May 2008
BBC are broadcasting a programme on BBC2W (their Welsh branch). Just watched a brilliant programme on the mapmaker John Ogilvy. What makes this very special is that Monty Python's Terry Jones is trying to follow the Welsh maps in present day Wales via Sat-Nav. This is what the BBC is best at. We watch it on some obscure Sky Channel that SWMBO has found but also we've found it on iPlayer.
tinyurl.com/6z6l9s
here.
Brilliant - car related history, this is what makes the Beeb special.
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I tried to hire a car in Orkney recently. I am over the 76 year-old limit but the hire company said I would be covered under their policy (cost included in the hire price) so long as I could produce my insurance certificate. But my insurers, Equity Red Star, said they never insured for hire cars. They did not say why, just that they never did it. The hire company were baffled, as I am. Is this general policy? Read more
I assume its Equity Red Star - a venerable and much respected insurance company.
Having owned two of the brutes (and about to sell my much loved Defender) CAR magazine has a beautiful little supplement tracking the history of the brand. Something you can read in the bath - who said that t'internet had killed the car mag ! Read more
my brother went to a garage and bought a 04 plate vauxhall corsa. The car was up for £4500, he has got £550 px for his. MY brother signed a credit agreement for 30%apr. He no longer wants it (he is young and stupid for signing up inthe first place) He has not collected the car yet (ment to be today) and has not given in his car yet. We have rang the garage and the finance company and they are saying tuff , you have to take the car and the finance.
Where do we stand? please help Read more
im happy and i think my brother is too. I think he feels a bit of a fool for going through with it in the first place. but we are all happy, but i am just glad the dealer has not made him go through with the deal -because i believe he was well within his right to make him have the car.
Now my brother is the proud owner of a 52 plate Renault clio DCI courtesy of my other half!!
I have recently become interested in basic diagnostics of modern cars. Years ago (Ok decades...;) I used to work on engines, full strip downs etc as a hobby. Now I still do all our servicing except anything to do with modern electronics, sensors and so on..
However I find I am becoming interested in learning more about the modern stuff so have been looking into EOBD and its history.
This culminated in buying the basic Gendan code reader
tinyurl.com/5o9dt8
It reads our 02 and 04 Punto diesels and I thought this a very basic foray into a complex area. However with lots of free time on my hands i`m reading more all the time, out of sheer technical interest.
Is anyone else doing the same? and what code readers and diagnostic equipment do you have, as amateurs that is?
(With a respectful nod to the Professional techs on the Forum who no doubt quite rightly consider code reader intervention in this area to be less than complete given their own equipment)
Regards Read more
I suppose my question is: which reader is the best for Toyota vehicles. Car mechanics mentioned one reader that worked especially well with Toyota's and the likes, but I cannot be entirely sure.
Started the car this morning from cold (outside temp 18C) and noticed the oil pressure light took about 1 second after the engine started to go out. Drove about ten miles parked up for about 30 minutes came back to warm engine and started again, again about 1 second for the oil pressure light to go out.
The car has covered less than 44k miles from new, been serviced by Volvo from new and since we bought it at 25k miles had oil changes every 6k miles - always using the recommended 5/30 fully synthetic oil.
Is this the start of a sludging issue or should I start by looking at the oil pressure switch ? Read more
Thanks to all above for replies and peace of mind if nothing else.
To cure the smoke on startup I found if I take out the air filter and give it a good clean or replace the element the smoking goes away. I usually have to do this at 6k intervals between services.
In the 'news' on the right
would I be alone in being totally unaware of 'Mr Brightside' by the Killers ? ;-)
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Lud,
I can think of some places in the capital where you might be wise to skip the 'my ding-a-ling' track if you're in the habit of keeping the windows open and playing it too loud.. as some do...:-)
Hi anyone know a good scratch remover i have used t-cut scratch but did not do the job the scratch is quite deep on a silver car and where to purchase such a product.
Thanks Read more
Scratch removal products merely reduce the level of the adjacent paint to the same level (and beyond) of the scratch. I don't think that anything else you buy will give you a different outcome than the one you're experiencing now.
If your scratch is deeper than the top lacquer coat and colour coat no amount of rubbing will remove it - in fact you'll end up with the whole area that you've been rubbing a different shade than the rest of the car.
Hi, first post - hoping a few of you folks can share your experience and a little advice with me!
