November 2006
I have a Micra 2000 and it seems to be pulling to the left a little under heavy braking, the brake pads are about a year old and I was just wondering what the cause of this is. Read more
Who can help pick a car for Mrs Lawman?
Her current car (a 10 year old primera) has been sent to its maker, thanks to a blind pensioner in a Micra who drove into the back of her on Wednesday. She and the kids are shaken but unhurt, thank goodness. The car however is almost certainly a write off.
Budget for replacement is £2,500 (I am a skinflint..)
The car needs to be big enough for 2 adults and 2 children and to have a reasonably sized boot. It needs to last for at least 4 years and will be doing about 10k a year (so not a diesel).
I reckon that the best value in this sector would be a Mondeo or a Vectra. I am a fan of Japanese cars too.
Ideally we would like an MPV, but we would most likely get a bit of a dog for this budget.
What say you all? Read more
a couple of thousand will get you a good mondeo or vectra at auction, about four to five years old. Buy one with full service history and be prepared to pay a few hundred sorting out the minor niggles that usually come with any car bought at auction.
Either that or pick up an older one for about £1k and throw it away if it goes seriously wrong.
--
I read often, only post occasionally
I have just received my insurance renewal quote from a leading insurance company and I was fully expecting to have an increase due to the fact I've been a bad lad and got two speeding fines earlier this year. Two months ago I spoke to them about it as I was changing cars from an 11yr old 318is Coupe to 06 Focus 1.8 TCDI Zetec, at the time they said the speeding offences wouldn't be taken into account until renewal and my premium went up by £16.00 PA at the time. Well the renewal quote went up by £400.00 which in effect double my premium from £425 to £825.00. A quick look on moneysupermarket found loads of insurance companies which offered cover at around the lower £400's mark which included protected NCD and changing to business insurance. I called my existing company back and spoke to a call centre in Deli and asked what I had to do cancel my policy. I enquired if they were interested in why I was cancelling and whether they would like to try and match my new quote. The supervisor pointed out the obvious that the premium had increased due to the speeding offences and what were the other companies offering. When I told them the new quotes they said "Thats is because the other companies weren't as choosey as them and didn't have the same exacting standards".
Now I didn't go through any specialist brokers or was economical with truth, just a five minute search on tinernet and the companies that came back were the usual suspects. That amused me and he said that I wouldn't get the same quality of service from other companies. I'm old and ugly enough to take my chances in the market place with substandard service :-) but I wonder how many people accept this kind of spiel from there existing companies because they don't believe there is a choice or think because they have committed an offence this is part of the shame they should endure.
Just wondering, not really expecting any comments Read more
Most companies business models works by rewarding loyal customers and trying to retain them.
The typical insurance business model works by giving the best prices to new customers and screwing existing ones by putting up prices on renewal. So it rewards new customers and penalises existing ones.
i.e. it relies on customer inertia.
Of course this worked fine 10 years ago before the internet and cal centres.
Nowadays with cheap switchinh and internet search engines, all it means is that only the lazy or those with good companies who have ditched the business model stay loyal.
The rest switch.
Of course as a result adding new customers: advertising and admin and paperwork and cheap year 1 insurance means that these customers are likely marginally profitable..
Stoopid? Yes.
But no more stoopid than most insurance company chief execs who continue with it...
madf
I fancy a family camping holiday in Tarn next summer. Ideally we would be arriving in Normandy on a Saturday evening, overnighting around Alencon then aiming for Millau the next day. Bearing in mind that this would be the 22nd / 23rd of July -is this likely to be a drive from Hell?
OK - I just want to go over the big viaduct really! Read more
"fellow camper "
Was camper for many years - but tents in the pouring rain?? I'm getting a bit ancient for that so now caravanner (and also like driving in France like you)
We must use the same message boards!!
--
Phil
Hello,
I'm thinking about having the cam belt changed on my 1989 Land Rover 90 TD.
Any ideas how much I should be paying ? (I don't want to get ripped off!).
mtia Read more
ask here www.lro.com/nav?page=lroi.message.list§ion=MES...D and you might get told of a good l/r indy near to you .
is it a turbo diesel or a 200tdi engine
the problem linked to by Andy is only post 94 300 tdi engine and involves fitting a timing housing and quite a big job
fiesta zetec 1.25 w reg, heaters have suddenly started blowing cold!
any ideas what the fault is!
any advice greatly appreciated. Read more
had this on a fiesta, it was the heater valve, if you lift the bonnet and look right at the back in the middle (nearest the windscreen side) you'll see a small valve which has 4 pipes attached to it. tried replacing it myself (I'm a beginner when it comes to cars) but was a bit tricky (managed to do it but think the valve I put in was faulty, so got the garage to do it in the end). Half the problem was I couldn't move the scuttle board surrounding it, and then only had a small pair of pliers to move the clamps holding the pipes in position, which, laughably kept slipping into awkard positions. Oh and watch out for coolant spilling everywhere too!
Just in case any Costco members have missed this:
The address sheet in the package I received says:
"Michelin Tyres
Buy any 4 from the Pilot, Energy, 4x4, or Van ranges
20% off when you buy 4
Maximum purchase 2 deal (8 tyres)
Valid from 6th November 2006 - 19th November 2006" Read more
For info, Costco do say that they can order in
any tyres/sizes made by Michelin if not in stock. ( they
have done so twice for me)
They wouldn't get me some tractor tyres a few years ago.
Michelin tyres are the creme de la creme for farmers.
Following on from another thread, I am getting various bits of warranty work done on my Scenic in its third year. Now I remember somewhere that the first 2 years are covered by manufacturer and third from dealer. But how does this actually work?
The dealer that is doing the warranty work is not the dealer I bought it from. So who is footing the bill? Is it Renault? Or is there a "collective" pool that all dealers pay into?
Anyone shed any light on this? Read more
I think the work is still funded by Renault UK just as all other warranty work.
They word it in the contract as such to encourage you to buy from a dealer instead of a car supermarket.
I asked this same question when I bought VW's and this was the answer I was given.
Off course if you buy Jap / Korean you get a full 3 year manufacturers warranty (5 with Hyundai).
And it does not degrade over the warranty period as in "You may find certain items are not covered in the third year." above.
"Road users are being asked for their views on service stations and lay-bys on motorways and major roads."
"Government guidelines recommend drivers should rest for at least 20 minutes every two hours."
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6154352.stm
So how do we get our views into the mincing machine? Read more
Somewhere quiet where you can get a decent dup of coffee would be a start. Get rid of those hideous arcade games with their attendant noise and flashing lights. Just what you don't need after 200 miles of motorway driving
Can anyone advise if a synthetic oil would help the "notchy" gearchange on an "04" corsa sxi and if so which brand would be suitable.
Jim Read more
Gearbox oil is normally dyed red to distinguish it from engine oil when trying to trace leaks. The colour doesn't indicated the oil type.
You need Vauxhall part 09120541 or 09540998
Browse
i suspect your right hand caliper is not working ie: seized, the only one working is the left and that's why you have un- ballanced braking, best have it checked out very soon before any silly acidents on these wet leaf covered roads. good luck.