Whilst sitting in a big fat jam on London's picturesque North Circular this morning, the driver of the car in front of me reached out of his front window and placed a blue flashing light on the roof of his car. He then made a three point turn in the middle of three lanes of traffic , as the chaos ensued he drove against the traffic to make his exit the wrong way down a busy slip road, from where he drove off into a side road.
Now I'm not sure which emergency service this was , but I can't think of any that drive around in a ratty Mk1 Mondeo , with a private number plate, and a blue flashing light that looked like it came out of a cracker. Also the driver looked at least 70 and as soon as he was out of the traffic his flashing light was quickly yanked back into the car.

Amazing.




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2 questions

1) i have an 06 new civic and we are cutting cost so want to trade in our car and get cash back as well.

does this sound feasible at a main dealer? never done it before so just checking

2) what car to get?? like reliability but only want to spend £4k really. would an 01 old civic be better to have than a 04 megane for example?

(oh, i do want a safe car) Read more

has my garage ripped me off?
I took my MG ZT into the local dealer to have the inlet manifold replaced the car was working perfectly apart from a noise which they told me was the flaps in the inlet manifold hence the need for it to be replaced. The garage then informed me that the ecu unit had burnt out and also required replacement. I had no choice but to agree to the work as I needed the car back but I asked them if it was possible that the damage to the ECU had been caused by them. After an exchange of emails I met the service manager who informed me that a faulty coil (also replaced) had caused the burn out and they were not at fault. I am not convinced but what can i do now?

Any help or advice much appreciated.

{amendment to header to include part of the question being asked, and to make less vague} Read more

My VAG vehicle (Skoda) is just over 3 years old and hence out of warranty. I was telephoned by the local dealer who suggested that I might like to book the car in for a service and an MOT. The car is on variable servicing (but has since been serviced by me) and I have an excellent independently run MOT garage nearby - so no thanks.

The response was huffy - but then I'd had a run in previously with these people who wanted to charge me about £100 for headlamp removal and refitting (twice) for conversion to LH dip when the job can be done in situ in under 5 minutes. I'm not impressed with them or their knowledge of VAG vehicles.

A few weeks later - a recall notice. This is for the well known tandem pump cover bolts on the PD diesels (see C by C breakdown on old Passat). Knowing that only one maker of the two possible makes of tandem pump is affected, I 'phoned the local dealer to see which it was - my car is busy earning money and there is at least a 50% chance that no action is required. A very frosty response was the result with no possibility of divulging this information - I must "bring it in for examination".

These people do not credit their customers either with common sense or the use of the Internet. The vehicle registration body in Australia clearly states under recalls that only tandem pumps of LUK manufacture are affected. One minute's work with a dental mirror confirmed that my car has a Bosch pump.

An e-mail to VAG(Skoda) merely asking them to confirm that no action was required as my vehicle has a Bosch pump resulted in the same frosty, time-wasting response which was forthcoming from the local dealer. I am, of course, satisfied that no action is required.

My feelings are that in this case the recall was used as a final bid to keep this vehicle in the dealer "net" and that no doubt other work would have been advised had the vehicle been booked in. As I have experienced actual damage caused to this vehicle by a VAG dealer (broken undertray) it certainly won't be darkening their doors again.

This recall was issued well over a year ago. I think the timing of this recall was, in my case, an abuse of the system.

659. Read more

Private hire loophole sees luxury cars escape daily fee
An investigation by Clean Green Cars claims to show that a large number of expensive luxury cars are being registered as private hire vehicles in London to avoid paying the daily congestion charge. Fare dodgers: Private hire cars are exempt from the charge.
By paying an £82 application fee and £27 per year licence, owners can avoid paying the £8 per day Congestion Charge ? which is planned to rise to £25 per day for the highest polluting vehicles in 2008.

The investigation found 31 Bentleys,18 BMW X5s, 52 Range Rovers, and eight Rolls- Royce Phantoms, among others, registered as private hire vehicles.

"Stop exemptions for minicabs"
Jay Nagley, publisher of Clean Green Cars, said it was absurd that a private hire vehicle with a V12 engine does not pay the congestion charge when a family doing the school run with a Renault Espace 2.0T Auto is liable for the full £25 fee. "The logical move would be to stop exemptions for any minicabs that fall into Band G ? that way no-one would have an incentive to register their luxury car as a minicab.?
A Transport for London spokesman said there could be an investigation in to the report. ?If information were brought to light to suggest abuse of the system, Transport for London and the Public Carriage Office would investigate this fully."

Lunchtime London TV showed photos the happy taxi boys had taken which included an old builders pick up( but it did have a cover on the back..
Not very happy bunnies ;-)

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