October 2008
I'm working on a project with some guys launching a new venture. They are very experienced in the recruitment industry and the new business will be placing staff in all sorts of roles within the environmental sector. What sort of cars do people think would be appropriate for two directors to use - one is 40 three children from 13 - 2 and a large dog. The other is 35 and has 2 children 3 & 1. They have been used to having traditional 'executive' vehicles. Read more
Front wheel cylinders ( brakes - their description, not mine )
Balance all wheels
HT Leads
Oil/Filter, plugs, fuel filter
Front anti-rollbar bush
Brake fluid
This is on a 93 Astra 1600 auto with 104k.
I get the feeling my dad is being made a mug of with the price and the list of work ( initially just in for a small service ) but ive stopped short of telling him as he is stubborn.
How much would the BR reckon on this costing inc VAT? Read more
TimO>> How to runa car very expensively is buying a £15 000 car and having it
valued at 6-7000 after 3 years
How to run a NICE car expensively - about 3k p.a. Fair enough; people can afford it; they spend time in their cars; they enjoy the thrill of a brand new car.
This thread details how to run a NASTY car expensively. A few quotations from stun'hants (and thanks to jbif for the link).
"the structural rust on the 15 year old Astra is getting MOT worthy... couple of inch square bits at the back end which are about 80 quids worth of welding where mud has collected"
"has a steering wheel vibration of half an inch at idle"
"vague steering doesnt even begin to describe it!"
"I drove it today and its a shed, "
"he wants nothing stressful like cars breaking down"
"My dad is insistant on cruise control, its a gadget he uses alot when he drives my mums car. [but the Astra doesn't have it]"
"Lets hope the December MOT is a good one."
"The rear arches need some tidying [being] a bit frilly on the edges"
"slightly perished rubber fuel pipe"
"Im gonna pay someone else to clean it"
Having spend £380 on your car, it is about to need an MOT - £53; rubber fuel pipe - £20? fitted; welding £80; cleaning £10. Possibly: tidying frilly arches (MOT failure next year if not this); new steering rack.
By the end of December, it will have cost nearly £600 - and possibly closer to £1,000 if the tester doesn't like the frilly arches/steering - after another 2,000 miles. And to use your words "its a shed".
That much money would just about buy a 2002 Nissan Primera with a year's MOT - particularly if you get £150 for the Astra.
I stand by my observation that it wasn't worth paying £25 to have the oil changed. None of that £380 is likely to have improved reliability - save for possibly the HT leads. Each to his own, I suppose.
TimO>>the Astra sounds like an OK car
:o
These days the powers that be (as well as all good citizens) are most concerned that we should cut down our use of fossil fuels, hence conserving a scarce natural resource and minimising carbon emissions. The most obvious way to do this is to put economic pressure on the motorist to use less fuel.
HOWEVER, very little seems to be done to persuade householders to use less fuel (i.e. heating oil) - and indeed, to use less heating generally, since about 75% (or so I am told) of the UK?s electricity is generated from the combustion of fossil fuels.
In my efforts to conserve fuel, I changed my driving habits in May, and have seen considerable improvement in the mileage that I am getting. I calculate that I am saving about 140 litres of fuel per year (over 14,000 miles.)
Coincidentally, a few years ago, we decided to conserve heating fuel by using our oil fired central heating less, and as a result, are saving about 1400 litres of fuel per year. The house is cooler (about 15 Celsius as I type), but it is easy enough to put on more layers.
The point is that it is easy to make huge fuel savings in homes - far more than in cars. And my house (rural detached old house in the Highlands) still uses twice as much fuel as my car.
What is the government doing about it? Well, public buildings are, almost invariably pretty warm. Our local High School is known for being stiflingly hot much of the time. There is huge potential for saving fuel and cutting emissions.
There seems to be an inconsistency here. When motoring fuel prices go up, environmentally conscious people believe that it is a ?good thing? because it forces us to be ?greener?. However, when heating fuel prices go up, we hear much agonising about ?fuel poverty?. Surely ?fuel poverty? is simply another way of saying ?people becoming more environmentally responsible because of economic pressures??
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tinyurl.com/4dtudx (in The Telegraph) says that the average annual is now (and the article was
written in Jan 08) £1 000 pa. Are you using £8 000 of fuel pa
(which could be about 50 000 miles pa) or do you have a relatively small
fuel bill?
By the looks of it I guess I have a below average home fuel bill then, although I didn't realise it was by quite that much. And some of my mileage is done in the weekend car, which wasn't exactly chose for economy. I know I'm not up at the top of the list in terms of home fuel use, with no family and both of us out all day most of the time, but I'm sure I'm not unique. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for people coming up with ideas for saving energy, but for me, and if my assumption is correct then for other people too, the car outweighs the house by quite a lot and so I can easily wipe out significant home savings with a bit of lead-footed driving.
