My husband was involved in an RTA on 9 August 2006. He was overtaking (legally) a line of stationary traffic on his moped. Suddenly, a car in the stationary line pulled directly across in front of him going from the left hand side of the road to what he says was a parking space on the opposite side of the road. In fact (and we proved this with photographs) there was no parking space, it was a bus stop and he was attempting a u-turn to get to a takeaway further back on the other side of the road. He says he wasn't doing a u-turn. His car had cosmetic damage to the driver's door (this is what it says in the police report). My husband's left leg was broken in 2 places and his moped was written off. Husband was in hospital for a month, had an emergency operation, nearly died from blood clots forming on his lungs because of the leg injuries, lost 3 months wages (he's self-employed) and nearly went bankrupt. In January of this year, he received a notice of intended prosecution saying he was driving without due care and attention as he had been in the chevronned area. It transpires that a WPC took a statement from my husband in the hospital when he was under the influence of morphine and entonox (gas and air) and was not in a lucid state. She wrote down that he was driving in the chevrons when he was actually driving along side the chevrons and swerved into the chevron area to try and avoid the car. The magistrates accepted this but still found him guilty because he hadn't seen the other car indicating that he was turning right. My husband's view was obscured by a 4x4 vehicle, an upward incline in the road and the fact that the indicator of the car was located towards the centre of the rear bumper as opposed to being on the corner, where it would have been clearly visible. Since my husband was the injured party in the main, we want to know who would have made the decision to prosecute him, so we can appeal the decision. Any answers? Thanks. Read more

She currently has a Citroen C2.

Problem, it is a 52 reg and has let her down twice on the moterway due to a dodgy alternator. That has now been fixed but due to this and a failed windscreen wiper motor (replaced under warranty IIRC), she has lost confidence in it. It has done 45k

She is unsure as to whether to change it or stick with it.

She was thinking of a VW Polo or similar, until I suggested a Honda or Toyota as being less stylish perhaps but more reliable.

My own view is that she should seriously consider keeping the C2 and putting any extra money she has firmly into a hight interest account, and then buy again when the C2 has 60 to 70k, or starts to cause more problems. I feel that the alternator was the cause of most of her woes and that is now fixed - there is no reason why the car shouldn't be 100% reliable.

Any thoughts? I did suggest she seriously looks at new cars that may give a low to 0% apr and free insurance for the first year.

She is 19 years old.

Any thoughts? Read more

Hi all - great to see you again after so many weeks away from the forum.

The day before the 3 year warranty ran out on my Nissan Primastar I alerted the dealership to the fact that the alarm had been going off intermittantly for no apparent reason.

They could not investigate before the warranty ran out, due to lack of staff availability but have now investigated and told me that the sensors inside need replacing.

They tell me they are hoping for goodwill from Nissan's warranty department. Goodwill??!! The warranty was still valid when they were notified of the problem. Surely it should be an open and shut case.

...or am I missing something?

H Read more

Hi there,
Trying to prepare myself for an expensive shock...lol.
We have a Ford galaxy, petrol.manual it has taken to what i describe as kangaroo hopping,bit like someone taking the foot off and on the accelarator quickly.
It doesn't do this all the time,but when it does we have noticed that it is always at low revs, and about twice now it has cut out when standing still at lights or a junction. as I say it doesn't do it all the time just occasionally can go days without doing it.
Any ideas what this could be and even more importantly how painful to me purse.
Thanks in advance,
s Read more

Hi Again..

Hope you can help.

I have noticed (when I am sitting in the car) a whinning noise, which seems to be coming from a fan/cambelt pulley. I thought for a while that it may be the bushes on the pulley had gone, and that I may have to get them replaced, but now I am not too sure.

Anyway, i tried to identify exactly where the noise was coming from but on the Audi there is so many pulleys...Then I tried changing gear (I have an Automatic), the tone changes significantly when I move from park, neutral etc. Would this indicate one of the pulleys/bushes in the cambelt? The noise definitely comes from the front of the car, but is most noticable when you are in the car itself..especially when sitting at, say, the traffic lights?!!

I had the cambelt, dampner, waterpump etc, changed at the Audi dealer 3000K ago (3 months)....Help, please?

Best, Craig
s Read more