September 2004
When I purchased my motorbike six years ago, I used my credit card to pay the full amount, which I then settled by bank transfer before any credit charge was due.
One of the reasons I did this was to gain purchase protection.
Just reading the Ts and Cs for my new chip and pin credit card however, and (I quote) "The following items are not covered (by purchase protection - SjB): Motorised vehicles, including but not limited to aeroplanes, cars, motorbikes, their motors, equipment and accessories."
Oh well, just as well I don't currently need such a service!
It does beg a question though in so much as is this commonplace, or a one off? The small print really was small, and I'm glad I read it all carefully on receipt, though many won't. Read more
horrible = expensive sounds from engine of M-reg Boxer 1.9 diesel. Diagnosis not yet confirmed, but assuming that's so, will only another Boxer engine fit, or will other Peugeot 1.9 diesels fit. Are repairs/rebuild likely to be more economical??
Many tks for any help.
Read more
I'll let that comment stay, as it's Friday.
I have just moved house and I am within walking distance of the town centre, consequently I use the car (Vectra 2.0 1997 5 door auto) a lot less. Over the last month I have used the car about 6 times but for the last 2 weeks only once a week. I was surprised when on Monday I went to use the car and the battery was flat! One of the downsides of having an automatic is that you can't bump start it so I had to recharge the battery. Surprisingly this only took a couple of hours. I have been driving it every 3 days and it seems ok!
Now to the "subject" of this post! Has anyone any experience of the Solar trickle chargers that are available. The Smart Battery Saver has an output of 1.8amp, is this enough to keep the battery healthy?
Read more
As this is car related (the IHAQ thread is generally not for car related stuff), it would be more suited to the Technical Matters Forum. Therefore it will be moved across later today. DD.
(btw, if you do a forum seach, there have been previous discussions on solar chargers.)
For the purposes of an automatic driving licence, when is an automatic a proper automatic?
I understand that the clutchless manuals are not deemed a true automatic, but what about an auto box which allows you to 'nudge' up and down the gears?
SWMBO is learning to drive and it could be that a geared car is just too much to learn and an auto would be better.
Cheers Read more
Many thanks, seems to answer it. I may fancy an auto myself as I do a lot of town driving and fancy an easy life now!!!
Never had this problem before on any of my cars. Having tried a forum search & found no answers, what's the best way of stopping this happening - indeed, is there a way or is it just down to design? It distorts and seems to weaken the beam & it would be nice to get it sorted before the winter :-) Read more
It should be a sealed unit. Volvo 740 used to suffer from this. cracked lens/seal. it wont weaken beam only defracts beam ie beam strays from original possition due to mist created by influx of water/evaporating/due to heat. Best way to sort it get it replaced.
--
Was mech1
Any advice on best spark plugs for this vehicle? Read more
I would agree with DL use NGK not champion.
Hi all
I need to get a spare set of keys for my VW Golf Mk2, however I'm a bit concerned by some of the places offering to do it - some of them I wouldn't trust to top up my wiper fluid, others I wouldn't trust with a set of keys to my car for half an hour.
Is there a minimum standard I should be insisting upon? Considering house front door keys, I have had replacements made that don't work, or require great effort to use, is there a chance of this happening with replacement keys? Are car keys significantly more complex than house keys?
I don't have the greatest opinion of our VW dealer, hence I'd prefer avoiding them unless the concensus is that they are clearly the best.
Does anyone have any recommendations for good places to get spare keys made (I'm in the Bath/Bristol area)?
All advice gratefully received
Matt Read more
Hi all
Thanks for advice, will try motor services in Bath.
