January 2008
Some of you may remember that I was going to buy a ZT and I promised I would let you know how I got on. Well, so far, it's been a disaster though not, I hasten to say, the fault of the car.
I picked up the ZT last Saturday at 11am - fantastic car, drove like a dream. I drove home, had lunch, then just driving locally and a white van ran into the side of my new car. This was 1pm. So I had the car 2 hours, then had an accident. As you can imagine, I was very upset!
The van driver pulled out of a side road into the side of my car and it was totally his fault, which he admitted at the scene. He said the sun was in his eyes!
I phoned my insurance company and arranged for my car to be sent for repair. I also said I needed a courtesy car. No problem, they say, a car hire company will call you.
So the courtesy car is delivered on Monday which I sign for. It's only later when reading the small print that I realise I have entered into a credit hire agreement with the car hire company under which, if they cannot recover the costs from the third party, they will expect me to pay. The thing is they gave me a Jag X-Type to drive. Initially I was very pleased, but the hire cost is £100 per day!
Now, as I said up-front, I know the accident was the fault of the third party, but what if he manages to pin the blame on me? I would then be expected to pay up.
But one of the benefits listed under my policy is the provision of a courtesy car. So I don't see why I should have to enter into a hire agreement where I am potentially liable given that I should get free use of a courtesy car anyway. TBH, the reason I signed up without checking was because I just assumed the car was being provided under the terms of my insurance policy.
I have tried to contact the insurance company loads of times to query this, but I get someone different every time I call, and no-one seems to be able to give me an answer.
I have today sent a complaint e-mail to them, and asked them to confirm that, if the hire company pursues me for the charge, they will pay it on my behalf.
Sorry for the length of this e-mail. But has anybody been in a similar position before? Am I worrying unnecessarily? Any advice appreciated. Read more
I have the standard speaker set up in my 147 lusso and was wondering is it possible to upgrade to the bose system and also is it worth doing?
your views will be welcomed.
thanks Read more
With BMW stuck playing King Canute, I see that Audi have apparently joined Mercedes in capitalising on Munich's commercial constipation. Drive the Deal yesterday announced a new range of discounts on the A4.
Who would be a traditional bricks and mortar franchised agent? (Not that I have much sympathy for any of them, I didn't ask them to put a sign above the door.)
They're stuck in a time warp where their traditional local monopoly business model is of declining influence in a market place which has become much bigger, less controllable and, crucially, has largely redressed the imbalance of information which once gave dealers such an overwhelming advantage against consumers. One they exploited ruthlessly for decades.
I wonder how long it will be until BMW swaps pragmatism for stock? Read more
With BMW stuck playing King Canute I see that Audi have apparently joined Mercedes in
capitalising on Munich's commercial constipation. Drive the Deal yesterday announced a new range of discounts
on the A4.
There's a new A4 just being launched so those deals will be to get rid of the remaining old model cars.
Really seems better than driving there these days. Remembering with a rosy glow hurtling quite slowly about there in my favourite aunt's exquisite little 1948 side-valve Morris Minor, a car that remained good well into the sixties, and with something of a shudder hurtling far too fast with a carload of cousins in a Ford Corsair belonging to a company I used to work for in the sixties, in all the miles between Killiney and Dublin airport you are damn lucky these days to reach 30 or 40 mph more than once or twice. Hardly a vehicle in sight under five years old, but congestion to make a Londoner blench. Driving back to the airport from Killiney on Friday evening with two charming second cousins once removed in their hire car, they showed how to reduce the journey time - for about 20 miles in all - from two and a half hours to one and a quarter: pay to cross the toll bridge and go through the very long new toll tunnel, at a total toll cost of ten or twelve quid. There's no fast ring road inland to the west a la M25.
The rapidly expanding euro still seems less than a quid, but even so Ireland these days is hugely expensive. There is talk of extending one of the two partial urban rail systems to the airport. It's a matter of some urgency I would say.
Oh, and by the way, petrol is about 1 euro 19, so cheaper than here. Needs to be. Read more
chaos
is exacerbated by the Tolls where again signage lets you down if you're not familar
I noticed that too. Even my cousin, a Dublin man born and partly bred, kept changing lanes at what seemed to be random. But everyone else was doing it too.
I can say in confirmation of yr complaint that I was very happy not to be driving myself.
If my focus has 16" alloys and I want low profile alloys in their place do I have to get 16" or can I get 17"?
The wheel arches seem like they could hold more but don't want to break the thing. Also any good places to buy them from?
Cheers Andy.
