I've had 3 headlight bulbs go on the offside of the Megane hatch in 3 years (does anyone think this is particularly unusual?). I failed to change it on all 3 occasions & ended up going to the local garage (each time they asked to pop the bonnet until I pointed out it was only "accesible" through the wheel arch). First couple of times they asked for a fiver for the 10-15 minutes of swearing they (& I) endured. Third time they had it up over the inspection pit with the wheel off and charged £20.

The offside indicator went over Easter. I thought I'd give it a good effort myself - work clothes on, trolley jack & axle stands out. Took about 40 minutes of sweating & swearing just to get the wheel off (has anyone else suffered stuck wheels before?). I tried accessing the bulb & then realised that I needed an orange one, not the clear one Halfords had sold me.

So I put everything back to go & get the correct bulb & it turned out it just needed a wiggle to get it working again! What a PITA.

I had already mentally noted to check the procedure on any potential new car, but it does seem to be becoming the norm to make it hard for owners to do their own simple maintenance.

Thanks for the tips all, looks like i could be in for some fun this w/e. The rac man also said that he couldnt find any earths so it must be something else, so i will start light watching. again thanks to all and i will let you know what happens.

Charges for public services is always a tricky issue.

The method of collection using a contractor no doubt offers the best value for money to the tax payer - as pointed out above, why waste a trained police officer's time with it.

But the real issue is, is it fairer for everyone to pay a bit more and have this service free at point of need, or just pass the cost onto the specific users?

Seeing as the users don't choose this service (ie they don't choose to have their car stolen) voluntarily, then it does seem a bit harsh.

I'm sure the police would love to offer the SOCO service free to everyone, but as we all know, expectations of public services never quite tie up with our eagerness to pay.

In fact, in some ways making a specific charge for public services would help in certain cases IMO, as consumers of them would realise just how expensive services can be to deliver, and could make specific choices themselves.

I.e. do I want to have a well maintained park near me? Cost say £25 a year. Do I want to have a street light outside my house? Cost £5 a year. Do I want to be able to call on trading standards in the coming year? If not, then you save £8 from your annual council tax bill. No Social Services? Then save £800. And so on.

The problem comes, as any economist will know, is that public services are often "public goods" i.e. they can be enjoyed for free by someone else who didn't pay (i.e. your neighbour doesn't pay for a streetlight, but goes and parks his car under the light you paid for!!)

Therefore, some services have to be funded out of general tax and be provided for free to everyone. Other services are charged for at point of use where a specific user can be indentified.

So, after the economic-ification of this topic, this service does actually lend itself to having a specific charge made for it.

With the bonus of you being able to opt out if so desired.

Ian