after accelerating and when the revs starts to drop theres a noise from my engine. sounds a bit like a whinning noise. i think it might be coming from my turbo but im not to sure. jus wondering if anyone has came across this problem before. cheers Read more

FSA have concluded a review and noted some issues which need resolving to ensure comparison websites achieve their aim.

Excesses need to be explained
Too much emphasis on just comparing prices - users must be advised that other factors should also be compared
Some info was out of date on the sites leading to price differences when choosing an insurer.
Data from the comparison may not be transferred correctly to the insurance company

So use them, but always double check everything before entering into a contract.

Full review here:

tinyurl.com/47e6oh

My personal experience is that I wouldn't rely on them to provide me with an accurate or competitive quote Read more

I rarely rent cars in the UK; the last time was this summer when SWMBO rented a Ka from Enterprise in London for a few days and who were very competitive. As many of you will have realised, I have a holiday flat in Israel and travel there several times each year, usually renting a car on at least six occasions each year from as little as three days to as much as three weeks.

For a variety of reasons I always took a taxi from the airport and rented a car from a small local company who had very good prices and were very helpful, but their range of cars was limited and with three growing and argumentative children I wanted cars that they did not have (e.g. small seven seater like a Kia Carens). Also, the cost of the taxi was more than a day?s car rental, so it made sense to rent a more suitable car from the airport when we arrive.

So there are six companies with offices at the airport; five international companies and one large local company. Generally their prices are within 10% of each other so for several trips I have simply gone online a couple of weeks beforehand and spent ten minutes finding the best price and booking it. Earlier this year Avis were particularly good value, but are now back in line with the rest.

I thought I would have a go at some of the rental brokers like holidayautos.co.uk and was very surprised to find that they were a lot cheaper, sometimes by up to 40%. I have used them three times so far (the car is actually rented from Sixt), but was advised for my next trip at Christmas to visit carrentals.co.uk. This can be a confusing site at first, but eventually I worked out how it works (it searches brokers as well as the main rental companies) and found a deal through Easycar and have a deal with Budget again at some substantial discount to the main websites. Now I thought that Easycar were a broker also so I tried the Easycar website without clicking through from carrentals.co.uk. The price difference was surprising, with the click through page being about 10% cheaper than the direct page.

So what is going on? How do car rental companies operate so that the more people you broker through, the cheaper it becomes?
Read more

Please can you help. All lights appear to be working OK, however-when indicating the rear lights (both) start to flash as oppposed to a single indicator. But the front and side lights are fine.

cheers simon Read more

The Mazda 3 has auto called Activematic - is that a ordinary auto box or a variable rubber band thingy - if so has anyone heard of any problems with them. - SWMBO Yaris is due for a change and next car has to be hubby friendly and have auto-- also needs a bit more power than Yaris to tow a small trailer -- Other than the Mazda are there any other recommendations for a car of similar size and petrol is preferred fuel - will be looking for 1 or 2 yrs old car.-- Yaris should sell privately. Read more