March 2005
I want to get my cars MOT'd at a place which doesn't do vehicle repairs for the general public, so they have no incentive to fail it.
People talk of having them done at County Council Transport Depots, but Cambridgeshire don't seem to do them and I'd rather not drive to Bedford for a MOT.
Are there any other 'categories' of establishment that might fit the bill? Read more
Colleague of mine picked up his newly purchased two year old PT Cruiser on Monday. On the drive back on the A11 from the dealer he was pulled over by the law and told that the heavily tinted side windows may not pass new regulations introduced January this year. The plod dug out his new gismo and found that the windows only let 25% light through instead of the permitted level of 70%.
Plod wanted him to tear off the tints there and then (which colleague later found out would have damaged the windows) but relented. With the purchase paperwork in the car, my colleague was able to demonstrate that he had only just picked it up and plod eventually allowed him to continue home without imposing an on-the-spot 30 quid fine and 6 points.
Needless to say, a very interesting conversation followed with his dealer ..........
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Just a mo! I thought most cars had a very slight tint to the glass and if this is illegal what is the situation re. heat reflecting windscreens?
Can anyone give me a book price for a SEAT Toledo TDI 110 S 52 reg 40,000 miles . There?s one in Autotrader at £6.5K which seems remarkably cheap for a trader.
Thanks in anticipation.
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In a few weeks time I'll have a 2001 (Y) Toledo going in the trader, private sale (new car on way).
It's a 1.9 TDI SE, with factory fitted sat nav as an added bonus as it was an ex-demonstrator. It's got very high mileage for its age (130k), but it's been well looked after and has a full service history (all receipts available).
Interested?
hi i have a 98 vectra 1.8 that when driving appears to be missing slightly it is a little bit jerky if you know what i mean its not to bad when you throttle it but when driving at slow speeds you can feel it throught the peddle like its holding back any ideas would be welcome
many thanks
marty Read more
I have just had a slight problem with my Vectra - it wouldn't start and the fault was traced to the throttle valve. The garage has stripped it and cleaned it and the car is now back to normal.
Prior to this my car was jerky in 1st at crawling speed and there was a definite lag in the power coming in. It seemed to be lacking the old oomph.
You might try having the throttle valve cleaned - mine was about £45. A new one is more than £300!
A member of my staff (called "Ann" here for convenience) had a minor accident the other night coming off a roundabout. The roundabout is on a dual carriageway. It is a standard layout in terms of a left turn, straight ahead, right turn, with no signs to indicate that normal rules don't apply.
What Ann describes is that she was going straight across the roundabout. I've asked her if she kept to the left or took a "racing line", but right now she's a bit shook up and can't remember. I think she might have taken the racing line. She does know that she put her indicator on after passing the first exit.
On the dual carriageway approach to the roundabout, a car was driving behind her. When she went to turn into her intended exit, she checked to her left and saw the car which had been behind was trying to undertake her, so she veered on round the roundabout towards the right hand exit and braked to slow down. The following car was driving faster than her, and the rear OS wing on the following car collided with the front NS wing on Ann's car. The police who attended the scene apparently said that both drivers contributed to the accident, i.e. that neither was solely at fault. They did say that the other driver was in the wrong lane. They also said that Ann "should have been going slowly enough to stop" in anticipating that the other driver would try to continue around in the wrong lane from behind and undertake her and cut her up (not sure how they work that out).
When she reported the accident to her insurer, she got a shock when she was told that her policy had been cancelled a few months previously. Apparently, this is because when she started working for me and was advised to ensure that she had Business Class 1 cover, she contacted the insurer to arrange this. According to the insurer, there were insufficient funds in Ann's bank account at the point they tried to withdraw a payment for the additional premium for the business class cover. They did not contact Ann to inform her of this. Ann only became aware of a discrepancy after an irregular account charge appeared on her bank statement. She contacted the insurer in November to ask whether the payment had been requested on the wrong date. They told her they would have to listen to the recording of the call first, so she asked the insurer to phone her back with an answer to this. She did not hear from them again.
They now say that they wrote to her on four occasions to say that unless she contacted them, the full insurance premium would be cancelled, not just the business class insurance. She does not recall receiving any written correspondence from them, and she did not receive any refund of the premium (which was paid in advance in April - I have seen the policy which indicates cover was to run from April 2004 to April 2005).