\"I might be missing something, but the obvious answer to me is to drive down to the place in your jalopy, get the keys cut, try them when you go back outside to drive away, then \"bingo\" or \"back inside\"\"
What I\'m worried about, as happened with my house keys, is that they are tempremental. Sounds weird, a key not working now and again, but I\'ve had a few housekeys that would work most of the time but just occasionally refuse to open the lock. It\'s probably something to do with temperature, as it was mostly during the winter they\'d mess up, but it has happened on both front and back doors so I would suggest it isn\'t the lock. I got them cut at our local market as copies of the original keys, and seeing as most of the keys come from the same place I have little doubt the problems are down to poor cutting.
My girlfriend works as a nurse and can finish work at 11 at night, the last thing I want is for the car keys to choose that moment to not work. They might work when just cut and well-lubricated, but I don\'t want them messing up a few months later.
I\'m hopeful there won\'t be too many problems as the replacement will be cut from the original, I just want to find someone who won\'t cock it up.
Cheers
Matt
[waits for mods to "moderate" this as being non motoring related]
BUT WAIT!
I contacted Barclays to ask why oure had gone up and tell them I was thinking of changing account and they tell me that I get free Green Flag Recovery, Roadside repairs and home call with my account!
Well, as well as all the other benefits, I decided to keep my account for a little while longer, now that I am thinking of changing the Disco for an Alfa 156 JTD :)
Anyone who has this account has this cover. It is worth double checking with your bank home insurance etc to see what other perks you're not taking full advantag of, especially as I was thinking of taking out breakdown cover.
Just thought, after seeing Barney's thread, it was worth a mention.
Hugo Read more
Smile gives you Roadside (not sure about home) and travel insurance for £6 month + 3.25% interest !
Just got back from an extremely unpleasant episode on the A38 in Devon. It's dual carriageway, but has lots of hills.
I came over the crest of a hill near Exeter at about 65MPH, only to see the traffic in front of me stationary. I stamped hard on the brakes, only to find the car (Xsara) immediately skidded violently to the left and into the left hand lane. I'd just been overtaking another car and fortunately I was clear of him.
Anyway - I let off the brake pedal and managed to get out of the skid (I really thought for a moment I was going to the big scrapyard in the sky, along with the car...) and gently applied the brakes to come to a halt. Fortunately, the yawing from side to side as I tried to correct the skid reduced my speed to about 20MPH).
I took the car straight to a brake specialist in Exeter who spent 30 minutes examining the system, only to find that it was in perfect condition.
Their conclusion was that part of the lane had an oil or diesel spill on it, meaning that one wheel had no braking force on it at all, causing the car to swing to the left. No ABS on my car, but the garage said ABS might have made it worse, which was lucky, I guess.
It did dawn on me that the diesel spill might have been what caused the traffic jam in the first place - a boat transporter was on the shoulder with 3 burst tyres, which might have been caused by a violent skid.
I'm slightly suspect that they think ABS might have made it worse - careful braking has always kept me out of trouble and I didn't lock up the wheel that wasn't in the oil. However, the brakes on my brother's Megane are fantastic and I'd consider changing car if just stamping on the brakes brought me out of trouble like this. Read more
To go back to where we started,IMHO the worst offenders for spilling diesel on the road......my fellow truckers,either because they overfill the tank (very,very,common)or when filling up they forget to replace the fuel cap (holds hands up 8-( ).Worse still,finding a truck with fuel cap missing they cover it with a plastic bag and elastic bands which is as effective as you'd expect.Apologies on their behalf....
Rather bored today so I ended up looking at cars for sale on US ebay.
Noticed that even the 3 litre plus (as most US cars are) cars speedos only seem to read up to 110-120mph when they are obviously capable of more than this, is this some kind of ploy forced on US car manufacturers to discourage speeding??? Read more
A Stanley steam car did 127 mph in 1906 and set the world speed record. Speeds around 100 mph were commonplace in American steam-powered speedsters of the time.
I don't suppose they had speedometers at all.
OK - SjB, with that wording I'm not suprised they dropped it for vehicles, especially m/bikes - it has the effect of giving fully comp insurance to someone who only has 3rd party only. That is a very large risk to carry.
Martin