May 2009
Source: BBC news {Link wasn't long enough to warrant being shrunk with tinyurl}
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/8049729.stm
Motoring link: The 64-year-old also hopes to pay for a set of custom-made vehicles to take cancer patients to and from hospitals.
{A somewhat tenuious motoring link. If it strays off the main road and heads down a rough country lane, this thread will be locked - DD} Read more
We are planning on buying a new car next year and I suddenly realised that the VAT will be going back up to 17.5% so an extra £500 to pay on a £20,000 car!
It got me thinking that maybe there will be a boost in sales before the end of the year. We are certainly thinking about changing at the end of the year rather than waiting until March next year. Read more
Had a field day in the showroom when it was going from 8? to 15%.
Had a wonderful couple of holidays on the proceeds.
Regulars will have recently picked up that I have traded in my gas guzzling 4x4 for something a bit more environmentally friendly (in white). Let me run my experience past you. I will try to keep it simple but as far as I am concerned something has not been transparent.
When I made the first telephone call to the dealer the salesman quoted me the manufacturers advertised RRP 'on the road' and an approximate valuation of my own trade in which was significantly more than I was offered back end of last year.
Hooked, I decided to visit the dealership and have a 'face to face' view the car and get a true valuation of my own. I was offered the top end of the valuation and I was well pleased. Did the deal based around the RRP minus my valuation, and signed a sales invoice which included a few 'extras'. The balance was rounded down to the nearest £1000 with the difference of a few hundred becoming the deposit. This invoice clearly stated my PX value.
Move on a week when I went to collect the vehicle. All paperwork signed up , pay the balance and off I go.
That evening I sift through the extensive paperwork particularly the new typed up invoice. I notice hidden on the second sheet that the my trade in was £1200 less than was quoted on the original purchase invoice. The breakdown of the car cost was extensive with tax, new car tax, VAT element, delivery etc etc etc.
Bottom line is that although the balance was exactly the same the figures have changed to reflect a lower value on the new car and a lower px value on mine. They have not charged me as much for the new car but not given me as much for my old one.
Now you may say "Well whats your problem?" I feel as though I have not been treated honestly and with integrity. That £1200 may have made my decision not to swop maybe not. The figures may seem academic but taking into account by driving off the forecourt I'm the price of the VAT down as well as instant depreciation. That figure is also £1200 lower before depreciation - if you get my drift.
So whats it all about? If anyone has any idea I'd welcome their views. Had I walked in with no PX and cash is that £1200 the area in which I could negotiate a discount? Which is right the advertised RRP or the cost price on the final invoice? Was the original valuation merely a hook?
Clearly something is occurring but what? Why does there always seem to be an angle?
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How does that work on the invoice, then?
Was in the model shop in Altrincham today collecting my Christmas present from SWMBO, an OO gauge LMS Patriot class loco , available ,at long last ,in LMS red.
I was gricing some of the cars and thought how detailed they are nowadays.
Although not a collector, I do have about 35 of the Models of Yesteryear from the 70s, all boxed and mint , plus an OO7 Aston and a Dinky RR Phantom in a plastic see-through cover. I'll bet they could make them a lot more realistically today.
Today I bought an Oxford models Austin 'lowloader' taxi from the 30s. OO gauge, beautifully detailed with hackney plate, meter, etc.....all for £2.95 ! A worthy addition to the three Jowetts, Ford Pop, Morris 8 tourer and E83W van which grace the railway here.
Anybody in BR land got any particular favourites ? I guess a lot of us may have a special or favourite model.
Ted Read more
One of the great model makers, here
homepage.mac.com/gawingrove/Wingrove-Collection/Me...l
People with fantastic cars have a Wingrove model in the lounge to remind them of what they have in the garage ie Nick Mason et al.
Anyone know approximately how much a front brake calliper to be done with a bit of brake pipe will cost.
shouting silenced Read more
Also ask your local motor factor for the price of an exchange unit. You might be pleasantly surprised.
The one I bought for SWMBO's old mkIV Fiesta came boxed, with a year's warranty and cost less than £30 once I'd returned the old caliper. Visually it looked like a brand new unit.
Near me is a headmistress. Her car is, shall we say, not cared for.
It's obvious from walking past that one of her front tyres is under inflated, the outer edge is smoother than my pate and there's a couple of visible bulges. It's been like this for a couple of weeks. The car is moved every day, presumably on her drive to school.
She is known to not accept criticism!!!
What would you do?
