It appears the Highways Agency would like our views on what to do with the M3:-

www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/motorways/m3/m3...m Read more

Has anyone done this? Any advantages/disadvantages? Hints/tips? Read more

An recent article by HJ that has now disappeared from the RHS got me thinking.

(Ed note: News Items do not "disappear". They merely go into Archive News.)

It argued that the high cost of insuring some individuals, most noteably young drivers is effectivly pricing this market sector out of the market.

Hence this is one reason put forward as to why people are driving around without insurance.

Often where people decide to abide by the law and follow a sense of responsibility, the costs of motoring can cause a real hardship in the household. It is these people that I believe should be offered inducements.

The idea of a special new of young driver scheme whereby membership of the IAM or a special body could make a real impact on premiums, rather than the minor adjustment some companies make to date is one idea.

Limited use insurances, say for a particular purpose (driving to work) with the benefit of a few thousand miles for Social domestic and pleasure added on).

Schemes linked to regular post test driver assessment and revision (say every 3 months for younger drivers then 6 months thereafter) Such schemes would aim to assess and correct driving techniques. Getting drivers off the road would be an absolute last resort. Hence there would be no pass or fail threashold but assessors would be given a high level of discresion to work with the driver and even insist they come back for more lessons etc if they are really bad.

Performance limiters fitted on some cars on behalf of insurance companies, to say reduce both speed and acceleration. We forget that the cheapest car on the market today is capable of greater acceleration and speed than decent sized family cars were 30 years ago.

Optional invitations by insurance companies to attend defensive driving technique open days with the added incentive for a percentage reduction in the premium if certain attainments were met.

H Read more

My 307 has done 6k miles and cruise control is unreliable. It seems to function OK for most of its use but is spontaneously unreliable.
The faults I have found at all speeds between 30 ? 70mph and in both 4th and 5th gears include the following:
1. Failure to engage cruise control.
2. Failure to increase or decrease speed when the appropriate button is pressed or only after a long delay in response (15 - 60+ seconds).
3. Increasing speed by 2 - 10 mph when climbing a hill then holding the new increased speed and not returning to the original setting. It originally only increased by 2 ? 3 mph but it now it increases by 10mph.
4. Failure to re-engage cruise control when the memory button is pressed.
I have had the car back 3 times now to the local Peugeot garage and it is now going back again. The garage have so far found a poor connection in the steering column wiring loom, replaced the steering column control stalk and now propose to reconfigure the management system components. In the garage, no faults have been identified but on road tests, the car has demonstrated the type 1 fault on two separate occasions.
Am I alone with this fault. Suggestions welcome.

Read more

I read (I think) not so long ago that many manufacturers had dropped the stipulation that, for a warranty to be valid and honoured, the car had to serviced by a main dealer. (A practice I had always seen as a stitch up, as they will always charge more).

I was at a Citroen dealership yesterday, and heard some poor bloke trying to get something fixed under warranty. The dealership were arguing that, as it had been serviced by an independent, the warranty was now void.

Anyone know what the situation actually is?

I have an Alfa, shortly due for a service, and an independent could possibly save me a good few quid, but don't want risk the warranty given Alfa's 'character' (not that I've had anything to complain about so far). Read more