July 2004
Collected a minor dent in my car last week so I decided to take it to the local repair station. They advertise we fix small dents while you wait, no repaint etc. Girl on reception yells out (in English)---
"Where's the dentist?" (sic)
Roused from slumbers (well it's a hot day), the "dentist" appears and I can't believe this, he uses a hammer and a piece of wood only slightly thicker than a pencil plus a wire thingy to get inside the door. he does it all by eye and by feel, and lo and behold you would never know you'd had a ding. Incredible.
I swear you can run your finger down the door and you'd never know.
Not sure if I'd want him doing my root canals, though..
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I have a simple need.
I want to retain my number plate on retention and scrap my E reg Sierra Sapphire, by the end of this month, as I cannot be bothered to find anyone who wants the car.
I have had the car for some years. It is taxed, insured, MoT so all legal.
I had in mind to apply for retention now. Drive it to the scrap yard before the end of the month, cash in the tax, cancel the insurance and then think about selling the number plate.
Oh NO NO.
DVLA will issue a new number plate. So that means also changing tax, Mot?? insurance and buying new number plates as far as I can see. WONDERFUL.
A week for new number, then once I have received the form and then FIVE weeks to "complete" the process.
Alternative is if I can ask scrap yard it assist if I park it there?
Anyone else been through this hoop?
Any other legal suggestion?
I obviously do not want to buy new number plates but it looks like I have got another months tax and insurance to pay.
Another wonderful desk derived process. Read more
>>Out of curiosity what's the significance of your registration mark?
>>
Rather than scrap it I hope I can find a good home for it.
It has no sentimental value to me.
It is an E reg. These are NOT being released by the DVLA. It has two digits less that 31 so can be age or birthday. It has common letters that could easily be someones initials.
By coincidence the owner of the scrap yard where it is going has the two of letters as his initials.
Hi,
I've seen a 98 S reg AMG E55 at a local dealers priced at 15995 with 90k on the clock... looks mint outside and in, and has full MB history.
Any opinions?
I know servicing, types brakes etc will be expensive for this sort of car, but are there too many miles on the clock for this to be a sound buy?
I thought Mercs were supposed to be pretty bulletproof, but maybe these AMGs one are different?
Thanks!
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Twenty minutes ago I walked past an S-reg E-class MB. Consistent with all the reports of quality problems with MB cars of this age, there was a horrible run of rust around the boot lid. Beware.
as you may be aware - paint work is one of the areas where hyundai are significantly poor.
Anyhow, rather than having a rant at hyundai paint quality, my car is a hyundai accent 01 -on friday it hit a post reversing out of a drive way.
Its got two slight dents one of which one has compressed against the petrol cap compartment and disformed the square side slightly on the edge.
also fairly deep bumper scrapes and damaged paint on side panels - lenght around 6-9 cm.
There is also a previous paint wok to repair form a stone chipping which caused a significant removal of paint on the a-pillar which has nbow rusted.
from my judgement, both the a-pillar and certianly the bumper will need more than a simple re-spray as the depth of damage is fair/good.
To make the problem worse, the car is metallic paint.
I refuse to pay a sky high rate to a paint shop as i have the time to do it myself.
Can you please advise as to what is necessary for the reapir.
a step-by-step guide and list of materials and would be a great help.
On another subject, alot of the hyundai clips, brackets, screws, bolts etc, undr the bonnet have eroded and become rusty.
What is the best solution to remove the rust (easiest) and what do you reccomend i coat the items with? Read more
havent been able to find one at the library - any
web sites which are good?
From the www.haynes.co.uk website:-
tinyurl.com/3zwgb
tinyurl.com/54yhl
My wife and I are in the process of abandoning life in the city and purchasing a guest house (VAT registered) in the highlands (a slight change in lifestyle!!). We wish to buy a second more business focussed vehicle. We have test driven the current diesel Nissan X_Trail and were very impressed by it's driving manners and good load area but I understand that if we bought a new commercial vehicle (ie a pick up), we could claim the VAT back.
1 Is my understanding of the VAT situation correct and will guest house revenues allow us to recover VAT. Are there any other tax issues to consider (the business will be a partnership).
2 What is the most car like pick up (Nissan Navara, Toyota Hilux, Mitsubishi L200, Ford Ranger, etc). The nature of the business means that traditional issues such as towing capacity and load handling are less important than road refinement and handling. We will be keeping it a long time so longevity and low maintenance costs are key. I am interested in the Navara and there appear a lot of keen deals at the moment - although I heard that they were not all to UK specification?
3 How feasible and sensible are these vehicles in towns, in car parks, etc? Will the compromises not justify the VAT savings + keen savings on current pick ups?
Apologies for the long-winded mail and thank you in advance for your help.
GAN Read more
Thanks BB/NW.