Please headline a thread properly. Next time I spot a thread with a title that give no hint what it is about I will delete the entire thread. Headlines like "How do you tell someone........." demand that the thread be opened in order to find out what it is about. That is not acceptable and creates unnecessary work for the moderators. HJ Read more
It's a shame the police aren't allowed to job they were originally employed to do, rather than acting as revenue collectors
Likewise traffic wardens.
I parked my truck in a narrow one-way side street today (in a loading bay on the right) and needed to reverse about 10 feet (back towards the T-junction at the start of the street) before moving off, to give myself adequate space to miss all the parked cars on both sides when driving forwards. I collared a passing warden and asked if he could watch me back up, as I didn't want to stick my back end out into the main road traffic. His response was, "I can't do that, I might be held liable if you hit something."
Must be room under the hat for a few grand in £20s ? ;-)
I thought I would relate a recent experience with the aircon on a Fabia I am preparing for a customer. The symptons were no chilled air, although the switch lit up when pressed. I took it to a mechanic friend who has commercial aircon experience and he thought the compressor was at fault as it didn't seem to want to take a recharge of refrigerant.
This could have been a costly exercise if I had gone down the route of changing the compressor.
I did a bit of research and on HJ's car by car he describes the compressor as being a clutchless type, I certainly heard no click when I turned the swich on. Also found on a Skoda web forum several incidents of similar symptoms where the cure turned out to be a recode of the engine ecu.
I then took it to a very bright sparky I know and he confirmed that fault code 18020 was held in the PCM (Powertrain control module) which in turn indicated it had an incorrect code stored. He was able to look up the correct code and bingo, the aircon worked.
So it does seem that Fabia's can have a habit of loosing or corrupting this code and it is simply a case of having the code reinstated. Read more
thanks for the excellent info.
A few weeks ago I managed to let the old Morris overheat and boil dry. After it cooled down and I topped up the water she was running fine but then after going a couple of miles she emptied out all the water through the radiator overflow, I believe. I was advised that this was a classic case of a blown cylinder head gasket.
I got a gasket kit and changed all the top end gaskets and for a week or so everything seemed to be fine but, I checked the oil yesterday and it seemed a bit high, considering the various oil leaks she has, then I checked the radiator and there was no water visible. I took off the oil filler cap and it had white sludge on it. With the engine running there was a slight water leak from the corner of the cylinder head at the gasket, just under the tie-rod. It had leaked there when I boiled the engine and before I changed the gasket.
Do I have a cracked cylinder head or have I blown another gasket? Read more
In the old days they would take off the rocker cover and wash the white stuff off with petrol and then let it dry. Brush the petrol on to the white stuff (all over actually) and then wipe off, that way you don't need to use as much petrol unless you have a large tray available then use it to flush ensuring the environment is safe. If you do use petrol ensure you don't breath in the vapour. Pour the used petrol into a can and ensure it is safely disposed.
The alternative and safer method is to use a mixture of hot water and washing up liquid and scrub and then let it dry thoroughly before replacing. Then after fitting the cover (note - a new rocker gasket may be needed to prevent oil leakage) you can remove the sump cover and clean the inside of the sump but you'll then need to fit a new sump gasket although they are easy to make and obtain so that's not a worry. Next empty the oil filter and fit a new oil filter, you can put some fresh oil into the oil filter before fitting as it aids oil circulation when the engine is next started. Finally fill up with new oil.
MY girlfriend's '99 Yaris went in for the MOT, one of the items they failed it on was that the headlamp angle could not be adjusted (it was too low on one side). In order to pass it had to have a new headlamp fitted! We got the original headlamp off them, there's no adjustment 'mechanism' on it at all that I can see. Does the adjustment happen by the way it's mounted? If so why would they need to replace the lamp unit?
She paid ~£90 or so plus labour for the new lamp, was she conned or were they just being technically correct but unhelpful? Read more
If they have electric adjusters (knob on the dashboard), the new lamps often (not sure about Toyota Yaris) don't come with these parts and they have to be transfered over. £90 for the light is a good price.
To get it back on a motoring scenario- I drove to Doxford Hall for an Easter weekend break.The roads are very scenic and quiet (A1 excepted).
After one night we were ready to depart and only stayed two nights, moving to Caister. More like an expensive function suite than a welcoming hotel. Probably just us. Yes, we have commented to the owner and the booking website.
Glad the owners wife has made a recovery and we hope to be back in the area for a weekend break.