July 2006
Hi
I regularly drive hire cars for work.
Last year I had to fill in an insurance claim through my employers insurance after someone bashed down the side of one and failed to stop (happenned overnight, while it was parked outside my house)
The question of whether I should tell my insurers hadn't occurred to me until now - when I was filling in an new application. I'm just about to buy a new car in significantly higher insurance group than present.
Do I have to declare this and is it likely to affect the premium?
thanks
Read more
Hello,
My dad has bought a Focus, 2002 2.0 Ghia, he went to clean under the bonnet (OK, perhaps unwise) and disconnected the plug leads. He clearly did not reconnect one leade properly because the car ran on three cyls when started, he checked and found the loose plug lead and now it runs fine on four cyls however the engine managment light is on and the dealer want £50 to reset it.
Will disconnnecting the battery reset it?
Any other ideas?
Many thanks. Read more
Apparently disconnecting the battery has done the trick. Thanks.
How can you tell if a car is an imprt and has the balance of it's manufacturers warranty remaining?
Will the first registered owner be the importing company or a non-UK address, or is it not that simple?
Ta! Read more
Cheers for the advice, went to see it last night and it seemed honest enough, 54 plate (Sept 04), 2 owners (which was my only real worry), 8500 miles in bright red.
Needs a service (every 3000 miles or 6 months) at 9000 so I'm sure the garage will find anything untoward if the car supermarket's 78 point checks don't...
All service stamps were in the UK, including the PDI and both previous owners were in the same area. I tried to get the phone numbers of the previous owners to find out why they had sold it, but it seemed they were both ex-d.
Still, nice little car and it went surprisingly well!
Seeing the Kia offer in the News column ----->:
Euroncap state "The Picanto performed badly, only doing just enough to merit its three star rating" - what is the likely affect of a "full length...sunroof" on that rating?
I have a VW sunroof in my Golf - are cars retested for the affect of sunroofs on their ratings? Read more
not so on the old hillman avenger though
And Austin Aggros; my Damson Red, needed-polishing-every-five-minutes, 1750 "Sport" flexed so badly when jacked up that none of the doors could be opened or closed. The body shell - door misalignment apparent on the latter was huge, and my uncle (previous owner) even had a windscreen shatter on jacking the car up with the driver's door open. A colleague's similar four door variant without sunroof still flexed, but not nearly as much.
What a horrid device.
Thank heavens ownership was short and stop-gap in nature.
There is a lay-by on the south bound carriageway of the A50, just before JNCT24 of the MI, which was constructed over a long period last year, resulting in long delays, and I am trying to work out the reason for it being there, simply because it is closed off with barriers. I have never seen it used for anything at all and I pass that way quite a lot. Anyone know the reason for its existence? Read more
Whatever it is for, I have never seen it used. Seems like a waste of money to me.
On my local radio station, one of the national windscreen firms is running an ad that includes the statement "if you have a cracked windscreen, in some accidents, your airbags may not work properly".
I just about understand the logic that a cracked windscreen won't provide the same level of strength in itself in an accident but how does it affect the airbag?
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Unlikely with modern cars OM, the volume of the bags is actually quite small and they deploy in stages.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
A friend of mine from Germany came to visit me in his MY '06 Accord 2.0 Comfort - an equivalent of SE spec in the UK. He absolutely adores it, though I simply cannot see why. So I took it for a spin...
Sitting on 15" steel wheels with 195/65 tyres it looks like a joke if you ask me. Okay, let's assume they didn't want to spoil the ride, but Honda please, please add some nice alloys while you're at it, even the new Civic has got them and they are 16" ! Steels ? Here ?! In an Accord ???
I have to admit that fit & finish inside is just superb, no doubt about that. I guess it can match the Germans, but the steering wheel is too big and thin for my taste, even the humble Vectra beats it.
The 2.0 petrol engine is quiet and very refined and naturally you've got to rev it to achieve anything, but since the gearbox is nice as well, that shouldn't be a problem. Good sound insulation, too. However, when it comes to handling, I suppose they couldn't decide whether they wanted to make it comfy or sporty. As a result, it's not comfy at all. Moreover, it's not sporty, either. It's something in between - rather poor I'm afraid on potholes and I'm told that on optional 16" wheels it's even worse. What a shame.
Although the dual climate control works OK, there are no vents for the rear seats. Hmm, these days even the Golf has got them. And the Vectra, naturally. And the Passat. And the 407. And... No rain sensor - phew. No auto lights. What ?! And the electric windows... only the driver's has the 'auto' function, why why why ? Then there's the audio - 4 speakers only and they sound barely decent.
As some of you might now, all Japs developed a strange yet simple attitude towards the trim specs. It's either this or that and very, very poor choice of factory fitted options, unlike the Germans or the French. You want the xenons ? Fine, pay for the Executive (that would be an EX in the UK). Same for leather, better audio and parktronic (there's only a rear one and yes, the Vectra has both front & rear).
23 400 Euros... Never ever, if you ask me. Yeah, I know - it's made in Japan. So what ?
