January 2007
I always pay my car insurance annually, but my poverty-stricken son is taking on the old family Fiesta. He wants to pay his insurance premium monthly - which could prove useful if the car fails its MoT test in the summer and he cannot afford to continue with it.
I was assuming that a monthly payment would be sufficiently flexible so that it could be terminated during the year - but, could anyone on the Backroom tell me if there is normally any sort of committment to continue the payments for a whole year if the car dies? Read more
Hi All
I know this has been raised before, but I wanted to gauge opinion on an issue or two.
I received a parking ticket today. I parked on a road where people public park on a regular basis. The road has no markings in the vicinity of where I parked, nor are there any restriction signs.
There are however signs at the ends of the road, one next to a footpath some 20m away from where I parked which leads down some steps and could easily be blocked by a parked car, similarly there is one at the other end of the road across a junction (some 20m away), where the road is narrower and a throughfare (the stretch I parked in is a deadend (apart from access to houses and the footpath). In my opinion these signs do not cover this stretch of road, there is adequate area for a sign to cover this stretch (sufficient for 3 cars to park).
I know many colleagues who park here on a daily basis and as far as I know, no-one has received a ticket previously.
The ticket was issued by the police, not the council, so the pcn says I can choose to go to court, it does not mention an appeal? If I were to take it to court, what is the likely outcome, given the following:
On the basis of inadequate signage, what is the situation?
On the second basis that there is only one date on the ticket (the date of contravention), there is no second date of issue as required and upheld by the High Court (Justice Jackson in Moses v Barnet)
On the third basis that the date of the ticket is made out on 17/01/06 and not 17/01/07
Thanks in advance for any assistance.
Jonathan Read more
Good on you........if only more people did this, then the rest of us might have a chance of complying with what we should be and not getting had over for the things we shouldn't be
sadly...if i'm honest......i'd have given up ages ago
While I'm at it, here's another one:
This PC occasionally freezes, usually when I have more than one IE window open. Even bringing up Task Manager and trying to "End Process" just prompts a "Not Responding" message. I have to go into the Processes tab and close things from there to free it up again - something I don't like doing as I'm kind of working in the dark.
Previously a problem with the McAfee (which sometimes turns off the On-Access Scan feature) has been identified but following the links has produced nothing more than "There is no solution to the problem you are having at this time". This time, I followed the same "click here for further information" to see that there is a problem relating to "vstskmgr", which I take it means VirusScan Task Manager. Any ideas what could be causing it?
It's version 8.0.0, if that makes any difference.
--
andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmm, doughnuts ... Read more
you forget quad core kentsfields.......
I did forget to mention them though according to Toms the E6700 Conroe is as fast as the QX6700 Kentsfield in most real life apps.
I'm fitting a new aerial to the car, but don't want to run the new cable all the way through. What's the best way to splice the new cable to the existing one? Read more
Thanks guys. I managed to get hold of the connector that TU recommended from my local car radio place. I'll be sure to wrap it well, and it will be inside the wing that has a liner, so it won't be subjected to any water unless I wade through water more than a meter deep.
Having done the great American road trip last Easter with just the two of us and a Mustang convertible, the rest of the family want to come this Easter. That's the boys (two of them both 6ft+) and Grandma who, fortunately, is petite. I really don't want a huge 4x4 with 3 rows of seats; Do people think we'd all fit in a Dodge Magnum? Bear in mind we did 800 miles in a week last year... If not the Magnum, what else would fit the bill? Hertz at SFO were very good at giving me exactly the car I'd asked for, and, if you check out the "vehicles available at this location" option on the left hand side bar, you can discover exactly what they have available. Any thoughts? (and please don't suggest the Shelby mustang and leaving the others at home... I've already spotted that one)
Tim{P} Read more
Yup, I drove his Yukon a couple of times.
It drives like the pickup truck it is based on, but that isn't a bad thing and the ride is actually quite good on smooth US roads. Very easy to drive once you get used to it's size and the usual 4x4 turning circle.
Not as easy as an MPV for Grandma to get in or out but certainly worth considering if you want something memorable for the photo album.
I'm pretty sure that the motel was the Best Western Yosemite Gateway.
Kevin...
I had the Parrot (bluetooth hands-free in car kit) fitted in the Outback when I had a Nokia 6310i and it paired beautifully, downloading the phonebook and voice data immediately. I swapped temporarily to an Sony Ericcson W850i which I hated but also worked reasonably well with the Parrot.
I now have a Nokia E50 which is great, but will not download any data to the Parrot. All it will do is to handle calls through the bluetooth system and boot the call through the speakers and microphone.
The fitter says its because the phone is a 'smartphone' which I suppose it is as it is like a PDA, only looks like a normal one, so its too advanced for the Parrot. Is he wrong - can I sync them and get the data downloaded? Read more
I've downloaded the patch too, not tested it yet mind, thanks chaps :-)
Hi,
I have a 56 plate passat as a company car, its done close to 6000 miles now and the average MPG on extra urban runs (up and down the M6) was usually between 44 and 49MPG, however since christmas eve I'm lucky if I can get it above 39MPG while driving it like Miss Daisy's chauffer !!! its been to VW who cant find any issues with it.
