one this.
Someone has stolen all the little silver dust caps of the alloys on our MINI.
Annoying as it is, I\'m more confused than angry - what on earth do people want with dust caps?
There are some terribly odd folk about.
Lee
MINI adventure in progress Read more
Bugged - I'm in Edinburgh - apparently my postcode is 119th richest in the UK.
www.news.scotsman.com/archive.cfm?id=653162003
This morning I visited my local filling station to use the car wash, as a gentleman was coming to view my car in order to purchase it. I paid my £4.99, had the car washed by the machine, then left, thinking it was a little violent, as i had to readjust my door mirror on leaving.
It was only when i reached home that i discovered that the carwash had scratched huge circles into the roof of my car, and created on deep circular mark.
Needless to say the potential buyer thought the roof in terrible condition and walked away.
I returned to the garage to complain, but was told that there was nothing that could be done, as i had left the forecourt without complaint, and could not prove anything and that no-one else had complained that day.
Where do I stand? Any other similar experiences out there? Should i contact trading standards? Read more
I heard a theory that company cars are immune to such damage. ;-)
Anyway, now I personally own my own car, and it has never seen the inside of a car wash. As previously posted elsewhere, I spent 3 decades in the coatings industry (including automotive) and the adverse effects of automatic washer brushes on car finishes have long been known.
Oz (as was)
I have just read the article in the DT about sleeping at the wheel, and was particularly interested in the photo showing the Selby crash.
I had always believed that Mr Hart had been driving a car, towing a Landy on a trailer, but the photo would indicate he was driving the Landy. Does anyone know the full facts?
As the owner of a Landy, I cannot believe that anyone, no matter how late they had stayed up, could fall asleep at the wheel. Although the wheel is ideally positioned to "get ones head down" Read more
I only discovered this forum a few days ago, so I've had a flurry of posts in the past few days. I might as well add to this one.
The trouble with drowsiness/sleep deprivation is that for car drivers there are no clear standards on how much sleep is required, how often a break should be taken, etc.
Drink-driving and speeding are absolute offences.
If a truck or coach driver has gone over his/her hours and is caught, never mind causes an accident, prosecution should follow. But they have tachographs and strict rules to follow.
With non-commercial drivers, we're always restricted by the 'freedom' principle, but I am sure that eventually car drivers' hours will be regulated in some way.
I have never seen any guidelines for car drivers, apart from being advised to stop for a break at least every two hours. But without reliable proof (i.e tachographs or black boxes) there is no hope of conviction unless the driver admits his guilt or it can be proven that he has not slept (e.g. phone records).
Browse
I recently repaired my own car which was involved in a non-fault accident. The insurance company paid out (total loss) and also let me keep the car.
The insurance company estimated that the repairs would cost £1500. I bought all the parts (used) and sundries for just £95.The car looks perfect and i'm happy !
I dont think anyone outside the trade could make a big enough saving to make your idea work.The future value of the vehicle will be affected because of the VCAR register. I also believe that from April 2003 all insurance write-off's have to be independently inspected before they can put back all the road. Its called a VIC (vehicle identity check).The V5 will also be marked with 'insurance total loss'.
Why not by a ex-lease car from auction ? if you want to avoid the heavy depreciation then dont spend too much i.e no more than £7500. It might be worth considering buying and selling 3 cars over the 3 year period....