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Free enterprise is the basis of western economy. Read more
>>Saying that, never thought of the rear vents or auto lights - lights seem completely pointless, but the vents >>would be nice, it's a feature that I didn't even think to consider.
That's OK if you drive alone with no one in the back, but being a rear passenger in a car with no additional vents and + 30 C outside is just painful.
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Free enterprise is the basis of western economy.
Hi. I have a 1998 Renault Laguna 1.8 RT Sport.
Driving on the M25 today it kept slipping out of 5th gear. There has been excessive movement in the gear stick but I thought the problem was fix when a new rear mount was fitted.
What happens is when you are driving and you put your foot down the gear stick moves towards neutral (This happens on 1st, 3rd, and 5th. In 2nd and 4th it moves backwards when the foot goes down. Take the foot off the accelerator and the gear stck goes back into the position (of what ever gear you are in) it should be.
This coming right out of 5th today on the motorway was a nightmare. I must have done it about 20 times in 50 miles.
Anyone got any idea what the problem might be?
Thanks for any help. Read more
it used to be the nut on the 5th gear coming slack,get it checked yesterday before you wreck the box
Have just got back from an IAM observed drive that lasted all of 5 minutes a further 30 minutess was spent trying to get out of Albrighton before giving up and having to wait it out. what surprised me was how blindly some people drove into water without a clue of gear or speed or how deep it was. I helped push at least 3 cars out of the water where they had soaked electrics etc! One guy was up to his door handles under a railway bridge!!! any other backroomers had any experience of this sort of driving. I eventually managed to get out by using the hydraulic suspension on the xantia and going in first gear!!!
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Temporarily not a student, where did the time go??? Read more
I was once a passenger in my car 99 Toyota Corrolla, allowing my flatmate to drive as he had been to this part of the 'bush' in NSW Australia. We approached a stream with a lot of sand. We had a heated debate about not driving my car acroos the river. I got out of the car to have a cig and talk to my mates in the car behind when he decided to cross the stream. It was far deeper than anticipated and the car became submurged. Safe to say I was more than peeved. Fortunately a guy came past with a 4X4 and towed it out. The car was submurged above the door seals. Water was seeping in. Fortunately the engine never cut out. I had the car for another 8 months without any problems, although I did have to strip the interior, dry and clean it. He never understood why I was so bothered!
SiL's Volvo 340 has burst its radiator, and a rich friend with lots of motors has offered him a 94 2-litre Laguna automatic for nothing.
The car is said to be in good condition and has a new autobox less than a year old. Mileage is said to be low, about 5k a year average. It's a specced-up model with leather.
My feeling is that since it's free he might as well give it a try. Apparently it isn't worth much.
I know the Laguna, and Renaults in general especially with autoboxes, are frowned on by many here, but I believe they have their supporters. The only Renault I have owned, an 18GTX estate, was excellent.
Will the Laguna drink like a fish and give him endless grief, or is it worth a punt? Read more
Thanks to all for mainly positive feedback. I'll pass it on, and post any relevant further data.
Browse
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this is what the law lords think:
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200405/ldhansr...m
..... 17 Oct 2005 : Column 608 ....
Earl Attlee: It may help the noble Lord if I point out that I believe that if you are near the car with the keys in your pocket, you are deemed to be drunk in charge of the car.
Lord Davies of Oldham: I am grateful to the noble Earl, Lord Attlee, for clearing up that matter. He is absolutely right. The keys do not have to be in one's pocket so far as drink driving offences are concerned. It is a question of proximity to the car and intent to use it. Therefore, in that area we have a very clear illustration of someone who may not even be immediately behind the wheel of a car but is responsible for it and can be charged with a serious breach of the law. That is why this debate is not really about driving. We do not have in law a definition of driving. The question when a driver is in charge of a vehicle has to be established as a fact before a court of law according to the evidence that is put before it at that time. We therefore cannot pretend that we have in law a concept of driving that enables us to introduce amendments of this kind. That is the difficulty.
Let me point to the other obvious problem that impacts on this?the development of new technology. I would be sustaining the argument even without this new technology. Some cars are now designed so that their engines stop when the accelerator is not pressed and they are no longer going forward. Whereas some careful, economical drivers switch off their engines at level crossings because they know that two trains are expected, which will take several minutes to pass, and think that they are contributing to reducing global warning as a result, the fact is that you can be driving a car that will take that decision for you; it switches off the engine.
Is it contended that because an engine is switched off, the driver is no longer in charge of the vehicle as far as the law is concerned? That would be the burden of these amendments. It would mean that it would not impact on the driver if the engine of his vehicle was not running. All the assertions by Members of the Committee who have stated how important it is to look at the question of mobile phones and their use while driving would have a coach and horses run through any part of our legislation in these terms, to say nothing of other aspects of potential bad driving, by the simple fact that if the driver could establish that the vehicle was stationary and the engine not actually running, he could not be caught by the law that would be in place if these amendments were accepted. We cannot go down that track, can we? ......