May 2008
As the title suggests, has anyone here sold their car at some ridiculously low price either privately or as a part-ex in a panic to offload it due to rising fuel costs and car tax debacle?
Would anyone also admit to failing into the trap of "must have small diesel hatchback at all costs" or such like?. This applies especially if what you save in future fuel costs/road tax has been disproportionately offset by a large cost-to-change on such a vehicle and/or having to buy something older. Perverse logic seems to be taking over in that people will spend £3K, for example, to save £1K a year on fuel/tax costs. Read more
We have a 1997 P Fiat Cinquecento Sporting (52,000 miles) which is still great fun.
But for some time now we have had a problem with serious hesitation when the accelerator is pressed.
At anything like 2500 rpm when accelerating there is a spluttering as if fuel is not getting through, particularly when under load and when the engine is hot. We also have a half-on battery warning light.
When joining a main road it is necessary to slip the clutch seriously in order to keep the revs up, just to stop it stalling. We recently had to have a new clutch.
The car has been on some longer runs to ?burn off? any gunk in the system, but it makes no difference.
Our local garage has been unable to find anything wrong. Everything to do with the fuel system has been cleaned.
It might be sensible to get something newer but I hate to throw a good car away for what should be a soluble problem.
Can anybody suggest anything?
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If the above advice fails to cure the problem, ask or look here:
tinyurl.com/425g94
Hi, got a crack in my screen last night and need to get a replacement. I am insured with Morethan, anyone know who they use for replacements?
Anybody had a screen replaced by the usual companies (RAC and Autoglass) recently?
Thanks Read more
Don't know what it's like for other cars, but some other outfit with a name a bit like Autoglass fitted my Escort with a screen in the right shade of green next day for about half their price. Of course if someone else is paying it doesn't matter so much.
I am likely to be employing a new surveyor in my practice within the next few months. I have not had any experience of company cars since I left my last place of employment in 1996 and subsequently have been self employed and/or a partner using my own car and claiming back the costs of motoring.
So I want the chartered surveyor to drive a reasonably smart and safe car. I mean this by age and size rather than by badge. I know there are three ways of doing this: -
1. Buy or lease a car for him and he pays tax. He claims fuel back at how many ppm??
2. Give him a car allowance anad he claims fuel back at how many ppm?
3. Give him the usual HMRC mileage rates and tell him to sort himself out.
I am concerned that using 3, the car he would drive would not be of a standard suitable for the work, so would prefer 1 or 2. How does it work and what are the costs/benefits?
Thanks Read more
Buy him a Citroen C1, Peugeot 107 or Toyota Aygo. >>
But he seems to want a beemer.
My car has been garaged and off the road for the last few weeks, because I didn't need it until next month. It's still taxed (so no SORN problems), I just didn't renew the insurance when it expired, and planned to renew it later next month.
However, I now find that it would be really useful to have the car this weekend, starting saturday midday, and I wondered what my options were for getting cover at short notice. It would probably suit me best just to have a few days coverage, if that is possible, because I won't need the car again for another month.
AFAIK, some insurers say that a policy is not valid until a cover note has been received, and I wondered if that was the case with all of them? If so, does anyone know of any insurers who could arrange cover to start the next day?
I am hoping that something will be possible, and that one of the backroom's car insurance experts might be able to give me some pointers on how to go about this (or alternatively to tell me that there is no chance of doing it!) Read more
I quite agree that it's not a good idea to keep a car just lying around, and thanks for the reminders on that, However this was just exceptional circumstances for the last month or two.
My car is generally quite well-used, and it will be again soon -- I'll be putting 5000 miles on it in the next few months
I'm thinking about buying a Lotus Elise 1996 - 1998 with the Rover K series engine.
I know that soft tops sell better in the summer, but the prices in Autotrader seem a little higher than I was expecting.
