May 2004
Hi
My dad just had his 1996 Rover Tourer serviced and MOT'd at an MG Rover dealer. In the course of the service, they replaced what they call "Bulb and holder assy." on the invoice. When my dad queeried this he was told that they had to replace it due to the rear indicators being "too white" for current MOT standards.
Is this true? Or is the dealer trying to make money (OK, £5), out of replacing things which don't need doing?
Thanks
Mike Farrow Read more
Hi all,
After a long struggle with an unreliable passat, I have now decided to lease a car to help reduce unexpected bills.
I need a 30,000 miles a year lease over two years so that I am covered by the manufacturers warranty. I have looked at several lease companies and understand the format for leasing a car, but was hoping I could get some real life leasing experiences from the back room.
What kind of agreements do you have and what leasing companies did you use? Is there any hidden traps that I could fall into?
Any info would be useful so that I can make an informed decision as to where to go next.
Many Thanks
BB Read more
Take a look at the new Honda Accord - Honda give a 3 year 90k warranty.
If you keep the car for two years and sell on at approx 60k, there's still 30k and a year of warranty - this makes it attractive to punters looking to buy without worries.
Honda will cost more but should depreciate less than other makes, you need to look at TCO over 2 years.
...it first cost you £50 to fill your motor up? For me it was Oxford Services when I filled up my humble Mondeo this afternoon. OK the low fuel light had been on for 10 miles or so and it was 84.9p a litre for unleaded but nevertheless, OUCH!
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Sorry, sir. Not even in the late fifties when I was let loose upon an unsuspecting road-using public was petrol ever half-a-crown a gallon. In 1963 I was paying 4/3½d a gallon at my local Fleetline station, that was for Regular. Mind you on 14 quid a week (and overtime needed to earn that) someone is now going to tell me motoring is cheaper today than it was then.......
Then of course you could spread out the cost of motoring a bit. I used to drive around for weeks with a bit of paper on the windscreen saying "Tax applied for".........
A 520 X 13 John Bull cross ply remould at the place where I worked cost about £4.0.0d and an oil change was free -- you just collected all the dregs from all the Castrol XL cans used on customers' cars until you had enough for your own ;+).
Hello all,
My car is a 306 1997 xtdt. i recently changed oil and filter, air and fuel filter. Everything ok except the rubber bulb primer that is used to pump fuel into the new filter is always soft.by that i mean it takes about three or four pumps to firm up even after the car has been run, this isnt a problem as it always starts after being left over night, but i was curious as to why the bulb now goes soft as before it used to stay firm? Read more
Mahle make a good filter but from my experiences seems that the design not quality of the filter that makes the difference. I have used 3 genuine plastic type lucas filters from peugeot which all gave air bubbles in the fuel and running problems. This only stopped after fitting a non OE steel topped filter.
">Police in Craven are warning they will seize vehicles as a means of tackling anti-social behaviour. <"
tinyurl.com/2x7hj Read more
Probably not - it\'s not anti-social until you kill someone.
Anyone actually heard of a car being crushed for no road
tax?
As regards the original thread, sounds too good to be true
- if this removes some of the baseball hatted pink fluffy
dice who can\'t drive at less than 120 decibels I\'m for
it.
I think the word you were looking for is "chavs".
I run a `97 A4 1.9 TDI SE with climate control.However just lately it has been giving problems.Upon engaging the aircon you can hear the pump rattling loudly.Also it does not seem to blow as cold as it did.I took the car to a trusted garage and he diagonosed the pump bearings were "gone".He seemed to think the pump wasn`t worth rebuilding and advised me to take it to an audi dealer for a new pump.This course of action I do not want to do.Can anyone suggest someone willing to repair the pump/system rather than just replace the pump with a new one?.Also a second hand pump would be good enough for what is now an old car.Any suggestions are very welcome. Read more
I had an A4 - 1999 tdi - and thought the air volumes low compared to the Mercedes system I was used to. (I also had the condenser fail.. but that is another story). I think the ducting is too small to allow high volumes and low fan speeds.. hence the high fan speeds required.
Once cold the system was quite capable of keeping the car cold even on a 30C day in full sun.
madf
I thought a few BR's might be interested in this.
My lad crashed his car on the 28th April, his fault.
Direct Line responded very quickly, car towed away within the hour. Good people on the telephone. Car inspected and condemmed. Cheque for payment of car in today's post. Excellent service.
Mind you he'll be paying a premium for a few years but that's life. Read more
Bought a 1 yr old Polo Sport TDi 1.9, collected car on 18th April. On 22nd april a Motorbiker crashed into 4 cars, including mine. Lots of damage all round. Contacted insurance that evening and was asked to call back the next morning (23rd) due to computer problems. Rang next day, was contacted by approved repairer that afternoon to arrange collection of my car. I was also provided with a solicitor. Car collected from my door on 27th and a loan car dropped off.
Contacted by repairer today, car should be ready by next Tuesday. This includes replacing drivers side rear quarter panel.
Not bad 'eh !
Insurance company: Zurich (previously Eagle Star)
Just as I got to work yesterday one of my tyres received a puncture. Opposite where I work there is a building site and when the tyre was removed a large roofing tack was nicely planted in the tyre. The garage said it wasn't repairable and I needed a new one (cost £100). Annoying as the tyre was only two months old!
I've kept the original tyre to try and claim against the builders. Does anyone know if I have a case and how should I go about doing this?
Any help appreciated.
Thanks. Read more
Joint investigation with the police is quite common, but as the police are an emergency service, and HSE is not, they will often be there first. IIRC, 125,000 police officers, 1200 HSE inspectors. Mind you, its not run by inspectors anymore - Whitehall took it over for their benefit quite a while ago. Inspector? Whats that? Oh no, too argumentative, lets write a guidance note instead.
I'd read somewhere recently that it's possible to turn up at Dover and pick up any empty spaces on car ferries cheaply at the last minute. Does anyone have any knowledge or further info on this? I need to go to France for 3or 4 days and normally fly, but I have a load of stuff I need to take so car is the only real option. Read more
Result, Ive just booked for an 8 day stay abroad, for £65 return on Speedferries. Cheers for the suggestion, I just saved at least £180!
As per my previous topic. I serviced my car about 2 months ago (oil filter,plugs etc.) and tried to get a manual to assist, but could not. Therefore, I had a problem 2 days ago where the rear suspension would not rise. Taken to a local dealer who had to replace the rear susp control valve at a cost of £185 !!!. Apparently they go quite regularly as he had the item in stock, and said I could have avoided the problem if I had greased the valve during my service. Does anbody know if there are any other items that need checking during service on the Xantia, other than the obvious ie. oil, coolant etc.
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OK, the firm is:
K&M Citroen
Unit 4, 5 Sybron Way
Millbrook Industrial Estate,
Jarvis Brook
Crowborough
East Sussex TN6 3DZ
01892 653131
I have been using them for about 8-9 years, and have always found their work thorough and sensibly priced - and you can trust them which, for me, is the most important part. I think they probably know all there is to know about Citroens. As an example of their customer service - a small hose on my elderly BX 19 Diesel started weeping a couple of weeks back. Went in for a replacement, together with two new Jubilee clips. Handed me the items, told me to try the hose and if it fitted OK to settle up afterwards. Went back the day after fitting, but payment was refused - suggested I should remind them to add it to the bill when I next have to visit them. Can't say fairer than that!!
I have no connection with them, apart from being a very satisfied customer of course.
CG
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Don't forget the holder assy.-that may have corroded.