April 2004
Hi all.
Had my new car (well 7 month old) HPI'd today.
am buying from a SAAB dealership. my bro-in-law has hpi'd it for free for me, he works in motor trade. car is financed by GMAC, it has been refinanced on 01/04/2004, so has 2 account numbers relating to it.
My bro-in-law says not to touch with barge-pole till they clear finance.
i rang said SAAB dealer up and explained, he said that all ex-demo cars for saab are financed like this.
so i rang sutton coldfield and Stockport up, and asked them about their ex-demo cars 4 sale, they all say it will show on hpi as GMAC Finance, but will come with a "clear docket??" what ever this means.
what i want to know is, am i going to be ok with this?
is it something and nothing to be worried about?
i am hopefully picking car up 2morrow.
thanks yawl Read more
Hi i\'ve bought an escort that has a whiring noise coming from one or both of the back wheels,its more noticeable at high speeds.
looking through the service history(ford) both rear bearings were changed last year and they put the problem down to uneven tyre wear?
ford then changed the front wheels wth the back ones and charged nearly fifty quid to do so!!!
obviosly there is still a wheel bearing type noise and one of the back tyre does have more tread than the other,could this really be the problem?(i dont think so)what other probs could there be with with bearing type noise??
any help appreciated cheers Andy Read more
yup firestones done the job :0)
looking through the service history both former owners spent time and money trying to track down the noise.
btw well impressed with escort 1.8 si performance and fuel economy are great!!!!!
It is my brothers car and he wants to locate anyone that sells Holley carbs.ie second hand or new.anyone know of any suppliers.a search on the web did not come up with anything in england.thanks for any help. Read more
presume it will need new inlet manifold as well or will it fit straight on?.granny is off the road at moment auto box gave up/being repaired after his last outing.
A virtual mars bar to the first person to get the answer to this!
The Porsche 917 and the Lancia 037 share a unique* feature regarding their tubular chassis.
What is the feature that is common to both cars?
*I know what you pedants are going to say but don't :-)
teabelly Read more
My pleasure - check your inbox!
Ok, folks, bit of advice needed here. The extended warranty on my Yaris is up at the end of the month. Renewal cost is £505 for 2 years but this includes Club Toyota (RAC) cover worth £55 a year, so in effect is just under £200 a year. Apparently they do a direct debit scheme at just over £50 a month for 10 months also.
What I'm pontificating on is whether it's worth it or should I just hope that no major problems crop up? There have been things done under the warranty so far but they were all 'unusual' faults and it's been problem free for about a year now. (Just passed the MOT with flying colours and nothing reported at the service either)
So, do I shell out the £500 or just put £25 a month in the bank and have a holiday if everything is still fine 2 years down the line? Or are the cheaper warranties advertised on here worth thinking about instead? Read more
BE AWARE - the extended warranty, even the 'Manufacturer equivalent Cover', only covers a mechanical part if it is subject to - and here I quote - a 'Sudden failure'. In other words, it must go bang or break. I know this to my cost. Anything which gradually wears out, corrodes, or basically, would cause them to actually PAY OUT on a claim, is excluded. In my case, the aluminium heat shield which protects the Yaris boot floor from the silencer corroded through and fell off. A new one is £35 + fitting. First they refused, saying it was part of the exaust and not covered. I successfully argued the toss, as it is bolted to the car body. They now say it has corroded through; corrosion is not covered.
This is my second falling out with them. The first was when the exhaust pipe fractured and fell off at 2 years old, due to a weld failing. "Sorry, but the exhaust is not covered"... it was only when I threatened to sue them on the grounds that it was a manufacturing fault, that they gave in.
My advice? Don't fall for the cr*p they feed you, put the £500 in the bank. Or if you do, pay up front - the finance charge for the pay-monthly is a complete rip-off; read the small print and save yourself £100!
I got my Britannia Rescue renewal today and included a leaflet with some quirky continental regulations for drivers. The didn't mention the usual stuff about red triangles, spare bulbs and first aid kits but the following might be of interest.
