While Top Gear was on last night and the TV was therefore off, I read parts of my insurance booklet. Others are probably similar, and the following may be of general interest (the bold is my doing).

"If you don't tell us about relevant changes, you insurance may not cover you fully, or at all. Here are some of the changes you should tell us about.

* A change of vehicle (including extra vehicles)
* All changes you or anyone else make to the vehicle if these make the vehicle different from the manufacturer's standard specification (whether these changes are mechanical or cosmetic)
* A change of address
* A change of job, including any part-time work by you or other drivers, a change in the type of business or having no work
* A change in the purpose which you use the vehicle for
* A new main user for the vehicle
* Details of any driver who you have not told us about before or is excluded by the certificate of motor insurance or an endorsement but whose driving is now to be covered
* Details of any motoring conviction, disqualification or fixed-penalty motoring offence of any person allowed to drive or of any future prosecutions for any motoring offence
* Details of any accident or loss (whether or not you make a claim) involving your vehicle or that occurs to you while you are driving anyone else's vehicle
* Details if you or any other person allowed to drive your vehicle suffers from a notifiable condition not notified to DVLA or any condition for which DVLW have restricted the licence" Read more

Hi,
at the moment I can't see how many miles the car has done at all as the readout does not light up !! Is there any way of changing the light behind the milage readout without taking the steering wheel and dash out ?
Thanks
dbleman Read more

This car is just so comfortable and economical for its size! Unfortunately now on about one in every 5 starts it runs very roughly at about 600rpm with a strong smell of petrol from the exhaust. It's almost as if not all the cylinders are firing initially. If you switch off and try again it may start perfectly OK, but more often the revs slowly creep up to 1000 to 1200 and the rough running gradually smooths as the revs increase over a period of about 4/5 minutes. I have fitted a new idle valve and coolant sensor and checked the ECU connections, but no improvement. There are a couple of connector blocks under the ECU and I am thinking about soldering the connections in these, just in case. One of these is for the injectors. Otherwise it may have to be an exchange ECU, although the engine runs fine most of the time, and if it has started to run smoothly it does so for the whole trip. Could this be ignition lead related? It seems to happen more in the Autumn and Winter. I have tried Renault main dealer for diagnostics, but been told their latest kit isn't compatible with the Safrane, and they don't have staff who can remember much about the engine management system. In my exasperation I called the RAC to witness the rough running / petrol smell which eventually cured before their eyes - the RAC man radioed a colleague, describing my Safrane as having a "female problem - being unpredictable"...It's probably best if I don't agree with that! I would, however, really appreciate any helpful comments or suggestions please? Read more

...I'd be laughing:

http:// tinyurl.com/5pd4zz

Fair play to the guy in the Skoda. It seems the spoilsports noticed after 11 minutes, though.

So much for Teutonic efficiency :-)

{link made non clickable due to some of the other content on the website it links to - copy/paste into your usual url web browser.} Read more

My son's Punto failed its MOT weekend before last on a couple of items--radius arms and emissions.
We sorted the radius arms with a lot of grunting and groaning, were advised that Cataclean might sort the emissions, because the readings were a relatively marginal fail, so we duly put some of that in the tank and gave it a run.
Yesterday (Sat 8th) took it for retest and again it failed on the emissions, though it was slightly better. It's going in for diagnosis tomorrow to try to identify the problem, but I'm a little confused at the persistent failure.The car has been regularly serviced, plugs, oil changes, filters etc, it had a new cat back in March and yet the cat appears to be rattling as if its breaking up already.
Naturally I'll be returning the car and requesting a replacement cat if it the diagnosis indicates that it HAS failed, but the mechanic at the MOT garage said that if the cat proves to be the problem, the exhaust centre may try to wriggle out of replacing it by insisting theres a blockage which is down to the car and not the quality of the cat, which was indeed suspiciously cheap.
What rights would we have if this happened,given that meantime we only have a few days to sort out the MOT before the deadline passes for free retests and the temptation may be to simply have the cat replaced again if the exhaust centre wont foot the bil? Read more