3 weeks ago I went to Belgium in it and it used a full take to get from cheshire to Calais then up to Belgium and back (with a full boot of wine ) and yet it cost a quarter of a tank last week to get to derby and back (90mile round trip)....
any ideas? performance seems normal, tyres seem inflated ok... Read more
Assume its Diesel - winter fuel mix ?
Im starting to think my planets are out of alignment.
My van has just come back from repair today, 5 days early.
It was bad enough that I was given a huge VW LT van as a loan vehicle which was totally impractical for getting up some of my customers narrow driveways ( and not the Astra type van I was promised by the hire company ).
I hoped that would be the last annoyance.
Seems that wasnt to be.
On getting it home I had a good look round.... Oh dear.
I had damage to both the inner and outer OS rear wings. The outer one has been done, but the inner wing was simply painted and the trim panel put back over it. I lifted the panel because it wasnt fitting right, only to discover there was a sizeable kink in the inner wing still.
That made me pretty angry.
Anyway, then I thought, the cage that holds the spare wheel was badly bent, lets have a look what they did there.... absolutely nothing as it happens.
I even went along to my Suzuki dealer who kindly let me take pictures of the underside of their Carry van so I could see what shape the cage should be and where it should fit in relation to the rest of the van.
The cage on my van is bent atleast 4 inches forward of where it should be and on looking at the cage from the underside, its buckled at the front in two places - easy to see and the repairer noted it down when I took it to them. This would explain why the large bolt that you unscrew the cage with, which is mounted next to the boot catch was at such a funny angle.
By this point I couldnt really believe what I was seeing.
So on I went - the rear floor in the cargo area has been painted, but the finish is childlike and where the lower floor was repainted, they dont seem to have cleaned it properly as the paint has gone blotchy as if it was painted over oil.
There was also overspray on the interior panels and the rear tyre, a scratch on the brand new rear bumper and a couple of new scuffs on the front bumper!
Ive loged a complaint with my insurer who are dealing with it, but honestly, Im about to strangle someone at this stage - why is it so hard to get any stage of the process right? The bodyshop sure get the prize for being no good at what they do though!
Read more
"if there's a dispute about the quality of the work then you're on your own if you chose the repairer."
Absolutely, and why should your insurance company have any responsibility for work done outside of their own control ?
At least using an insurers network there is some guarantee that eventually any dodgy repairs will be fixed. My job is liasing with repairers daily and I am amazed how much rectification work needs doing that must have a serious impact on the repairers profit margin. Have just been dealing with a Jag (repair bill about £10k) where the driver has reported a whole list of problems after the repair. These has been back at the repairer now for over 2 months and I would think the repairer will be heavily in the red on just this one job. We are forever pressurising them to get it right 'first time'. Having said that, there are hundreds of jobs a day that go through without a hitch, on time, and repairs OK - it's just that these are never noticed.
I think it also depends on the quality of the insurance company. Some 'cheap and cheerful' companies will certainly cut corners on this and drive the repairers rates down.
The repair industry is is a state of flux at the moment with many smaller bodyshops unable to stay in business due to the competitive nature of the insurance work. Most insurance companies will now stipulate a minumum level of equipment, including digital imaging and on-line tracking, something the corner-shop style bodyshop could never afford. There is now a trend towards large, more state-of-the-art bodyshops that deal with many insurers thus ensuring volume. There are even specific chains developing (like the Norwich Union Solus operation) where smaller outfits have been taken over, upgraded and re-branded. Repairers are definitely getting more high-tech but they have a long way to go before they fill the average customer with confidence and this is something we are trying to improve every day ......
jdc
hi
Silly boring question really. Anyone know roughly how long it would take to commute from junction 12 of the M4 to the centre of Guildford in Rush-hour? Would it best to go by train from the centre of reading - or it that just taking the mickey.
thanks lads/lasses Read more
The train service is quite good, my son uses it all
the time, his GF is in Reading.
------------------------------
Actually you are right, my mistake, I was thinking of the Reading to Warterloo service.
I saw one today parked out the back of a main dealers in Kettering - not sure who it belonged to but it had new tyres on it and it was very rust free, so must have been looked after and presumably in use still.
Im hoping its not a trade in about to be sent to the scrappy... Read more
yes I was thinking that - except the numberplates on Alfas......but I think my design trait observation stands...think of the mark badges on citroens in the 80s - all offset....anyhow onto more serious things....
Browse
When I was younger and had no cash I paid monthly. I was tied into 12 months. I was told that essentially the insurance got paid on day 1 of the policy for the year using a 12 month loan provided to me by the insurance company, or third party. With the intererst rate they charge for paying monthly it works out better borrowing money from the bank.