Hi all,

I've been enquiring about buying a car from UKCarBrokers. I've heard good things about their customer service etc - most people that have had dealings with them report positives. However, when i called to place my order, the guy, Kevin, said that they would be keeping the logbook for the car for 6 months and then I'd receive it after this period. Is this normal? I have concerns about getting the vehicle insured because of this, or if i get pulled over by the police? What are the implications?

Does anyone have any experiences of this? This is the only thing worrying me about the deal.

Regards

Dave Read more

Some friends of ours have temporarily fallen on hard times and as luck would have it their current car, a very reliable Pug 405 estate, is on its last legs as well. So rather than have them tied into some sort of loan I have offered to buy them an estate for 5K and they can pay me back when they can afford it.

Priorites are:

1. Must be cheap to maintain, reasonable service costs, insurance etc.

and

2. Something that can take the day to day abuse of young kiddies.

They don't do enough miles to need a diesel.

At the moment I'm thinking Mondeo, these seem good value and most people seem to confirm they are tough and reliable.

Is there anything else? What about Vectras? Opinion seems to be more split on these.

Or maybe a Rover 75 - these should be going cheap now.

Or maybe a 406, they've had good service out of their 405.

Thanks

X Read more

Having read the topic from yesterday on what car to get when you are tendering for a job involving 200,000k miles in a year, one thing that Dave the Taxi driver said was :-

"A nice little contract of 5 consecutive 15-hour shifts and the weekends off could be just what I need?.". My first reaction was "I hope he's joking".

Now, I am a consultant by trade myself, and do about 35,000 miles a year, travelling to jobs, and fit a full day job in between. So I know the dangers, and am not having a go a Dave here. But it made me think of a point that I think, more and more, is madness.

Why is it that it is perfectly legal for Dave to do a 15 hour shift on the road travelling 800 miles, 5 days a week, or for that matter, for me and others like me, to regularly undertake 200+ mile journeys home after having already done a full days work, then travel perhaps another 300 miles the next day, as well as a full days work, when lorry drivers cannot travel more than a set time, and have tachographs to enforce that.

I used to make some ridiculous journeys in the name of work as I hated staying out, but tend to stay out overnight more and more now and find it a necessary evil. I think the thing that swung it for me was the Selby Rail Disaster - there but for the grace of God Go I, and all that.

Do others think that it is only a matter of time before another disaster is casued by someone driving professionally, in a non-regulated profession, driving wise, and tachos are enforced on all people who drive long distances as part of their job, whether the job is classified as a driving job or not.
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Just before i am about to sell my 2004 Galaxy TDi PD 130 Zetec, the aircon has stopped working. When i press the button, the light comes on, but i cannot hear any compressor noise from the engine, even with just the ignition. before, i could hear the compressor and there was a slight drop in the RPM. What will i need to do? re-gassing, new compressor??? However, the car is still under warranty, just. Any help is appreciated>>>>> thanks Read more

Thought I would post this link as an example of idle hands etc.
was gonna put it in technical, but as it put a nice smile on my face I thought here would be more appropriate.

www.angelfire.com/nc2/mycoffeecan/page1.html

Definately one for the budget petrolheads.

WTM Read more