Once upon a time, I had my car and my wife had her car. I loved my car and looked after it as well as I could, parking in remote spots at Tescos, going slowly over the speed bumps (or driving an extra mile to avoid them) and making sure it was serviced on time and by proper Subaru people. I knew it was "just a car" and didn't want to get too sad about it but wanted to make sure it would live a long life and function as it had done from new.

My wife on the other hand couldn't care less...to her, a car was purely a thing to stop her getting wet or catching the bus...she had a nice new Scenic but to her it was "the blue car thing". If it got pranged in the car park or scraped against a gate post then it was no different to stubbing your toe...a quick expletive and move on.

Inside, you couldn't see the carpets for spare shoes, bits of old maps, sweet wrappers and assorted kid's paraphernalia. One of the seats had a half-digested boiled sweet welded to it. It even had a snail in it for a couple of months - rescued from the local tip. It eluded capture but left trails all over the roof lining and windows.

But, I told myself, this was fine. People are different. Some care about these things, some don't.

But one day, not so long ago the contract expired on the Blue Car Thing. It had seemed a good idea at the time, Contract Hire - get a new car, easy monthly payments. But time flies and suddenly the men were round with their handheld computers entering the details and condition of the car and calculating the excess payment we would have to make before they took it away to be resprayed and industrially cleaned prior to a sad end at some auction house.

Suddenly My Car became Our Car. And today was the day where she came back from the shops with that sort of look on her face...the look where you can tell that she's thinking "if I don't tell him he'll find out because he's sad enough to spot these things so I better tell him...without trying to laugh".

And in the scheme of things I suppose it wasn't too serious. No one was hurt. I'm just surprised that when doing 10 mph and hitting a kerb to avoid "a bunch of motorbikes" so much damage can be done to an alloy wheel and a 1000 mile old tyre. Plus the puzzling fact that it's a rear wheel and she wasn't in reverse or, and I quote, "I don't think I was in reverse".

Never mind, a fun few days and pennies ordering a specific tyre which took 3 weeks to get last time, getting a new wheel and discovering what interesting shapes the rear axle, rods, arms, whatever, have been turned into on an Impreza should do me the world of good.

So please, when you're talking about your Autoglyms and your Clay Bars and a whole Sunday in the sunshine spent looking after your pride and joy, remember, there will be one less of us out there this weekend.
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I have just bought a car via a 'trade' seller on Auto trader.
Before buying I checked the VIN on the vehicle against the Log Book and MOT certificate. There was a one digit discrepancy on the MOT certificate - which I asked to be changed. This was done (witihn 24 hours). I then bought the car.

I then started to get twitchy - as i noticed the MOT Garage was over 50 miles away from the 'trader'.
I phoned VSO - the MOT test number exists in their database, but not for the vehicle I've bought, and on the Certificate. Indeed they say they have no record of the vehicle on the MOT Certificate being MOT'd for 18months (at least).

I phoned the MOT garage concerend, they have no record in their diary of doing the original MOT in August, nor of doing a change earlier this week. The issuer's name on the MOT is the name of someone at the garage (I don't know if it's his siganture though)

The VOSA do not understand how 1 test number can refer to 2 vehicles and recommended I inform the police, which I have - though I've not seen them yet.

the certificate I've got looks genuine, got the barcode, and the sticky label, doesn't look at all like a scan/copy.

What might be going on?
Stolen MOT forms?
I'm worried, to say the least.
And feel a fool to boot.


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I've just bought a MK3 mondeo and whilst I was looking through the manual, I came across the one touch window function. Sounding like it could be useful in the summer, I decided to try it out. I pressed the door open button and sure enough, all four windows slid open. Cool I thought. I then pressed the door close button and to my surprise, only the front windows closed. Is this correct or do I have a problem?

Many thanks in advance of any help you can give. Read more

I have a R plate Rover 400, done 120K, new engine at 80k, when I start up in the morning, no matter how cold, the starter motor turns over at full pace and the engine fires up.

If however I stall when the engine is warm, the starter motor refuses to turn at all... if I wait for the engine to cool a little, the starter motor will turn begrudginly - like I've got a flat battery (I haven't) the SM will only turn at full speed when the engine is cold...

New alternator, rectifier checked, head sent away to exclude cracks, my mechanic has now run out of ideas... Any help out there?

ATB,J. Read more

I don't want to start criticising a car before comes on to the market, but...The pictures of the new MINI Traveller I saw in this week's AutoExpress had me aghast (well almost). Mainly as regards the number and thickness of pillars between the body and roof - a thick A, a B at the front of the rear door, a C to the trailing edge of the rear door, a D where you normally expect a D, and finally an E where the two tailgate doors meet. What's the visibility going to be like out of this? And will people bother, so long as they have the latest fashion accessory?
S6 1SW
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