1. In Spain, if you need spectacles for driving, you must carry a spare pair with you.
2. In France it is illegal to contact the emergency services by mobile phone - only the roadside emergency phones will do. I don't think this would stop mt ringing 112 or whatever for an ambulance or from a crash scene. I hope they just mean if your car breaks down you musn't use a mobile. Read more
Drop Down
Why doesn\'t the AA drop down close when you click on the \'close drop down\' button?
Read more
How bizzare (and I don't just mean your post). I too have a pseudo Outlook screen for the Backroom when I'm working on client site but don't have that problem.
Seems to be one specific to your IT setup. Sorry.
I would be grateful for your assistance.
I am about to replace the shock absorber cartridges in the front struts. Do I need to put any oil or coolant into the struts before the new inserts. I can remember that when I changed the inserts on a mk2 Golf Gti a very long time ago, the dedicated mags recommended an egg cup full of neat coolant. The instuctions that came with the new boge inserts states "fill in oil between cartridge and outer tube to the specified level if so required by the car manufacturer." What type of oil,if any, and how much?
Many thanks.
Read more
WQhen I did this on a BMW 320i, I used ordinary 15-40 multigrade I had around at the time. Seemd to work perfectly well..for the next 20k mils until I sold it.
madf
Hi all,
the other day whilst parked outside work, some little git smashed my window and nicked my cd player. I find the irony of this quite...well...ironic as I seem to remember posting on a thread about taking the front off cd players.... ahem - anyway. I put the original Ford one back in which is a 5000 rds cd changer compatible. I am sorely tempted to get a cd changer so I can hide it in the boot and so nothing is on show to a would be thief. However, I am aware that there is some sort of adapter that I would need. Can anyone suggest any places or even better, some models of autochangers that would suit my needs?
Many thanks
Adam
--
"Ah...beer - my only weakness - my achilles heel if you will" Read more
Cheers Mech - it certainly has. My new autochanger is on it's way. I shall contact you when I inadvertently blow up the car setting it up.
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"Ah...beer - my only weakness - my achilles heel if you will"
The discussion re "no car" lanes has sparked an interesting conundrum - when is a four wheeled vehicle a "car" and when is it not a "car"?
Now, clearly there are variants on the car such as coupe, cabrio, SUV etc and I'm not intending to address that, but it seems to me that there is a potential for confusion and that this could be significant.
For example, emergency vehicles are quite rightly exempt from most regulations. Paramedics often operate from large or modified estates. So what if a member of my family needs urgent medical help and I drive them to hospital in my (otherwise) identical large estate vehicle? Is it still a car or has it become an ambulance?
Taxis are exempt from bus lane regulations. Now, if I give my father-in-law a lift and he offers to cover the petrol cost, am I now driving a taxi? Clearly not - it is a private arrangement and I'm not offering a service to the general public. But what if it gets around that I'm helpful (don't laugh) and lots of people ask & I oblige? Am I a taxi yet? This one is more relevant than you might think, as my local resident's association lists people who are free to give lifts if needed. Are their cars taxis?
The defining issue seems to that of intention - but should only the intention at the date of registration matter? If there is a good case for exempting a vehicle from a particular regulation, and that case applies at the present moment, should it matter whether the case existed at an arbitrary point in the past? Read more
Had a similar problem disposing of my old freezer. The local recycling centre refused to let me in as I was in a van, so it "must be trade waste".
I pointed to the logo on the side of the van (Liverpool Victoria - I had borrowed it for the morning) and asked the chap how long LV had been in the frozen food storage business. He refused to budge, so I went home, picked up the paperwork for the new freezer and returned to the site. I was begrudgingly allowed in but told I should have brought the freezer down in my car.
Now I'm not sure what car he drives, but has anyone here managed to get a 6' chestfreezer in their car without breaking it? (The car, not the freezer).
The problem seems to stem from each "Authority" (and I use the term in its loosest possible sense) defining new parameters and definitions to suit that week's agenda.
Browse
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Hmm, definately worth a repeat check in a couple of months then!
Be warned though, many finance companies tend to forget to de-register their interest in a vehicle on HPi, we get it all the time at work, cars show up with finance, when we contact the finance company they confirm that they no longer have an interest, and sometimes haven't had an interest in the car for quite a while!
Blue