How much money could I potentially save by holding off till the winter to buy one? Read more
There are a couple of threads about this going on seloc at the moment. The general view seems to be that they are at about the lowest that they are going to reach. They can be prety economical if you stay away from main dealers and shop around for insurance. Parts are cheap and readily available.
This is a general question about terminology. What is a leading shoe and a trailing shoe?
My theory, and I may be well off the mark, is that the leading shoe is where the piston pushes on the leading edge of the shoe and the trailing shoe is pushed on it's trailing edge. Correct?
Does it then follow that in days of old when drum brakes were fitted to the fronts and had twin cylinders, that both shoes were leading? Read more
Thanks John S for the explaination.
I've got an 02 Saab 9-3 Tid at the moment.
It's the family car, but I also use it for a daily 70 mile round trip to work.
I get between 45-48mpg and it never lets me down.
My other half is hopefully getting something Focus sized on a lease which would take care of the family duties, leaving me with a pretty big car just for getting me to work and back.
What with the price of fuel and the increase in road tax I was thinking of maybe getting something a bit smaller - more suited to carrying one bloke to work.
I've been looking at Peugeot 206 HDI's. There's a 1.4 that gets over 60mpg apparently and is a lot cheaper on tax too. Anyone any experience of these on the motorway (maybe 60 out of my 70 miles a day is motorway). Would the 2.0 be a better bet?
Or are there any other suggestions. Is the Pug pretty reliable?
I'd like to do it in the next few months as the Saab still has less than average miles and they are piling up.
Cheers. Read more
I'll look into it.
I think there's a 115bhp version that can be done.
Mine's the 125bhp.
Evening folks,
as above having problems with the abs on my 535, basically the story goes, removed the rear axle to replace some bushes and also run some new brake lines as the old ones had corroded. once reassembled everything was fine but then after a couple of days the abs light came on. i assumed it would be a piece of dirt had come lose of the hub rings and got onto the sensor causing it to flag an error, removed the sensors and sure enough there were a couple of large bits of rust stuck to the sensor. removed them reassembled again and the light was out so thought all was well. a few days later i ran the car up to warm on the drive the other day whilst bleeding the coolant and after about 10 minutes the abs light came on so now im back to square one. it could be some more dirt on the sensor but im not sure, or could it be ive got air into the abs unit when replacing the brake lines? ive fully bled the brakes several times and can't get any air out but there culd be some trapped in the various valves within the abs unit. the brakes themselves work quite well but the abs is very easy to set off without having to stamp right on the brakes so im sure something isn't right but not sure on what step to take next.
cheers
chris Read more
i presume you mean as in remove the sensor connector and put a piece of wire across the connector? if so why, and what would i be looking for happening?
chris
I went past a strange camera tonight and unluckily for me i was probably doing about 10 or 12mph over the limit in a 50 after overtaking a tractor.
I probably didnt slow back down in time.
Anyway, the camera i have never seen before. An unmarked completly normal VW passat was parked up just off the road ahead. It was parked side ways and the drivers window down and facing me oncoming.
Outside the drivers window was a tripod and a small device on the top, seemed to have a case on it with a thick blue strip on the side or the device itself had a blue strip but it wasn't very big; didnt look much bigger than a normal digital camcorder really.
Anyone any ideas what this might have been and if it could have been a speed device capable of recording me and auto issuing a NIP?
Cheers,
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"Oo-er... what next an income tax camera? How would that work?"
Already in the planning stage.
It takes a reading of your speed, multiplies that by the emissions/km number, multiplies that by the value of your car to the nearest £1000, and that number is then multiplies by your marginal tax rate. You'll be randomly checked at least once per year, and the highest reading will pertain for the year. It'll be automatically put it on your self-assessment form.
Don't believe me - just wait. It'll happen.
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It was the last of the traditional, tough Peugeots before they began to produce a range of unreliable motors with weird designs. If I was stuck for a really cheap but tough car with lots of comfortable space just now, I might just consider buying one and rebuilding the motor if need be (not difficult).