September 2006
So our Jazz is 3yrs old now, and we've been offered Hondacare Guarantee for £400 for a year or £700 for 2 yrs.
Normally I never buy extended guarantees, but, bearing in mind I'd have to get some sort of recovery cover (it's really Mrs Payer's car) and that would cost £70 per year, I'm wondering whether to go for it or not?
The car has been faultless over 3 yrs, but I'm thinking that if almost anything went wrong with it then it could easily cost a small fortune. Read more
I have a Ford Mondeo Estate 2.0 TDCi. The car was registered in Oct 2003 and has done 31,000 miles. It is in good condition. I had a major service carried out a the local Ford dealership 2 days and 25 miles ago. On inspecting the oil this afternoon, I found it to be black and pretty dirty looking. Is this to be expected in a low mileage diesel so soon after a major service? Any advice appreciated.
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In answer to the question yes oil goes dirty very very quickly ? carbonisation- secondly I was dead against this method of vacuum oil extraction. However it is widely used in Marine circles and before anyone dares differ common rail engines are now fitted to boats and the Pentas are very car/truck derived. I do both now as I extract about 99% by the vacuum and then remove the sump plug whilst doing the other filters when I replace the plug there is usually no more than a cup full in the pan !!
Surprised this subject has not been raised already.
A review of the Government's speed cameras policy was demanded yesterday after official statistics showed that only five per cent of crashes are caused by drivers breaking the speed limit.
Drivers who let their attention wander cause more than six times as many accidents.
The Department of Transport insisted that, while driver error accounted for 66 per cent of accidents, motorists going too fast for the conditions, irrespective of the speed limit, accounted for 29 per cent of crashes.
The analysis rekindled the speed camera argument and raised questions over whether the Government would meet the road safety targets it had set itself. The figures showed that the number of people killed on the roads last year fell to 3,201, one per cent fewer than in the previous year. The 28,954 people seriously injured represented a seven per cent fall on 2004. The Government has said it wants the number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads to be reduced to 40 per cent of the 1994-8 average by 2010.
Analysis of hospital data sent to the Department of Health painted a very different picture, suggesting that the drop in the number of deaths had been minimal.
Full article at tinyurl.com/qsqr4
Moderators please leave this thread out of Speeding thread for at least 24 hours as I feel it will be widely discussed.
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Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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Surprised this subject has not been raised already.
It has:-
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=43788&...e
Moderators please leave this thread out of Speeding thread for at
least 24 hours as I feel it will be widely discussed.
Too late. Please continue discussion in the above mentioned thread please.
DD.
Can anyone tell me at what mileage the cambelt is due for replacement, and what else should be done at the same time on the 2.0 HDi engine please Read more
Thanks for the advice 659
IE, brand new or pre reg:
Mini size.
I'm looking to buy a car for my 17 year old niece as a present for here uni run from her rented accommodation.
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Just thought I would post some figures for possible cars as I am in the same position except it is an 18 year old son the car is for.
I am still undecided as to whether a old / new car is the right way however for new cars here is what I have found so far:
Mitsubushi Colt CZ1 / Red 6000 - 6250 for pre reg 56 from a dealer or Colt Blue 6999 from broker www.simpledeal.co.uk
Seat Ibiza 1.2 Reference @ 6495 from Arnold Clark
Toyota Yaris @ 6999 from autobytel
Fiat Grande Punto 1.2 Active 56 pre reg @ 6499 from www.RegVardy.com
Fiesta Studio from 6180 / Style from under 6500 from various brokers
Suzuki Swifts appear to have no discounts and pre regs don't exist
Only other thing I have found which may be of interest is a method of reducing insurance costs by 50% (allegedly) from MoreThan @ www.morethandrivetime.com/index.html
If anyone can beat these prices / have corresponding deals on other relevant models, could I suggest they post here also?