Friend of mine told me that BCA in Belle Vue, Manchester, auction ex-police and ex-military vehicles every week. Saves a trip to Oxford, as that was the only place I had heard of that did ex-police.
As I remember you used to have to pay to receive an auction catalogue by fax. Now BCA do it free by email. I registered yesterday and they say the october list will be sent soon, but I ain't got it yet!
I have to bust a gut to change my car as when I worked out all the outgoings we got, including everything - mortgage, petrol for 2 cars and 2 spoilt, er, well think of a certain character from Viz called Timmy... it comes to £3K a month, for heaven's sake. Read more
Where did my post go?
I thought it was pertinent and topical.
I hid it, with the comment (for the benefit of the other mods) that it was not relevant, true or funny. I forgot pertinent and topical, it wasn't those either. sorry. Smokie
Hi Guys,
My Daughter has an '06 Corsa which the CD player seems to make its own decisions about its volume. When you brake the volume decreases - when you speed up the volume increases!!! Fortunately it doesn't increase much but it can be 'irritating'. The car is still under manufacturers warranty but before I go to the Dealer, I'd like your views as to if its a problem or have we missed something in the manual.
Your help and advice is, as always much appreciated.
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Hi Guys,
Thanks for the speedy responses - much appreciated. Went out lunchtime and turned it off. Went for a spin and no problem.
Again many thanks
We are often advised here to be careful about buying ex-rental/company cars as they are often abused.
Now how exactly people abuse them?
I was examining my own driving habits whenever I got a rental car and found that I am guilty of following :)
1. Never waited engine to warm up before doing 70 mph on motorway [sometimes engine already warms up before joining motorway though].
2. Usually maintained higher speed (compared to my own car) while going over road humps or rough roads. Read more
Most of the rental cars I hire are automatic by default - usually Korean made bland mobiles in Israel - so inclination to rev very high is limited.....
However, I rented a Pug 307 a few years ago in Nice. It was so slow, even James May would weep. It loosened up nicely once it had visited the rev limiter driving away from the 'peage' stalls a few times. I have never driven a car quite so hard before, but it certainly seemed to welcome the thrashing. A few months later I had a similar experience in a Fiat Doblo diesel (non-turbo) which really wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding. By the end of two weeks, it was a lot smoother, quicker and more economical. It just needed a lengthy Italian tune-up; which it got.
Our company has bought a Y reg Ford Transit diesel , which runs well. It came with 2 keys but one remote fob ( Ford AG written on it , 2 button job ) . This fob operates all the locks and immobilizes the vehicle .
Trouble is, we only have one . Can see huge issues if it gets lost / damaged etc. The nearest Ford dealer is miles away.
What should we doing now to get a 2nd fob apart from having to find a dealer and pay silly charges ? Is there a specialist that can do it say by post or perhaps on the web ? Read more
My dad has just placed a deposit on an 08' Toyota Avensis. He asked the saleman who the previous owner was and he was informed it was an ex company car. The logbook said 'ERAC Ltd'. Now from working in the trade i know this is Enterprise Rent A Car.
Ive no problems in buying a rental car - most 6 month old cars on the supermarket forcourts are ex rental and if serviced correctly should be as good as anything else out there.
My only gripe is that the salesman hasnt told my father about it being ex rental. The car has 10k miles on the clock and is in very good condtion. They are pretty desperate for the sale and have offered him above book on his old passat.
He is going to have a second look at the car today to check it over and if he is happy then sign the relevant paper work.
Would you buy an ex rental car? Your opinions would be welcome.
thanks
Dave Read more
Oh well here comes a row....no i wouldn't want it due to the admittedly slim
chance of misfuelling which is far more common in rentals than most think
Probably just as common by private owners
and don't
for one moment imagine that the typical car renter has allowed the turbo to cool
before shutdown when they've screamed into the services for a nature call or allowed the
engine to warm before blast off.
nor has 90% of your typical companyy car owner. Or your average punter come to that.
(and dont say "I do" - we on here are not typical car owners)
hello,
can anyone advise on what price is fair from a scrap dealer if i wanted to get rid of a 97 escort 5dr.
thanks Read more
Put it on eBay, you may be surprised what you get.
Browse
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>some guys launching a new venture. They are very experienced in the recruitment industry and the new
>business will be placing staff in all sorts of roles within the environmental sector.
They are starting a recruitment agency when business conditions are being compared with the 30's depression?
An "Environmental" recruitment agency?
It's not as if recruitment will be a thriving industry over the next couple of years. Isn't it a bit early to start thinking about what 'executive' cars they should be driving? Maybe a 2CV would be more appropriate?
Until things pick up I suspect that the only environmental recruiting that most businesses will be doing is for fly-tippers.
Kevin...