I'm considering a job where there's a company car as part of the package. An opt-out isn't on the table (yet) so I'm trying to understand the financial implications properly so I can go back and negotitate properly.
Car being offered is a Vauxhall Vectra 1.9 SRI (150) Diesel Estate, and the offer states they would cover all the running expenses of the car for business mileage, and I would be responsible for your personal mileage.
First time I've been offered a company car so my head is battered with questions!!!
1. Running expenses.
Typically with a company car offer is insurance for personal usage included? When they say I'd be responsible for my personal mileage is this usually just fuel?
2. Fuel.
The offer is that I would purchase all the fuel and recharge the employer for the business mileage @ £0.14/mile. Firstly, as this is above the 11p advisory fuel rate for this cc engine, can anyone advise the tax implication to me?
With this in mind should I be pushing for a higher rate, especially given that with diesel at £5.77 per gallon based on 43.8mpg (Vauxhall combined rate - 10%) my costs would be just over 13p and if (when) diesel goes to £1.35 per litre (within two months at present) I'd be out of pocket. And that's before working out what the net rate per mile would be after I pay tax if applicable!!! What's the best plan here?
3. Company car tax.
The salary being offered is £36k. Does this mean I'd pay the 20% rate of company car tax shown on the calculator on this site, and that to calculate my final take home I just take this from my net without the car tax? I want to push for a higher salary, but does this mean that I'd be paying the 40% rate because I'd go over the 20% tax threshold?
4. Opt Out
Should I try to get this on the table? Let's say 30k business mileage per year. Any idea of the value I should pitch, or how to determine this?
Any help on the best deal to negotiate from here would be much appreciated!
Cheers,
Rob Read more
1) Insurance is included, but check if there's an excess - some companies have high excess or even only insure the cars 3rd party and then expect the employee to pay say £250 or £500 in the event they can't recover the cost from someone else (note that it's "can't recover", not "at fault" - so if someone hits and runs then it could be down to you).
2) I'm not really sure about this, but logically you would have to pay tax on the excess over the approved rate. The rates are reviewed very 6mths and large employers are apparently pushing HMRC to allow them to pay their employees more.
3) Assuming you're just on the basic personal allowance and have no other income you'll end up with approx a zero tax code, and as the 20% band is 0-£36K then you might just escape! As pointed out in the post above, it's only the excess of £36K that is taxed at 40%, s it will be neither here nor there for you.
4) Agree again with the above poster. 30K business miles, plus your private mileage, takes a heck of a lot out of a car. Do some comparisons at www.cashorcar.co.uk but my view was the peace of mind benefit of having a company car is worth at least £100/mth, so you're going to need a big allowance to make that worthwhile. The company can probably lease the Vectra's at quite a good rate and they're not going to want you to opt out if it's going to cost them more. Also, company cars are a really good deal for 20% tax payers - they cost 40% tax payers twice as much.
Opting out makes more sense for 40% tax payers. Two ways of doing it:
1) Fixed monthly allowance, varies a lot, but could be £300-£600 per month. This is effectively added to your salary and then taxed at your normal rate (so watch for breaching that 40% barrier!). On top of that there's usually a business mileage allowance of maybe 15p-20p. As it's your own car you can claim *tax* back on the difference between what you get paid and 40p for first 10K miles and 25p for all other mileage. So for 20% tax payer, getting 15p/mile you would get a tax refund of 5p for 10K miles and 2p for 10K+ (those refunds obviously double if you're paying tax at 40%, but then so does the tax on your monthly allowance).
2) Mileage only - the company may pay you the full 40p for 10Kmiles and 25p for 10K+ and those payments are tax free.
If you're sure of doing high mileage then 2) can work out best, depending on the monthly allowance offer you get. However be aware for both of them that the Government has suggested it might do away with the 40p rate, although there is much clamouring for it to be increased.
Off to the Nurburgring next month,for a bit of a play in my neighbours Nissan 200sx track car,and as we live only 60 miles from Hull,we have decided to utilise that route,to get to Germany.
Obviously,P&O are the carrier to Rotterdam,and the best price I've come up with so far for a car and 2 people,is £228 return,which isn't bad,but like everyone else,I like to hunt a bargain,I'm sure there's a better bargain to be had.
Can anyone point me in the direction of a better price?
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That would be out of the frying pan and into the fire :-)
Terry Jones gives it a particular spin - and none the worse for that, I think Palin would have been a little too serious.