I was in fact thinking more of buying from a Broker as there are some very good deals on the Navara currently around, which may beat any dealer offer. I think the current suspicion is that not all the good deals at the moment are UK spec. There are greater / volumes of brokers / supermarkets nearer to London rather than the highlands.
The service schedule states that the cam shaft drive belt should be changed after 60k miles (no mention of time). Is this purely a distance service item? My mark 2 MX-5 has done only 30k miles and is coming up to 6 years old. There appears to be some doubt as to whether a change is now necessary. As I understand it, any break would not do irrepairable damage to the engine, as it is a non-interference type (obviously the car would not be usable in this state, but could be repaired comparatively cheaply). Any advice is welcome, particularly if it will save me money! Read more
Personally I would suggest a change at 60,000 miles OR 5 years, whichever occurs first.
Jap cambelt setups are very reliable, not like some that could be mentioned......
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groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....
I am thinking of getting a BMW 3 series diesel, the lower specc'd ES model is quite a bit cheaper than the SE. It has some extra "sporty" features but misses out on things like cruise control, parking distance alert and the On Board Computer (trip computer). The first two can be added from the options list, but BMW don't seem to list the Computer (it gives miles to go, average speed, average fule consumption etc) as an option.
Does anyone know if its possible to fit it after the car is bought. Do I just need the stalk with the button on it and if so how difficult is it to fit?
Or have BMW made it more compex than that?
Many thanks. Read more
The problem with my car is that after I have driven it for 15 minutes or more, and the engine warms up, i get troubles.
If I stop it for about 5 minutes and then start it again, it turns over, but wont ignite, so I put the accelerator down and it normally gets going, but I have to keep the revs above 1000 or else it will cut out. After I have been driving for about a kilometer it comes right, and it wont cut out on me. By the way it is an automatic so I can ride the brake and accelerator, and I think it is similar to a vauxill in England. Read more
It sounds like the ISCV (Idle Speed Control Valve) is gummed
up.
Not sure if this helps or not?
tinyurl.com/6r57j
Came across this while browsing a Vauxhall forum.
David Begg was on Radio 4 a moment ago describing the latest luny plan, which is to charge up to £1.45 per mile on congested roads, depending on time of day and location. He said that a lot of people these days have flexitime and would therefore choose to travel when the charge was cheaper. It was put to him that those on flexi already travel when the congestion is less. His response was that was an inefficient way, allowing the motorist to choose, and that charging was far more efficient.
Why do the govts think tanks keep coming up with such ridiculous plans? Read more
NoWheels, this plan is silly because:
(i) it is based on an assumption by Begg that we will avoid congestion
if we are somehow deterred from adding to it. What he doesn't realise is that WE ALREADY HATE TRAFFIC JAMS!!!!!
Up to a point. The extra cost could be factor in persuading some people to readjust their timetables, and the research behind the proposal found that 30% of ppl (I think it was 30%, may have the figure wrong) would be deterred by the cost.
We also hate overcrowded trains: are you arguing that trains should stop charging more at peak times?
(ii) The economic problem with congestion is that it imposes costs on
businesses, in that people can't get there on time, either to work, to shop, or to do deals.
As I replied to NoDosh, I don't actually support this idea. But if the charge reduces congestion, then it reduces those other costs on business which you rightly mention ... so it would offset one cost with another.
*sigh* seems the bottom has dropped out of the market for big, thirsty 2.5 litre V6 motors...
I\'m in the process of changing car (to an nice frugal diesel!) from my Sep-2000 (W Reg) 2.5 V6 Vectra CDX Estate, 41K miles. OK, my car has a nice bit of power & acceleration, but 28mpg combined is extracting the urine a bit...
Looking at book prices, I was hoping to get around £4,500 to £5,000 offered by the dealer as a p/x... no such luck. Apparently no-one wants the big gas guzzlers anymore and I\'m only being offered £3,700. Local car dealer has offered £4,000, but this is still lower than I really needed for the car I\'m after.
Looking around, I see many similar cars (even identical ones, normally with higher mileage) being offered at around £6 - £7K sticker price, so are they offering me too little or is the price about right?
I know that, at the end of the day, a car is worth what someone will pay for it, but is it worth my while hunting around to other dealers or do you reckon I\'ll get pretty much the same story?
Of course, if you look at my other recent posting, you\'ll know that there is a teensie problem with the car (i.e. either the head gasket or the heat exchanger could be knackered, causing a constant coolant fluid leak - or it could just be a loose pipe in the depths of the engine somewhere - no loss of performance of the car) so maybe I\'m best just to take the £4k and run? Read more
Allegedly the market for big-engined petrol guzzlers, particularly V6 versions is
rapidly drying up. Happens every time the petrol price skyrockets.
Or could it be performance diesel engines that are now appearing? I've got a 2.2 petrol Vectra C with 155 bhp, and there's also a 1.9 CDTi diesel engine available that pumps out 150bhp and gives nearly twice the mpg.
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"delivered by an OBE"
? ;-(