I have been looking for a secondhand car for my youngest son to buy. He has been saving up hard and was very keen to get his first car. I saw a car on the verge just round the corner from where we live and it was being sold by a person my wife knows. The local vet. The price was quite good and we got the car mechanically examined. The report was ok but before we paid over the cheque we did a check if there was anything owed. There was. The lady selling it was quite indignant. How did we expect her to pay off the car if we didn't give her the money first. We had wasted her time. No mention of our time and the cost of the inspection.
The moral is don't be influenced by how respectable or well known the vendor is. Check if there is anything owing before you do anything else. We nearly got taken. I was totally amazed by what I thought was a respectable professional person in our small town trying something like that. Read more
make sure you check the engine and chassis number from the car...... and that they are the same on the log book (form V5).......
although in theory the engine could have been changed..albeit it should have been updated with DVLA, but often isn't....... but that might be a reason why you wouldn't want it I suppose, depending on it's age.
it would be very easy to have the V5 of a severely damaged car (that will be binned), steal another similar one, then sell you the stolen one using the legitimate V5....... and if you're buying it at the side of the road, you don't know who you're dealing with do you?
This morning I went to my local filling station and was surprised to see a single decker bus on the forecourt. It was angled so it blocked the lanes between both sets of pumps. I thought this was very unusual, buit then I was told it could not move it as it had a flat battery.
What other unusual things have you seen happening on a forecourt?
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Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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I used to love those filling stations that offered both loos and the mixture for 2-stroke engines - the signs appeared as "2-stroke Toilets".
There was a lovely sign I saw in a village on the west coast of Scotland:
P
Free
Toilets......
Last time I stopped at the Oxford services on the M40 there was a splendid sign in the gents that said 'Welcome Break apologises for the self-service nature of the facilities'. I'd love to know what it is that Welcome Break does for gentlemen at other service stations that you have to do for yourself at Oxford.
Next Thursday I'm going to Leeds with some work colleagues from the Harlow / Hertfordshire area. We don't want to go in seperate cars so we'd like to meet up somewhere just off the M11/A14/A1 where we can dump a couple of cars for the day and travel up in one.
Does anyone have any ideas of a suitable place, that preferably don't involve paying large sums in parking fees?
thanks
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Soupytwist ! Read more
"I've done that in places near airports successfully, for up to a week."
People in the Essex village of Takeley (next to Stansted airport) are getting very annoyed with people doing exactly that. Especially when the parkers ring a taxi to come and get them, say I'm at number 10 Acacia Avenue and the cab driver rings the doorbell rather than pickup the person standing on the pavement with a suitcase.
Also, none of us live in a particularly convenient location given the route we need to take.
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Soupytwist !
So the MD of Toyota UK says that new car sales are slower than manufacturers thought and there are some good deals to be had (although he did say this wasn't going to apply to Toyota as they have low stocks anyway).
So what manufacturers are offering crazy deals on new cars?
Is this not the case toward the month or quarter end when a dealer wants to meet targets? Or have manufacturers really been over producing and now they are left with huge stockpiles they want to shift? Read more
Folks,
I am new to this forum and looking for some help. I bought a car on the afternoon of the 30th June. It was untaxed by the garage as they advised me to get it taxed over the weekend and I would not 'lose' a month of tax. I had no chance to tax it on the Friday, because of work. I went to tax it on the saturday maorning and forgot my insurance certificate, and couldn;t make it back before the PO was closed (this part is not relevant, I just want people to understand that I tried). That afternoon, my wife spotted some police officers examinignt he car in the road. she wnet out and they pointed out the lack of tax disc. She explained and the policeman left a card with her, saying that we would not be fined but to tax it first thing on monday. I immediately tried to tax it online but was unable due to the engine size (?!?). So I went first thing on the monday and taxed it. Yesterday (29th September) I received a £149 fine for this offence.
Do I have any decent comeback, given the policeman said it was ok? Read more
not the blue ones though they are good ones (if you are a shareholder and sat on them through the blip)
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Remember that of the £700 about £70 will actually go into the pot,£350 will be dealers margin,IPT tax and the rest to pay the warranty providers operating costs.Its a Honda not a Euroshed,very unlikely to go wrong.