P.S sorry if that was a stupid question. Read more
A Ford dealer will have a brochure with all the Ford alloy wheels that will fit your car(quite a selection-both regular production and RS) and these will fit without adaptors or fitting rings or special bolts and won't foul the arches/brakes/suspension.
i own a mk1 1995 m reg punto 1.2 sx, brilliant little car cant fault in the way it drives, very reliable ect but..
when the engine is cold the speedometer doesnt work, but the milometre's still goes round !??!, after say about 10 miles the needle gradually goes up and then its fine all day until the next morning, i would have thought it would be the cable but like i said earlier, the milometre still goes round,
so, i imagine there's a sensor? something?
thanks Read more
If the odometer still works then the speed sensor on the gearbox must be ok.I would suggest that the fault is within the speedo instrument itself.hth
Anybody here ever done this?
If you look online everybody says how terrible it is. The last time we were there, we had a driver. I thought at the time, it didn't look too bad. The congestion was really nothing worse than the Strand or Hanger lane as far as I can see, and I really didn't feel people were all that reckless. Next time I thought I'd be content to drive myself. One good thing with the driver is not having to circle round looking for (scarce) parking though.
Thoughts? Read more
If you do a search for well written posts by The Growler who sadly is longer with us. He gives a lot of detail. the issue is that if something goes wrong, you are toastas the locals/ police will fleece you.
Traffic seemed okay to me until one rainy night getting to Alabang, the driver was doing 70 on the hard shoulder
I've just bought a 2003 2.0D LHD (I live in France) at 72K miles. The car is in excellent condition but has a couple of minor problems (I hope!) that forum members might be able to help me solve. I've owned many Jaguars over the years (3.8, XJ6, XJ8, XJS V12) and generally do all the maintenance and most repairs myself so I'm familiar with just about all the usual Jag foibles. But the X-Type isn't all that much of a Jag (it's the best I can afford in retirement) so a couple of things puzzle me.
1. The right side low-beam bulb and clip connector have completely burned out and fused together. The left hand side shows signs of being "cooked" too. I've made a temporary fix but I'm sure it wont last forever. The Jaguar dealer wants to sell me the complete front wiring harness - no, I didn't dare ask the price - instead of a 50p connector. Anyone else had this problem? Cheap solutions?
2. There is a constant low-level buzzing sound from under the dash, next to the steering column. I assume it's a cabin temperature sensor, or similar, but should it buzz like that? It comes on once the door is opened, is on all the time the car is occupied, and only goes off after a prolonged period when no one has been in the car, or opened a door.
3. Rear suspension. On slightly rough roads, the rear end gives off some knocking sounds - not too loud, but definitely shouldn't be there. I've looked underneath but all the suspension parts seem to be in good shape although the lower shock-absorber mounts could be at fault. Has anyone experienced this problem or could suggest a solution?
Read more
Sorry I mean't to add that if its the fan running it will continue for about 30 mins after you switch the car off.
Enjoy.
When car is left standing,and it rains heavily my Lexus misfires badly when started from cold but then clears itself.HELP! Read more
As AE has said, it's probably a HT problem especially if it's still on it's original leads.
You can get new leads from Sovereign ( www.sovereignltd.co.uk/ ) at about half the price you would pay at a Lexus dealer.
Less likely but still possible are the dizzy caps and rotors which you can get from Japarts ( japarts.co.uk/shop/ )
Both companies have been used by members of the Lexus Owners Club ( www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/ )
Whatever the cause of your problem you need to get it fixed before you get cat damage.
Kevin...
My S-Max (2.5 turbo petrol titanium) wipers seem to be on the wrong way round, configured for left hand drive. The longer one is on the passenger side and sprays water onto the drivers side windscreen on return to its resting position.
Has anyone else come across this fault / design flaw?
Can it be remedied?
Thanks Read more
I have just started driving my wifes 55 plate Honda Jazz and noticed that they
were set for LHD!
Well that's odd - our 53 plate Jazz's wipers are certainly set for RHD. It's also odd as the Jazz was originally designed for a RHD market (Japan).
The Honda web site picture shows them set for RHD too.
It's something I always look for as we had a seried II Clio whose wiper's were set for LHD and it wasn't ideal.
Browse
.jpg)
Wife's A2 was written off July 06. Her policy with Tesco included replacement car for two weeks (1.0 corsa likely)
She had an A3 2.0 TDI SE (hardly like for like) which was recovered fully from the other parties insurer. Basis of the deal was as OP described, similar accident to OPs!
There is an industry springing up - one of the reasons why insurance premiums are rising.