They say that they consequently cancelled her policy on 15 December 2004. Ann has only found out about this as a result of the accident taking place. She has been asked to produce her insurance documents at the police station and now doesn't know what to do.
Firstly, what action can be taken with regard to the insurance cover?
Secondly, what approach can be taken with producing documents at the police station?
Thirdly, any thoughts as to whether the other driver was solely at fault?
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andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmm, doughnuts ... Read more
any. She has had a change of address, but this
took place shortly after Christmas, not at the time the insurer
says the policy was cancelled (15 Dec). She is smart
just a p.s. to add that i thought of later.
what did the insurers say at the time she advised them of her change of address?
because if they accepted her instructions to change the address, they must have considered her policy to be valid at the time of the change of address.
another question: has she had her licence and vehicle address changed? ( another legal requirement ! )
Morning All,
I?ve tried a forum search, but nothing specific came up for me?..
I?m looking into the minefield that is maximum permissible towing weights. There?s all sorts to think about ? Kerb Weight, Towing Weight, Gross Train Weight blah blah blah?..
The towing car would be a 1997 Passat Tdi 110bhp. I believe the kerb weight is 1375kg and the towing weight is 1500kg.
I?m going to be towing a VW Beetle (no idea what that kerb weight is as most the bonnet, nose, front and rear wings are fibreglass, not steel). If it comes in at less than 750kg, I believe I can use an un-braked towing dolly. Does anyone know if this is correct?
If the weight of the Beetle is greater than 750kg, I need a braked trailer. Now then, this is where things get fuzzy for me. Can anyone tell me what the maximum braked weight I can tow with my Passat would be?
Also, how can I weigh the Beetle? Take it to the local tip and ask nicely if I can run over their weighbridge??!
I can imagine that Mr Traffic Plod would have difficulty understanding all this, even if I was stopped!!
Cheers all,
Steve
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Some useful figures on this site - go to "kerbweights" and look up your car - gives max towball weight, kerbweight, 85% etc
www.clicreports.co.uk/
Driving through the centre of Croydon last night on a three lane wide road ,I was seriously cut up by a car in the right hand turning lane changing lane and forcing me to swerve into the inside lane and brake to avoid an accident.
I sounded my horn as he pulled away from me and then he had to stop at the next set of lights.
I pulled alongside him on the inside. I looked across and saw the car had two young couples in it and then his passenger window came down and the driver said something, I was spoiling for an argument and getting into 'baseball bat' mode when I wound down my window and said 'What did you say' , assuming it was an insult.
His reply ' I'm sorry - I'm a stranger to the area'.
I was gobsmacked - I didn't think an Audi driver did things like apologies.
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I think you may be confusing us with BMW drivers ;-)
Oh no I wasn't....... :-)
as in title 02 avensis 2litre vvti engine it has D-4 written on cam cover is this chain or belt and if belt anyone know service schedule. any guide to cost would be nice as well ...cheers...keo. Read more
thanks for response DD it looks like its a chain, put it this way if it's a belt it's gonna be expensive it's all encased in metal ie no plastic covers over the cam pulley...cheers...keo.
Honda have released some details of their next Civic and the styling IMHO is really modern and attractive.
www.honda.co.uk/conceptCivic/ Read more
why do they always show these cars with blacked out windows all round.
when you see the car with normal windows, they look worse.
why o why o why???
dont answer that, i know its just for show.
but it gets on my chicken breasts.
Would a dealer accept a Credit card for payment / part payment of a car? It?s an easy way to pay for me, and gives a couple of weeks for me to transfer cash from various accounts. Plus I'd get £30 of Tesco vouchers. Read more
I bought my 52 plate VW Passat V6 TDi on my AMEX. Sweet deal since it was hassel free and allowed me to earn far too many AMEX reward points that allowed me to get free flights for our impending holiday. Dealers usually baulk at plastic and try to pass on all or some of the surcharge to you. But if they want the sale bad enough ;)
Browse
Fair enough. But if you have no joy, then Offord's are the place to go, they'd be as fair as you could get, and are Old School enough to do small jobs gratis for us regular punters.