August 2008
My son was involved in a (relatively minor) incident but which involved a personal injury claim from a pedestrian who simply ran out from between cars in a dark garage forecourt. In our view the pedestrian?s behaviour was absolutely reckless, whilst the most important thing is that the outcome was a 2mph bump by the car which knocked him over in the process, but with no reported injury at the time.
Our insurer has decided to settle this because they say that where a pedestrian is involved the court invariably decides in their favour. We accept that our insurer has the right under contract to make this decision but we claim it is driven by financial expedience rather than justice.
I am interested to pursue this further which is probably pointless I know, but at this time we don?t even know what has been claimed by the other party. Our insurer will not release the file, presumably hiding behind the data protection act. As a directly involved party can we oblige the insurer to release the file? It seems very unjust that my son stands accused yet knows nothing of the allegations against him by the other party.
There is no driving offence issue under process with this, merely the personal injury claim and what we consider to be an unwarranted blemish against my son?s driving record
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Take a look at: tinyurl.com/5ws83q
I feel that there must be a more effective way of dealing with such people that does not cost the taxpayer as much as a year+ jail sentance. Read more
People don't always understand just how capable fast bikes can be compared to bread-and-butter cars.
I used to know slightly a mad biker, bit of a rip, agreeable, quite rich, had serious bikes and used to do the Isle of Man in Nutters' Week. In the winding Sussex lane past his house there is a stretch where the road opens out a bit in front of two cottages, although it still isn't really straight, and you can see about 150 yards between one blind damp downhill bend and the next blind damp uphill one. In a car a momentary 50 or 60 is quite brisk there, but this biker used regularly to hit 100.
Came to grief alone, on an A road, after coming out of a tight 60 degree S-bend with a dip in it. No other vehicle involved and no one could work out what had happened. It wasn't obvious.
Mazda Diesel...34,500miles....taken to dealer who said the oil & filter needed changing, service due in about another 1100 miles.....their diagnostic machine told them nothing, cannot believe its oil & filter.........any ideas?? they have charged me £70 already, not inclined to trust them.....help......Barlysuger Read more
Why did they charge you? Its under warranty!!
Hi All
I wanted to start a post on experiences using auction brokers. I used snipped a few years ago to get a BMW 5 series. he was on 7% commission back then. The car i got was really well used, in black which i had specifically excluded when talking to him, and had lots of other issues like badly scuffed wheels, no service book and no V5 - which i had to get duplicates for. The price i paid with commission etc was about 1k less than i'd have got an immaculate low mileage example from a BMW dealer. Now 6 years later i am about to dispose of the car for about 50p. SO from my experience I'd advise avoiding auction brokers like the plague. I note a comment in the auction news today 12 aug 08 noting 2 buyers on commission bidding against each other and so paying over the odds for a car - so ignoring their responsibility to their customer. Worth noting.
Nme and shame snipped in accordance with site policy, the broker was in no way connected with Joe Dowd, mentioned further down this thread. Read more
People in the BR seem to speak very highly of Joe Dowd. I've never used him myself, I have to confess, but I've read many posts on here from people who have used his services and been very pleased with the results.
What is the point of the single, countersunk, machine screw used to hold a drum brake in place?
I mean, the drum is hardly going to fall off when you consider it's also held in place by the wheel nuts.
To me, it's a pointless screw, unless anyone knows otherwise.
Are there any other examples? Read more
It probably also helps to avoid the drum or disc moving and allowing debris to fall between the disc/drum and hub mounting faces when removing the wheel.
Reflecting on the limits of wipers in the recent torrential downpours. We still have strips of rubber being wiped back and forth, in essence the same as 70 years ago, although the power source has been improved.
I have been a biker twice and in the 1965 period had a `Turbo visor` , this was like a curved dinner plate, transparent plastic with vanes around the circumference- mounted vertically in a visor like way, in front of an open `Jet` helmet and flying goggles. (It spun at great speed)
I have never experienced better vision in a downpour at speed.
The only detriment being howls of derision from teenage peers (Not in use it hinged up onto the top of the helmet looking like -well nothing on, or from, Earth)
The bearings wore after a while too and there was a droning vibration that resonated though the bone of the skull)
Never seen one since and it was regular clip down visors of course on full face helmets, next time around in 1980.
About cars though, surprised that there hasn`t been an alternative to wipers, at least at speed. I mean something such as airflow, compressed air curtain, bonnet aerodynamics?
Must admit, this post came to mind after a certain well known brand of wiper blades only lasted 12 months again. I`m sure they lasted 18 months + 40 years ago, or is that just another golden age false memory ;)
Regards
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Cars like the old Austin A40 Somerset from the early 1950s sometimes carried what looked
like a V-windscreen in miniature on the front of the bonnet where the mascot would
normally be. It was reckoned to keep flies off the real windscreen.
Dad had one on his Zephyr MkI convertible. He thought it was excellent.
Some of you of codgers may remember the "Eyelashers" IIRC a propeller-like rotor with plastic wipers you stuck on the front of your round headlamps. The wind was supposed to blow the rotors and leave a wiped circular area through which your sealed-beam headlamps could shine more brightly.
The following codes were present in the ecu
0403 EGR control circuit
0100 air mass sensor signal to low
0243 pressure converter boost pressure control
When viewing live data the boost pressure appears ok until approx 2krpm at which point it fails to increase further.
There are no boost leaks, the turbo has been replaced, the vac circuit is holding pressure, the boost control pressure transducer is functioning correctly and is receiving the correct voltages from the wiring harness. the maf sensor is ok. the exhaust is not blocked.
does anyone have any suggestions? we have a Bosch kts570 scanner at our disposal if anyone has any ideas on what to investigate next. Read more
the problem pre dates the air filter change, we swapped the maf for a known working maf in a different RHZ vehicle, this had no effect on either vehicle. I will look at some live data in the morning and compare what the kts expects although I have a feeling it only gives idle figures. I might be able to borrow another working RHZ 406 to compare against anyway if I'm lucky. I'm waiting on a mityvac to check the wastegate actuator and the rest of the vac system for the correct readings to rule that out, only trouble is we can't get one for a few days. The kts also has a scope if there is anything worth scoping?
My 330D has just been serviced by a local garage but they are unable to reset the service schedule indicator.Also the trip mileage reverts to zero every time the ignition is switched on and the clock does the same.Can anybody shed any light on this please.
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Looks like you need to get a scanner plugged in.
The Tinsley cooling towers are finally coming down
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_yorkshire/755594...m
Hope they can get rid of the M1 viaduct now and get the motorway back to three lanes. Read more
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7556858.stm
A video report.
A large number of people don't seem to realise there's a difference between Posidriv (or Supadriv) and Phillips screw heads and that a Phillips screwdriver shouldn't be used in a Posidriv screw or vice versa. This Wikipedia article explains everything. tinyurl.com/5fuznb Read more
I like to consider myself as a proper engineering resource!
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In practice what your Insurers say is correct. If a car hits a pedestrian its is extremely difficult to prove that the car driver was not negligent. The fact that the pedestrian was not looking where he was going is not sufficient. The car driver should have seen him. Unless there is a witness to provide evidence that the pedestrian literally jumped in front of the car I would hold little hope of success. Tough, but thats how it is I'm afraid.